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Category: Project

Description: There is currently extensive debate in psychological science about how to improve the field’s replicability (e.g. Lindsay, 2015). In this paper I explore the meta-scientific question of who is pushing for changes to the way research is done, and why. I aim to contribute to the debate in 2 ways: First, I use system justification theory (SJT; Jost, Banaji, & Nosek, 2004) to derive (pre-registered) hypotheses about differences between junior and senior researchers, and as a framework for reflecting on the current debate. Results show that tenured social psychologists are more likely to defend the status quo, and to perceive more costs (relative to benefits) to proposed initiatives such as direct replications and pre-registration, than are those who are untenured. Second, all materials and the data from 406 research psychologists are available on the OSF, and I invite other researchers to make full use of them.