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We know about claims that priming with “professor” makes you perform better on a general knowledge test but apparently the benefits of science don’t stop there. A study published earlier this year reports findings that priming with science-related words ( logical , theory, laboratory, hypothesis, experiment ) makes you more moral. Aren’t we scientists great or what? But before popping the cork on a bottle of champagne, we might want to ask some questions, not just about the research itself but also about the review and publishing process involving this paper. So here goes. (1) The authors note (without boring the reader with details) that philosophers and historians have argued that science plays a key role in the moral vision of a society of “mutual benefit.” From this they derive the prediction that this notion of science facilitates moral and prosocial judgments. Isn’t this a little fast? (2) Images of the “evil scientist” (in movies usually portrayed by an actor with a vag...

  Come up with an idea for a study. Don't sweat it. It's not as hard as it looks. All you need to do is take an idiomatic expression and run with it.  Here we go: the glass is half-full or the glass is half-empty . 2.      Create a theoretical background. Surely there is some philosopher (preferably a Greek one) who has said something remotely relevant about optimists and pessimists while staring at a wine glass. Include him. For extra flavor you might want to add an anthropologist or a sociologist into the mix; Google is your friend here. Top it off with a few social psychology references. There, you have your theoretical framework. That wasn’t so hard, was it? 3.      Think of a manipulation. Again, this is nothing to get nervous about. All you need to do is take the expression literally. Imagine this scenario. The subject is in a room. In the glass-full condition, a confederate comes in with an empty g...