#PSDiversityandInclusion: Rigour, Replication, Reputation … and Gender

Although issues relating to replication and open science have received a great deal of recent attention, relatively little discussion has been devoted to how these issues intersect with considerations of diversity and inclusion.  In an earlier post, I argued that one reason that diversity is valuable in science is because it can introduce diversity of […]

Continue Reading

#PSDiversityandInclusion: De-WEIRDing our participant samples

It has been pointed out that the scientific literature on human cognition and behavior is based primarily on data from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies. This situation is unlikely to change, given that most researchers do not have the training or the funding necessary to study non-WEIRD populations. In addition, some researchers […]

Continue Reading

#PSD&I Beyond Tokenism: Embracing Racial Diversity In Teaching Psychology  

(This post was co-authored with Almas Talib) Over the last ten years, many British universities have increased their efforts to attract Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students. But seduced by the idea that fair access to higher education would automatically translate into equal opportunities, only some institutions have followed-up on their BME students’ progression rates […]

Continue Reading

#PSD&I: Conversations about diversity and inclusion

Next week’s #PSD&I Digital Event is dedicated to diversity and inclusion, broadly defined, and how it relates to all aspects of the activities of the Psychonomic society and its members. The Psychonomic Society is committed to diversity and inclusion, as stated on its webpage: “Most scientists in psychological research agree that diversity, both ethnic and […]

Continue Reading

99 problems associated with aging, but inhibition deficits might not be one

What goes up, but never comes down? If you guessed age, then you are absolutely right. Despite the significant advancements made in science, we have yet to reverse time or stop the process of aging (sorry anti-aging creams). As a result, many people suffer from a fear of getting old (known as Gerascophobia). But are […]

Continue Reading

Talent or 10,000 hours? Good seeing makes for good drawing

Malcolm Gladwell’s 2008 book Outliers popularized the idea that mastery requires practice. A lot of practice. According to the book’s often-repeated “ten-thousand-hour rule,” mastering a skill requires at least ten thousand hours of focused, deliberate practice. If you want to become a world-class musician, or chess player, or athlete, you can get there if you […]

Continue Reading

Who kidnapped Charles Lindbergh, Jr? Forensic handwriting analysis and expertise

On the first of March, 1932, an intruder entered the New Jersey home of aviator Charles Lindbergh. The intruder used a ladder to enter the bedroom of little Charles Jr. and kidnapped the sleeping infant. A little over two months later, the baby’s body was found nearby. The intruder had left a ransom note on […]

Continue Reading

Making sense of 20 cents: Multimodal auditory pitch perception

Many of us have the impression that gestures and exaggerated facial expressions help us understand others in loud environments such as bars or conference parties. Speech perception in many contexts is multimodal – we incorporate visual information when trying to make sense of what someone else is saying. These cues are so consistently predictive of […]

Continue Reading

Shrinking boundaries during sequences of sequential sampling

It’s hot, very hot. And you are traipsing through the jungles of Sumatra in pursuit of that final bilingual participant who is as conversant in Minangkabau as she is in English. You need to test her in your lexical decision task to fulfil the sample size requirements of your OSF preregistration. You nervously scan the […]

Continue Reading