Woozling. What a wonderful word.
The process by which faulty, partial, or misinterpreted research is repeated and misrepresented so often that it becomes widely accepted as true.
“Woozling: the process by which faulty, partial, or misinterpreted research is repeated and misrepresented so often that it becomes widely accepted as true. The idea or the belief that becomes widely accepted, even though it is not firmly grounded in the research, is called a woozle.”
This is a new and delightful word to me. There are so, so many uses for it.
Apparently, it has been around for a while, but I just discovered it today via Dr. Linda Nielsen. She has recently written a paper on the play between parental conflict and custody and the effect on children. There’s been a lot of woozling going on in family law since the divorce boom in the 1970’s. [Internal footnotes omitted.]
The process of woozling and its influence on child custody decisions have been extensively described elsewhere. The present paper illustrates four of the ways that the research on conflict and coparenting has been woozled. First, only those studies that support one point of view are repeated and publicized, overlooking or underplaying studies that support the opposite view. Second, findings from particular studies are exaggerated and sensationalized. Data are presented out of context. Serious flaws go unmentioned. Sweeping and unsubstantiated generalizations are offered about the importance of selected findings. Third, a study’s findings can be reported incorrectly, sometimes making claims that are the exact opposite of the data or making claims based on data that were not even included in the study. Fourth, a few prestigious or influential people repeatedly promote one point of view, especially in the media, as being representative of the research on the topic.
She is presenting this paper, Re-examining the Research on Parental Conflict, Coparenting, and Custody Arrangements at the International Conference on Shared Parenting in Boston at the end of this month. I will be speaking on the political obstacles to family law reform and how navigate them — and I’ve already added a woozling slide to my presentation.
UPDATE: And the children’s book feel of the term was spot on just not Dr. Seuss. It’s AA Milne. Hat tip to Margot Cleveland.
