Some research and some history is widely repeated but still debated or undocumented. We reviewed where our pages and our companions state such things as settled, and added a plain note where the evidence is mixed.
Pages
- The Weight Has a History. Claude Steele’s idea of stereotype threat is now described as a debated finding. Many studies found it, the size of the effect varies, and some replications did not find it. The article no longer says Black students “score lower” as a settled fact.
- She Went Back: Harriet Tubman. Several lines were stated more firmly than the record supports, and the page now says what is documented. Narcolepsy is a proposed diagnosis, not a confirmed one; what is documented is her head injury and her sudden sleep spells. The very large reward figures often repeated about her are not documented. She served as a scout and guide on the Combahee River Raid, which Colonel James Montgomery commanded, and some accounts call her the first woman to lead an armed operation, a claim we now hold loosely. She led a small team of Black scouts, and accounts differ on whether there were eight or nine. We no longer call her the leader of an entire intelligence network.
- Understanding PTSD. Dr. Joy DeGruy’s term, post-traumatic slave syndrome, is now marked as a proposed framework and not a clinical diagnosis.
Our companions
Oji Echo and Hope Echo now say the same things, and a few more, when asked:
- The “10,000-hour rule” is not a rule. It began as an average from one study of elite violinists, and the researcher behind it, Anders Ericsson, objected to its use as a universal figure. What matters, he said, is the kind of practice.
- Polyvagal theory is a popular model that many trauma clinicians use, but researchers debate its physiology and some of its claims are not established.
- “Trauma is stored in the body” is a way of speaking, not a proven mechanism. Research does support that trauma affects memory and the stress response, and that those effects show up in the body.
- Somatic Experiencing has a smaller evidence base than trauma-focused therapies such as trauma-focused CBT and EMDR, though it is growing.
They are language models, so they can still slip. If one does, tell us.
We would rather correct the record in public than leave a claim standing because it sounded right.