School of Psychology Professor wins prestigious book award

Professor Chris Chambers, Head of Brain Simulation at Cardiff University, has been honoured with a British Psychological Society (BPS) Book Award 2018 this week for his book, ‘The Seven Deadly Sins of Psychology: A Manifesto for Reforming the Culture of Scientific Practice’.

The awards for 2018 were categorised into three sections, Academic Monograph, Textbook and Popular Science, and Chris’s book was entered under the Academic Monograph category.

The book, which aims to make research and its outcomes as transparent as possible by outlining a core set of best practices, was considered to ‘define or redefine an area of psychological knowledge’ under the Academic Monograph category as defined by the British Psychological Society.

In his book, Chris draws on his experiences as a working scientist to show how practitioners are vulnerable to powerful biases that undercut the scientific method, how they torture data until it produces outcomes that can be published in prestigious journals, and how studies are much less reliable than advertised. The solution is to embrace open science practices that champion the reproducibility and transparency of the research process.

Sarb Bajwa, chief executive of the British Psychological Society, said “I congratulate all the award winners whose varied expertise emphasise the depth and diversity of psychology. The fact that we were able to recognise three such distinguished and appealing books shows that psychology publishing is in good health.”

“I feel extremely grateful and honoured to have won this award” explained Chris, “The BPS deserves tremendous credit for embracing a book that is so critical of the field, and I want to extend a special thanks to all my colleagues, both in Cardiff and beyond, who have supported the open science reform movement.”

Find out more about The Seven Deadly Sins of Psychology.