Adversarial Collaborations in Behavioral Science: Benefits and Boundary Conditions

In 1988, Latham and colleagues presented “a method of resolving scientific disputes that may be unique in the history of psychology” in which scholars with a competing theoretical perspective worked together to design a crucial test of these perspectives with a thirdparty serving as an unbiased mediator (see Latham et al., 1988). Although this technique failed to catch on, it nevertheless provides a potentially fruitful approach to address contentious scientific issues (see Kahneman, 2003, 2011). In a recent article, Clark et al. (2022) emphasize the value of this research practice as a way to expedite science and truth-seeking, by having scholars who disagree with each other’s interpretation of data or theory work together to resolve their dispute