Problems in Systematic Replication

This chapter reports on a long-term research program intended to apply the new techniques of slip induction to the classical problem of Freudian slips. We will discuss the program's rationale, early encouraging evidence, and two flawed attempts at systematic replication. These difficulties do not directly contradict the earlier positive results, so far; they do raise important unanswered questions about Freudian slip simulation in the laboratory. They also raise questions about the precise nature of the hypothesis, and about the adequacy of our methodology. Replication problems are rarely published, although methodologists often lament this state of affairs. They seem worth presenting here because, evidently, the earlier reports of "Freudian" results were too optimistic. These very real difficulties are not necessarily unsolvable,