HARKing's Threat to Organizational Research: Evidence From Primary and Meta‐Analytic Sources

We assessed presumed consequences of hypothesizing after results are known (HARKing) by contrasting hypothesized versus nonhypothesized effect sizes among 10 common relations in organizational behavior, human resource management, and industrial and organizational psychology research. In Study 1, we analyzed 247 correlations representing 9 relations with individual performance in 136 articles published in Journal of Applied Psychology and Personnel Psychology and provide evidence that correlations are significantly larger when hypothesized compared to nonhypothesized. In Study 2, we analyzed 281 effect sizes from a meta‐analysis on the job satisfaction–job performance relation and provide evidence that correlations are significantly larger when hypothesized compared to nonhypothesized. In addition, in Study 2, we documented that hypothesized variable pairs are more likely to be mentioned in article titles or abstracts. We also ruled out 13 alternative explanations to the presumed HARKing effect pertaining to methodological (e.g., unreliability, publication year, research setting, research design, measure contextualization, publication source) and substantive (e.g., predictor–performance pair, performance measure, satisfaction measure, occupation, job/task complexity) issues. Our results suggest that HARKing seems to pose a threat to research results, substantive conclusions, and practical applications. We offer recommended solutions to the HARKing threat.     

The War Between Faith and Fact

Is there a war going on between science and religion or not? The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences and many other bridge-building advocates deny that a war must be fought between genuine science and authentic faith. Yet, a new book, Faith vs. Fact, by Jerry Coyne, launches a new attack against those with faith in God. This essay asks whether such an attack comes from genuine science or from scientism—a materialist ideology that claims rational science as its ally.     

Francis Collins,the Skeptics,and Evidence for God

Skeptical Inquirer magazine has published an attempted refutation of Francis Collins' book, The Language of God. The refutation argues that Collins lacks scientific evidence for God and that Collins actually appeals not to evidence, but to personal belief. In refutation of this refutation, Ted Peters argues that Collins plays completely within the rules of scientific discourse while providing rational evidence—though not conclusive proof—for the existence of God as creator and moral lawgiver.     

Who Is at Risk for Psychological Distress in Genetic Testing Programs for Hereditary Cancer Disorders?

Presymptomatic identification of disease gene carriers is becoming an increasingly common part of the clinical management of hereditary cancer disorders. With an expected increase in the number of requests for DNA testing and the limited resources for counseling, the amount of time genetic counselors are able to spend with test candidates will decrease. It is therefore important for counselors to identify persons at risk for psychological distress. Based on a review of experiences with Huntington disease and cancer patients, we describe factors likely to evoke distress in genetic cancer candidates. We also discuss the sometimes widely different ways that test candidates and their partners respond to genetic testing. By exploring risk factors for distress in relevant domains of the research, we can offer counselors guidelines for determining who may need extra counseling.     

Should We Be Kantians? A Defence of Empiricism (Part One)

In his book Mind and World (1994), John McDowell defends the Kantian position that the content of experience is conceptual. Without this Kantian assumption, he argues, it would be impossible to understand how experience may rationally constrain thought. But McDowell's Kantianism is either false or empty, and his view of the relation between mind and world cannot be stated without transcending the bounds of sense. McDowell's arguments supporting the Kantian thesis, which are very different from Kant's arguments, essentially involve a fallacy of ambiguity. In order to understand how thought may be rationally constrained by experience we should become empiricists.     

Flashing the Yellow Traffic Light: Choices Forced Upon Us by Gene Editing Technologies

The 2018 birth of two designer babies in China has sparked an immediate global controversy over the ethics of gene editing. For the longer range future, however, we must assess how CRISPR/Cas9, like so many other new bio-technologies, is forcing choice—moral choice—on a large scale. Gene editing for purposes of medical therapy, human enhancement, engineering of future children, and even creating a posthuman species, confront our society with the inescapable necessity of making moral choices. The task for churches in partnership with universities is not to decide in advance what is right or wrong. Rather, it is to prepare our people to make responsible choices.     

Amygdala–orbitofrontal connectivity predicts alcohol use two years later: a longitudinal neuroimaging study on alcohol use in adolescence

This study tested the relation between cortical–subcortical functional connectivity and alcohol consumption in adolescents using an accelerated longitudinal design, as well as normative developmental patterns for these measures. Participants between ages 8 and 27 completed resting‐state neuroimaging scans at two time points separated by two years (N = 274 at T1, N = 231 at T2). In addition, participants between ages 12 and 27 reported on recent and lifetime alcohol use (N = 193 at T1, N = 244 at T2). Resting‐state connectivity analyses focused on amygdala–orbitofrontal connectivity given prior research linking reduced coupling between these regions to alcohol use. Mixed model analyses revealed that age had a cubic relationship with alcohol use, with little to no use in childhood, steep increases in adolescence and leveling off in adulthood. No age effects were found for amygdala–OFC connectivity. Prediction analyses showed that left amygdala–orbitofrontal connectivity at the first time point predicted recent and lifetime alcohol use two years later. There was no evidence for the reversed relation, suggesting that brain connectivity measures precede explorative risk‐taking behavior in adolescence, possibly because decreased subcortical–frontal connectivity biases towards more explorative or risky behavior.     

Using differential reinforcement of a discard response to treat pica

Previous research on the treatment of pica (i.e., the ingestion of inedible objects) is limited compared to research on the treatment of other types of severe problem behavior. This study involved the use of differential reinforcement of alternative behavior, with a discard response as the alternative behavior, to treat pica presented by a 13‐year‐old girl with an autism spectrum disorder. We extended previous research by thinning the schedule of reinforcement for the alternative response. Substantial reductions in pica were obtained. Limitations and future directions in the treatment of pica are discussed.