Systemic Bias

In 1959 statistician Theodore Sterling examined the results of psychological studies and discovered that 97% of them supported their initial hypotheses, implying a possible publication bias.[1][2][3]Similarly, Fanelli (2010)[4] found that 91.5% of psychiatry/psychology studies confirmed the effects they were looking for, and concluded that the odds of this happening (a positive result) was around five times higher than in fields such as space- or geosciences. Fanelli argues that this is because researchers in "softer" sciences have fewer constraints to their conscious and unconscious biases.In 2010, a group of researchers reported a systemic bias in psychology studies towards WEIRD ("western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic") subjects.[5] Although only 1/8 people worldwide fall into the WEIRD classification, the researchers claimed that 60–90% of psychology studies are performed on WEIRD subjects. The article gave examples of results that differ significantly between WEIRD subjects and tribal cultures, including the Müller-Lyer illusion.


Foot Notes

1.  Arjo Klamer, Robert M. Solow, Donald N. McCloskey (1989). The Consequences of economic rhetoric. Cambridge University Press. pp. 173–74. ISBN 978-0-521-34286-5.
2.  Lehrer, Jonah (13 December 2010). "The Truth Wears Off". The New Yorker. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
3.  Sterling, Theodore D. (March 1959). "Publication decisions and their possible effects on inferences drawn from tests of significance—or vice versa". Journal of the American Statistical Association 54(285): 30–34. doi:10.2307/2282137. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
4.  Fanelli, Daniele (2010). Enrico Scalas, ed. "'Positive' Results Increase Down the Hierarchy of the Sciences". PLoS ONE 5 (4): e10068. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010068. PMC 2850928.PMID 20383332. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
5.  The WEIRDest people in the world? Henrich, J., Heine, S., & Norenzayan, A. 
6. (2011). Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33, 61–135.

Saw this and thought it was weird.
posted ‎Saturday, ‎March ‎14, ‎2015 @22:50:00 UTC
See how fast it plummets off of Page 1.

73, Jay - NO5J