When Falsification Fails
Citation:
Garavan, H., Doherty, M. E., Mynatt, C. R. `When Falsification Fails? in The Irish Journal of Psychology, 18, (3), 1998, pp 267 - 292Download Item:
Garavan IJP98.pdf (published (author copy) peer-reviewed) 304.5Kb
Abstract:
This study investigated the effectiveness of a falsification logic at early and late stages
of the hypothesis testing process. The subject's task was to discover the "laws of motion"
in a computerized Artificial Universe. Twenty science students, after detailed
instructions on hypothesis testing, worked independently on the task in the presence of
the experimenter. Subjects who were instructed to generate multiple hypotheses and
follow a falsification logic did significantly worse than those receiving no such
instructions. The manipulation of the early and late knowledge stages had no effect,
apparently because few subjects attended to the information intended to put them into an
advanced state of knowledge. A combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses
suggested the following generalizations. 1. While falsifiability may be a useful criterion
for demarcating science from non-science, the deliberate attempt to use falsification may
be counterproductive in complex environments. 2. The use of a falsification logic may
simply be beyond the cognitive capacity of people in complex environments; it is very
difficult to try to prove something false that one believes true. 3. The use of metaphors
and analogies, largely precluded from functionality in most laboratory reasoning tasks,
appears spontaneous and useful in richer environments. 4. In complex environments, it is
evident that a richer classification scheme for the types of hypothesis tests than currently
accepted may be required.
Author's Homepage:
http://people.tcd.ie/garavanhDescription:
PUBLISHED
Author: GARAVAN, HUGH PATRICK
Publisher:
The Psychological Society of IrelandType of material:
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Series/Report no:
The Irish Journal of Psychology18
3
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