Recitation 2 – Portrait of an Academic Controversy Shruti Goyal, Ken Nguyen Dr. Jason Parry HONR 19900 - 007 18 September 2020 The “Elderly-related Words Provoke Slow Walking” Experiment Main Contributors: John Bargh, Doyen et al, Ed Yong, Danny Kahneman, Norbert Schwarz Summary One of the experiments in a 1996 paper published by John Bargh and colleagues showed that when people were exposed to words that pertained to being old, they subsequently walked away from the lab more slowly. This finding is just one of many in the field of “social priming” research, all of which suggest our minds are far more open to influence than we realize. In 2012, a different lab, led by Stephane Doyen, tried to replicate the elderly words study and failed. Professor Bargh reacted angrily. EVer since, the controVersy oVer his study and other related findings has only intensified. Highlights of the furor include an open letter from Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman, published in Ed Yong’s article in Nature, working in the area, to researchers warning them to sincerely attempt to replicate the study to avoid tarnishing the name of the field. Norbert Schwarz then got into the debate by publishing a reply to the Yong’s questions that deviated from the actual experiment to social priming in general. Much of the disagreement centers around whether replication attempts in this area fail because the original effects don’t exist, or because those attempting a replication lack the necessary research skills, make statistical errors, or fail to perfectly match the original research design. The general consensus today is that while social priming is a very real phenomenon, Bargh’s experiment itself had many inconsistencies, lack of thoroughness, bias, and equipment error. Social priming is one of the biggest research fields with widespread applications. Bargh’s effort was one of the first ever researches conducted in this field. Though his methodology may have been flawed, it lead to one of the most debated and explored researches in psychology, drew hundreds of scientists towards the field, instigated questions that went far beyond the scope of the original study. While social priming as a field is now restricted to replication of previous studies, it has proved to be a flag bearer for the “replication crisis” in science, that also affects fields like cancer biology and economics, and is at the forefront of modifications such as ‘HARK’ (Hypothesize After Results are Known) — that is, change their hypotheses after looking at their data - to research methods to make them conducive to replication. Meme Gallery Works cited Web: • Bargh JA (2012) Nothing in their heads. Psychology today - http://web.archive.org/web/*/http:/www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-natural- unconscious/201203/nothing-in-their-heads • Yong E (2012) Not Exactly Rocket Science. DiscoVer Magazine: https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/a- failed-replication-draws-a-scathing-personal-attack-from-a-psychology-professor • Kahneman D (2012) Open Letter. Decision Science News - http://www.decisionsciencenews.com/2012/10/05/kahneman-on-the-storm-of-doubts-surrounding-social-priming- research/ • Yong E (2012) Nobel laureate challenges psychologists to clean up their act. Nature News - http://www.nature.com/news/nobel-laureate-challenges-psychologists-to-clean-up-their-act-1.11535 Publications: • Bargh JA, Chen M, Burrows L (1996) Automaticity of social behavior: direct effects of trait construct and stereotype-activation on action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 71: 230–244: https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0022-3514.71.2.230 • Doyen S, Klein O, Pichon C-L, Cleeremans A (2012) Behavioral Priming: It's All in the Mind, but Whose Mind? PLoS ONE 7(1): e29081. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029081 • Norbert Schwarz (2012) Response to Ed Young’s questions. Google Docs: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1KKN5Gz35CPz6QmtpJ7-cIwdLG_zeceuu67WRmlE6U8A .