Eric-Jan Wagenmakers

Last updated
Eric-Jan Wagenmakers
Born (1972-05-21) May 21, 1972 (age 51)
Other namesE.J. Wagenmakers
CitizenshipNetherlands
Education University of Groningen
University of Amsterdam
Known for Bayesian statistics
AwardsFellow of the Association for Psychological Science since 2017
Member of the Psychonomic Society
Scientific career
Fields Mathematical psychology
Institutions University of Amsterdam (2003–present)
Academic advisorsJeroen Raaijmakers

Eric-Jan Wagenmakers (born May 21, 1972) is a Dutch mathematical psychologist. He is a professor at the Methodology Unit in the Department of Psychology at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). [1] Since 2012, he has also been Professor of Neurocognitive Modeling: Interdisciplinary Integration at UvA's Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences. [2] A noted expert on research methods in psychology, he has been highly critical of some dubious practices by his fellow psychologists, including Daryl Bem's research purporting to find support for the parapsychological concept of extrasensory perception, [3] [4] and the tendency for psychologists in general to favor the publication of studies with surprising, eye-catching results. [5] He has also been actively addressing the replication crisis in psychology by helping to conduct a series of studies aimed at reproducing a 1988 study on the supposed effects of smiling on the perceived funniness of cartoons. [6] [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clairvoyance</span> Claimed form of extrasensory perception

Clairvoyance is the claimed ability to acquire information that would considered impossible to get through scientifically proven sensation, thus classified as extrasensory perception, or "sixth sense". Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parapsychology</span> Study of paranormal and psychic phenomena

Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near-death experiences, synchronicity, apparitional experiences, etc. Criticized as being a pseudoscience, the majority of mainstream scientists reject it. Parapsychology has also been criticised by mainstream critics for claims by many of its practitioners that their studies are plausible despite a lack of convincing evidence after more than a century of research for the existence of any psychic phenomena.

Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the relationship between mental states and social situations, studying the social conditions under which thoughts, feelings, and behaviors occur, and how these variables influence social interactions.

Precognition is the purported psychic phenomenon of seeing, or otherwise becoming directly aware of, events in the future.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ganzfeld experiment</span> Pseudoscientific test for extrasensory perception (ESP)

A ganzfeld experiment is an assessment used by parapsychologists that they contend can test for extrasensory perception (ESP) or telepathy. In these experiments, a "sender" attempts to mentally transmit an image to a "receiver" who is in a state of sensory deprivation. The receiver is normally asked to choose between a limited number of options for what the transmission was supposed to be and parapsychologists who propose that such telepathy is possible argue that rates of success above the expectation from randomness are evidence for ESP. Consistent, independent replication of ganzfeld experiments has not been achieved, and, in spite of strenuous arguments by parapsychologists to the contrary, there is no validated evidence accepted by the wider scientific community for the existence of any parapsychological phenomena. Ongoing parapsychology research using ganzfeld experiments has been criticized by independent reviewers as having the hallmarks of pseudoscience.

Self-perception theory (SPT) is an account of attitude formation developed by psychologist Daryl Bem. It asserts that people develop their attitudes by observing their own behavior and concluding what attitudes must have caused it. The theory is counterintuitive in nature, as the conventional wisdom is that attitudes determine behaviors. Furthermore, the theory suggests that people induce attitudes without accessing internal cognition and mood states. The person interprets their own overt behaviors rationally in the same way they attempt to explain others' behaviors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daryl Bem</span> American psychologist (born 1938)

Daryl J. Bem is a social psychologist and professor emeritus at Cornell University. He is the originator of the self-perception theory of attitude formation and change. He has also researched psi phenomena, group decision making, handwriting analysis, sexual orientation, and personality theory and assessment.

Charles Henry Honorton was an American parapsychologist and was one of the leaders of a collegial group of researchers who were determined to apply established scientific research methods to the examination of what they called "anomalous information transfer" and other phenomena associated with the "mind/body problem"—the idea that mind might, at least in some respects, have a physical existence independent of the body.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Krippner</span>

Stanley Krippner is an American psychologist and parapsychologist. He received a B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1954 and M.A. (1957) and Ph.D. (1961) degrees from Northwestern University.

Sandra Ruth Lipsitz Bem was an American psychologist known for her works in androgyny and gender studies. Her pioneering work on gender roles, gender polarization and gender stereotypes led directly to more equal employment opportunities for women in the United States.

The facial feedback hypothesis, rooted in the conjectures of Charles Darwin and William James, is that one's facial expression directly affects their emotional experience. Specifically, physiological activation of the facial regions associated with certain emotions holds a direct effect on the elicitation of such emotional states, and the lack of or inhibition of facial activation will result in the suppression of corresponding emotional states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Alcock</span> Canadian educator (born 1942)

James E. Alcock is a Canadian educator. He has been a Professor of Psychology at York University (Canada) since 1973. Alcock is a noted critic of parapsychology and is a Fellow and Member of the Executive Council for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He is a member of the Editorial Board of The Skeptical Inquirer, and a frequent contributor to the magazine. He has also been a columnist for Humanist Perspectives Magazine. In 1999, a panel of skeptics named him among the two dozen most outstanding skeptics of the 20th century. In May 2004, CSICOP awarded Alcock CSI's highest honor, the In Praise of Reason Award. Alcock is also an amateur magician and is a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. As of 2020, he is currently on leave from York University.

Diederik Alexander Stapel is a Dutch former professor of social psychology at Tilburg University. In 2011 Tilburg University suspended Stapel for fabricating and manipulating data for his research publications. This scientific misconduct took place over a number of years and affected dozens of his publications. By 2015, fifty-eight of Stapel's publications had been retracted. He has been described in coverage by the New York Times as "the biggest con man in academic science".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. E. M. Hansel</span> British psychologist and parapsychology critic (1917–2011)

Charles Edward Mark Hansel was a British psychologist most notable for his criticism of parapsychological studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Center for Open Science</span> American nonprofit organization

The Center for Open Science is a non-profit technology organization based in Charlottesville, Virginia with a mission to "increase the openness, integrity, and reproducibility of scientific research." Brian Nosek and Jeffrey Spies founded the organization in January 2013, funded mainly by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation and others.

Gordon Logan is the Centennial Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University. A cognitive and mathematical psychologist, Logan is well known for his work on cognitive control and inhibition of cognitive and motor activity, divided attention and the nature of the human brain’s processing limitations, and the fundamental characterization of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD. He has also done extensive research on the hierarchical control of skilled copytyping, which he views as a useful model for hierarchically organized complex human skills in general. He collaborates on research that applies mathematical models to neural and behavioral data.

Albert Jan "Ap" Dijksterhuis is a Dutch Social Psychologist at Radboud University Nijmegen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Replication crisis</span> Observed inability to reproduce scientific studies

The replication crisis is an ongoing methodological crisis in which the results of many scientific studies are difficult or impossible to reproduce. Because the reproducibility of empirical results is an essential part of the scientific method, such failures undermine the credibility of theories building on them and potentially call into question substantial parts of scientific knowledge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Nosek</span> American social psychologist

Brian Arthur Nosek is an American social-cognitive psychologist, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, and the co-founder and director of the Center for Open Science. He also co-founded the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science and Project Implicit. He has been on the faculty of the University of Virginia since 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fritz Strack</span> German social psychologist

Fritz Strack is a German social psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of Würzburg. Strack is a member of Germany's National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for psychology in 2019.

References

  1. "Eric-Jan Wagenmakers Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Retrieved 2018-05-26.
  2. Amsterdam, Universiteit van (2012-05-15). "Dr E.J. Wagenmakers". www.uva.nl. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  3. Engber, Daniel (2017-05-17). "Daryl Bem Proved ESP Is Real. Which Means Science Is Broken". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  4. Carey, Benedict (2011). "Journal's Article on ESP Is Expected to Prompt Outrage". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  5. Shea, Christopher (2011-11-13). "As Dutch Research Scandal Unfolds, Social Psychologists Question Themselves". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  6. Yong, Ed (2012-05-16). "Replication studies: Bad copy". Nature. 485 (7398): 298–300. Bibcode:2012Natur.485..298Y. doi: 10.1038/485298a . PMID   22596136. S2CID   4321991.
  7. Skibba, Ramin (2016-11-03). "Psychologists argue about whether smiling makes cartoons funnier". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2016.20929 . Retrieved 2018-05-27.