A field’s blind spots persist longest precisely because of its founding figures’ influence.

Evidence

Reflecting on Allport’s tensions has often proved to be creative, with the field circling back years later to rediscover (to good effect) a relatively ignored strand of Allport’s thought (e.g., the revival of motivated cognition). Discovering what Allport missed has taken longer, which testifies to Allport’s impact. Allport, one suspects, would be no less delighted by the convincing disconfirmation of some of his ideas than by the revitalization of others – both have been instrumental to the development of the field. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 136

Categorization

• XREF: Relates to Thomas Kuhn on paradigm persistence and how science advances through rediscovering neglected strands — echoes the ‘anomaly takes longest to surface’ dynamics in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.