Fear and Loathing in Psychology
Most psychologists despise the cancellers - but won't say so publicly
The precise harms presumed to conflict with academic freedom change over time - corrupting the youth, impiety, heresy, threats to human dignity - but the broader conflict between empirical assertions and community values is as old as philosophy itself… Pursuit of truth in the human behavioral sciences may be especially likely to spark moral outrage because the subjects - humans - are also the consumer.
-Cory Clark and co., 2024
In this post, I’d like to summarize a fascinating new paper by Cory Clark and colleagues titled “Taboos and Self-Censorship Among U.S. Psychology Professors.” The paper explores psychologists’ views on the taboo conclusions of their field and on whether controversial research should be restricted. It reveals that most psychologists self-censor on taboo topics, that most support research on these topics, and that most are highly contemptuous of those who seek to censor science for political reasons.
Political Bias and Research Taboos in Psychology
Psychologists have been having a tough time lately. Not only have we become the poster children for unreplicable research, but we’ve also developed something of a reputation for political bias.
From evolved sex differences to the sex binary, conclusions that clash with a progressive view of the world are commonly considered taboo in psychology. Scholars voicing such conclusions have faced online mobs, pejorative labels, and ostracism. Meanwhile, papers reporting taboo findings have been retracted for alleged flaws that are common in papers reporting non-taboo findings.
Often, these developments have met with little resistance from academics. Indeed, academics have often led the charge.
To outside observers - and even to psychologists themselves - it might appear that there’s a strong consensus within psychology that the field’s taboo views are false, and that censorship, cancellation, and retraction are acceptable responses to those views.
But what do psychologists really think? Are most on board with censoring controversial research and cancelling its proponents? And how do most psychologists feel about the cancellers in their midst?
These are the questions Cory Clark and colleagues set out to answer in their latest paper, published this month in Perspectives on Psychological Science.