Yes, But What's the Mechanism? (Don't Expect an Easy Answer)

Psychologists increasingly recommend experimental analysis of mediation. This is a step in the right direction because mediation analyses based on nonexperimental data are likely to be biased and because experiments, in principle, provide a sound basis for causal inference. But even experiments cann...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 2010-04, Vol.98 (4), p.550-558
Main Authors: Bullock, John G, Green, Donald P, Ha, Shang E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Bias
Biological and medical sciences
Causality
Experiments
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Indirect effects
Inference
Mediation
Methodology. Experimentation
Models, Psychological
Psychological aspects
Psychological effects
Psychological factors
Psychologists
Psychology
Psychology, Experimental - methods
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychometrics. Statistics. Methodology
Social psychology
Validity
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Summary:Psychologists increasingly recommend experimental analysis of mediation. This is a step in the right direction because mediation analyses based on nonexperimental data are likely to be biased and because experiments, in principle, provide a sound basis for causal inference. But even experiments cannot overcome certain threats to inference that arise chiefly or exclusively in the context of mediation analysis-threats that have received little attention in psychology. The authors describe 3 of these threats and suggest ways to improve the exposition and design of mediation tests. Their conclusion is that inference about mediators is far more difficult than previous research suggests and is best tackled by an experimental research program that is specifically designed to address the challenges of mediation analysis.
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/a0018933