Creative Minority Reader: The Ignored Behavioral Sciences Scandal

Many of the studies you've read about are NOT reproducible.

One morning in August, the social science reporter for National Public Radio, a man named Shankar Vedantam, sounded a little shellshocked. You couldn’t blame him. Like so many science writers in the popular press, he is charged with reporting provocative findings from the world of behavioral science: “. . . and researchers were very surprised at what they found. The peer-reviewed study suggests that [dog lovers, redheads, Tea Party members] are much more likely to [wear short sleeves, participate in hockey fights, play contract bridge] than cat lovers, but only if [the barometer is falling, they are slapped lightly upside the head, a picture of Jerry Lewis suddenly appears in their cubicle . . . ].”