Premium
Too Good to be False: An Essay in the Folklore of Social Science
Author(s) -
Reed John Shelton,
Doss Gail E.,
Hurlbert Jeanne S.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-682x.1987.tb01177.x
Subject(s) - folklore , sociology , aggression , linkage (software) , social science , social psychology , epistemology , psychology , anthropology , philosophy , gene , biochemistry , chemistry
In 1939, Carl Hovland and Robert R. Sears presented data that they believed linked fluctuations in the price of cotton to lynchings in the South, a linkage first suggested six years earlier by Arthur Raper. This correlation quickly became a popular illustration of frustration‐aggression theory. A few years later, a statistical critique by Alexander Mintz cast the reality of the association into doubt, but a sample survey of members of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues reveals that Howland and Sears's “finding” is still widely, if imprecisely, known and accepted. Their article continues to be cited in the social‐psychological literature and in many introductory textbooks. The failure of Mintz's critique to catch up with the striking but flawed, original report illustrates a structured impediment to reliable knowledge in the social sciences.