Psychological Science Under Scrutiny

Psychological Science Under Scrutiny explores a range of contemporary challenges to the assumptions and methodologies of psychology, in order to encourage debate and ground the discipline in solid science. 

• Discusses the pointed challenges posed by critics to the field of psychological research, which have given pause to psychological researchers across a broad spectrum of sub-fields
• Argues that those conducting psychological research need to fundamentally change the way they think about data and results, in order to ensure that psychology has a firm basis in empirical science
• Places the recent challenges discussed into a broad historical and conceptual perspective, and considers their implications for the future of psychological methodology and research
• Challenges discussed include confirmation bias, the effects of grant pressure, false-positive findings, overestimating the efficacy of medications, and high correlations in functional brain imaging
• Chapters are authored by internationally recognized experts in their fields, and are written with a minimum of specialized terminology to ensure accessibility to students and lay readers

Scott O. Lilienfeld is Professor of Psychology at Emory University. His principal areas of research are personality disorders, psychiatric classification and diagnosis, pseudoscience in mental health, and the teaching of psychology. He is the author or co-author of numerous publications including 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology (Wiley, 2009), and is co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology (Wiley, 2015). 

Irwin D. Waldman is Professor of Psychology at Emory University. His research centers on the classification, development, and etiology of children’s psychiatric disorders and behavior problems, social behavior and social cognition, and temperament and personality. He is the author of numerous articles within leading journals in the field, and is an Associate Editor of the journal Behavioral Genetics. 

In recent years, the prevailing view of psychology as a progressive science characterized by objective and replicable findings has been called into question, with some scholars arguing that the discipline's conclusions may be less trustworthy than had been presumed. Psychological Science Under Scrutiny explores a wide range of these contemporary challenges to psychology's assumptions and methodologies, and considers the advantages and disadvantages of various proposed remedies. In doing so, it aims to stimulate constructive debate around how the reliability of psychological research can be enhanced in order to ground the discipline more firmly in solid science. Challenges discussed include confirmation bias, the effects of grant pressure, false-positive findings, overestimating the efficacy of medications, and high correlations in functional brain imaging. The chapters are authored by internationally recognized experts, and written with a minimum of specialized terminology in order to ensure accessibility to students and lay readers.

In recent years, the prevailing view of psychology as a progressive science characterized by objective and replicable findings has been called into question, with some scholars arguing that the discipline s conclusions may be less trustworthy than had been presumed. Psychological Science Under Scrutiny explores a wide range of these contemporary challenges to psychology s assumptions and methodologies, and considers the advantages and disadvantages of various proposed remedies. In doing so, it aims to stimulate constructive debate around how the reliability of psychological research can be enhanced in order to ground the discipline more firmly in solid science. Challenges discussed include confirmation bias, the effects of grant pressure, false-positive findings, overestimating the efficacy of medications, and high correlations in functional brain imaging. The chapters are authored by internationally recognized experts, and written with a minimum of specialized terminology in order to ensure accessibility to students and lay readers.

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