Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T07:46:17.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Political homogeneity can nurture threats to research validity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2015

John R. Chambers
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO 63108. [email protected]://johnchambersslu.weebly.com/
Barry R. Schlenker
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-2250. [email protected]://www.psych.ufl.edu/~schlenkr/

Abstract

Political homogeneity within a scientific field nurtures threats to the validity of many research conclusions by allowing ideologically compatible values to influence interpretations, by minimizing skepticism, and by creating premature consensus. Although validity threats can crop in any research, the usual corrective activities in science are more likely to be minimized and delayed.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Chambers, J. R., Schlenker, B. R. & Collisson, B. (2013) Ideology and prejudice: The role of value conflicts. Psychological Science 24(2):140–49.Google Scholar
Kay, A. C. & Jost, J. T. (2003) Complementary justice: Effects of “poor but happy” and “poor but honest” stereotype exemplars on system justification and implicit activation of the justice motive. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 85:823–37.Google Scholar
Napier, J. L. & Jost, J. T. (2008) Why are conservatives happier than liberals? Psychological Science 19(6):565–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schlenker, B. R., Chambers, J. R. & Le, B. M. (2012) Conservatives are happier than liberals, but why? Political ideology, personality, and life satisfaction. Journal of Research in Personality 46:127–46.Google Scholar
Sniderman, P. M. & Tetlock, P. E. (1986) Symbolic racism: Problems of motive attribution in political analysis. Journal of Social Issues 42:129–50.Google Scholar
Zuriff, G. E. (2002) Inventing racism. The Public Interest 128:114–28.Google Scholar