Abstract
We 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.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 113-123 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Trends in Cognitive Sciences |
Volume | 28 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 2024 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- causal models
- expert judgment
- level of analysis
- modeling complexity
- predictive power in social sciences
- societal change
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience