New Trends for Finding Fraud in Experimental Psychology

I have just returned from my first American Psychological Association meeting that I thought was worth attending. I noted in a previous post that APA meetings now feature a wide array of division activities, and that those are worth going to, regardless of the main convention. This time, however, there were a handful of talks (out of many) which were valuable enough to make me think the main convention was starting to turn things around. The highlight was a session organized by Joseph Simmons, and featuring talks by Leslie John and Uri Simonsohn.

Holiday Special - A Year of Scandals in Psychology

Feeling a bit of the holiday spirit, I wanted to reflect a bit about the three public scandals in scientific psychology this year, and on some of the responses to the scandals. The first was a carry over from last year, accusations of fraud that culminated in Marc Hauser's resignation from Harvard. The second was the high profile publication of Daryl Bem's article arguing for "Psi" (i.e. psychic) Phenomenon. The third was the exposure of Diederik Stapel's serial data forgery. Each of these cases has its nuances, and individual morals, but I think there is an overarching moral we might all meditate on as the new year begins.