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Psychology of the scientist: An analysis of problem-solving bias

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Abstract

The problem-solving skills of 30 Ph.D. scientists were compared to those of 15 conservative Protestant ministers. Of particular interest was the frequency with which these groups generated confirmatory (rather than disconfirmatory)experiments to test their hypotheses. Experimental results showed that—contrary to a popular assumption—the reasoning skills of the scientists were not significantly different from those of nonscientists. In this study, the ministers showed a longer latency to speculation and generated more experiments per hypothesis than did the scientists. These findings are discussed in terms of the psychology of the scientist.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pennsylvania State University, USA

    Michael J. Mahoney & Bobby G. DeMonbreun

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  1. Michael J. Mahoney
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  2. Bobby G. DeMonbreun
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Mahoney, M.J., DeMonbreun, B.G. Psychology of the scientist: An analysis of problem-solving bias. Cogn Ther Res 1, 229–238 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01186796

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01186796

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