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How Much Should Scientists Check Other Scientists’ Work?
The Wall Street Journal: A question is dividing the scientific community: Is there a value to public health in spending time and money to replicate long-completed, peer-reviewed studies? Two recent high-profile papers that scrutinize older research have raised questions about the fundamental reliability of scientific findings. One, a reanalysis of data from a study published in 2001 on antidepressant use in children, describes the original analysis as flawed. The new study, published in the journal BMJ, is prompting some scientists to call for the original study to be retracted. ...
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How Educators Can Engage Millennial Minds
The Huffington Post: Millennials, the generation who are always one step ahead when it comes to knowing what they want and how to get it. They are the generation who value experiences above anything else and it's likely because of how much information they have at their fingertips. I imagine it like a boat in a sea of data, without a compass. How the millennial generation learns today is also changed drastically for the same reasons. Millennials are the most tech-savvy generation to date (obviously). Tell a millennial to take notes in class with pen and paper today and you're bound to get a look of dismay. Today it's all about note-taking apps, tablets and laptops in the classroom.
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Conspiracy Theorists Aren’t So Different From the Rest of Us
Pacific Standard: Where there's tragedy, conspiracy theories are sure to follow, a phenomenon that rests in part on a need for order and a strong distaste for randomness in the world around us—hence, the argument goes, the need to explain every little detail in the wake of an attack or a scandal. But, a new paper argues, the need for order and control might not be so deep seated—it turns out believers are just as likely to find a signal in the noise as the rest of us. Read the whole story: Pacific Standard
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How Many People Can You Remember?
FiveThirtyEight: Dear Joe, First up, let me try to look at faces. It’s generally accepted that people are better at remembering faces than names because a person’s mug is so rich with visual information (how many times have you seen someone and struggled to remember her name? how many times have you remembered someone’s name but struggled to remember what she looks like?). But studies haven’t tried to determine the exact number of faces people can remember. And to be fair, I really can’t imagine how any scientist could design an experiment that would do so reliably. Studies have looked at what makes some faces easier to remember than others.
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Studies May Overstate The Benefits of Talk Therapy For Depression
NPR: The benefits of talk therapy for depression have been overstated in the scientific literature, according to a study in the journal PLOS ONE. The finding comes several years after a similar study reached the same conclusion about antidepressant drugs. Both talk therapy and antidepressant drugs "are efficacious," says Steven Hollon, a professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University and an author of the study, which was published Wednesday. "They're just not as efficacious as we think they are." Read the whole story: NPR
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Are Americans Really More Narcissistic?
Pacific Standard: Many people around the world claim Americans have an unusually high opinion of themselves. But, according to a new study, accusations of narcissism may actually be a bit overblown. Americans and non-Americans alike share "the belief that the typical American is grandiose, callous, and self-centered," write a team of psychologists led by University of Georgia professor Joshua Miller in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. However, the same surveys that reveal that perception also suggests the average American may not be nearly as narcissistic as everybody thinks.
