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James Wiley

@jamescwiley.bsky.social
382 followers 814 following 63 posts

Statistician | Independent researcher | interests include evolutionary biology, suicide, psychology, and philosophy of science. Opinions expressed are my own. ORCiD: orcid.org/0000-0002-5049-573X

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Reposted by James Wiley
Conor Hammersley, PhD @conorhammersley.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Just noticed my PhD thesis, On Feirm Ground: Exploring and Supporting Male Farmer Mental Health in Rural Ireland, is now up online. To my knowledge, it is the first PhD thesis in Ireland to focus specifically on farmer mental health. research.thea.ie/handle/20.50...
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
There Is No Measurement Error in Biology - Biological Theory
Biological Theory - Measurement error is usually construed as the deviation from a true value. But measurement in organismal biology typically is a complex, multi-step process, and living systems...
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Here are the earlier interesting cases: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024... www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
theguardian.com
‘She endured cruelty’: what led to a leader’s death at a historically Black university?
Antoinette Candia-Bailey was a beloved administrator at Lincoln University. Her suicide devastated a community – and roiled Black academia
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Yet in the last 6 years attributing blame (for a suicide) has seemingly become popular, I suspect due to witch hunt attitudes towards AI. Now we do see it spilling over beyond the AI discussion. There were a few similar cases post-AI and pre-Arday, but the Arday case has had the most staying power.
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
It's interesting that attribution of blame for a suicide was such a taboo topic in modern western media (up until recent), and studied only by a small group of social scientists, mainly anthropologists (given there are cultures with semi-legal framework for assigning blame when a suicide occurs).
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Reposted by James Wiley
Sean M. Mitchell, Ph.D. @drseanmitchell.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
1/5 📄 New publication, now #OpenAccess! 🔓 We surveyed 171 pediatric health care providers across Texas to examine their training, confidence, and current practices related to youth suicide prevention. 🔗 doi.org/10.1080/2379... #SuicidePrevention #YouthMentalHealth
doi.org
Rural and Non-Rural Pediatric Health Care Providers’ Youth Suicide Prevention Beliefs, Attitudes, Training, and Practices
A substantial number of youth experience suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and those living in rural areas are at even greater risk. Pediatric health care providers tend to be the first point of con...
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Reposted by James Wiley
Corbin J. Standley, PhD @corbinstandley.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
📢 New publication! Our latest article in Prevention Science identifies four clusters of state correctional systems and proposes tailored, data-driven strategies for each to prevent suicide in jails and prisons. Check it out! rdcu.be/fwtD2 #SuicidePrevention
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Reposted by James Wiley
Theory, Culture & Society @theoryculturesociety.org · 18/07/2026
ICYMI: Carla Ibled, 'The ‘Optimistic Cruelty’ of Hayek’s Market Order: Neoliberalism, Pain and Social Selection' - analyses how Friedrich Hayek’s market order operates through a series of disciplinary and biopolitical technologies. (Open Access) journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
journals.sagepub.com
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Maybe of relevance/interest: link.springer.com/article/10.1... Free reading link: rdcu.be/fabXs
link.springer.com
Why do Suicide Rates Increase in the Spring and Decrease in the Fall? Insights From Canadian Suicide Rate and Death Rate Data Spanning 2010 to 2020 - Canadian Studies in Population
We examine the hypothesised population dynamic that non-suicide-related deaths systematically remove potential suicides from the population. If true, suicide rates and death rates should exhibit a con...
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Here is the publication page: link.springer.com/article/10.1... And a free reading link: rdcu.be/fabXs
link.springer.com
Why do Suicide Rates Increase in the Spring and Decrease in the Fall? Insights From Canadian Suicide Rate and Death Rate Data Spanning 2010 to 2020 - Canadian Studies in Population
Canadian Studies in Population - We examine the hypothesised population dynamic that non-suicide-related deaths systematically remove potential suicides from the population. If true, suicide rates...
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Maybe of interest, I have a study suggesting that lower mortality in warm seasons confounds the temperature–suicide relationship. If people at elevated suicide risk are also at elevated risk of other-cause death, suicides may appear higher during warm periods, when deaths are low. rdcu.be/fabXs
rdcu.be
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Gabriel R. Fries, Ph.D. @friesgabriel.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
New publication alert! 🚨 We analyzed the shared genetic architecture of suicide attempt (SA) and ideation (SI) across 13 traits using large-scale GWAS. We found shared loci implicating neurodevelopmental, immune, and metabolic pathways, with distinct signatures for SA vs SI. doi.org/10.1016/j.eu...
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Martin Plöderl @ploederl.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Time to retweet. No change in suicide rates in our study with data from Austria, Sweden, and Switzerland (some studies did find associations). Another null-finding that was not so easy to publish until some editor decided to have it reviewed. academic.oup.com/eurpub/artic...
academic.oup.com
Validate User
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Shamelessly tagging some people who may be interested: @ahgchen.bsky.social @osirisrankin.bsky.social @jgunniii.bsky.social @klonskylab.bsky.social @sethabrutyn.bsky.social @annamueller.bsky.social @cibled.bsky.social @jbsinger.bsky.social @mirandalabcuny.bsky.social @edhagen.net
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
COVID provides a useful test because it raised death rates disproportionately within groups already at elevated risk of suicide. Thus the suicide disruption during the pandemic is not unique to COVID itself: COVID raised mortality, while the removal mechanism I propose is what shapes suicide rates.
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
New Publication Alert! 🚨 Why do suicide rates rise in the spring and decline in the fall? I argue that those at risk of suicide also face higher risk of dying from other causes, so fall/winter mortality from flu and heart attacks generate lower suicide rates. rdcu.be/fabXs
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Something exciting is coming soon, stay tuned 😉
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Recognition of this process dates back at least to Shakespeare, where the suicides of Romeo and Juliet precipitated reconciliation between their feuding families. osf.io/preprints/os...
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
And thus, suicide may be understood as a conditioning mechanism, operating on society to alleviate unlivable conditions: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Psychological Aposematism: An Evolutionary Analysis of Suicide - Biological Theory
The evolutionary advantage of psychological phenomena can be gleaned by comparing them with physical traits that have proven adaptive in other organisms. The present article provides a novel evolution...
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
There wasn't a reason posted, but I looked at their rules and see there's no posting for non-peer-reviewed items (which I wasn't aware of as a long-time user). So I'm guessing it got removed for that reason, my mistake.
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
I posted this to reddit, it received a lot of attention before being removed by mods (?) I guess the uncomfortable realities presented were too much for them.
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Reposted by James Wiley
Kevin Lala @kevinlala.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
I am happy to share this article, entitled "The importance of Biological Theory". It is my inaugural editorial as the new Editor-in-Chief of @biologicaltheory.bsky.social . In these complex and challenging times, theory is more important now than ever. Enjoy! doi.org/10.1007/s137...
doi.org
The Importance of Biological Theory - Biological Theory
Biological Theory -
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Scores of reports showing that those with chronic suicidality and a desire for death do die by suicide, just some of them use AI now. I don't dismiss these, but they don't show what people think they show. One could do the relevant research with the funding OpenAI is offering. Why not be productive?
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
No one has actually done any effective anaylsis to-date to see if the suicide rate has increased with the inception of AI. Before AI, people died by suicide. Now that AI is extremely prevelant, it is easy to blame it for problems that have always existed in our society.
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Sean M. Mitchell, Ph.D. @drseanmitchell.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Congrats to Amanda on publishing one of her thesis papers! 🥳 @sarahevictor.bsky.social 📰 Between Urges and Actions: Unpacking Affective Dynamics in NSSI 📰 Get your copy! authors.elsevier.com/c/1m5ih_8RBg... @abct-ssi-sig.bsky.social @iasr-suicide.bsky.social @suicideresearchsym.bsky.social
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Maybe of interest, I've been looking at the other side of the same coin—that suicide rates get censored by increases in other-cause mortality. Suicide rates increase with declining death rates coming out of the flu season, with COVID providing a nice natural experiment: osf.io/preprints/ps...
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
The COVID natural experiment suggests something very different. Suicide rates increase with declining death rates coming out of the flu season. When death rates are disrupted, suicide rates are also disrupted: osf.io/preprints/ps...
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Higher suicide rates often coincide with longer life expectancy. On their own, they are not necessarily a sign of societal decline. For instance, the drop in suicide rates during COVID does not imply that the pandemic was a time of joy or prosperity. www.researchgate.net/publication/...
researchgate.net
(PDF) Why do suicide rates increase in the spring and decrease in the fall? Insights from an empirical evaluation of Stengel's social hypothesis on suicide
PDF | In 1952, the psychiatrist Erwin Stengel hypothesized that suicide becomes rarer in times when the value of life within a society is lower, when... | Find, read and cite all the research you need...
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
The NYT article is well balanced. Even researchers who examine the sensitive issue of direct causation in suicide would find too little here to justify placing blame on any single factor. It’s an interesting case, but I don’t expect the lawsuit to be successful.
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
While PsyArXiv is going through some growing pains, you can find the most up-to-date version of the preprint here: www.researchgate.net/publication/...
researchgate.net
(PDF) Why do suicide rates increase in the spring and decrease in the fall? Insights from an empirical evaluation of Stengel's social hypothesis on suicide
PDF | In 1952, the psychiatrist Erwin Stengel hypothesized that suicide becomes rarer in times when the value of life within a society is lower, when... | Find, read and cite all the research you need...
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Imagine the IRL version of this. AI body cam on a SWAT officer assesses threat level of a target in a split second and has the officer kill the target before the officer could ever react. youtu.be/9alJwQG-Wbk?...
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
taqiyyazayla.medium.com/youre-not-we...
taqiyyazayla.medium.com
You’re Not Weak — You’re Wired to Feel This Way
“If every suicidal thought was a small death, how many lives have we already lost — quietly, invisibly, inside our own minds?”
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
To be fair, the type of content generated by LLMs also plays a role 😛 bsky.app/profile/jame...
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
The problem may be worse than it looks. Higher mortality rates suppress suicide rates—likely because deaths from other causes preclude later suicides. Rural areas have higher mortality. So how much higher are suicide rates there, after adjusting for this? osf.io/preprints/ps...
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Reposted by James Wiley
Sean M. Mitchell, Ph.D. @drseanmitchell.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
🌟New publication!🌟 Feasibility and Acceptability of a Brief Intervention for Youth Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors Among Pediatric Primary Care Providers It was great to be part of the team on this project. I’m excited about continuing this work! @cmpinciotti.bsky.social #suicideprevention
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Shirley Wang @shirleybwang.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
Almost exactly one year after starting my lab (!), I'm thrilled to share our first preprint! 🥳 @leilyb.bsky.social @sharinahamm.bsky.social @francesghart.bsky.social We propose future directions for mathematical, computational, & digital methods to advance suicide research: osf.io/preprints/ps...
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
The recommended prompts it gave were also gold:
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
I wonder what they’re suggesting here? ☹
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
The model seems to be overtrained on erratic online discourse 🤔
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
I totally broke a ChatGPT guardrail today:
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Benjamin Zubaly @bzubaly.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
A new piece in @psypost.bsky.social on our recent study published in Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology. Check it out!
t.co
https://www.psypost.org/fathers-with-more-dominant-looking-faces-are-more-likely-to-have-sons/
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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
This feels a bit like when your child does something amazing and you feel like you want to take the credit but can't really. My new book Alchemy: An Illustrated History has arrived, and it looks *gorgeous*.
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Ryan Moulton @moultano.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
This is amazing. 🪶 www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Bird feeders have caused a dramatic evolution of California hummingbirds
Beaks have grown longer and larger, and ranges have expanded to follow the feeders
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Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 29/05/2025
It’s kinda wild how psychologists will just keep developing “paradigms” targeting estimands that are less and less plausibly empirically identified, because somehow that’s the epitome of rigorous theorizing (tm)
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Can I list Coffee as a co-author?
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
7/7 In conclusion, accounting for death rates may be necessary before interpreting fluctuations in suicide rates.
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
6/7 Why care? Consider previous research suggests increasing temperatures drive suicides. I show that time-of-year (proxy for temperature) is not causal of suicide—rather, death rates (which are higher in winter months) drive suicide. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Higher temperatures increase suicide rates in the United States and Mexico - Nature Climate Change
A 1 °C increase in monthly average temperature is associated with higher suicide rates in the United States and Mexico. Combined with comparable analysis of depressive language in US Twitter updates, ...
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
5/7 I offer an alternative interpretation to Stengel’s theory: that each non-suicide-related death removes a potential suicide from the population. Thus the death rate censors the suicide rate.
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
4/7 I then test whether the pre-pandemic correlation between death rates and suicide rates can predict the 2020 suicide rates. Results are good:
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James Wiley @jamescwiley.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
3/7 In 2020, the seasonal pattern for death rates was disrupted due to inordinate deaths occurring at an atypical time of year. Suicide rates show an exact inverse break in their seasonality relative to death rates. Is this just a coincidence? 🤔
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