
Meta-analysis finds little evidence for the Macbeth effect - laurex
https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/11/16/another-social-psychology-classic-bites-the-dust-meta-analysis-finds-little-evidence-for-the-macbeth-effect/amp
======
symplee
And the Replication crisis continues... [1]

Seems like the big secret is small initial sample sizes. For example, the
original three Macbeth studies: 60, 27, 32. Later tried with N=153, 148, 266,
210, etc. and surprise surprise...

Another example, the "Power posing will make you act bolder" study, originally
with only N=42. Later tried with N=200 by researchers at the Univirsity of
Zurich, and the effect disappeared.

And the list goes on [2]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis)
[2] [https://digest.bps.org.uk/2016/09/16/ten-famous-
psychology-f...](https://digest.bps.org.uk/2016/09/16/ten-famous-psychology-
findings-that-its-been-difficult-to-replicate/)

------
geedy
Is there a place where major scientific findings are searchable to easily see
the level of evidence supporting, whether they have been replicated, etc?

~~~
nonbel
No, the best you can do is a find a recent review article.

Only rarely will you find direct replications in the case of medical and
social research though, so as a heuristic you can just assume the evidence for
everything is weak.

Also, this reminds me of that paper where they "discovered" that if you spray
fart smell in a room that people are more disgusted by the thought of a guy
rubbing "his bare genitals along the kitten’s body".
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2562923/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2562923/)

------
yboris
I wish that rather than being shown alphabetically, the image would show a
funnel plot
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funnel_plot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funnel_plot))

------
muthdra
Deep down, I think I've always known it. There's no way the whole theater will
come down just because you mention the play.

------
FiveSquared
*her

