Author Archives: Michael Kraus

Do I have the least stressful job in 2013? – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)

Posted on January 6, 2013 | Comments Off on Do I have the least stressful job in 2013? – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)
About a week ago, Forbes magazine published a list of the least stressful jobs in 2013 (here). At the very top of the list was the college Professor. This sparked some outrage among my colleagues who (rightly) point out that a Professor's job is not without stress (here). The swell of outrage was so immense, that the original author posted an addendum stating that indeed, some of the characterizations of a Professorial job made in the original post--e.g., that Professors don't work hard--were inaccurate (here).

So, what kind of stress do Professors actually face in their jobs relative to other professions? It might help to first try to understand what is meant by the word "stress."

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Tabula Rasa: Do genes influence personality? – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)

Posted on December 11, 2012 | Comments Off on Tabula Rasa: Do genes influence personality? – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)
wikipedia.org
If I were to ask you the simple question, "Do you think that genes influence your personality?" The first thing you might think, is that I'm asking you a stupid question. After all, nearly all our lay beliefs about the world include beliefs that some of our genetic material influences who we become as people. And though we do believe, to varying degrees, that our experiences shape who are, I'm sure we can't think of all that many people who believe, like Aristotle, that we are a tabula rasa (blank slate). As well, if you believe in evolution then you must have an implicit belief that genes influence who we are. If evolution has taught us anything, it is that survival means passing on the fittest of our genes to the next generation.

So, you come to PYM today with the implicit belief that your personality is most certainly influenced by your genes. What if I told that this is not what the most recent research in behavioral genetics would suggest?

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What is Charisma? – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)

Posted on November 25, 2012 | Comments Off on What is Charisma? – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)

Did charisma win the 2012 election?
Today on PYM we are pleased to bring you the second guest blog from Emily Plutov, advanced undergraduate at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

In some of PYM’s election coverage, Amie cited an example of the incredible influence television has over voters’ conceptions of political figures: the famous debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960. In this debate, Kennedy was the clear victor; not only was he calm and collected, but he also was said to have displayed “charisma,” an attribute that people widely believe makes politicians into effective leaders.

What is charisma?
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Another Lay Theory of Success in Graduate School – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)

Posted on November 10, 2012 | Comments Off on Another Lay Theory of Success in Graduate School – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)
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My first semester as a member of the faculty at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (referred to affectionately as Chambana) is coming to an end. Arriving with the Winter, is an important time in my new job--the time for graduate school applications. As a new faculty member, this will be my first chance guide the academic future of a new research career, from admission to dissertation. That's heavy!

This event made me think: What the heck am I looking for in a graduate student? I'm glad you asked that question interwebs. I'll try to provide an answer in what follows.

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Obama or Romney? Leave the decision to your parents! – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)

Posted on October 28, 2012 | Comments Off on Obama or Romney? Leave the decision to your parents! – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)
Tell your parents that obedience
 is overrated! (source)
Whenever I teach a group of undergraduates I always hope that I will be shaping their young political minds in meaningful ways. I hope that our discussions in class will open their eyes to the various and important social issues of our time, and maybe lead to greater awareness of injustice, unfairness, and inequality in society. I've often thought that this is my most important role as a Professor. I also think that this is one of the concerns of parents who send their children to college--the fear is that the liberal education will forever change the political attitudes that will shape the rest of their adult lives.

While we don't know how much the college experience shapes political attitudes, new research published in Psychological Science, and written by researchers at the University of Illinois, suggests that liberal and conservative political beliefs are shaped by early childhood parenting environments.

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Science Utopia (Continued): Methods Integrity Workshop – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)

Posted on September 30, 2012 | Comments Off on Science Utopia (Continued): Methods Integrity Workshop – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)
"Winter is coming." --Ned Stark/Greg Francis
On Friday afternoon I attended a seminar in methods integrity in research (here). The speakers were Hal Pashler of UC San Diego and Greg Francis of Purdue University. In the seminar, the speakers raised a number of interesting points that I think add to last week's post on PYM about questionable research practices (here). I'll summarize the main points that I took from the seminar:

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Science Utopia: Some Thoughts About Ethics and Publication Bias – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)

Posted on September 24, 2012 | Comments Off on Science Utopia: Some Thoughts About Ethics and Publication Bias – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)
Science Utopia, next exit
Psychology's integrity in the public eye has been rocked by recent high profile discoveries of data fabrication (here, here, and here) and several independent realizations that psychologists (this is not unique to our field) tend to engage in data analytic practices that allow researchers to find positive results (here, here, and here). While it can be argued that these are not really new realizations (here), the net effect has turned psychologists to the important question: How do we reform our science?

It's a hard question to answer in one empirical article, or one blog post, and so that's not the focus here. Instead, what I'd like to do is simply point out what I think are the most promising changes that we, as a science, can adopt right now to move toward a solution that will help prevent future data fabrication or the use of biased hypothesis tests. These are not my ideas mind you, rather, they are ideas brought up in the many discussions of research reform (online and in person) that I have had formally and informally with my colleagues. Where possible, I link to the relevant sources for additional information.

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