scholarly journals Comment: A Perspective on the Relevance of Psychological Science and Some Implications for the Reform Movement

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathon McPhetres
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Research ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Impact Factor Journal ◽  
Psychological Science ◽  
Publication Record ◽  
Short Commentary ◽  
Replication Crisis ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
Published Research

Concerns about the generalizability, veracity, and relevance of social psychological research often resurface within psychology. While many changes are being implemented to improve the integrity of published research and to clarify the publication record, less attention has been given to the questions of relevance. In this short commentary, I offer my perspective on questions of relevance and present some data from the website Reddit. The data show that people care greatly about psychological research—social psychology studies being among the highest upvoted on the subreddit r/science. However, upvotes on Reddit are unrelated to metrics used by researchers to gauge importance (e.g., impact factor, journal rankings and citations), suggesting a disconnect between what psychologists and lay-audiences may see as relevant. I interpret these data in light of the replication crisis and suggest that the spotlight on our field puts greater importance on the need for reform. Whether we like it or not, people care about, share, and use psychological research in their lives, which means we should ensure that our findings are reported accurately and transparently.

scholarly journals A Perspective on the Relevance and Public Reception of Psychological Science

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathon McPhetres
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Scientific Publishing ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Impact Factor Journal ◽  
Journal Rankings ◽  
Psychological Science ◽  
Short Commentary ◽  
Social Psychological Research

In this short commentary, data from the website Reddit is used to examine how people receive social psychological research. The data show that people care greatly about research dealing with humans: links tagged as psychology, social sciences, and health are upvoted more than other categories on Reddit. Within the category of psychology, articles were coded based on the topic of research. Articles dealing generally with social psychological topics are among the highest in number and upvotes on the subreddit r/Science. Many posts were upvoted tens of thousands of times. However, upvotes on Reddit are unrelated to scientific publishing metrics (e.g., impact factor, journal rankings, and citations), suggesting a disconnect between what psychologists and Redditors may see as relevant. These findings also highlight some points for reflection. For example, psychologists may benefit from thinking about the purpose, goals, and beneficiaries of the research they pursue. Additionally, the level of attention that some psychological research receives has implications for transparent research practices. Researchers have a responsibility to ensure that findings are reported accurately and transparently because, whether scientists like it or not, people care about psychological research, they share it, and use it in their lives.

scholarly journals Response latency in social psychological research

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian A. Nosek
Keyword(s):  
Peer Review ◽  
Scientific Communication ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Public Science ◽  
Barriers To Change ◽  
The Status ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
The One ◽  
Published Research

Existing norms for scientific communication are rooted in anachronistic practices of bygone eras, making them needlessly inefficient. We outline a path that moves away from the existing model of scientific communication to improve the efficiency in meeting the purpose of public science – knowledge accumulation. We call for six changes: (1) full embrace of digital communication, (2) open access to all published research, (3) disentangling publication from evaluation, (4) breaking the “one article, one journal” model with a grading system for evaluation and diversified dissemination outlets, (5) publishing peer review, and, (6) allowing open, continuous peer review. We address conceptual and practical barriers to change, and provide examples showing how the suggested practices are being used already. The critical barriers to change are not technical or financial; they are social. While scientists guard the status quo, they also have the power to change it.

scholarly journals The MOVE Framework: Meanings, Observations, Viewpoints, and Experiences in processes of Social Change

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 321-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Séamus A. Power ◽  
Gabriel Velez
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Psychological Science ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Over Time

Social psychologists are often criticized for failing to capture the dynamic nature of psychological processes. We present a novel framework to address this problem. The MOVE framework contends that to comprehend complex, contradictory, and divergent patterns of thought, affect, and behavior within changing, real-world contexts, it is necessary to undertake ecologically valid research that is attentive to the lived experiences and meaning-making processes of culturally embedded individuals over time. A focus on meanings, observations, viewpoints, and experiences is essential for social psychological research that holistically captures how people construct, understand, respond, position, and act over time within changing social, economic, and political contexts. To illustrate the utility of our proposition, we draw on classic social psychological studies and multimethod fieldwork during a period of rapid social and political change in Colombia during the peace process (2012–2017). We argue the MOVE framework has the potential to advance psychological understandings of, and contributions to, individuals embedded in real, dynamic social and political contexts. We discuss the implications of this extended social psychological paradigm for advancing psychological science.

Political diversity versus stimuli diversity: Alternative ways to improve social psychological science

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Kessler ◽  
Jutta Proch ◽  
Stefanie Hechler ◽  
Larissa A. Nägler
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Research ◽  
Systematic Variation ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Research Groups ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Representative Sampling ◽  
Systematic Testing ◽  
Psychological Science ◽  
Social Psychological Research

AbstractInstead of enhancing diversity in research groups, we suggest that in order to reduce biases in social psychological research a more basic formulation and systematic testing of theories is required. Following the important but often neglected ecological research approach would lead to systematic variation of stimuli and sometimes representative sampling of stimuli for specific environments.

Interculturalism and the Acceptance of Minority Groups

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maykel Verkuyten ◽  
Kumar Yogeeswaran
Keyword(s):  
Minority Groups ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Situational Effect

Abstract. Multiculturalism has been criticized and rejected by an increasing number of politicians, and social psychological research has shown that it can lead to outgroup stereotyping, essentialist thinking, and negative attitudes. Interculturalism has been proposed as an alternative diversity ideology, but there is almost no systematic empirical evidence about the impact of interculturalism on the acceptance of migrants and minority groups. Using data from a survey experiment conducted in the Netherlands, we examined the situational effect of promoting interculturalism on acceptance. The results show that for liberals, but not for conservatives, interculturalism leads to more positive attitudes toward immigrant-origin groups and increased willingness to engage in contact, relative to multiculturalism.

zy prawda nas wyzwoli? Przełamywanie oporu psychologicznego w przyjmowaniu wiedzy o Zagładzie

2014 ◽  
pp. 803-822
Author(s):  
Marta Witkowska ◽  
Piotr Forecki
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Research ◽  
Public Knowledge ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Holocaust Education ◽  
Positive Group ◽  
Nazi Occupation ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Social Psychological Research

The introduction of the programs on Holocaust education in Poland and a broader debate on the transgressions of Poles against the Jews have not led to desired improvement in public knowledge on these historical events. A comparison of survey results from the last two decades (Bilewicz, Winiewski, Radzik, 2012) illustrates mounting ignorance: the number of Poles who acknowledge that the highest number of victims of the Nazi occupation period was Jewish systematically decreases, while the number of those who think that the highest number of victims of the wartime period was ethnically Polish, increases. Insights from the social psychological research allow to explain the psychological foundations of this resistance to acknowledge the facts about the Holocaust, and indicate the need for positive group identity as a crucial factor preventing people from recognizing such a threatening historical information. In this paper we will provide knowledge about the ways to overcome this resistance-through-denial. Implementation of such measures could allow people to accept responsibility for the misdeeds committed by their ancestors.

From Help Giving to Helping Relations

2018 ◽  
pp. 464-488
Author(s):  
Arie Nadler
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Psychological Needs ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Significant Relationships ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Help Giving ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
Practical Implications

This chapter reviews social psychological research on help giving and helping relations from the 1950s until today. The first section considers the conditions under which people are likely to help others, personality dispositions that characterize helpful individuals, and motivational and attributional antecedents of helpfulness. The second section looks at long-term consequences of help and examines help in the context of enduring and emotionally significant relationships. Research has shown that in the long run help can increase psychological and physical well-being for helpers but discourage self-reliance for recipients. The third section analyzes helping from intra- and intergroup perspectives, considering how its provision can contribute to helpers’ reputations within a group or promote the positive social identity of in-groups relative to out-groups. Help is thus conceptualized as a negotiation between the fundamental psychological needs for belongingness and independence. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

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