Scientists should report results with intellectual humility. Here’s how

From Sujata Gupta on Science News.org (Oct. 28, 2021):

In the children’s chapter book series Zoey and Sassafras, which my own two kids adore, young Zoey has to work out how to save magical creatures with mysterious injuries and ailments. Zoey’s scientist mother teaches her the basics of running an experiment: Observe, hypothesize, test and conclude. Throughout the series, Zoey learns that failed experiments, while disappointing, are simply part of the scientific process.

Schoolteachers similarly encourage most budding scientists to be open to making mistakes and refining ideas — to be like Zoey. In theory, then, this humble thinking should remain foundational as students become established scientists. Yet, in an October 28 commentary in Nature Human Behaviour, psychologists Rink Hoekstra and Simine Vazire argue that the practice of science, particularly the process of publishing findings in scientific journals, is far from this “tell it as it is” style. It’s more arrogant.

“I think implicitly we are taught to brag about our results,” says Hoekstra, of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

Hoekstra and Vazire, of the University of Melbourne in Australia, propose scientists should be willing to acknowledge that they might be wrong, what psychologists call “intellectual humility.” This humble approach extends beyond transparency, the authors write. “Owning our limitations … entails a commitment to foregrounding them, taking them seriously, and accepting their consequences.”

Psychologists have shown that intellectual humility helps people learn for the sake of learning, has the potential to reduce political polarization and encourages people to interrogate news stories for misinformation.

A humble approach could also help restore faith in the social sciences. The field has been in a state of crisis for about a decade as researchers have repeatedly tried and failed to replicate original research. That ongoing crisis has prompted soul-searching among many scientists. In 2016, personality psychologist Julia Rohrer launched the Loss-of-Confidence Project, which asked researchers to submit work they no longer believed in, along with a detailed explanation for their changed position. While publicly discrediting one’s own work is retroactive, intellectual humility in science would be proactive — a way for researchers to avoid common pitfalls from the get-go, says Rohrer, of the University of Leipzig in Germany.

Because scientists’ careers often hinge on publishing research papers in top-tier journals, Hoekstra says, they can feel pressure to exaggerate their findings. Scientists might hype the novelty of a study, tinker with statistics to obscure uncertainties in the data, gloss over failed experiments or imply that theoretical results are closer to real-life application than they actually are. Problematically, Hoekstra says, the publication process rewards this behavior. Journal editors and paper reviewers who green-light studies tend to prioritize clear narratives over more nuanced ones.

Change needs to start with those gatekeepers, Hoekstra and Vazire argue. Reviewers especially can contribute to the solution without risking their careers. “Reviewing is one of the few positions in academia where you can freely say whatever you want,” Hoekstra says.

Below Hoekstra explains to Science News how each component of a scientific paper — from the abstract that sets up the work to the discussion that points to conclusions — can be imbued with intellectual humility. [read more]

Wisdom follows humility. No-one is omniscience. Scientists (and everyone for that matter) should be curious. Always learning. Always correcting their theories to fit their observations. They should also know their limitations and biases as much as possible. Own their mistakes and move on. Don’t politicize science either. Learning about God’s universe is a journey. Enjoy it.