Extra-scientific Factors Research Articles

The Sociotechnical Construction of Distrust during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

What were the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on trust in public health information, and what can be done to rebuild trust in public health authorities? This essay synthesizes insights from science and technology studies, information studies, and bioethics to explore sociotechnical factors that may have contributed to the breakdown of trust in public health information during the Covid-19 pandemic. The field of science and technology studies lays out the dynamic nature of facts, helping to explain rapid shifts in public health messaging during Covid-19 and reasons they produced a lack of trust in public health authorities. The information field looks at how facts are sociotechnically constructed through systems of classification, illustrating how extrascientific factors influence public health authorities. Putting these perspectives alongside bioethics principles raises additional factors to consider. The goal of this essay is to learn from past failures to point toward a brighter future where trust in public health authorities can be rebuilt, not on faith, but rather through striving for calibrated trust within which, through a virtuous circle, trust is validated.

Глобальные научные проекты

The article examines a set of scientific projects referred to the study of the prehistoric period of the Earth and the resurrection of extinct animal species using the characteristics of a global scientific project developed by I.T. Kasavin. The author reveals the unobvious connections between scientific and extra-scientific factors (such as media, utopianism, the influence of cultural paradigms, etc.), in particular, the influence of such scientific and cultural trends as posthumanism and global evolutionism was shown. The paradoxical nature of this set of projects is reflected by prospects and advantages associated with its implementation, what can be explained by the significant ideological and psychological component in its composition. The author considers the Pleistocene park in Yakutia awaiting its settlement by “resurrected” mammoths, as a Russian example of a global scientific project belonging to this direction. In addition to the identified by I.T. Kasavin characteristics the author proposes such a property of the global scientific and engineering project as the scientific and sociotechnical imaginary. The author briefly discusses a concept of the sociotechnical imaginaries in the context of the works by Sh. Jasanoff. As well the author consideres the scientific imagination (the concept of which is still based on Jasanoff’s ideas) and its role in science diplomacy using the work of S. Robinson. Finally the article concludes about the problematic points of using the concept of imaginaries in the study of science and technology (vagueness, inconsistency, lack of elaboration, if any possible) and makes a comparison of this concept with the idea of a global scientific project.

On Low-Value Nursing Care: Part 2, De-implementing Practices in Your Unit.

On Low-Value Nursing Care: Part 2, De-implementing Practices in Your Unit.

The social construction of the social epigenome and the larger biological context

Epigenetics researchers in developmental, cell, and molecular biology greatly diverge in their understanding and definitions of epigenetics. In contrast, social epigeneticists, e.g., sociologists, scholars of STS, and behavioural scientists, share a focus and definition of epigenetics that is environmentally caused and trans-generationally inherited. This article demonstrates that this emphasis on the environment and on so-called Lamarckian inheritance, in addition to other factors, reflects an interdisciplinary power struggle with genetics, in which epigenetics appears to grant the social sciences a higher epistemic status. Social scientists’ understanding of epigenetics, thus, appears in part to be socially constructed, i.e., the result of extra-scientific factors, such as social processes and the self-interest of the discipline. This article argues that social epigeneticists make far-reaching claims by selecting elements from research labelled epigenetics in biology while ignoring widely confirmed scientific facts in genetics and cell biology, such as the dependence of epigenetic marks on DNA sequence-specific events, or the lack of evidence for the lasting influence of the environment on epigenetic marks or the epigenome. Moreover, they treat as a given crucial questions that are far from resolved, such as what role, if any, DNA methylation plays in the complex biochemical system of regulating gene activity. The article also points out incorrect perceptions and media hypes among biological epigeneticists and calls attention to an apparent bias among scientific journals that prefer papers that promote transgenerational epigenetic inheritance over articles that critique it. The article concludes that while research labelled epigenetics contributes significantly to our knowledge about chromatin and the genome, it does not, as is often claimed, rehabilitate Lamarck or overthrow the fundamental biological principles of gene regulation, which are based on specific regulatory sequences of the genome.

Meaningful yet useless? Factors behind the retention of questionable concepts in human geography

ABSTRACTThe concepts ‘rural’ and ‘urban’ have long been criticized by geographers for their lack of analytical and explanatory power, yet have remained a vital source for conceptual guidance in human geography. Realizing that the continued use of questionable concepts inadvertently runs the risk of compromising communication, misdirecting resources and downgrading social theory, the current status of ‘rural/urban’ creates a paradoxical epiphenomenon of progress-making in geography. We disentangle this paradox in two dimensions. Firstly, we show how a conflation between meaning and utility is what renders us desensitized to the problem. Secondly, we outline 12 extra-scientific factors likely to actuate the binary’s persistent retention. We finally sketch a sensuous template set out to minimize its undesired impact. We concede that the confusion surrounding ‘rural/urban’ in human geography cannot be understood unless the influence of extra-scientific factors is fully taken into account, revealing the concepts’ vestigiality. This, we argue, is the only way forward if we truly want to embrace the rationale of the scientific approach. The principal contribution of our paper is laying the groundwork for this particularly underresearched dimension of ‘rural/urban’ amidst an exceptionally rich conceptual literature on what ‘rural/urban’ ‘are’ or ‘mean’.

Human Geography and the hinterland: The case of Torsten Hägerstrand’s ‘belated’ recognition

AbstractSeeing Human Geography as a nexus of temporally oscillating concepts, this paper investigates the dissemination of scientific ideas with a focus on extra-scientific factors. While scientific progress is usually evaluated in terms of intellectual achievement of the individual researcher, geographers tend to forget about the external factors that tacitly yet critically contribute to knowledge production. While these externalities are well-documented in the natural sciences, social sciences have not yet seen comparable scrutiny. Using Torsten Hägerstrand’s rise to prominence as a concrete example, we explore this perspective in a social-science case – Human Geography. Applying an STS (Science and Technology Studies) approach, we depart from a model of science as socially-materially contingent, with special focus on three extra-scientific factors: community norms, materiality and the political climate. These factors are all important in order for knowledge to be disseminated into the hinterland of Human Geography. We conclude it is these types of conditions that in practice escape the relativism of representation.

Using science, making policy: what should we worry about?

How does science enter policy making, and for what purpose? Surely consulting scientific facts in making policy is done with a view to making policy decisions more reliable, and ultimately more objective. In this paper I address the way/s by which science contributes to achieving objectivity in policy making and social debate, and argue that objectivity is not exhausted by what scientific evidence contributes to either. In policy making and social debates, scientific evidence is taken into account alongside other relevant factors (political, social, economic, ethical, etc.). Such complex contexts of practical interaction constitute a challenge both for the objectivity of scientific evidence (how far should science let extra-scientific factors interfere with scientific facts, without endangering the objectivity of evidence?), and for the objectivity of the role of the scientist in the policy-making process (is he/she only to inform policy, and only on matters of scientific evidence? Or should they also ultimately advise on what to do, running the risk of becoming partial on matters of evidence?) I analyse a case study - the ongoing debate over the spread of bovine TB in the UK - that displays some of the worries and several of the aspects we ought to keep in mind when we bring scientific objectivity to bear on social debate and policy making. I argue in favour of a picture where scientific objectivity enters a productive and effective dialogue with practical objectivity.

The Content of Science Debate in the Historiography of the Scientific Revolution

ABSTRACTThe issue of internalism and externalism in historiography of science was intensely debated two decades ago. The conclusions of such debate on the ‘context of science’ appear to be a reinstatement of the positivist view of the ‘content of science’ as comprising only ideas and concepts uninfluenced by extra-scientific factors. The description of the roles of politics, economy, and socio-cultural factors in science was limited only within the ‘context of science’. This article seeks to resituate the ‘content of science’ debate within the historical accounts of the Scientific Revolution to illustrate that their resort to historicism indicates that such content does not emerge from the void. It argues that, though some historicist accounts like Alexandre Koyré’s reinstate the positivist argument on the nature of the ‘content of science’, such historicist internalism greatly differs from positivist internalism, largely due to its acceptance of metaphysics in science. Therefore, as long as historicism is relied on to describe the content of science, a clear-cut distinction of the historicist internalism and externalism will be difficult to establish.

Las revoluciones de Thomas Kuhn, una mirada discontinuista

Resumen Se discuten algunas divergencias entre La revolución copernicana (1957) y La estructura de las revoluciones científicas (1962), de Thomas Kuhn. Se muestra que presentan una consideración diferente de los factores extracientíficos, que tienen en la primera un peso explicativo mayor. Se propone que en 1957 Kuhn maneja una historiografía casuística, centrada en la revolución copernicana, y en 1962 una historiografía estructural, centrada en los rasgos invariantes de las revoluciones científicas. Se concluye que las diferencias entre las dos obras son lo suficientemente profundas como para no considerarlas expresión de una misma visión de la ciencia.

Personality disorders and the DSM-5: Scientific and extra-scientific factors in the maintenance of the status quo.

The aim of this study was to review and discuss the evidence for dimensional classification of personality disorders and the historical and sociological bases of psychiatric nosology and research. Categorical and dimensional conceptualisations of personality disorder are reviewed, with a focus on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-system's categorisation and the Five-Factor Model of personality. This frames the events leading up to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition, personality disorder debacle, where the implementation of a hybrid model was blocked in a last-minute intervention by the American Psychiatric Association Board of Trustees. Explanations for these events are discussed, including the existence of invisible colleges of researchers and the fear of risking a 'scientific revolution' in psychiatry. A failure to recognise extra-scientific factors at work in classification of mental illness can have a profound and long-lasting influence on psychiatric nosology. In the end it was not scientific factors that led to the failure of the hybrid model of personality disorders, but opposing forces within the mental health community in general and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition, Task Force in particular. Substantial evidence has accrued over the past decades in support of a dimensional model of personality disorders. The events surrounding the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition, Personality and Personality Disorders Work Group show the difficulties in reconciling two different worldviews with a hybrid model. They also indicate the future of a psychiatric nosology that will be increasingly concerned with dimensional classification of mental illness. As such, the road is paved for more substantial changes to personality disorder classification in the International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision, in 2017.

The visual cliff's forgotten menagerie: rats, goats, babies, and myth-making in the history of psychology.

Eleanor Gibson and Richard Walk's famous visual cliff experiment is one of psychology's classic studies, included in most introductory textbooks. Yet the famous version which centers on babies is actually a simplification, the result of disciplinary myth-making. In fact the visual cliff's first subjects were rats, and a wide range of animals were tested on the cliff, including chicks, turtles, lambs, kid goats, pigs, kittens, dogs, and monkeys. The visual cliff experiment was more accurately a series of experiments, employing varying methods and a changing apparatus, modified to test different species. This paper focuses on the initial, nonhuman subjects of the visual cliff, resituating the study in its original experimental logic, connecting it to the history of comparative psychology, Gibson's interest in comparative psychology, as well as gender-based discrimination. Recovering the visual cliff's forgotten menagerie helps to counter the romanticization of experimentation by focusing on the role of extrascientific factors, chance, complexity, and uncertainty in the experimental process.

"Entrenched practices and other biases": unpacking the historical, economic, professional, and social resistance to de-implementation.

BackgroundIn their article on “Evidence-based de-implementation for contradicted, unproven, and aspiring healthcare practices,” Prasad and Ioannidis (IS 9:1, 2014) referred to extra-scientific “entrenched practices and other biases” that hinder evidence-based de-implementation.DiscussionUsing the case example of the de-implementation of radical mastectomy, we disaggregated “entrenched practices and other biases” and analyzed the historical, economic, professional, and social forces that presented resistance to de-implementation. We found that these extra-scientific factors operated to sustain a commitment to radical mastectomy, even after the evidence slated the procedure for de-implementation, because the factors holding radical mastectomy in place were beyond the control of individual clinicians.SummaryWe propose to expand de-implementation theory through the inclusion of extra-scientific factors. If the outcome to which we aim is appropriate and timely de-implementation, social scientific analysis will illuminate the context within which the healthcare practitioner practices and, in doing so, facilitate de-implementation by pointing to avenues that lead to systems change. The implications of our analysis lead us to contend that intervening in the broader context in which clinicians work—the social, political, and economic realms—rather than focusing on healthcare professionals’ behavior, may indeed be a fruitful approach to effect change.

‘From Man to Bacteria’: W.D. Hamilton, the theory of inclusive fitness, and the post-war social order

W.D. Hamilton's theory of inclusive fitness aimed to define the evolved limits of altruism with mathematical precision. Although it was meant to apply universally, it has been almost irretrievably entwined with the particular case of social insects that featured in his famous 1964 papers. The assumption that social insects were central to Hamilton's early work contradicts material in his rich personal archive. In fact, careful study of Hamilton's notes, letters, diaries, and early essays indicates the extent to which he had humans in mind when he decided altruism was a topic worthy of biological inquiry. For this reason, this article reconsiders the role of extra-scientific factors in Hamilton's early theorizing. In doing so, it offers an alternative perspective as to why Hamilton saw self-sacrifice to be an important subject. Although the traditional narrative prioritizes his distaste for benefit-of-the-species explanations as a motivating factor behind his foundational work, I argue that greater attention ought to be given to Hamilton's hope that science could be used to address social ills. By reconsidering the meaning Hamilton intended inclusive fitness to have, we see that while he was no political ideologue, the socio-political relevance of his theory was nevertheless integral to its development.

A problematic social science approach to the study of climate science

Myanna Lahsen is concerned about the backlash to climate policy triggered by Climategate in 2009. To counteract such backlash in the future she recommends more symmetrical studies of the social aspects of climate science. There is a need to study distorting extrascientific factors on standard climate science. The study of climate “deniers” or “contrarians” as inMerchants of Doubt (Oreskes and Conway 2010) is not enough. There is a “dominance of idealized understandings of science” on both sides in the climate debates, and this makes the public “vulnerable to backlash campaigns,” claims Lahsen (2013). And this widespread misunderstanding needs to be revealed before political progress can be made. However, she is not clear on what these “idealized understandings” are. Is there, for instance, a “tendency on the part of IPCC scientists and sympathizing academics analysts to uphold climate science as unassailable and purged of the imprint of social processes that create it.”And is it common among climate scientists to hold a “scientific fundamentalism” that sees “science as an objective authority that operates separately from particularities of culture and politics”? All scientific knowledge is uncertain and preliminary, likely to be revised in the future. This insight was clearly articulated by the end of the 19th century. Since then it has become widely accepted both in the history and philosophy of science and among most working scientists. However, this fundamental uncertainty does not prevent empirical science from producing highly reliable knowledge. “Truths” as we say in daily discourse. Lahsen apparently accepts IPCC’s conclusions on ACC (anthropogenic climate change) as a sound basis for climate policy. There is a scientifically well-founded difference between mainstream climate science and the controversial claims of the contrarians. Lahsen takes the idea of “co-production” of science and society to be a suitable basis for the new deal needed in studies of climate science and politics. In recent decades a large body of theoretical and empirical scholarly literature has shown how “science is internally heterogeneous and inextricably interlinked and co-produced with society,” she writes. But, once again, this was hardly a new insight of the new wave of science studies starting in the 1970s (Jasanoff 2004). The social dependence of scientific knowledge, and the political threat to sound science, was at the center of the research programmes of logical empiricists and critical rationalists in the 1930s to 1950s. Such questions were also central through the Climatic Change (2013) 119:561–563 DOI 10.1007/s10584-013-0778-4

Normalizing the supernormal: the formation of the "Gesellschaft für Psychologische Forschung" ("Society for Psychological Research"), C. 1886-1890.

This paper traces the formation of the German “Gesellschaft für psychologische Forschung” (“Society for Psychological Research”), whose constitutive branches in Munich and Berlin were originally founded as inlets for alternatives to Wundtian experimental psychology from France and England, that is, experimental researches into hypnotism and alleged supernormal phenomena. By utilizing the career trajectories of Max Dessoir and Albert von Schrenck-Notzing as founding members of the “Gesellschaft,” this paper aims to open up novel perspectives regarding extra-scientific factors involved in historically determining the epistemological and methodological boundaries of nascent psychology in Germany.

Energy and buildings research: challenges from the new production of knowledge

The current state and future challenges of energy and buildings research are explored from the perspective of the social study of science. Major trends in knowledge production are considered for practices within current energy and buildings research. New forms of knowledge production hold the potential to provide clearer strategies to overcome barriers between researchers and practitioners. These are investigated through an explorative survey of researchers based on their own accounts of energy and buildings research, their expectations of future challenges, and their perceptions of ‘good’ science. Two sets of challenges from knowledge production arise for building energy research. First, with an increasing focus on environmental and other impacts of the research, the framing and definition of these extra-scientific factors will become a significant challenge for researchers. Second, as buildings become simultaneously more complex and more connected, the already existing need for the integration of different kinds of expertise will increase further. L'état actuel et les défis futurs de la recherche en matière d'énergie et de bâtiments sont examinés du point de vue de l'étude sociale des sciences. Les principales tendances de la production de savoir sont envisagées sous l'angle des pratiques existant dans les recherches actuelles sur l'énergie et les bâtiments. De nouvelles formes de production de savoir offrent la possibilité de fournir des stratégies plus claires pour surmonter les barrières entre chercheurs et praticiens. Celles-ci sont étudiées au moyen d'une enquête exploratoire conduite auprès des chercheurs, basée sur leurs propres récits des recherches menées sur l'énergie et les bâtiments, sur les défis futurs qu'ils prévoient, et sur leurs perceptions de la « bonne » science. Deux séries de défis posés par la production de savoir découlent des recherches sur l'énergie dans le bâtiment. Tout d'abord, en mettant davantage l'accent sur les incidences environnementales et autres de la recherche, l'encadrement et la définition de ces facteurs extra-scientifiques deviendront un défi considérable pour les chercheurs. Deuxièmement, au fur et à mesure que les bâtiments gagnent simultanément en complexité et en connectivité, le besoin déjà existant d'intégrer différents types de compétences augmentera encore. Mots clés: bâtiments, énergie, collaboration interdisciplinaire, production de savoir, programme de recherche, science, durabilité

From the Editor's Desk

This Annals issue includes articles on the history of cybernetics. Specifically, Ronald Kline focuses on the famed Dartmouth Conference on Artificial Intelligence in 1956, and Philipp Aumann looks at extra-scientific factors and the cultures of various disciplines in a history of cybernetics in West Germany. Other features in this issue research software engineering in Japan, Czech scientific computation in crystallography, and retail industry software applications in Finland. EIC Jeff Yost also reviews the recent media coverage on the Annals article by Jonathan G. Koomey and his colleagues published in the last issue (vol. 33, no. 3, 2011, pp. 46–54). Finally, in his last issue as EIC, Jeff Yost thanks the Annals editorial board and staff for their work in maintaining the high-quality scholarship in every issue.

The Distinctiveness of a Unifying Science: Cybernetics' Way to West Germany

As it spread into different countries, cybernetics was shaped by the tensions between international networks of scientists and national restrictions set by political, social, and cultural influences. Such extra-scientific factors caused a huge variability in cybernetic applications. This article examines the evolution of cybernetics in West Germany as both a cultural and scientific-technological phenomenon.

Diagnostic politics: the curious case of Kanner’s syndrome

The consensus US (not European) narrative regarding diagnosis and aetiology of autism posits that misguided 'parent-blaming' psychogenic causes were supplanted due to solid research proving the presence of organic causes.Yet, upon scrutiny, it is questionable that the high-functioning, often high-IQ minority--about 15% of those labelled autistic--whose condition Kanner in 1943 first dubbed 'infantile autism' were absorbed into the 'autistic spectrum' on the basis of scientific evidence. Extra-scientific factors must be addressed in order to understand the status of the category today.

Risk and Systems Theory

The last few decades have seen increasingly widespread use of risk assessment and management techniques as aids in making complex decisions. However, despite the progress that has been made in risk science, there still remain numerous examples of risk-based decisions and conclusions that have caused great controversy. In particular, there is a great deal of debate surrounding risk assessment: the role of values and ethics and other extra-scientific factors, the efficacy of quantitative versus qualitative analysis, and the role of uncertainty and incomplete information. Many of the epistemological and methodological issues confronting risk assessment have been explored in general systems theory, where techniques exist to manage such issues. However, the use of systems theory and systems analysis tools is still not widespread in risk management. This article builds on the Alachlor risk assessment case study of Brunk, Haworth, and Lee to present a systems-based view of the risk assessment process. The details of the case study are reviewed and the authors' original conclusions regarding the effects of extra-scientific factors on risk assessment are discussed. Concepts from systems theory are introduced to provide a mechanism with which to illustrate these extra-scientific effects The role of a systems study within a risk assessment is explained, resulting in an improved view of the problem formulation process The consequences regarding the definition of risk and its role in decision making are then explored.