Researchers planning any sort of correlational study should post their predictions in advance on something like a prediction market setting, and correlational studies should only be publishable if they can document that the predictions were made publicly in advance. I’m talking here about correlational studies that make any sort of causal claim. Anybody who has done correlational studies knows that if you correlate 20 things with each other, you can always make up a story that links the significant correlations with each other in a plausible way, and people love stories. The evolutionary psychologists have good material to make up stories, because they can talk about ‘our primitive ancestors,’ which is a per se interesting story. The existence of a significant correlation is the beginning of trying to establish a causal claim, not the end.
Researchers planning any sort of correlational study should post their predictions in advance on something like a prediction market setting, and correlational studies should only be publishable if they can document that the predictions were made publicly in advance. I’m talking here about correlational studies that make any sort of causal claim. Anybody who has done correlational studies knows that if you correlate 20 things with each other, you can always make up a story that links the significant correlations with each other in a plausible way, and people love stories. The evolutionary psychologists have good material to make up stories, because they can talk about ‘our primitive ancestors,’ which is a per se interesting story. The existence of a significant correlation is the beginning of trying to establish a causal claim, not the end.