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Science is among humanitys greatest achievements, yet scientific censorship is rarely studied empirically. We explore the social, psychological, and institutional causes and consequences of scientific censorship (defined as actions aimed at obstructing particular scientific ideas from reaching an audience for reasons other than low scientific quality). Popular narratives suggest that scientific censorship is driven by authoritarian officials with dark motives, such as dogmatism and intolerance. Our analysis suggests that scientific censorship is often driven by scientists, who are primarily motivated by self-protection, benevolence toward peer scholars, and prosocial concerns for the well-being of human social groups. This perspective helps explain both recent findings on scientific censorship and recent changes to scientific institutions, such as the use of harm-based criteria to evaluate research. We discuss unknowns surrounding the consequences of censorship and provide recommendations for improving transparency and accountability in scientific decision-making to enable the exploration of these unknowns. The benefits of censorship may sometimes outweigh costs. However, until costs and benefits are examined empirically, scholars on opposing sides of ongoing debates are left to quarrel based on competing values, assumptions, and intuitions.

Over the past decade behavioral science, particularly psychology, has come under fire from critics for being fixated on progressive political ideology, most notably Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). The critics' [...]

'It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.'--ATTRIBUTED TO MARK TWAIN When it comes to opinions concerning [...]

When a romantic relationship ends, individuals often look back and wish they had done things differently. What may seem clear in hindsight, however, is often unclear in foresight. We investigated the effects of outcome knowledge on individuals’ judgments of a dating couple. In Study 1 (181 U.S. college students, 334 U.S. community adults), participants read about a couple with an uncertain relationship trajectory; then, experimental group participants received knowledge about the couple’s status six months down the road as broken up or still together, while control group participants received no outcome knowledge. Individuals who were told the dating couple broke up perceived that outcome as more likely and obvious compared to those who were not given outcome knowledge or who were told the couple stayed together. In Study 2 (262 U.S. college students, 333 U.S. community adults), participants in the experimental conditions received knowledge about the couple’s status six months later as broken up or engaged, while control group participants received no outcome knowledge. In both samples, outcome knowledge of a breakup had a negative effect on individuals’ judgments about the couple. Among community adults, but not among college students, outcome knowledge of an engagement positively affected judgments of the couple. We offer directions for future research and discuss the mechanisms by which hindsight bias might affect evaluations of our own and others’ relationships.

Despite recent interest in online learning, systematic comparisons of online learning environments with traditional classroom environments are limited, particularly in the sciences. Here, we report on a systematic comparison of an online and face-to-face classroom for a sophomore-level, lecture-only introductory inorganic chemistry course that is designed for students pursuing a chemistry major or minor. The online group consisted of three sections of students enrolled in Introduction to Inorganic Chemistry during two 8 week summer terms and one 4 week winter term. The face-to-face group consisted of two sections of students enrolled in Introduction to Inorganic Chemistry during two 15 week semesters. Both groups of students completed ten common exam questions, and a validated and reliable measure of their attitudes toward chemistry (Attitude toward the Subject of Chemistry Inventory Version 2: ASCIv2). Students in the online course and face-to-face course did not differ in their performance on the common exam questions, course grade distribution, or attitudes toward chemistry. Although few studies have compared online and face-to-face learning environments in the physical sciences, our results are consistent with the idea that students who complete an online course fare just as well as those who attend face-to-face classes.

Sex differences in the use of competitive tactics have been well established. Although many factors may contribute to these sex differences, according to social role theory (SRT), stereotypes and expectations about men's and women's typical social roles are crucial. We addressed the potential impact of social roles by studying massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), a setting where individuals represent themselves with avatars and thus enjoy the opportunity to compete without regard to the typical expectations and behaviors associated with men's and women's roles. We surveyed players via MTurk (63 women, 191 men) and Reddit (166 women, 1,326 men) regarding their frequency of engaging in five competitive behaviors and the sex and role of their primary avatar. As expected, there were reliable sex differences in competitiveness: men were more likely than women to engage in player-versus-player duels (MTurk d = 0.19; Reddit d = 0.51), do solo runs of difficult content (0.30, 0.35), and work to acquire expensive items (0.32, 0.19); women were more likely than men to seek in-game awards (−0.38, −0.36) and spend real-world money on expensive microtransactions (−0.16, −0.27). Contrary to SRT, these sex differences in forms of competitive behavior were generally unrelated to players’ chosen avatar sex or avatar role. These results instead indicate that sex differences in competitiveness largely reflect evolved predispositions.

IN 1998, 11-YEAR OLD EMILY ROSA CAUSED A NATIONAL sensation when she published the results of her 4th grade science experiment in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (1) [...]

At the same time as some faculty committees and corporations are appealing to the use of online ratings from RateMyProfessors.com to inform promotion decisions and nationwide university rankings, others are derogating the site as an unreliable source of idiosyncratic student ratings and commentary. In this paper we describe a study designed to test the assumption that students' ratings are unreliable. The sample included 366 instructors with 10 or more student ratings. Contrary to the assumption that students' ratings are unreliable, variance in students' ratings about a given instructor was similar across number of raters, with 10 raters showing the same degree of consensus as 50 or more raters. Students showed the most consensus about instructors who were among the top third of the distribution in quality, and this effect occurred even among instructors rated as the most difficult. Taken alongside other investigations of RateMyProfessors.com and the broad literature on student evaluations of teaching, our findings suggest that students who use RateMyProfessors.com are likely providing each other with useful information about quality of instruction. (Contains 1 table and 6 figures.)

Since its inception in 1999, the RateMyProfessors.com (RMP.com) website has grown in popularity and, with that, notoriety. In this research we tested three assumptions about the website: (1) Students use RMP.com to either rant or rave; (2) Students who post on RMP.com are different from students who do not post; and (3) Students reward easiness by giving favorable quality ratings to easy instructors. We analyzed anonymous self-report data on use of RMP.com from 208 students at a regional public university and RMP.com ratings of 322 instructors at that university. Our findings suggest that (1) student motivations for posting on the website are wide ranging and moderate in tone; (2) few student characteristics differentiate those who post from those who do not post on the website; and (3) although easiness and quality are highly correlated, discipline differences in easiness but not in quality suggest that students can, and do, discriminate between easiness and quality. We concur with previous researchers (e.g., Otto, Sanford, & Ross, 2008) that, although the site is limited, RMP.com has more validity than generally assumed. (Contains 7 figures, 1 table, and 1 note.)

We conducted correlational and performance discrepancy analyses on exam and achievement data taken from students in three psychology courses. Across courses, the same findings emerged. First, only a small fraction of students consistently performed more strongly on one type of assessment (e.g., multiple-choice) than on another (e.g., short answer). Second, students' multiple-choice performance, above and beyond their short answer performance, accounted for variation in students' standing on achievement measures unrelated to psychology (including high school class standing, American College Test score, and college grade point average). In contrast, students' short answer performance, above and beyond their multiple-choice performance, did "not" account for variation in students' standing on those achievement measures. Our findings support the continued use of multiple-choice items to assess student learning. (Contains 5 tables, 2 figures, and 1 note.)

We investigated women's facial attractiveness and body shape as a function of menstrual cycle phase, with the expectation from previous research that both would be enhanced during the high fertile phase. To control for the effects of women's daily behaviors on their appearance and waistline, we visited 37 normally cycling women twice in their dorm, where we photographed and measured them at low and high fertile days of their cycle immediately upon their waking. Seventy-four judges from a separate institution chose, for each woman, the picture they thought was more attractive. We analyzed a subset of 20 women who, by forward counting, had a High Fertility visit between Days 10–13 and a Low Fertility visit between Days 20–23; and we also analyzed a subsample of 17 women who, by reverse counting, had a High Fertility visit on the days leading to ovulation and a Low Fertility visit one week after ovulation. In neither set of analyses were women's waist-to-hip ratios lower nearer ovulation, and in neither set were women's high fertile pictures chosen at an above-chance rate by either male or female judges. We did not find evidence that facial attractiveness and waist-to-hip ratio are reliable physical cues of ovulatory status.

Focuses on an activity used in an introductory psychology course that enabled students (n=65) to comprehend the concepts of obedience, conformity, and social roles in the area of social psychology. Explains that the students found the activity to be helpful in understanding the role of social influence. (CMK)

We conducted three studies to (1) investigate individuals' beliefs about change in mating desires over the course of emerging adulthood and (2) determine whether those beliefs reflect actual variation in mating desires among emerging adults of varied ages (late teens through twenties). In Study 1, 103 men and women gave their thoughts on how college students change, if at all, in what they most desire in a relationship and relationship partner as they move from being incoming freshmen to graduating seniors. In Studies 2 and 3, using a college sample and then an internet sample ( n s = 288 and 307), men and women between the ages of 18 and 26 completed mating strategies inventories and allotted a limited number of “mate dollars” to 10 mate characteristics. Findings suggest that although emerging adults believe that their peers' mating desires change systematically over time, emerging adults' self-reported mating desires vary little with age.

Past research implicates adaptations in women to assess men's willingness to invest in offspring ( La Cerra, 1995 ). In two new studies, women's evaluations of an opposite-sex target as a long-term partner and short-term sex partner were negatively impacted by viewing that target ignore a baby in distress; this effect occurred for men in Study 1 only. Men's short-term sexual attraction to a female target was not affected by context. In Study 2, women responded similarly to a man vacuuming and to a man interacting with a happy baby. Neither sociosexual orientation nor sex-role beliefs moderated participants' sensitivity to targets' behavior. Women more than men appear to display a general sensitivity to an opposite-sex target's good character.