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Causal complexity demands community coordination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2022

Beau Sievers
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138, USA. beau@beausievers.com; defilippis@g.harvard.edu
Evan DeFilippis
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138, USA. beau@beausievers.com; defilippis@g.harvard.edu

Abstract

Yarkoni's argument risks skepticism about the very possibility of social science: If social phenomena are too causally complex, normal scientific methods could not possibly untangle them. We argue that the problem of causal complexity is best approached at the level of scientific communities and institutions, not the modeling practices of individual scientists.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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