"All of the studies we do in my group are quantified"
About this Quote
A quiet flex disguised as a procedural note, Sternberg's line draws a boundary around what counts as "real" knowledge in his lab: measurable, comparable, publishable. The wording matters. "All" shuts the door on methodological pluralism; it's not that they often quantify, it's that they always do. "In my group" is equally pointed, signaling leadership as epistemology. This isn't just a preference, it's a lab identity, a brand of seriousness.
The subtext is shaped by psychology's long-running status anxiety. Sternberg built a career studying intelligence, creativity, and thinking styles - areas that regularly collide with the slippery stuff of culture, interpretation, and lived experience. Quantification is a shield against accusations of being soft, speculative, or unreplicable. In the post-replication-crisis era, it also reads as preemptive defense: numbers suggest rigor, transparency, and the ability to be audited, even if the underlying constructs remain contested.
There's also a subtle power move embedded here. Quantification doesn't merely record reality; it disciplines it. If every study must be quantified, then every question must be framed in a way that can survive operationalization: variables defined, scales built, participants slotted into categories. That can clarify and sharpen. It can also flatten. For an educator-scholar, the tension is especially sharp: human learning is rich in narrative and context, but the incentives of modern research reward what can be counted. Sternberg's sentence reveals a philosophy of credibility as much as a method.
The subtext is shaped by psychology's long-running status anxiety. Sternberg built a career studying intelligence, creativity, and thinking styles - areas that regularly collide with the slippery stuff of culture, interpretation, and lived experience. Quantification is a shield against accusations of being soft, speculative, or unreplicable. In the post-replication-crisis era, it also reads as preemptive defense: numbers suggest rigor, transparency, and the ability to be audited, even if the underlying constructs remain contested.
There's also a subtle power move embedded here. Quantification doesn't merely record reality; it disciplines it. If every study must be quantified, then every question must be framed in a way that can survive operationalization: variables defined, scales built, participants slotted into categories. That can clarify and sharpen. It can also flatten. For an educator-scholar, the tension is especially sharp: human learning is rich in narrative and context, but the incentives of modern research reward what can be counted. Sternberg's sentence reveals a philosophy of credibility as much as a method.
Quote Details
| Topic | Science |
|---|
More Quotes by Robert
Add to List
