SS#2 - Bem's Extra-Sensory Perception Bomb
Channel: Saving Democracy dot ca
Date: 2020-10-08

I observe additional strange practices and incidents conducting social psychology research. A small group of us become increasingly concerned. When eminent social psychologist Daryl Bem “shows” humans can “see into the future” via extra-sensory perception (“ESP”), it confirms our worst fear.

0:04:18 University-level dysfunctional incentives, publish tons or perish, quantity over quality, devastating PhD student publication "quotas"
0:11:42 Corporatization of universities by business-type people (e.g., MBAs) who don't necessarily have academic backgrounds, so easier to stray from its primary mission of higher learning and scholarship/research (which it **HAS** strayed from as we'll see; mission creep)
0:13:43 Ideological echo chamber in universities:
►Harvard University discrimination against Asians in the name of "diversity" (to ensure there aren't *too many* Asians on campus Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_federal_complaints_against_Harvard_University's_alleged_discriminatory_admission_practices )
►"Group performance equity" more important than individual-level meritocracy, which is inconsistent with basic Enlightenment values of reason, individual liberty, science, and due process. 
0:22:25 Eindhoven University not allowing men to apply for professor position for first 6 months (official tweet: https://twitter.com/tueindhoven/status/1140873856900632576 )! At a conference, a male researcher questions the soundness of Eindhoven U's sexist affirmative action policy. Someone then "reports" him for violating the conference's "code of conduct", & he is forced into a "meeting" to discuss the incident. He decides to leave the conference society due to ordeal (& increasing political course society is on).
0:24:43 Academia should be the last place to censor speech, must cultivate skill of debating ideas, inviting criticisms no matter how unpleasant or "offensive"; open/public exchange of ideas is the only way effective way to identify & fight against bad ideas (e.g., neo-nazism, genocide, etc.)
0:27:48 Growing concern regarding the techniques we were being trained to use to do social psychology research; We were then mocked by other students/profs for demanding overly "idealistic" research standards; Profs were lukewarm/complacent about our interest in higher research standards; We then learned through back channels (& at conferences) that most other researchers at most other universities were also growing increasingly concerned. (& indeed in all other fields, see http://bulliedintobadscience.org/ for a list of over 150 signatories from every imaginable field of study.)
0:36:02 Daryl Bem's bomb:
►Bem reports seemingly compelling evidence, across 9 studies following accepted research standards at the time, suggesting humans have "premonition" or "extra-sensory perception" (ESP) abilities!
►Publicly embarrassing for psychology as a professional field (see James Alcock's devastating post-mortem, https://skepticalinquirer.org/2011/03/back-from-the-future-parapsychology-and-the-bem-affair/ April 2011)
►Then damage control, and "fearing our future" fate as a field with respect to replicability rates & changes in research standards
►But then different labs initiate Bem replications, and rumors spread regarding other important methods papers in the works, it's exciting to be a scientist again! 
Time-traveling porn on Colbert report: http://www.cc.com/video-playlists/kw3fj0/the-opposition-with-jordan-klepper-welcome-to-the-opposition-w--jordan-klepper/bhf8jv (requires USA IP address)
0:51:29 Faux skepticism: Skeptical enough to appear "rigorous", but not so skeptical that you're perceived as a "difficult person".
0:54:41 Still recovering from the aftermath/shock waves of Bem's bomb, social psychology is hit with another huge scandal: 
►Diederik Stapel, Dutch social psychologist, commits fraud in 55+ papers for almost 20 years, another big blow for social psychology (which is still third largest fraud case in history of science; Tilberg U fraud investigation final report https://tinyurl.com/y9f9aard)
1:06:39 Swell of grassroots transparency & replication initiatives initiated to increase transparency and encourage the conduct of replications.  Highly exciting times to be a scientist, given that we'll raise research standards (& change social norms) forever!

In this video series, I attempt to answer the question "Does academic science need to be saved?" by telling stories of my strange adventures & experiences in academia. I then relate those observations to objective peer-reviewed evidence.

Dr. LeBel is a psychologist & independent meta-scientist who has contributed to raising transparency & replication standards in academia for more than 10 years.
https://etiennelebel.com
https://twitter.com/eplebel
https://CurateScience.org
Media inquiries curatescience@gmail.com
Partially funded by European Commission Marie-Curie grant #793669

#openScience #replicationCrisis #reproducibilityCrisis