Chapter Summary<\/summary>\nThis chapter explores the historical and conceptual development of statistics in psychology, focusing on how numerical tools such as correlation, regression, the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and significance testing (p-values) became central to psychological inquiry. Beginning in the nineteenth century with figures such as Francis Galton and Karl Pearson, the chapter traces how early efforts to quantify human differences led to the formalisation of key statistical methods. It examines the innovations of influential statisticians, including William Gosset and Ronald Fisher, highlighting how their solutions to specific methodological challenges shaped modern psychology. Central to the chapter is the critical concept of reification: the tendency to treat abstract constructs (such as intelligence, anxiety, or personality) as if they were fixed, measurable entities. Drawing on Joel Michell\u2019s critique of measurement in psychology, the chapter examines the epistemological, ontological, and political risks of treating statistical abstractions as psychological realities. It also explores how statistical reasoning granted psychology institutional power, but at the cost of potential conceptual distortion. The chapter invites us to interrogate not only how psychologists use statistics but also what those numbers are presumed to represent.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Chapter 17 – Quiz<\/h2>\n\n\n\n