On Sharing Psychological Science

[david_myers]

Originally posted on April 3, 2014.

The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently (here) chided academics for becoming esoteric and inaccessible to the general public.  He noted that

The latest attempt by academia to wall itself off from the world came when the executive council of the prestigious International Studies Association proposed that its publication editors be barred from having personal blogs. The association might as well scream: We want our scholars to be less influential!...

Professors today have a growing number of tools available to educate the public, from online courses to blogs to social media. . . . So, professors, don’t cloister yourselves like medieval monks — we need you!

Voila!  Here begins an effort to share fruits from psychological science.  With daily reports and reflections, we will share what fascinates our minds, challenges our thinking, or tickles our funny bones.  We aim to “give psychology away” to:

• teachers seeking to freshen their classes with cutting-edge ideas and discoveries,
• students eager to learn insights beyond what’s in their textbooks, and
• any curious person who finds human beings fascinating, and who delights in psychological science efforts to expand our minds and enlarge our hearts.

We also aim to offer our reflections in simple prose, believing with Thoreau that “Anything living is easily and naturally expressed in popular language.”

Welcome aboard, and please do feel free to invite your students, colleagues, and friends to join us for the ride, and to join the conversation.