Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 5, 2025

Recording Behavioral Responses to Reflection in Crayfish
Published on: May 14, 2010
Reflexivity and fragility
1Department of Philosophy, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HX UK.
Abstract:
Reflexivity is, roughly, when studying or theorising about a target itself influences that target. Fragility is, roughly, when causal or other relations are hard to predict, holding only intermittently or fleetingly. Which is more important, methodologically? By going systematically through cases that do and do not feature each of them, I conclude that it is fragility that matters, not reflexivity. In this light, I interpret and extend the claims made about reflexivity in a recent paper by Jessica Laimann (2020). I finish by assessing the benefits and costs of a focus on reflexivity.
More Related Videos
04:51A Modified Mirror Test as a Visual Guide for the Self-awareness Trait in Wild Antarctica Penguins, Pygoscelis adeliae
Published on: July 8, 2025
09:55Use of a Psychophysiological Script-driven Imagery Experiment to Study Trauma-related Dissociation in Borderline Personality Disorder
Published on: March 8, 2018
Related Concept Videos
The Sense of Self: Reflected Self-Appraisal and Social Comparison
Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
Erikson's Theory on Socioemotional Development during Adolescence
Framing Effects
Social Facilitation