Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-9prln Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-09T00:40:19.776Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Phenomena complexity, disciplinary consensus, and experimental versus correlational research in psychological science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2024

Dean Keith Simonton Open the ORCID record for Dean Keith Simonton [Opens in a new window]
Dean Keith Simonton*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA dksimonton@ucdavis.edu https://simonton.faculty.ucdavis.edu/
*
*Corresponding author.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The target article ignores the crucial role of correlational methods in the behavioral and social sciences. Yet such methods are often mandated by the greater complexity of the phenomena investigated. This necessity is especially conspicuous in psychological research where its position in the hierarchy of the sciences implies the need for both experimental and correlational investigations, each featuring distinct assets.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 47 , 2024 , e58
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Benjafield, J. G. (2020). Vocabulary sharing among subjects belonging to the hierarchy of sciences. Scientometrics, 125, 1965–1982. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-020-03671-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, S. (1983). The hierarchy of the sciences? American Journal of Sociology, 89, 111–139. https://doi.org/10.1086/227835CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Comte, A. (1839–1842/1855). The positive philosophy of Auguste Comte (H. Martineau, Trans.). New York: Blanchard. (Original work published 1839–1842).Google Scholar
Cronbach, L. J. (1957). The two disciplines of scientific psychology. American Psychologist, 12, 671–684. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0043943CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fanelli, D. (2010). “Positive” results increase down the hierarchy of the sciences. PLoS ONE 5(4), e10068. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010068CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fanelli, D., & Glänzel, W. (2013). Bibliometric evidence for a hierarchy of the sciences. PLoS ONE, 8(6), e66938. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066938CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sanbonmatsu, D. M., Cooley, E. H., & Butner, J. E. (2021). The impact of complexity on methods and findings in psychological science. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 580111. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.580111CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sanbonmatsu, D. M., & Johnston, W. A. (2019). Redefining science: The impact of complexity on theory development in social and behavioral research. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 14, 672–690. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691619848688CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simonton, D. K. (2004). Psychology's status as a scientific discipline: Its empirical placement within an implicit hierarchy of the sciences. Review of General Psychology, 8, 59–67. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.8.1.59CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simonton, D. K. (2015). Psychology as a science within Comte's hypothesized hierarchy: Empirical investigations and conceptual implications. Review of General Psychology, 19, 334–344. https://doi.org/10.1037/gpr0000039CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, L. D., Best, L. A., Stubbs, D. A., Johnston, J., & Archibald, A. B. (2000). Scientific graphs and the hierarchy of the sciences. Social Studies of Science, 30, 73–94. https://doi.org/10.1177/030631200030001003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soto, C. J. (2019). How replicable are links between personality traits and consequential life outcomes? The Life Outcomes of Personality Replication Project. Psychological Science, 30, 711–727. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619831612CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tracy, J. L., Robins, R. W., & Sherman, J. W. (2009). The practice of psychological science: Searching for Cronbach's two streams in social-personality psychology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 1206–1225. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015173CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Youyou, W., Yang, Y., & Uzzi, B. (2023). A discipline-wide investigation of the replicability of psychology papers over the past two decades. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120(6), e2208863120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2208863120CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed