Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Department

Psychology

Additional Departmental Affiliation

Sociology

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Over the past decade, there has been growing concern regarding the Replication Crisis in psychology. The crisis has called into question the credibility of psychological research by highlighting the field’s difficulty in reproducing findings (Open Science Collaboration, 2015), as well as the prevalence of questionable research practices amongst psychologists (e.g., p-hacking, falsifying data, incomplete reporting of measures, etc.). Given that the crisis presents psychological research through a critical lens, learning about the aspects of the crisis can be a useful pedagogical tool for helping students develop a healthy sense of skepticism regarding scientific studies. The present study investigated how teaching about psychology’s replication crisis, via brief videos, affects the development of skepticism in undergraduate students. Skepticism was students’ ability to detect a study with a low or high chance of reproducibility, as well as their sensitivity to pseudo-profound statements, or statements presented to have a deep meaning, that truly have no depth to them at all. I hypothesized that participants that received information about the replication crisis would be able to discern the difference between high and low quality studies; however, there was a chance that it induced overall skepticism instead. Participants who watched a video about the replication crisis rated psychological studies as less reproducible, lower in quality, and less believable compared to those who saw a control video. However, study quality still influenced ratings positively regardless of video. The replication video did not affect receptivity to pseudo-profound statements. No significant interactions between study type and video condition were found.

Advisor(s) or Committee Chair

Amber Giacona, Ph.D.

Disciplines

Psychology | Social Psychology

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