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One could equally ask the question, "Are Republicans Biased against Social Psychology"? Social conservatism generally seeks to preserve existing power relation
by gress 12y ago
One could equally ask the question, "Are Republicans Biased against Social Psychology"?
Social conservatism generally seeks to preserve existing power relationships. Science is about discovering new understanding.
Unless we've already passed the peak of understanding of the human condition and factored that into our politics (which is an implication of conservatism), social psychology will keep challenging conservatives.
Political views are not just different flavors. They have structural implications about what ideas one is willing to entertain. It would be much more disturbing if there was not bias here.
- JackFr 12y ago> Social conservatism generally seeks to preserve existing power relationships. Science is about discovering new understanding. The lack of self awareness on HN is profound. Sure, confirmation bias exists, but that's mostly a problem for other guys, not me.
- Florin_Andrei 12y ago"Everyone is stupid, except me." - Homer Simpson
- gress 12y agoYou are going to need to explain. Those statements are definitional. If you are trying to assert that scientists also seek to preserve their own power, this is true. However the point here is that social conservatism is opposed to the project of social psychology, not its biases.
- kenjackson 12y agoThis seems like the most obvious line of reasoning, I'm shocked it really isn't mentioned in the article. It would be like asking for the split of ideologies for people writing articles in "Handgun Today". The very nature of the field implies an ideology.
- jiggy2011 12y agoScience should explore new ideas and understandings, but at the same time it should be critical of them. Therefor scientists should be as neutral as possible, but humans are very bad at being neutral. So the counterbalance to that is to try to balance out the biases.