Optimizing Scientific Validity

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Abstract
In his lead article for this series, Campbell discusses the role of a "disputatious and mutually reinforcing community of truth seekers" in promoting a sociology of scientific validity. Situating his work in the broader context of the sociology of science, we first raise a number of questions about the conceptual and empirical warrant for his recommendations, local factors that might affect their implementation, and temporal and "level of analysis "issues which could influence the optimal form that a scientific community might take. In general, however, these considerations do not vitiate Campbell's prescriptions so much as point up the need for conceptually informed empirical research on the outcome of varymg social structures for science. We then survey some of the potential contributions to science studies that are being made by psychologists of diverse specialties, ranging from a relatively mdividualistic focus on creativity and cognitive processes to a broader view of scientific behavior in a social context. As a complement to Campbell's predominantly sociological analysis, these psychological contributions reinforce the view that scientific validity can best be promoted through the collaborative study and eventual implementation of proposals generated by the multiple disciplines concerned with science studies.