SCientists must accept their experimental findings even when they would like them to
be different. (4) They must strive to distinguish between the results they see and those
15
they wish to see. This is not easy. Scientists. like most people, are capable of fooling
themselves. People have always tended to adopt general rules, beliefs, creeds, ideas, and
hypotheses without thoroughly questioning their validity. And sometimes we retain
20 these ideas long after they have been shown to be meaningless, false, or at least
questionable. The most widespread assumptions are often (g the least questioned. Too
often, when an idea is adopted, great attention is given to the instances that support it.
Contrary evidence is often distorted, belittled* or ignored.
T1
