When expert predictions fail

Trends Cogn Sci. 2023 Nov 8:S1364-6613(23)00263-2. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.10.005. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTWe examine the opportunities and challenges of expert judgment in the social sciences, scrutinizing the way social scientists make predictions. While social scientists show above-chance accuracy in predicting laboratory-based phenomena, they often struggle to predict real-world societal changes. We argue that most causal models used in social sciences are oversimplified, confuse levels of analysis to which a model applies, misalign the nature of the model with the nature of the phenomena, and fail to consider factors beyond the scientist's pet theory. Taking cues from physical sciences and meteorology, we advocate an approach that integrates broad foundational models with context-specific time series data. We call for a shift in the social sciences towards more precise, daring predictions and greater intellectual humility.PMID:37949791 | DOI:10.1016/j.tics.2023.10.005

Source: Trends Cogn Sci - November 10, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Igor Grossmann Michael E W Varnum Cendri A Hutcherson David R Mandel Source Type: research