tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322739827777311964.post3571756564161983066..comments2023-11-30T13:15:01.893+01:00Comments on Drang naar Samenhang: Amusing Titles in Psychological ScienceRolf Zwaanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07617143491249303266noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322739827777311964.post-61717506502525100142013-01-22T21:09:30.472+01:002013-01-22T21:09:30.472+01:00There is at least on paper this topic: The emergen...There is at least on paper this topic: The emergence of the colon: An empirical correlate of scholarship.<br />By Dillon, J. T. American Psychologist, Vol 36(8), Aug 1981, 879-884.<br />Rolf Zwaanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07617143491249303266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322739827777311964.post-1536101128709682192013-01-22T14:30:14.037+01:002013-01-22T14:30:14.037+01:00The horrifying thing to me about these titles is t...The horrifying thing to me about these titles is that they all contain a colon. How boring!davidjhemmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15557657307865513144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322739827777311964.post-66084672193590195742013-01-21T18:23:05.354+01:002013-01-21T18:23:05.354+01:00Hi Dave,
Thanks for your insightful comment. My c...Hi Dave,<br /><br />Thanks for your insightful comment. My concern is that the popular and the scientific get conflated in some of these journals. I think researchers should be doing two things: (1) write report-like scientific papers and (2) provide more entertaining and easier-to-digest versions of the research in the form of blogs (which are not behind paywalls) or popular articles. This is where levity can roam free (pardon my mixing of metaphors).<br /><br />Scientific papers are part of the scientific record and frivolity should be kept to a minimum. After all a behemoth/warhorse is a serious beast (see my earlier post http://rolfzwaan.blogspot.nl/2013/01/breeding-behemoth.html).<br /><br /><br />Rolf Zwaanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07617143491249303266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322739827777311964.post-66036674290827411092013-01-21T16:02:50.188+01:002013-01-21T16:02:50.188+01:00Hi Rolf, I wanted to offer a different perspective...Hi Rolf, I wanted to offer a different perspective on funny titles, but mostly I just want clarify what you're saying, exactly.<br /><br />First, on the broader communication of science. I agree there are pressures that may lead people to take shortcuts to producing popular articles. I actually don't think funny titles are high on that list, but more on that in a moment. I think it's also important to make the case that we should be doing far more to communicate science to a popular audience. There are obviously good and bad ways to do this, but I don't necessarily believe we should be drawing a bright line between science communication and popular communication. Certainly if makes things more accessible doesn't harm the scientific content. So I wanted to clarify your position, because I'm not sure I understand it correctly, regarding communicating science to a broad audience.<br /><br />On titles specifically, I think the first thing to note is that not many people outside academia read the titles of articles. Even if they did, they couldn't read the articles themselves because they're, unfortunately, behind paywalls. So it doesn't seem to me that getting popular attention is a major factor in funny titles. It may make a journalist more likely to give it a second look, but probably not much more than that. <br /><br />My guess is that the audience is much more within academia, and it's not clear to me that there's anything wrong with self-promoting in this way, unless you're really debasing the science in some meaningful way -- but we have a long history of funny titles in the field and I don't think they've done much damage. It just adds a little levity, even though when the field goes through identity crises maybe that's not the best face to show to the world?Dave Nussbaumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08638557883580286521noreply@blogger.com