So here's the deal. Researchers recently tried to replicate 100 experiments in psychology

that were published in India. The Center for Open Science recruited colleagues from around

the world to try and replicate on one side. In fact, most of them could not be reproduced

with the same results. In fact, in India...

Welcome to Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vedanta. Today we're going to talk about what is

been called a replication crisis in science. The replicators in this recent study failed

to get the same findings from the original experiment.

From cancer medicine to psychology, researchers are finding that many claims made in scientific

studies fail to hold up when those studies are repeated by an independent group.

Later in this episode, we're going to explore one provocative study that looked at stereotypes

about Asians, women and math tests and explain what happened when researchers tried to reproduce

the finding. We're going to use this story to explore a deeper question. What does

scientists really mean when they talk about the truth?

Before we get to that story, I want to give you some context. The crisis has actually been

a long time coming. In 2011, for example, Dutch researchers claim that broken sidewalks

encourage racism. They publish their findings in one of the most prestigious academic journals

Science Magazine. A couple of years later, another article in Science

showed that when a gay person shows up at a stranger's door and speaks openly about

what it's like to be gay, this has an extraordinary effect.

It was the personal connection between the gay person who they were trying to show, you

know, they're in person. People who are against gay marriage change their minds after these

emotional encounters.

...