Social Psychology in the Information Age: Getting back to flexible measures:

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Getting back to flexible measures:

The Buss Teacher-Learner approach seems to fit. Thankfully one set of authors was unwittingly honest enough to demonstrate.

The Buss Teacher-Learner method was another flexible measure among aggression researchers. Thankfully these authors provided us analyses for almost all the various ways the DV could be measured. Guess which version was the basis for their article. pic.twitter.com/OPEh8LSWZj
— James Benjamin (@AJBenjaminJr) October 22, 2018

We're more likely to see the CRTT used these days, but that more updated approach has been shown to be problematic. Those of us who genuinely care about aggression research need to do better. We need to know that our techniques are reliable, that they can be validated, that their administration and analysis can be standardized. Until then, we have no idea what we are really measuring, and simply finding a p<.05 isn't cutting it.

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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.