Replications
Bhalla & Proffitt (1999)
- Hill steepness judgement
- Backpack/no backpack
- Backpack makes a hill look steeper
But: Durgin et al. (2009):
Backpack effect depends on awareness → people are aware of the research goal. They think “I am
carrying a backpack, the researchers probably want me to
say that the hill is steep”
They replicated this experiment with a few adjustment, which made participants think that the
experiment was about muscle tension → The effect disappears.
Secrets are burdens
Slepian, Masicampo, Toosi, & Ambady (2012)
- Secrets are burdens
- Thinking of a secret weighs you down → The effect is physical (similar to carrying a real
backpack.
- Hypothesis: thinking of a big secret will make you estimate the hill as steeper compared to
when you are thinking of a small secret.
- Method:
- Rate pictures of a table, water bottle, park, and hill (for steepness, this is the variable
of interest, the rest are fillers).
- Results:
- Small secret: 33% slant
- Big secret: 48% slant
Replication
- Why: maybe participants were aware of the research goal.
- Larger sample
- Big/small recret
- 3 filler pictures and hill slant
- Funneled questionnaire about study purpose and strategy:
- Starting with broad questions, moving on to more specific questions as the
questionnaire goes on.
- People did not guess the purpose of the study.
- The original Slepian et al. (2012) findings could not be replicated
Publishing failure to replicate
It is possible, but it is hard and sometimes frustrating.
Science collaboration (2015)
Replication summary
- 100 studies
- effect sizes:
- original: .403
- replications: .197
- Significant (p < .05)
- Original: 97 studies
- Replication: 36 studies
Bhalla & Proffitt (1999)
- Hill steepness judgement
- Backpack/no backpack
- Backpack makes a hill look steeper
But: Durgin et al. (2009):
Backpack effect depends on awareness → people are aware of the research goal. They think “I am
carrying a backpack, the researchers probably want me to
say that the hill is steep”
They replicated this experiment with a few adjustment, which made participants think that the
experiment was about muscle tension → The effect disappears.
Secrets are burdens
Slepian, Masicampo, Toosi, & Ambady (2012)
- Secrets are burdens
- Thinking of a secret weighs you down → The effect is physical (similar to carrying a real
backpack.
- Hypothesis: thinking of a big secret will make you estimate the hill as steeper compared to
when you are thinking of a small secret.
- Method:
- Rate pictures of a table, water bottle, park, and hill (for steepness, this is the variable
of interest, the rest are fillers).
- Results:
- Small secret: 33% slant
- Big secret: 48% slant
Replication
- Why: maybe participants were aware of the research goal.
- Larger sample
- Big/small recret
- 3 filler pictures and hill slant
- Funneled questionnaire about study purpose and strategy:
- Starting with broad questions, moving on to more specific questions as the
questionnaire goes on.
- People did not guess the purpose of the study.
- The original Slepian et al. (2012) findings could not be replicated
Publishing failure to replicate
It is possible, but it is hard and sometimes frustrating.
Science collaboration (2015)
Replication summary
- 100 studies
- effect sizes:
- original: .403
- replications: .197
- Significant (p < .05)
- Original: 97 studies
- Replication: 36 studies
