Chapter 39: Exercises

Comprehension Check

1. Name five well-established findings in psychology that have survived the replication crisis. 2. Name three genuinely unresolved questions where honest scholars disagree. 3. What is the WEIRD bias, and why does it limit the generalizability of psychology findings? 4. Why is the "nothing in psychology is real" response to the replication crisis as wrong as the "everything is true" response? 5. Complete the calibration exercise from the chapter. How well-calibrated are you?

Application

6. For each of your 10 Fact-Check Portfolio claims, assign a final evidence rating with a justification and confidence level. 7. Compare your initial confidence ratings (Chapter 1) to your final ratings. What changed most? What surprised you? 8. Identify three claims you believed before reading this book that you've updated. For each: what was the evidence that changed your mind? 9. Identify one claim you believed before that the evidence supports. Why was it satisfying to learn the evidence confirms (rather than debunks) something you already believed? 10. Teach someone the calibration exercise. Have them rate the same 10 statements. Compare their ratings to yours.

Critical Thinking

11. The chapter distinguishes "well-established" from "genuinely uncertain." Is this distinction clear enough, or does it oversimplify the continuum of confidence? 12. Psychology's WEIRD bias means most findings may not generalize globally. Should psychology findings be labeled with their population limitations? 13. The "theory crisis" suggests psychology produces findings without building theories. How would better theories improve the field? 14. If the replication crisis has been addressed through reforms, should consumers trust new findings more than old ones? How do you calibrate trust across eras? 15. This chapter presents a "calibrated" view of psychology. Is perfect calibration possible, or is some systematic error inevitable?

Fact-Check Portfolio

16. Complete your final portfolio assessment. All 10 claims should now have: final evidence rating, justification, confidence level, and comparison to initial rating.