Social Psychology in the Information Age: This US midterm election may be good for science

Friday, November 6, 2026

This US midterm election may be good for science

I was reading an NYT article earlier today that highlights a few of the incoming members of Congress who actually have scientific credentials (see gift link). I'll note too there are some medical professionals/health science professionals entering Congress as well (the new Senators in Michigan and South Carolina come to mind immediately). Why does this matter? First, this was an election of historic proportions. That's something I'll put a pin in for now, since this isn't an explicitly political blog and I would want a scientific angle to craft a post I think would fit. But yes, the opposing party is now going to be in power as of January, and that will mean some much-needed and much-missed oversight from Congress when it comes to funding scientific research as well as disseminating to the public credible and trustworthy statements about public health, the environment, etc. instead of propaganda. There is some low-hanging fruit these newly minted legislators can pursue that should at least make grant funding more reliable and less politicized. That said, we're not quite yet back to a situation that I could characterize as normal. We still have Trump in the White House for a couple more years (or Vance if Trump has to step down or dies in office - which given Trump's age is an actual risk factor is something to be prepared for), and this White House has demonstrated over and over again that it treats any effort at oversight as an inconvenience to be ignored. So there will be a fight for the foreseeable future. But at least it is now a more fair fight than the past two years. I'm quite optimistic about scientific progress from a global perspective even if I have hardly been optimistic about the state of US science in recent years. But now I have at least some cause for hope that on some level American scientific leadership is no longer on life support. I might have more to say later, but election night gave those in the scientific community cause for cautious optimism. In the meantime, the struggle continues.

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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.