Social Psychology in the Information Age: In the media

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

In the media

Since I've been a bit on the busy side, I neglected to update you regarding the interview I had with The Guardian's Daniel Hernandez, where he tapped into some of my expertise on the weapons effect. Mr. Hernandez published his article at the end of November: Vegas gun ranges target thrill-seeking tourists with ever bigger weapons. Other than reversing my name - I've contacted him to see if he would be kind enough to correct that error - he did capture the essence of the weapons effect based on our conversation. Given the recent string of massacres involving firearms here in the US, the research on the weapons effect is timely - and it is a topic I shall return to in my next post.

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About

Hi! I am A. James Benjamin, Jr., PhD. Most folks call me James or JB eventually.

I am an educator trained as a social psychologist. I work as an Associate Professor at University of Arkansas-Fort Smith. I earned my PhD from University of Missouri-Columbia in 2000. Much of my research has touched on cognitive and behavioral effects of aggression-related cues (e.g., video games and weapon images), increasingly from a critical and skeptical perspective. I have also examined person variables such as authoritarianism and short-term media exposure in relation to attitudes toward violence and toward torture. My more recent interests involve the psychometric properties of various measures of aggressive cognition that are commonly used by aggression researchers. My work intersects with that of related researchers in areas such as Media Communication.

As an educator, I primarily teach methodology courses and the undergraduate survey course in social psychology. I also regularly teach the introductory psychology course. I make a point of introducing students at all levels to the replication crisis. Increasingly, I am trying interactive activities to engage students to become more critical readers of the research literature in my field.

I use this blog to express my own professional and personal perspectives. This blog is completely independent of any organizations with which I am affiliated. Assume that the views I express here are exclusively mine and do not reflect the views of any employer.