Do you ever hear reports of some new research findings about how people behave and then say to yourself, “That’s a bunch of BS”? Well, you may be right.

The Chronicle of Higher Education says that the field of social psychology has been shaken by accusations of fraud, some of which is hard to detect, and sensationalism.

One professor quoted in the story, an expert in research methods, says there’s a temptation to write journal articles and reports in ways that garner media attention. The problem is, this leads to distortions of the truth.

So researchers can resort to several tricks: “torturing” the data they find so it yields interesting or sensational results; making up data out of whole cloth; and (my favorite), “statistical bogosity.”

One questionable research finding is something widely circulated in conservative circles a while ago: “brief exposure to an image of the American flag can push people toward the Republican end of the U.S. political spectrum.” Some conservatives-including big talker Rush Limbaugh-made hay with that. The fact they did may illustrate another concept from psychology, “confirmation bias.” It’s easier to believe research that confirms what you already think.

How widespread is the problem of intellectual sloppiness? Here’s one indication: One-third of academic psychologists, says the Chronicle, have admitted to “questionable research practices.”

Having spent too much of my life studying sociology and political science at the graduate level, I have some sympathy for academics, especially those who study human behavior rather than, say, engineering.

If there’s any takeaway from this story, it’s that we should be suspicious of anyone who wants to enact a new law or build a new government program based on “research findings.”

But maybe that’s just my own confirmation bias at work.

(First published by The Michigan View)