Social Psychology in the Information Age: Potentially interesting article on the prevalence of narcissism among scientists

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Potentially interesting article on the prevalence of narcissism among scientists

I am bookmarking this one (Science, narcissism, and the quest for visibility) for later. Gave it a cursory scan, and it looks like a useful thought piece. The article does not provide any original data, but does certainly offer an enterprising researcher some ways to test the author's premise. Let's just say it struck a chord. A reader at PubPeer offers this summary:

This is an interesting analysis of narcissism in science. The author argues that: 1) the top level of the scientific hierarchy is populated by narcissistic individuals, 2) narcissism is deleterious for science because it encourages competition over cooperation, and frauds, and because it leads to concentrating resources on a few powerful individuals, 3) the current academic system favors narcissism, at the expense of sound science. An example of narcissistic behavior in science is the obsession for publishing in glam journals, shaping scientific work into engaging stories that highlight the heroic quality of authors.

Make of it what you will.

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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.