Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wg55d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-09T02:46:30.552Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Measured Realism and Statistical Inference: An Explanation for the Fast Progress of “Hard” Psychology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

J. D. Trout
J. D. Trout*
Affiliation:
Loyola University of Chicago
*
†Philosophy Department and the Parmly Hearing Institute, Loyola University of Chicago, 6525 North Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL 60626.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The use of null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) in psychology has been under sustained attack, despite its reliable use in the notably successful, so-called “hard” areas of psychology, such as perception and cognition. I argue that, in contrast to merely methodological analyses of hypothesis testing (in terms of “test severity,” or other confirmation-theoretic notions), only a patently metaphysical position can adequately capture the uneven but undeniable successes of theories in “hard psychology.” I contend that Measured Realism satisfies this description, and characterizes the role of NHST in hard psychology.

Type
Philosophy of Psychology and Cognitive Science
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 66 , Issue S3: Supplement. Proceedings of the 1998 Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part I: Contributed Papers Sep., 1999 , 1999 , pp. S260 - S272
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 by the Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bacon, F. (1960), The New Organon & Related Writings. Edited by Anderson, F. H. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar
Boyd, R. (1983), “On the Current Status of Scientific Realism”, in Boyd, R., Gasper, P., and Trout, J. D. (eds.), The Philosophy of Science. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 195–222.Google Scholar
Dawes, R. (1988), Rational Choice in an Uncertain World. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Duhem, P. (1954), The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory. Translated by Wiener, P. New York: Atheneum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giere, R. (1984), Understanding Scientific Reasoning, 2nd ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Gilovich, T. (1991), How We Know What Isn't So. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Harlow, L., Mulaik, S., and Steiger, J. (eds.) (1997), What If There Were No Significance Tests?. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Horwich, P. (1991), “On the Nature and Norms of Theoretical Commitment”, Philosophy of Science 58: 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kosso, P. (1989), “Science and Objectivity”, The Journal of Philosophy 86: 245–257.10.2307/2027109CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loftus, G. (1996), “Psychology Will be a Much Better Science When We Change the Way We Analyze Data”, Psychological Science 5(6): 161–171.Google Scholar
Meehl, P. (1997), “The Problem is Epistemology, Not Statistics: Replace Significance Tests by Confidence Intervals and Quantify Accuracy of Risky Numerical Predictions”, in Harlow, Mulaik, and Steiger 1997, 393–425.Google Scholar
Piatelli-Palmarini, P. (1994), Inevitable Illusions. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Popper, K. (1962), Conjectures and Refutations. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Rindskopf, D. (1997), “Testing ‘Small’, Not Null, Hypotheses: Classical and Bayesian Approaches”, in Harlow, Mulaik, and Steiger 1997, 319–332.Google Scholar
Todes, D. T. (1997), “Pavlov's Physiology Factory”, Isis 88: 205–246.10.1086/383690CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trout, J. D. (1991), “Belief Attribution in Science: Folk Psychology Under Theoretical Stress” Synthese 87: 379–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trout, J. D. (1998), Measuring the Intentional World: Realism, Naturalism, and Quantitative Methods in the Behavioral Sciences. New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/0195107667.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar