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Psychologists seek the unexpected, not the negative, to provoke innovative theory construction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2004

John Darley*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ08544-1010
Alexander Todorov*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ08544-1010

Abstract:

Krueger & Funder (K&F) see social psychologists as driven to demonstrate that people's behavior falls below relevant moral and intellectual standards. We suggest that social psychologists search for demonstrations of when it is that people's actual behaviors and decisions deviate from expected or ideal behaviors and decisions, and what these “deviations” tell us about general decision processes, including those that do not produce unexpected actions. Often the discoveries are of positive rather than negative behaviors.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

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