Open Minded Psychology

Abstract

Psychology is a young and dynamic scientific discipline, which has a history of closely scrutinizing its own methods. For example, in the sixties, experimental psychology improved its methods after researchers became aware of the experimenter effect, that is, experimenters may inadvertently influence experimental outcomes (Kintz et al. 1965). The introduction of new technologies such as neuroimaging in the late nineties also raised several unique methodological issues (e.g. reverse inferences and double dipping: Poldrack, 2006; Kriegeskorte et al., 2009). Finally, debating and improving our statistical toolbox has always been an integral part of the field: many psychology departments have methods departments