The fame monster: Unintended consequence of fame for psychological science

Publication date: August 2019Source: New Ideas in Psychology, Volume 54Author(s): Christopher J. FergusonAbstractScientific fields often assign fame to certain individuals and studies to delineate a narrative about the field's importance, success, and contribution to knowledge. However, such assignations of fame can result in a situation wherein assumptions of scientific merit may follow from fame, rather than fame following from clear scientific merit. This can result in several problems for the field including conflicts of interest in peer review, resistance to disconfirmatory results, politicization of some research areas, and may contribute to psychology's replication crisis. It is suggested that principles of replicability, transparency and open science can, ultimately, help psychological science identify those empirical results which are most verifiable and, as such, deserving of “fame.”

Source: New Ideas in Psychology - January 27, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research