Scientific progress depends on researchers updating their beliefs when new evidence arises. McDiarmid and colleagues show that psychologists adjust their beliefs after seeing new results from a replication project. While updating is less than a Bayesian model would justify, it is not undermined by personal investment.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Open Science Collaboration. Science 349, aac4716 (2015).
Ioannidis, J. P. PLoS Med. 2, e124 (2005).
Simmons, J. P., Nelson, L. D. & Simonsohn, U. Psychol. Sci. 22, 1359–1366 (2011).
O’Connor, C. & Weatherall, J. O. Eur. J. Philos. Sci. 8, 855–875 (2018).
McDiarmid, A. Nat. Hum. Behav. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01220-7 (2021).
Fortunato, S. et al. Science 359, eaao0185 (2018).
Wasserstein, R. L., Schirm, A. L. & Lazar, N. A. Am. Stat. 73, 1–19 (2019).
Benjamin, D. J. et al. Nat. Hum. Behav. 2, 6–10 (2018).
Uhlmann, E. L. et al. Perspect. Psychol. Sci. 14, 711–733 (2019).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gordon, M., Pfeiffer, T. Can scientists change their minds?. Nat Hum Behav 5, 1598–1599 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01201-w
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01201-w