Me, reading a philosophy paper

A PLAY NEW YORKERS WILL REMEMBER FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES ‼️

"Prior knowledge biases episodic memory by filling in the gaps in imprecise memories: Simulating aging effects in younger adults" New paper from Michelle Ramey Read more here: sciencedirect.com/science/ar…

Is happiness a morally charged concept? Ceteris paribus, is the saint happier than the sinner? Diverging from the great work by @phillipsjs and @xphilosopher, @DanHaybron and I find that morality plays no role in the concept of happiness. OA in AJP: h1.nu/1r82v

Similar to what we find in our Socratic reflection experiments (researchgate.net/publication…), group discussion improved #fakeNews recognition but solitary reflection did not: doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone… #edu #teaching #journalism #debate #news #socialMedia

Prestige bias is a major problem in academia: success in academia leads to numerous unfair advantages (eg., professors at prestigious universities have an easier time getting their papers published). But prestige bias is bigger in fields that are less scientific (eg., art, history, politics, and philosophy). In these fields, the claims of academics are hard to test so people rely more on prestige as a heuristic about the truth of their claims. In contrast, fields where claims are more testable exhibit lower concentrations of prestige markers (eg., math, physics, computer science, and medicine). This makes it easier for unknown or early career researchers to break through and have success. A new analysis finds that a 10% increase in the testability of claims in a field is associated with a 9% decrease in citation concentration. Evaluators rely less on prestige for quality assurance when the work is testable. My field is psychology is in the middle (close to biology). In the last decade, the credibility revolution has dramatically changed the field. As people published replication attempts, several the leading figures in the field lost significant prestige when their claims did not hold up to empirical scrutiny. This is actually the sign of a healthy scientific field: Prestige should not trump empirical evidence. kurtishingl.com/files/PTTS_l…

George Mason grads are thriving. The Class of 2025 posted a 92% positive career outcome rate, stepping into roles that match their goals and power the D.C. region. gmu.edu/news/2026-04/george-…

1/12 Finally out! 🎉 This project took a village to audit, analyze, and edit. It began with a simple worry: is Solomon’s paradox (psychologicalscience.org/new…) too trivial? Doesn’t everyone know that stepping back (#selfdistancing) & getting outsider #advice helps us choose wiser?

Stanford paid 35,000 people to quit social media. This was the largest study on emotional health in history. The results were so shocking, scientists called it "comparable to therapy." Here's what happens when you break free from the algorithm: 🧵

Mandatory car safety seats prevented 140 births for every life they saved. Safetyism sucks the life from our culture, figuratively and literally.

Better movie: Royal Tenenbaums or social network

🎉 Just published in Nature Human Behavior 🎉 Do liberals or conservatives in the US trust scientists more? You might assume it's liberals, but studies often fail to consider the diversity of scientific disciplines! 🔬 nature.com/articles/s41562-0… [1/6]🧵

Are you interested in research experience before applying to PhD programs? Or just want to learn more about cognitive science? Consider joining my lab as a lab manager (joint w/the Griffiths Lab). We will begin reviewing applications one week from today: cognition.princeton.edu/news…

Very pleased that this paper led by Will Gervais is now out in PNAS. Philosopher Dan Dennett coined the phrase 'belief in belief' for believing that belief in God is a good thing. In this paper, we document just how widespread it is, even among atheists. pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.24…

The Dunning-Kruger Effect is one of the most famous psychology findings. It's the idea that people of low competence/ability overestimate their ability. But is it REAL? At Clearer Thinking, we investigated (with surprising twists and turns): 🧵

The happiest countries in the world tend to have the most heavy metal bands. [Link below.]

A few different things in current events remind me of @Jill_Jord’s “virtuous victim” effect — the tendency to see victims of injustice as morally good It’s so hard to recognize that the very same person can be both a victim and a wrong-doer science.org/doi/10.1126/scia…

Accepted @ExpPsychJournal Research w @StefanczykM challenges assumptions about moral decision-making under fatigue. Study with 303 athletees and firefighters shows moral judgments remain stable despite physical exhaustion. #MoralPsychology #DecisionMaking

Holy crap. Pancreatic is one of the deadliest cancers. New paper shows personalized mRNA vaccines can induce durable anticancer T cells that attack pancreatic cancer. 75% of patients cancer free at three years.