Growth From Uncertainty: Understanding the Replication ‘Crisis’ in Infant Cognition

Abstract

Psychology is a discipline that has a high number of failed replications, which has been characterised as a ‘crisis’ on the assumption that failed replications are indicative of untrustworthy research. This paper uses Chang’s concept of epistemic iteration to show how a research programme can advance epistemic goals despite many failed replications. It illustrates this through analysing an on-going large-scale replication attempt of Southgate’s 2007 work exploring infants’ understanding of false beliefs. It concludes that epistemic iteration offers a way of understanding the value of replications — both failed and successful — that contradicts the narrative centred around distrust.