Survey research is often interpreted as showing that belief in conspiracy theories can be surprisingly widespread, including belief in conspiracy theories that would be astonishing if true. For example, in The Atlantic we learn that “12 million Americans believe lizard people run our country”

Big congratulations Dr Higgins!

Wendy Higgins@wchiggins.bsky.social · 2y ago

My PhD was conferred today 🎉 A huge thank you to my amazing supervisors @robert-m-ross.bsky.social @davidmkaplanx.bsky.social, @suttonprofessor.bsky.social, and Alexander Gillett and collaborators @dredeschrijver.bsky.social, @vsavalei.bsky.social, and Vince Polito

My thesis - Measurement in Crisis? A Critical Evaluation of Measurement Validation Practices in the Psychological Sciences - was awarded the Macquarie University Vice-Chancellor’s Commendation for Academic Excellence.

Have you every found yourself wondering whether the most widely used measures of social cognitive ability measure what they are supposed to measure?

Great blogpost describing our recent findings in the context of other relevant research. @richramseyphd.bsky.social

koenfucius@koenfucius.bsky.social · 2y ago

We evolved an urge to separate into groups, not just on the basis of social characteristics like beliefs and preferences—but even according to the most arbitrary facts. ICYMI, last call for my post, United or divided by a coin flip: buff.ly/435M0fa

Study participants awarded 43% more money to people with whom they shared trivial or random similarities than to people who were different, suggesting that interindividual comparison, not just groupism, underlies discrimination. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Thanks for sharing @utafrith.bsky.social ! @richramseyphd.bsky.social and I will work on our titles from here on. 😅

Uta Frith@utafrith.bsky.social · 2y ago

Far more interesting than the title suggests, providing new angle on ingroup preference/outgroup hostility. Unequal resource division occurs in the absence of group division and identity | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...