Category Archives: Psychology

Antidotes to cynicism creep in academia

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This is one of these blog posts that doesn’t read well if you stop halfway. First, I provide evidence that academia can look pretty broken: there is low-quality work everywhere you look, the peer-review system has long outlived its utility, and academic publishing is a dumpster fire. Add considerable work pressure, the publish-or-perish culture, and… Read more »

SIPS18 collected resources, and reflections of a SIPS virgin

The Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science (SIPS) hosted their third annual conference in Grand Rapids MI a few days ago. This blog provides a summary and some collected resources for those who couldn’t join, and a few reflections (praise & challenges) of a SIPS virgin. SIPS: an introduction I will not repeat all… Read more »

Measurement Schmeasurement

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TL;DR This post summarizes our recent APS symposium entitled “Measurement Schmeasurement” (feat. Jessica Flake, Mijke Rhemtulla, Andre Wang, and Scott Lilienfeld); provides a brief history of how it came to be, and the important role social media plays in modern psychology; and serves as a shameless plug for an invited measurement workshop Jessica and I… Read more »

When small samples are problematic

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A few days ago, Richard Morey started a discussion on Twitter arguing that small samples are not inherently problematic. In the interesting discussion that ensued, I kept thinking about clinical psychology and clinical trials, where I believe that small samples are problematic. To explain my position, let’s look at situations where small samples are fine,… Read more »

Are we asking too much? A list of competencies people expect me to have

Working between disciplines is exciting, and I wouldn’t want to have it any other way. Psychology has become much more interdisciplinary in recent years, and there was a discussion today on social media whether psychologists should ‘know math’. This reminds me of the statement Plato had famously engraved at the door of his Academy in… Read more »

The tone-police police, rude dudes, & how to be social on social media

TL;DR: The tone-police police on social media must take responsibility for silencing early career folks in psychological science debates on social media. I also talk about rude dudes, a dinner with Dawkins, and Coyne calling my work “insufferable pomposity”. Introduction: the tone-police police and social media We founded a roleplaying website in 2001 that quickly… Read more »