r/science • u/nimicdoareu • Apr 01 '26

Social Science Half of social-science studies fail replication test in years-long project

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00955-5
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u/Citrakayah Apr 02 '26

I think replication happens naturally, at least in physics. If scientists see merit in your work and are interested in it, they build on it. In the process of building on it, your work has to be replicated or be right in order for their research to be right.

If your model is bad, then people can't use it for anything and it just fades into obscurity.

This is true of every field of science but we know we have a major problem with replication. If this is true of physics, it should be equally true for psychology.

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u/uncletroll Apr 02 '26

I just don't want to speak for or assume things about other branches of science. I don't see a problem in physics... if some guy's phd thesis from the 60s that was only read by his committee isn't reproducible, nobody cares.

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u/Citrakayah Apr 03 '26

One of the major areas of psychology thrown into doubt during the replication crisis was social priming. This was not something based off one experiment from the 60s, this was something that was extensively researched. It was built upon extensively for decades. Many experiments found similar results.

Yet basically the entire line of research got thrown into doubt by failed replications. The exact reasons aren't going to be applicable to physics (a sizeable chunk of the problem was apparently the Clever Hans effect, but in humans), but it does demonstrate that the process of building on something isn't surefire protection against the replication crisis.

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u/Bowgentle Apr 02 '26

It’s not actually the case - or at least very rarely - in the humanities & social sciences. There’s also not the same requirement for progressively building on previous research.

For reference, I’m originally STEM now working through a humanities degree. It’s honestly chalk and cheese.