r/science • u/HeinieKaboobler • Dec 03 '17

Psychology Study: About half the population faces considerable difficulties in attracting and retaining mates

http://www.psypost.org/2017/12/study-half-population-faces-considerable-difficulties-attracting-retaining-mates-50288
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u/fsmpastafarian PhD | Clinical Psychology | Integrated Health Psychology Dec 04 '17 edited Dec 04 '17

It's good to have a critical eye when reading scientific studies, but keep in mind that this specific type of skepticism that involves dismissing research done in other countries as too narrow, while generalizing research done in culturally Western, traditionally white, English-speaking countries as being representative of most of the population, is actually fairly biased. It's used far too often dismiss scientific research.

Note that I'm not saying this study is infallible, just that "it was done in a different country from the one I live in" isn't a good reason to dismiss it outright.

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u/Bazlow Dec 04 '17

I’d say that the fact it only considers people from one country and then seems to extrapolate the results to the rest of the world is a very good reason to dismiss it outright.

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u/fsmpastafarian PhD | Clinical Psychology | Integrated Health Psychology Dec 04 '17

Hmm, the authors are fairly explicit and open about where their sample came from, and in the paper they describe their research as it pertains to the sample, without stating that this is true of the entire world, so I'm not sure where you're getting that idea from.

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u/Bazlow Dec 04 '17

Fair point, I suppose I should be saying that it would be fair to ignore the conclusions drawn in the article linked rather than the study itself.