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Scientific Genius: A Psychology of Science

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This book focuses on the scientific method. Perhaps the most eye-catching analysis is that of scientific objectivity and tendentiousness. Simonton (p.15) writes about the dispassionate search for truth that supposedly characterizes science as follows: "...the bulk of the evidence suggests that few scientists are so well behaved. On the contrary, a provocative research literature has accumulated on the `confirmation bias' in human reasoning [Refs]. When faced with having to infer the principle underlying a sequence of events, people are not inclined to seek out information that contradicts a favored hypothesis but, rather, to gather the most confirmatory evidence that the circumstances will allow. Even when disconfirmatory data unexpectedly appear, they often are ignored as a minor exception to the accepted rule. Not only is there reason to believe that practicing scientists betray this confirmatory bias [Ref.], but those scientists most admired by their colleagues may also be those most dedicated to proving a cherished hypothesis or theory [Ref.]. The notion of the disinterested investigator calmly committed to pure induction and falsification is a myth [see also Ref.].