{"title":"\"Scientist as a Discoverer and Explorer of Unknown Lands\": Quo Vadis?","authors":"Joseph Glicksohn","doi":"10.1007/s12124-026-10021-4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Heinz Werner contrasted the consensual preoccupation with hypothesis testing in experimental research and his own emphasis on the process of exploration. In this paper, the type of exploratory process that Werner is referring to is addressed, using his classic study on contour formation to exemplify this. In that study, Werner explored the phenomenon of contour formation, without testing any particular hypothesis. To further consider the distinction between the systematic exploration of a phenomenon, with a study designed to prove or disprove a specific hypothesis, I consider a study exemplifying the latter. I argue that Werner's thinking has relevance for active researchers today and conclude that the present concern regarding the 'replication crisis' and the complementary advocacy of the pre-registration of studies is inherently detrimental to the process of exploration and discovery that Werner promoted for psychological research.</p>","PeriodicalId":50356,"journal":{"name":"Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science","volume":"60 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2026-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13384973/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-026-10021-4","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, BIOLOGICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Heinz Werner contrasted the consensual preoccupation with hypothesis testing in experimental research and his own emphasis on the process of exploration. In this paper, the type of exploratory process that Werner is referring to is addressed, using his classic study on contour formation to exemplify this. In that study, Werner explored the phenomenon of contour formation, without testing any particular hypothesis. To further consider the distinction between the systematic exploration of a phenomenon, with a study designed to prove or disprove a specific hypothesis, I consider a study exemplifying the latter. I argue that Werner's thinking has relevance for active researchers today and conclude that the present concern regarding the 'replication crisis' and the complementary advocacy of the pre-registration of studies is inherently detrimental to the process of exploration and discovery that Werner promoted for psychological research.
期刊介绍：
IPBS: Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science is an international interdisciplinary journal dedicated to the advancement of basic knowledge in the social and behavioral sciences. IPBS covers such topics as cultural nature of human conduct and its evolutionary history, anthropology, ethology, communication processes between people, and within-- as well as between-- societies. A special focus will be given to integration of perspectives of the social and biological sciences through theoretical models of epigenesis. It contains articles pertaining to theoretical integration of ideas, epistemology of social and biological sciences, and original empirical research articles of general scientific value. History of the social sciences is covered by IPBS in cases relevant for further development of theoretical perspectives and empirical elaborations within the social and biological sciences. IPBS has the goal of integrating knowledge from different areas into a new synthesis of universal social science—overcoming the post-modernist fragmentation of ideas of recent decades.
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