The Psychologist’s Green Thumb

Bibliographic Data

ID10708178
AuthorsSophia Crüwell (0000-0003-4178-5820, University of Cambridge, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume91
Issue5
Pages1372-1381
Publication date2024-12-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhilosophy of Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0031-8248 • E-ISSN: 1539-767X
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/psa.2023.111
OpenAlexW4386508337
LanguageEN
References cited23

The “psychologist’s green thumb” refers to the argument that an experimenter needs an indeterminate set of skills to successfully replicate an effect. This argument is sometimes invoked by psychological researchers to explain away failures of independent replication attempts of their work. In this article, I assess the psychologist’s green thumb as a candidate explanation for individual replication failure and argue that it is potentially costly for psychology as a field. I also present other, more likely reasons for these replication failures. I conclude that appealing to a psychologist’s green thumb is not a convincing explanation for replication failure

Argument (complex analysis) · Epistemology · Replicate · Replication (statistics) · Rule of thumb · Set (abstract data type) · Thumb · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Computer Science · Medicine · Mental Health Research Topics · Meta-analysis and systematic reviews · Philosophy · Psychology

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