There’s Not Much Science in Science Addressing the Psychosocial Gap in Methodology

The Department of Epidemiology Seminar Series

Speaker:

Sander Greenland, DrPH
Professor Emeritus
UCLA School of Public Health
Department of Epidemiology

Abstract:
Science is often idealized as a system of investigation that is supposed to be an “objective,” open-minded and self-correcting pursuit of truth or reality. But in 1620 Francis Bacon warned of psychological obstacles and cognitive distortions in this pursuit, recognizing that these problems can have a large social component and can dominate entire topic areas. Contestable theories can be accepted as “facts” because they are perceived to explain data, even when those perceptions are driven by individual wishes, group beliefs, and the pre-filtering of data through questionable theories including the theory in question. In popular venues, challenges to the resulting “facts” may be met with religious reactions to dissenters: Ridicule, shunning, denigration, shouting down, and even pressure for persecution of heretics, including censorship and expulsion – all in the name of a “greater good.” The Covid-19 pandemic has provided numerous incidents marked by their intensity, illustrating how science is indeed akin to religion and politics in its human factors, including corruption by value bias, authoritarianism, blind faith, fanaticism, and financial interests. Facing the gap between ideals and practice of science provides explanations for a large proportion of distrust of the health-science and healthcare community. Mending the gap, if at all possible, would require dramatic expansion of methodology to account for psychosocial values and biases, including how to experience alternative viewpoints, delineate the acts of faith underpinning scientific and policy claims, and replace faith with agnosticism. Most difficult of all, however, may be how to recognize one’s mistakes and those of one’s group, as such recognition is easily blocked by psychosocial factors.