Rationality and Disconfirmation: Further Evidence

Recent laboratory research on the psychology of problem solving has important implications for an understanding of the psychology of science. Such work is reviewed, and supports the claim made by Hardin in this journal that pursuit of confirmatory data is highly adaptive in scientific problem solving. Hardin's reservations about the generalizability of such research to real science are considered, and rejected on empirical grounds. Further research bearing on the same issue is discussed, revealing that confirmatory strategies alone are less useful than mixed strategies that employ confirmatory and disconfirmatory approaches. The validity of the claim is supported by brief consideration of Michael Faraday's research strategies.