VIEWPOINT

• Ignore departures from the existing framework of beliefs.
• Deny that an anomaly exists; blame it on faulty observation or testing error; deride the proponents of the new viewpoint.
• Acknowledge the anomaly, but call it "idiopathic."
• Try to explain the anomaly with the existing framework, sometimes by making minor adjustments.
• Seek alternative viewpoints to contradict or minimize the one proposed.
• Recognize the new viewpoint as valid, but within a narrow context relegated to "exceptions."
• Accept the new viewpoint as offering some explanatory power, but retain the old viewpoint, too.
• Discredit the old viewpoint; deride any attempt to reinstate or rehabilitate it.
• Accept the new viewpoint with enthusiasm.
• Begin again.

  Source: Reference 2, adopted from Reference 4.

  Back to article.