Category Archives: psychology
Learning the Wrong Lessons from Newtown
It is four years since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, and we’ve had the benefit of extensive investigation and reflection. Many of the open questions in those horrible moments and days after the shooting have been answered, but we … Continue reading
The way you saw that dress, what a mess, I confess: A cognitive psychologist sees a dress
The internet was finally broken yesterday, not by a West or a Kardashian, nor by Beliebers, but rather by disbelievers. #TheDress, in which some people see blue/black, some people see white/gold, some people see blue/gold, and some people, no … … Continue reading
Conference Blogging from the American Psychological Convention
Hello loyal readers, Today and tomorrow I will be conference blogging (and livetweeting) from the American Psychological Association Annual Convention. Please tune in over there, here is the blog, and my first post on the diversity of psychology. More to … Continue reading
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Social Media as a Catalyst for Psychological Science
Can social media serve as a catalyst for psychological science? I think many scientists are rightly skeptical of social media as a replacement for other normal scientific processes. Peer review will not be replaced by Tweep Review. Methods sections will not be … Continue reading
Social Media as a Catalyst for Psychological Science – My presentation
At the recent Association for Psychological Science annual convention, I co-chaired a symposium on “Social Media as a Catalyst for Psychologist Science.” In my next post I will give some context to the entire session, but first, here is my … Continue reading
Posted in psychology, science
Tagged APS14sf, psychological science, psychology, social media, twitter
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Thumb on the PayScale
In my last post, I took issue with the PayScale college rankings, as well as with how economics reporters framed these rankings, citing their low calculated Return on Investment as evidence that these colleges “make” students poor. Jordan Weissmann has graciously responded to my critique. … Continue reading
Posted in education, higherEd, psychology, science
Tagged college, college rankings, highered, PayScale
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Grit and Galton: Is psychological research into traits inherently problematic?
Is all psychological research on individual differences racist? Can psychologists ever separate our shameful past of scientific racism from the methods, techniques and questions that have grown from it? A recent post criticizing the concept of “grit” (and Angela Duckworth, … Continue reading
Posted in education, psychology, research, science
Tagged Angela Duckworth, Duckworth, Francis Galton, grit, psychology
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How much does it matter how students feel?
As I prepare my tenure portfolio, I am catching up on entering in my student evaluation data and comments into my big spreadsheet. While I don’t think student evaluations should serve as the only data by which to judge teachers, … Continue reading
Posted in education, higherEd, psychology
Tagged learning styles, psychology, student evaluations, teaching
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My Teaching Philosophy (part 327b)
I’m putting some finishing touches on my syllabi here the night before classes start, and I thought I would share with my blog readers a one-page statement of my teaching philosophy that I put on each of my syllabi. Anyone … Continue reading
Posted in education, higherEd, psychology, teaching
Tagged highered, psychology, syllabus, teaching
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Teacher’s Mind, Beginners Mind
Welcome new readers! One of the themes of this blog is how I apply my perspective as a college professor or a cognitive psychologist to a variety of different circumstances, like kindergarten, or feminism, or googling, or school reform. This … Continue reading
