r/science Professor | Medicine 20d ago

Neuroscience Twin study suggests rationality and intelligence share the same genetic roots - the study suggests that being irrational, or making illogical choices, might simply be another way of measuring lower intelligence.

https://www.psypost.org/twin-study-suggests-rationality-and-intelligence-share-the-same-genetic-roots/
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u/Xolver 20d ago

Isn't doing a study because you have some (maybe strong) hypothesis and want to test it one of the best reasons of doing a study? What's the problem with that? It certainly beats doing a study only because you know you need funding and you have to shoehorn a proposal. 

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u/neobeguine 20d ago

The concern is that if you are too married to your hypothesis, you will find reasons to ignore any results that might contradict it and chose measures or tests that are most likely to give you the result you want.  It's like trying to do a push poll on the universe

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u/SoldnerDoppel 19d ago

That's why replication is so important, though there's little interest in it since it's so "unglamorous".

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u/gurgelblaster 19d ago

Replication doesn't help if the experiment design is built to give a certain result and omit alternative hypotheses from the start.