Devoodooifying Psychology

A prescient (2016) synthesis of the replication crisis organized around a striking pattern: 'voodoo-ish' findings -- where beliefs/perceptions mysteriously and directly affect outcomes -- are the ones failing to replicate. Surveys placebo (weak, pain-only), stereotype threat (suspicious funnel plot), self-esteem/affirmations, the name-preference effect (debunked), unconscious social priming (the archetypal failed field), the watching-eyes effect (two null meta-analyses), the IAT (doesn't predict behavior), and brainwashing (mostly doesn't work). The unifying thread: a shift away from the power of the unconscious -- it doesn't make you succeed/fail by belief, change behavior via tiny cues, discriminate against your will, or get brainwashed away. Suggests updating toward a smaller role for the unconscious (and against Freudianism), with honest caveats (curated by his biases; <10% of studies checked; ego depletion is mechanistic yet also failed). This essay is effectively the source of the project's 'replication caveat' list, and it debunks those literatures rather than relying on them.

Quality 76 · Excellent. A sharp, prescient, important replication-crisis essay with a genuine organizing insight (the power-of-the-unconscious pattern in what's failing). Excellent; somewhat speculative/curated but influential and exported.

Claude’s paradigm shift 55 · Moderate. Low-Major-shift. The 'voodoo / power-of-the-unconscious is what's failing replication' frame is a fresh, original synthesis in 2016.

Real-world impact 3 · Moderate. A prescient replication-crisis essay with a genuine organizing insight (the 'voodoo-ish' power-of-the-unconscious findings are the ones failing to replicate). Conceptual influence within methodology discourse, exported but somewhat curated, no material change — modest RWI.