Instruction-based Replication Studies Raise Challenging Questions for Psychological Science

2023/01/01 by Olivier Corneille, Jérémy Béna · 1 voice · 2 citations
Psychology · #Mental Health Research Topics #Educational Strategies and Epistemologies #Cultural Differences and Values

paper · pdf · doi:10.1525/collabra.82234

openalex publication_date 2023/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02

Abstract

A variety of psychological effects have been recently replicated in studies where participants merely received information describing experimental tasks, while participants experienced these tasks in studies where these effects were originally established. We argue that these successful instruction-based replication studies raise challenging questions for contemporary psychological research: (1) What does psychological science tell us about effects beyond common knowledge? (2) Does performing the experienced version of the task add to the effect, how much so, and why? (3) Should the effect be considered an experimental demand artifact? Throughout the article, we discuss methodological challenges and solutions associated with these questions. We conclude that instruction-based replication studies offer opportunities for theoretical, methodological, and empirical development in psychological science.

Citations

• Self-perception: An alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena.
• Controlling phenomenology by being unaware of intentions
• The Trajectory of Truth: A Longitudinal Study of the Illusory Truth Effect
• Sixty Years After Orne’s American Psychologist Article: A Conceptual Framework for Subjective Experiences Elicited by Demand Characteristics
• A multi-lab test of the facial feedback hypothesis by the Many Smiles Collaboration

Cited by

• Evaluative Conditioning has a Vexing Demand Problem
• New insights on the illusory truth effect: societal reach, cognitive foundations, and mitigation strategies

Discussions

• We discuss whether this Truth Beliefs Conditioning effect should be considered an experimental demand artifact, and whether it matters. This research follows-up on a recent article that examined thr [bsky, 1 points, 1 comments]

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