• Question: Do you think that more dated research - say pre-1960s - into social psychology can still realistically be used to back up theories about today's societies or that times have changed too much for the findings to still apply?

    Asked by EmilyGodd to Wil, James, Andy on 9 Mar 2017.
    • Photo: Andrew Jones

      Andrew Jones answered on 9 Mar 2017:

      Some research that was published only last year may be out of date now. Science moves really fast and is constantly progressing.

    • Photo: Wilhelmiina Toivo

      Wilhelmiina Toivo answered on 9 Mar 2017:

      Some findings can still be applicable. Some of the big theories of group behaviour, for example, were created in the 60s and 70s, and they still hold (even though slightly updated and with a lot more evidence). On the other hand, as Andy said, science move super fast and sometimes the findings can be outdated really quickly. This is why we need to read a lot before starting an experiment to get a good idea of what is happening and which theories should we trust the best 🙂

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