Extraordinary claims require compelling evidence: Concerns about “loving-kindness meditation slows biological aging in novices”

Friedman, Harris L.; MacDonald, Douglas A.; Brown, Nicholas J. L.; Coyne, James C.

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104410

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The three instances of ad hominems not about conflicts of interest that I have found in journals in this century can be taken to further support the generality of the prohibition, because they were quickly removed after an outcry. The first incident was sparked by a letter to the editor (Friedman et al, 2020) in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology , regarding an article by Barbara L. Fredrickson and colleagues (Le Nguyen et al, 2019). The letter to the editor disputed the validity of the arguments made in the Le Nguyen et al (2019) article.…”

Section: Ad Hominem Criticism Across the History Of Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Ad hominem rhetoric in scientific psychology

Holcombe

2021

British J of Psychology

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Ad hominem discourse is largely prohibited in scientific journals. Historically, this prohibition restricted the dissemination of ad hominem discussion, but during the last decade, blogs and social media platforms became popular among researchers. With the use of social media now entrenched among researchers, there are important questions about the role of ad hominems.Ad hominems and other forms of strong criticism became particularly evident in online discussions associated with the recent replication crisis in psychology. Here, these discussions, and a few incidences of ad hominems in journal articles, are situated in the broader history of science. It is argued that explicit codes of conduct should be considered to curb certain kinds of ad hominem comments in certain fora, but that some ad hominem discussions have an important role to play in a healthier science.

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Section: Ad Hominem Criticism Across the History Of Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Ad hominem rhetoric in scientific psychology

Holcombe

2021

British J of Psychology

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“…We (and a coauthor) asked the editors of the journal publishing it if we could submit a commentary. However, its editors rejected that request, but they did invite a short "letter to the editor," which was published (Friedman, MacDonald, Brown, & Coyne, 2020).…”

Section: Loving Kindness Meditation Decreases Telomere-length Lossmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This again came to our attention because of media coverage—it is no small thing to claim that a short-duration practice can be the “fountain of youth.” We (and a coauthor) asked the editors of the journal publishing it if we could submit a commentary. However, its editors rejected that request, but they did invite a short “letter to the editor,” which was published (Friedman, MacDonald, Brown, & Coyne, 2020).…”

Section: Case Studies Of Editors’ Resistance To Problematic Reproduci...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Working with psychology journal editors to correct problems in the scientific literature.

Friedman

MacDonald

Coyne

2020

Canadian Psychology / Psychologie canadienne

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Psychology faces a replicability crisis in which its credibility as a science is in question. A recommended prerequisite to exploring replicability is to first explore reproducibility by carefully reexamining existing studies for any internal problems prior to attempting to externally replicate them. However, a frequent complaint from people attempting to get errors found in existing studies corrected within the psychological literature is some journal editors' reticence to publish critical comments, and especially to issue corrections and retractions, on articles found to be problematic. These editors seem to view criticisms as negative and destructive, rather than positive and constructive, and can obstruct important corrections needed for psychological science to be more adaptive. As powerful gatekeepers, editors play a crucial role in perpetuating a dysfunctional scientific culture that undermines psychology's viability. However, effective advocacy can successfully challenge editors' resistance to publishing corrections and taking other responsible actions, as well as confront pushback from authors' attempts to shield their criticized articles from scrutiny. We present reproducibility efforts that resulted in a debunking article, several critical commentaries, and a letter to the editor being published, as well as several published corrections and an expression of concern, but no retractions. We discuss these examples in terms of confronting what we see as a dysfunctional culture that often protects the status quo by opposing corrections, which is analyzed as a perverse incentive. We also offer suggestions for changing this dysfunctional culture into one that is more in accord with science as an adaptive, self-correcting system. Public Significance StatementPsychological science undergirds all of the field's applications, yet it suffers from widespread replicability and reproducibility failures; even many of its foundational studies have been shown to be flawed. Change is needed to restore psychology's viability, which requires addressing its dysfunctional scientific culture, including those aspects that discourage journal editors from publishing corrections to the scientific literature. Several cases of editorial resistance to publishing reports debunking findings that could not be reproduced are examined, and recommendations are offered to encourage editors, and others, to embrace, rather than obstruct, self-correcting psychological science.

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Extraordinary claims require compelling evidence: Concerns about “loving-kindness meditation slows biological aging in novices”

Cited by 2 publications

References 2 publications

Ad hominem rhetoric in scientific psychology

Ad hominem rhetoric in scientific psychology

Working with psychology journal editors to correct problems in the scientific literature.

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