View source for Gibson's law

{{short description|Every PhD has an equal and opposite PhD}}
In [[public relations]],<ref name=Proctor2004>{{cite journal
 | author = Proctor, Robert .N.
 | authorlink=Robert N. Proctor
 | year = 2004
 | title = Should medical historians be working for the tobacco industry?
 | journal = The Lancet
 | volume = 363
 | issue = 9416
 | pages = 1174–1175
 | quote=There is a saying in American public-relations circles that for every PhD there is an equal and opposite PhD
 | doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(04)15981-3
 | pmid=15081644
 | s2cid=11700389
 }}</ref>
and in the [[practice of law]], '''Gibson's law''' holds that "For every PhD there is an equal and opposite PhD."<ref name="isbn0-521-62070-8">{{cite book
|author1=Lewontin, Richard C.
|author2=Singh, Rama S.
|others=Robert N. Proctor
|title=Thinking about evolution: historical, philosophical, and political perspectives. Volume two
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
|location=Cambridge, UK
|year=2001
|pages=[https://archive.org/details/thinkingaboutevo00sing/page/568 568]
|isbn=0-521-62070-8
|quote='For every Ph.D. there is an equal and opposite Ph.D.' Gibson's Law
|url-access=registration
|url=https://archive.org/details/thinkingaboutevo00sing/page/568
}}</ref>
The term specifically refers to the conflict between testimony of [[expert witness]]es called by opposing parties in a [[trial (law)|trial]] under an [[adversarial system]] of [[justice]].<ref name=Zingrone2002>{{cite journal |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2320/is_1_66/ai_84547066/pg_3
 | title = Controversy and the problems of parapsychology
 |accessdate=2007-08-05 
 | author = Zingrone, N.
 |date=March 2002
 
 | journal = [[Journal of Parapsychology]]
 | volume = 66
 | issue = 19
 | pages = 3
 | quote=...controversy flows from a "truth" that encapsulates the ease with which both prosecuting attorneys and defense attorneys can always find a crucial and credible scientific expert to testify on behalf of their own case and against the crucial and credible scientific expert hired by their opponents}}
</ref>
It is also applied to conflicting scientific opinion injected into [[policy]] decisions by interested parties creating a controversy to promote their interests.<ref name="isbn0-8147-3564-9">{{cite book
|author=Hess, David J.
|title=Science studies: an advanced introduction
|publisher=New York University
|location=New York
|year=1997
|pages= 94
|isbn=0-8147-3564-9
|quote=Proctor borrowed “Gibson's law” from public relations research and introduced the term “smokescreen effect” as two important techniques for inducing controversy to promote interests.
}}</ref>

==See also==

* [[Clarke's three laws]], including Clarke's fourth law: "For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert."
* [[Politicization of science]]
* [[List of eponymous laws]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Evidence law]]
[[Category:Propaganda]]
[[Category:Public relations]]


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