Psychology in Crisis

Throughout the history of psychology, attempting to objectively measure the highly dynamic phenomenon of human behaviour has given rise to an underappreciated margin of error. Today, as the discipline experiences increasing difficulty in reproducing the results of its own studies, such error not only threatens to undermine psychology’s credibility but also leaves an indelible question: Is psychology actually a field of irreproducible science?In this thought-provoking new book, author Brian Hughes seeks to answer this very question. In his incisive examination of the various pitfalls that determine ‘good’ or ‘bad’ psychological science – from poor use of statistics to systematic exaggeration of findings – Hughes shows readers how to critique psychology research, enhance its validity and reliability, and understand the strengths and weaknesses of the way psychology research is produced, published, and promulgated in the 21st century.This book is essential reading for students wanting to understand how to better scrutinise psychological research methods and results, as well as practitioners and those concerned with the replication debate.

“"Psychology in Crisis is an unflinching tour of the challenges of doing psychological science well. Brian Hughes describes six crises facing psychology that could make one think that all is lost. But it is not. At their core, the crises are illustrations of just how hard it is to study human behavior and, simultaneously, why it is worth doing. Hughes closes with a path toward a science that is robust, transparent, and self-skeptical to help accelerate discovery and ensure that psychology meets its potential as a scientific enterprise." -- Brian Nosek, Professor in Psychology at the University of Virginia and Executive Director for the Center for Open Science "Hughes grapples with the most fundamental problems of the field ... [He] does not skirt around difficult questions... making this book pertinent and long overdue reading for researchers, students and anyone interested in or associated with psychology's journey to recovery." -- Luke Gabriel Stewart, International Journal of Educational Psychology”

Psychology in Crisis is an unflinching tour of the challenges of doing psychological science well. Brian Hughes describes six crises facing psychology that could make one think that all is lost. But it is not. At their core, the crises are illustrations of just how hard it is to study human behavior and, simultaneously, why it is worth doing. Hughes closes with a path toward a science that is robust, transparent, and self-skeptical to help accelerate discovery and ensure that psychology meets its potential as a scientific enterprise. Brian Nosek, Professor in Psychology at the University of Virginia and Executive Director for the Center for Open Science
Hughes grapples with the most fundamental problems of the field ... [He] does not skirt around difficult questions… making this book pertinent and long overdue reading for researchers, students and anyone interested in or associated with psychology’s journey to recovery. Luke Gabriel Stewart, International Journal of Educational Psychology

Brian Hughes is Professor of Psychology at the National University of Ireland, Galway. His research focuses on psychological stress and he writes widely on the psychology of empiricism and of empirically disputable claims, especially as they pertain to science, health, and medicine. He holds a Ph.D. from the National University of Ireland.

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