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Reply to the commentaries: A radical revision of experimental social psychology is still needed

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2022

Joseph Cesario Open the ORCID record for Joseph Cesario [Opens in a new window]
Joseph Cesario*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. cesario@msu.edu www.cesariolab.com
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Abstract

Are the landscapes of real-world decisions adequately represented in our laboratory tasks? Are the goals and expertise of experimental participants the same as real-world decision-makers? Are we neglecting crucial forces that lead to group outcomes? Are the contingencies necessary for producing experimental demonstrations of bias present in the real world? In the target article, I argued that the answers to these questions are needed to understand whether and how laboratory research can inform real-world group disparities. Most of the commentaries defending experimental social psychology neglected to directly address these main arguments. The commentaries defending implicit bias only revealed the inadequacy of this concept for explaining group disparities. The major conclusions from the target article remain intact, suggesting that experimental social psychology must undergo major changes to contribute to our understanding of group disparities.

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Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e96
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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