19 real negative results, null findings, and replication failures in Psychology · Replication Failure. Search the index →
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Jay J. Van Bavel, Peter Mende‐Siedlecki, William J. Brady et al. · 2016 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
In recent years, scientists have paid increasing attention to reproducibility. For example, the Reproducibility Project, a large-scale replication attempt of 100 studies published in top psychology journals found that only 39% could be…
View details →Joseph Cesario · 2014 · Perspectives on Psychological Science
Concerns have been raised recently about the replicability of behavioral priming effects, and calls have been issued to identify priming methodologies with effects that can be obtained in any context and with any population. I argue that…
View details →Briana B. Morrison, Lauren E. Margulieux, Mark Guzdial · 2015
Recent empirical results suggest that the instructional material used to teach computing may actually overload students' cognitive abilities. Better designed materials may enhance learning by reducing unnecessary load. Subgoal labels have…
View details →Dermot Lynott, Katherine S. Corker, Jessica Wortman et al. · 2014 · Social Psychology
We report the results of three high-powered, independent replications of Study 2 from Williams and Bargh (2008) . Participants evaluated hot or cold instant therapeutic packs before choosing a reward for participation that was framed as a…
View details →Eric‐Jan Wagenmakers, Josine Verhagen, Alexander Ly · 2015 · Behavior Research Methods
We present a suite of Bayes factor hypothesis tests that allow researchers to grade the decisiveness of the evidence that the data provide for the presence versus the absence of a correlation between two variables. For concreteness, we apply our methods to the recent work of Donnellan et al. (in press) who conducted nine replication studies with over 3,000 participants and failed to replicate the phenomenon that lonely people compensate for a lack of social warmth by taking warmer baths or showers. We show how the Bayes factor hypothesis test can quantify evidence in favor of the null hypothes
View details →Enda M. Byrne, Philip Gehrman, Sarah E. Medland et al. · 2013 · American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B Neuropsychiatric Genetics
Several aspects of sleep behavior such as timing, duration and quality have been demonstrated to be heritable. To identify common variants that influence sleep traits in the population, we conducted a genome-wide association study of six…
View details →Tobias Schuwerk, Beate Priewasser, Beate Sodian et al. · 2018 · Royal Society Open Science
Influential studies showed that 25-month-olds and neurotypical adults take an agent's false belief into account in their anticipatory looking patterns (Southgate et al. 2007 Psychol. Sci. 18 , 587–592 ( doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01944.x ); Senju et al. 2009 Science 325 , 883–885 ( doi:10.1126/science.1176170 )). These findings constitute central pillars of current accounts distinguishing between implicit and explicit Theory of Mind. In our first experiment, which initially included a replication as well as two manipulations, we failed to replicate the original finding in 2- to 3-year-olds (
View details →Susan Kashubeck‐West, Angela D. Coker, Germine H. Awad et al. · 2013 · Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology
This study examines reliability and validity estimates for 3 widely used measures in body image research in a sample of African American college women (N = 278). Internal consistency estimates were adequate (α coefficients above .70) for…
View details →Oliver Hauser, Francesca Gino, Michael I. Norton · 2018 · Mind & Society
Nudges have become a popular tool for behaviour change; but, some interventions fail to replicate, even when the identical, previously successful intervention is used. One cause of this problem is that people default to using some of or all of the previously-successful existing nudges for any problem—the “kitchen sink” approach. We argue that the success of an intervention depends on understanding people’s current behaviour and beliefs to ensure that any nudge will actually “budge” them from their current beliefs. We introduce the Beliefs–Barriers–Context model, with three components: understa
View details →Andreas Lachner, Vincent Hoogerheide, Tamara van Gog et al. · 2021 · Educational Psychology Review
Abstract Teaching the contents of study materials by providing explanations to fellow students can be a beneficial instructional activity. A learning-by-teaching effect can also occur when students provide explanations to a real, remote, or even fictitious audience that cannot be interacted with. It is unclear, however, which underlying mechanisms drive learning by non-interactive teaching effects and why several recent studies did not replicate this effect. This literature review aims to shed light on when and why learning by non-interactive teaching works. First, we review the empirical lite
View details →Dóra Kampis, Petra Karman, Gergely Csibra et al. · 2021 · Royal Society Open Science
, 587-592. (doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01944.x)) has been widely cited as evidence for false-belief attribution in young children. Recent replication attempts of this paradigm have yielded mixed results: several studies did not replicate the original findings, raising doubts about the suitability of the paradigm to assess non-verbal action prediction and Theory of Mind. In a preregistered collaborative study including two of the original authors, we tested one hundred and sixty 24- to 26-month-olds across two locations using the original stimuli, procedure and analyses as closely as possible
View details →Nicole Harlaar, Emma L. Meaburn, Marianna E. Hayiou‐Thomas et al. · 2014 · Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research
PURPOSE: Researchers have previously shown that individual differences in measures of receptive language ability at age 12 are highly heritable. In the current study, the authors attempted to identify some of the genes responsible for the…
View details →Michael D. Pullmann, Julien Rouvere, Patrick J. Raue et al. · 2025 · JAMA Network Open
Importance: There is a need to determine the relative effect of message-based psychotherapy (MBP), an asynchronous approach that uses emails, texts, or voice or video messages to permit therapeutic exchanges, compared with video-based psychotherapy (VBP) and whether a combination of modalities would result in better outcomes for those who do not respond to either treatment alone. Objectives: To compare MBP with VBP on a commercial digital mental health platform and test combinations of modalities for participants who did not respond to single-modality treatment. Design, Setting, and Participan
View details →Bjørn Sætrevik, Hallgeir Sjåstad · 2022 · Meta-Psychology
Mortality salience (MS) effects, where death reminders lead to ingroup-bias and defensive protection of one’s world-view, have been claimed to be a fundamental human motivator. MS phenomena have ostensibly been identified in several hundred studies within the “terror management theory” framework, but transparent and high-powered replications are lacking. Experiment 1 (N = 101 Norwegian lab participants) aimed to replicate the traditional MSeffect on national patriotism, with additional novel measures of democratic values and pro-sociality. Experiment2 (N = 784 US online participants) aimed to
View details →Lea J. Mertens, Michael Koslowski, Felix Betzler et al. · 2026 · JAMA Psychiatry
Importance: Psilocybin shows promise in treating depression, although limitations of previous research warrant further research. Objective: To investigate the efficacy and safety of oral psilocybin, 25 mg, with adjunct psychotherapy in…
View details →Anna Persson, Åsa Axén, Andrea Johansson Capusan et al. · 2025 · JAMA Network Open
Importance: Trauma-focused treatments are effective for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but are rarely offered to patients with comorbid substance use disorder. Research suggests gender-based differences in prevalence and treatment needs for these patients, but treatment trials have mainly included men. Objective: To evaluate whether integrated trauma-focused psychological treatment (ie, integrated treatment) leads to greater reduction in PTSD symptom severity and weekly alcohol use than usual treatment (ie, relapse prevention) for alcohol use disorder (AUD) in women. Design, Setting, and
View details →David Erritzøe, Tommaso Barba, Tiffanie Benway et al. · 2026 · Nature Medicine
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a leading cause of disability worldwide, yet many patients have inadequate responses to current treatments. Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a serotonergic psychedelic with rapid onset and short duration, shows promise as a potential antidepressant (AD), although clinical evidence in MDD remains limited. We conducted a phase IIa, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of intravenous DMT (SPL026; DMT fumarate) in adults with moderate-to-severe MDD. Participants received a single 21.5-mg dose of DMT or placebo i
View details →Walter Staiano, Christine E. Callahan, Michelle Davis et al. · 2025 · JMIR mhealth and uhealth
BACKGROUND: Insomnia is the most commonly reported sleep disturbance and significantly impacts mental health and quality of life. Traditional treatments for insomnia include pharmacological interventions or cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), but these options may not be accessible to everyone who needs treatment. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess the effectiveness of the app-based Headspace Sleep Program in adults with clinical insomnia on sleep disturbance and mental health outcomes, compared with a waitlist control group. METHODS: This randomized controlled trial included
View details →Alba Massolo, Mariel Traversi, Matías Alfonso · 2024 · Europe's Journal of Psychology
In this paper, we investigate whether collaborative group performance is better than individual performance in solving a syllogism evaluation task. We hypothesise that collaborative group settings will outperform individual settings and that the belief bias effect will be mitigated in a group setting. Two empirical studies were conducted with Argentinian undergraduate students. Study 1 (N = 239) used a between-subjects design with two conditions: individual resolution and interactive group resolution. Overall, the group condition performed better than the individual condition, but there were n
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