Schwarz taught at the University of Heidelberg from 1981 to 1992 and served as Scientific Director of ZUMA, now GESIS, an interdisciplinary social science research center (1987–1992).
A core theme of his work is that people do not have stable, coherent and readily accessible attitudes that can be reliably measured through self-report.
According to this logic, surveys are governed by the cooperative principle advanced by Paul Grice, the late philosopher of language.
Put simply, the cooperative principle states that people try to communicate clearly and truthfully, in as much detail as required (but not more so), giving only relevant information.
"[11] Schwartz has characterized those who highlight the replication crisis in social psychology and propose reforms to scientific conduct as engaging in a "witch hunt".