Putting the Self in Self-Correction: Findings From the Loss-of-Confidence Project.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Scientific methodology

Background:

• Science is ideally a self-correcting process, progressively refining theories with new evidence.
• In practice, individual scientists may resist changing prior findings, impacting scientific progress.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the dynamics of scientific self-correction at the individual level.
• To understand why and how researchers lose confidence in their own published work.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative analysis of 13 written statements from psychologists detailing loss of confidence in their findings.
• Cross-disciplinary survey to assess the prevalence of such sentiments.

Main Results:

• Individual scientists often exhibit reluctance to abandon prior findings despite new evidence.
• Loss-of-confidence sentiments are common but rarely publicly disclosed.

Conclusions:

• Inefficiencies in individual scientific self-correction impede collective scientific progress.
• Removing barriers to individual self-correction is crucial for enhancing the overall efficiency of science.