Apr 03 2009
Studying Social Rejection
I must be in a nit-picking mood today. The title to an older article (from Jan 23rd — man that’s ancient!) I found in a stack on my desk perturbed me. Does it perturb you?
Link Between Social Rejection And Aggressive Behavior Explained
What did I find irksome? The use of “explained.” It is a personal beef of mine, but explanations are a dime a dozen. What science does best is collect data, produce new data, and test ideas. Fortunately, my irk was little more than title-deep. Psychological experiments were conducted. And the conclusion -
People who feel socially rejected are more likely to see others’ actions as hostile and are more likely to behave in hurtful ways toward people they have never even met, according to a new study.
Interesting. Okay, maybe I’m a bit off base here. Maybe the discovered link — perceived hostility — between social rejection and aggression does “explain” the connection.
Still, my point remains. Making explanations is the sexy part of science. Good scientists and science writers should, I strongly believe, emphasize the data, the actual finding. For that is what separates science from non-science.
