Ad hominem rhetoric in scientific psychology

Ad hominem discourse is largely prohibited in scientific journals. Historically, this prohibition restricted the dissemination of ad hominem discussion, but during the last decade, blogs and social media platforms became popular among researchers. With the use of social media now entrenched among researchers, there are important questions about the role of ad hominems. Ad hominems and other forms of strong criticism became particularly evident in online discussions associated with the recent replication crisis in psychology. Here, these discussions, and a few incidences of ad hominems in journal articles, are situated in the broader history of science. It is argued that explicit codes of conduct should be considered to curb certain kinds of ad hominem comments in certain fora, but that some ad hominem discussions have an important role to play in a healthier science.