This chapter considers various factors that have been responsible for the comparatively slow development of psychology into a cumulative empirical science. Special attention is devoted to correctable methodological mistakes, the over-reliance upon significance testing (and the fact that, in psychology, the null hypothesis is almost always false), and an analysis of the concept of replication.

ABSTRACTMax Weber´s sober inventory of academic life and his prophetic vision of its ‘Americanization’ highlight the impact of societies on scientific knowledge production and academic careers. Lik...