Abstract
In the replication crisis in psychology, a “tone debate” has developed. It concerns the question of how to conduct scientific debate effectively and ethically. How should scientists give critique without unnecessarily damaging relations? The increasing use of Facebook and Twitter by researchers has made this issue especially pressing, as these social technologies have greatly expanded the possibilities for conversation between academics, but there is little formal control over the debate. In this article, we show that psychologists have tried to solve this issue with various codes of conduct, with an appeal to virtues such as humility, and with practices of self-transformation. We also show that the polemical style of debate, popular in many scientific communities, is itself being questioned by psychologists. Following Shapin and Schaffer’s analysis of the ethics of Robert Boyle’s experimental philosophy in the 17th century, we trace the connections between knowledge, social order, and subjectivity as they are debated and revised by present-day psychologists.
Highlights
The latest crisis in psychology is as much about ethics as it is about statistics and methodology
In the tone debate that is occurring in and with the community of reformers in psychology, the relations between knowledge, social order, and subjectivity are discussed and redefined
For the 21st century experimental psychologists, just as they were for the 17th century experimental philosophers, humility and civility are key virtues
Summary
The latest crisis in psychology is as much about ethics as it is about statistics and methodology. Reformers and their critics still discuss rules of conduct, as the debate intensified character and virtue have become more prominent issues.
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