Why Do So Many Psychologists Write So Badly?

As this blog has evolved, I’ve spent a great deal of time and energy looking at psychological research, exploring some of the best the field has to offer and examining how poorly conducted or communicated research can leave us misinformed. This job has been made much more time-consuming than necessary by the fact that reading psychological research is often a far more laborious task than it needs to be. In next month’s issue of The Psychologist, with Managing Editor Jon Sutton, I have explored why so much writing in the field of psychology is so bad and the fine line between bad writing and “bullshitting.” We’ve looked at the impact the problem has and what can be done about it. If you’re not at a computer you can read the feature here. Otherwise,click here for the pretty PDF version.

You might have noticed that I published the article under my name, Simon Oxenham. For the past four years I’ve written this blog using my “Neurobonkers” pseudonym, which has given me the freedom to write critically, and even scathingly, without worrying too much about any backlash from anyone I might have upset. I’ve now decided that to enable me to continue to broaden my horizons and take my mission to fight misinformation in psychology and neuroscience to new levels, I will be abandoning my anonymity from this day forward. Thanks to all of my regular readers for sticking with me over the past four years. I’m very excited about being able to publish my work more broadly and share with you the content that I publish elsewhere. For a little back-story on this article, click here.

By Simon Oxenham. Follow Neurobonkers on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, RSS, or join the mailing list.