Under what conditions does theory obstruct research progress?
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23318786 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anthony G Greenwald (0000-0001-6865-8552, The Ohio State University), Anthony R Pratkanis (Carnegie Mellon University), Michael R Leippe (Adelphi University), Michael H Baumgardner |
| Year | 1986 |
| Volume | 93 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 216-229 |
| Publication date | 1986-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Psychological Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0033-295X • E-ISSN: 1939-1471 |
| Publisher | American Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1037/0033-295x.93.2.216 |
| PMID | 3714929 |
| OpenAlex | W2078652719 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 112 |
| References cited | 57 |
Researchers display confirmation bias when they persevere by revising procedures until obtaining a theory-predicted result. This strategy produces findings that are overgeneralized in avoidable ways, and this in turn hinders successful applications. (The 40-year history of an attitude-change phenomenon, the sleeper effect, stands as a case in point.) Confirmation bias is an expectable product of theory-centered research strategies, including both the puzzle-solving activity of T. S. Kuhn's "normal science" and, more surprisingly, K. R. Popper's recommended method of falsification seeking. The alternative strategies of condition seeking (identifying limiting conditions for a known finding) and design (dis-covering conditions that can produce a previously unobtained result) are result centered; they are directed at producing specified patterns of data rather than at the logically impossible goals of estab-lishing either the truth or falsity of a theory. Result-centered methods are by no means atheoretical. Rather, they oblige resourcefulness in using existing theory and can stimulate novel development of theory. Imagine looking at a projected photographic image that is so badly focused that identification is impossible. The picture is gradually focused until it is just slightly blurred, at which point
Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Economics · Management science · Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology · Philosophy and History of Science · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology
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Self-efficacy
Publication prejudices
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Bayesian statistical inference for psychological research.
Confirmation, disconfirmation, and information in hypothesis testing.
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Repetition and agreement with opposing arguments
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Self-verification processes
Determinants of scientific progress
The totalitarian ego
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The Sleeper Effect _An Awakening
The Influence of Source Credibility on Communication Effectiveness
The effect of attitude on the recall of personal histories
Social control in the psychological experiment
Hypothesis-testing processes in social interaction
Reconstructing the past
The influence of incentive conditions on the success of role playing in modifying attitudes
Attitude change and attitude attribution
When dissonance fails
Empirical tests of the absolute sleeper effect predicted from the discounting cue hypothesis
Beyond the two disciplines of scientific psychology
The yin and yang of progress in social psychology
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A "sleeper" effect in opinion change
History of the sleeper effect
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Recency and primacy in persuasion as a function of the timing of speeches and measurements
The test of significance in psychological research
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Within-subjects designs
School desegregation
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| Unique citing works | 112 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,73 |
| Citation span | 1985 - 2025 (41) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 85 |