Biography
I am a behavioral scientist currently working in the health sector. I earned a B.A. in Psychology at The University of North Carolina at Asheville, a M.A. in Experimental Psychology at Appalachian State University, a M.A. in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at Cornell University.
Vox Pop Science
This is me doing what I always wanted to do in academia — answer whatever (often silly) questions about people that jump in my head as I go about living life (some of these questions bug me for years…) For more info, click here.
Here’s what you can expect right now on this blog:
Results from surveys asking (generally, but not always, psychology-informed) questions that people are interested in, but you won’t find a serious researcher looking into or a polling company spending money on!
What other kinds of topics do you cover?
Reviews of psychology books/blogs/other research that I find interesting.
Long-term goals? (In the event that enough people enjoy this blog.)
Offering services for people who are interested in learning about themselves (e.g., what personality-types do I fit into and how do they compare to the population?)
Offering a service to folks with general questions about people and who suffer from the same need-to-know that I do in which we discuss how best to go about getting a useful answer and executing a survey. In the very unlikely event that enough people engage with this, maybe I’ll give it a shot (though this is a hobby and not my day-job, so we’ll have to see)!
The dream would be to get enough support to start a grant operation whereby I use donations to fund small research projects for social scientists who are asking questions that are too silly or whimsical to get funding anywhere else.
How do I get my data?
I gather a mix of convenience samples (folks like you!) and samples from survey platforms in which I pay people to take them. Whether I can keep this up depends on if others are willing to chip in to fund surveys! I’m limiting length to <= 2 minute surveys for now (which keeps things affordable while still giving reasonable pay for peoples’ time).
What about ethical review?
Participants are 100% anonymous, this isn’t meant for peer-reviewed publication, and the topics explored in this blog are meant to be fun/interesting/educational for the readers and the survey-takers alike (e.g., “Do different personality types enjoy different vacations?“). Imagine Buzzfeed surveys if they actually cared about psychometrics...
If you found something interesting and want to help with creating more of this kind of thing, you can donate below!
Professional Research
My research is focused on developing tools and interventions that leverage behavioral science to improve physical, mental, and financial health and well-being. My training is rooted in the idea that basic models of memory and cognition can inform our understanding of bias in judgment and decision making.
This broad approach (along with a winding path through a panoply of laboratories) has led me to publish in areas such as risky-choice, false memory, jury award decision making, public policy, motivated reasoning, and inductive category learning. Recent work has involved designing a behavioral financial literacy game, a game to inoculate people against vaccine misinformation, a tool to help policy-makers better judge the appropriateness of light vs. heavy policy interventions, and helping people to be healthier in the workplace.
Click below for a list of publications:
Commitment to Open Science
If it isn't reproducible, it isn't science. The best way to ensure a science that is reproducible is to be as open as possible regarding the process that got you from hypothesis to experiment to publication. The social sciences have made great strides in the past decade towards a more open and reproducible science, through methods such as preregistration, registered reports, open peer review, the Open Science Framework (in which one can share materials, data, preregistrations), and a much stronger focus on statistical methodology. The only way we will be able to ensure that the insights gleaned from behavioral research and applied in the world are reliable is to further advocate for open science practices. Below are links to a list of resources that can help scientists make their work more open, statistically rigorous, and help practitioners know what to look for when attempting to make use of the literature.
Teaching
In my previous positions, I have taught a Psychology and Law seminar and a Introduction to Psychology course. I strongly believe in going beyond student evaluations, and trying to take an empirical approach to measuring student learning (see here for an example pertaining to my Psychology and Law class). Given the wealth of technological resources for teachers, it is easier than ever to provide numerous creative demonstrations of the topics in class. Click here for some online resources for excellent supplementary materials that can be used to demonstrate various psychological phenomena. Also, click here for some entertaining videos of my dog demonstrating various principles in psychology. For students interested in careers related to psychology and law click here for relevant resources.
Contact Information
Email: jccorbin1985@gmail.com