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Samuel West

@sjwest.bsky.social
87 followers 63 following 185 posts

Assistant Professor of Psychology at Virginia State University studying violence, aggression, & personality. Part time bluegrass/country singer, full-time dad. Website: sjwest.io

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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 9h
This exactly what a quasi-exp design is for. Recruit on the basis of their parents natural decision rather than an RCT (WITH A SUBSTANCE YOU THINK IS TOXIC). There is no need to get that last bump of validity with a true experiment vs. well controlled quasi. There is no way for this to be ethical.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 10h
But their stated rationale is literally "we want to poison babies with a substance people don't think it poison to prove it is actually poison." That alone is wild bc it means all of their ethics applications must be full of citations about the safety and lack of risk with said drugs.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 10h
One thing the critique here doesn't point out is that administering the hep B vaccine itself would also be unethical if these scientists actually believe it causes harm. It doesn't. We know it doesn't. They know it doesn't.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 10h
In case anyone isn't aware, the US is trying to do another Tuskegee experiment...except this time with babies and hep b. I was all outraged reading this but then excited to see my friend @cdelawalla.bsky.social quoted at the end for kicking their ass once already. arstechnica.com/health/2026/...
arstechnica.com
Outrage grows as CDC reportedly poised to fund "unethical" vaccine trial
CDC allocated $1.6M for study on alleged harms of hepatitis B vaccine.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Yeah they have these goofy purpose-built AIs that "humanize" AI-generated text by making it less concise/adding grammar errors etc. I hate it.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
As someone who liked to communicate with lists of action items and excessive em-dashes this whole thing has been devastating. 😭
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
New grant application idea: You now have to present your entire proposal in TikTok video format. No documents allowed.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I prefer Times New Roman mostly because I can fit just a *little* more on my specific aims pages.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Dear IBM, Why the hell did you make Levene's test optional, unselected by default, and displayed in a totally different table after the t-test results is SPSS v 32? I don't understand the logic when A) the test is necessary and B) has to be read *before* the t-test to choose Student vs Welch...
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
If you ask me for my signature in a word document (WHY?) you're getting an awful thing I made with a mouse in 2013.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Awesome resource! Y'all should add the ACQ on there. 😁
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Reposted by Samuel West
David Chester @davidchester.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
AggreScale, part of the ManyScale project of @datingdecisions.bsky.social, is now live! It's the place to go for aggression scales and we hope to update it and grow it in the days to come. Huge thanks to Emily Pappalardo and James Marchment! www.manyscale.org/aggression/
manyscale.org
AggreScale
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
It's less complicated. It won't affect them in their lifetime beyond inconvenience and they don't care what happens after.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Senators? Yeah for sure I hope we do it.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
No. They're just ginning up conflict to fundraise from a position of getting revenge on the donor's behalf. To really sell it you have to make your base believe they've been actively wronged. It can't be just an incompetence thing. It doesn't need to be realistic. It just needs to generate money.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Good lord do we need to read the poem AGAIN?
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
I won a thing! Solid feather in the cap right before I go up for tenure. Solidarity with anyone else going up this cycle. 😎
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
New Tom Waits single dropped and its fire
youtube.com
Massive Attack & Tom Waits - Boots on the Ground (Lyrics)
YouTube video by Strain Music
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Dearest academic journals and publishing houses: can we please pretty please all agree to start putting the DOIs of papers in an easy to find space right at the top of the page? Or even one I can control + F my way to without expanding some page menu? Its 2026 and this is still driving me nuts.😭
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
But like what the fuck does slow service at a single store have to do with any of this? They're literally just citing a common annoyance that everyone has had at some point that is entirely unrelated.
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
AI is bad and ruining human knowledge, sorry to those trying to convince us otherwise.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Google will let you use AI for literally every petty search you make like "where is the closest gas station?" but STILL WONT USE IT TO PULL THE DOIs FOR GOOGLE SCHOLAR.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Tagging some other folks who may like these tunes! :) @brownwt.bsky.social @drlynam.bsky.social @dmparton.bsky.social @drberrysaplab.bsky.social @courtlandhyatt.bsky.social @joshuagrubbsphd.com
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
@davidchester.bsky.social these are the songs I told you about at the bar like 6 months ago lol
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
A rare personal post: I recently finished production on a two-song demo for a new country/bluegrass/folk type project. I am quite proud of these songs as I have never taken on the full breadth of production before. Please share if you enjoy! sjwest.bandcamp.com/album/Never
sjwest.bandcamp.com
Never, by SJ West
2 track album
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Just a small personal victory at the end of a very rough semester. 🎉
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Yeah sometimes I'm better off without awareness of wtf my body is doing
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
So grateful that Canvas was calculating grade percentages wrong which made me export my whole grade book yesterday. When their math is 252/300 = .82 it's no surprise that their ITSEC ain't up to snuff.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Reminds me of work showing mindfulness can actually be worse for some negative emotions. If you're super mindful and also pissed off you're going to know you're pissed off sooner (oversimplified of course).
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Brian Nosek @briannosek.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Best evidence yet that LLMs can match human capabilities in doing science.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Can we switch back to Blackboard now?
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
I just saw a student's chatGPT query for help with PROCESS moderation. It told the student that the p-value from the interaction term is all they need to argue if the slopes were different from one another and that the CIs didn't matter. How are they even using it to cheat? lol
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
So much annoys me about Windows 11 but I will say that having "open in new tab" as an option for the folder explorer windows was a great addition. The rest I could take or leave. Any other cool small features of 11 I'm missing?
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
It's honestly hard to fathom how they had so many absolute bangers on one album.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
This isn't a fucking freedom of speech issue when we're really talking about the freedom to conduct psychological malpractice. What if my MD insisted on using opiates for infections instead of antibiotics? My doc could SAY those things wherever he wanted...except when practicing medicine.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Supreme court backs conversion therapy in Colorado 8-1. Jesus fucking Christ. The highest court in the land just moved to increase suicide rates anong queer youth. apnews.com/article/supr...
apnews.com
Supreme Court rules against Colorado ban on ‘conversion therapy’ for LGBTQ+ kids
The Supreme Court has ruled against a law banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ kids in Colorado, one of about two dozen states that banned the discredited practice.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
THEY'RE TRYING TO BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYING TO BUILD A PRISON THEY'RE TRYING TO BUILD A PRISON
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Watching my daughter develop deep empathy for her toys is both precious and exhausting. I can only handle so many KittyFairy crises per day.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Does anyone know where this may be available? I've done a thorough search but the internet is vast!
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
A report named "The big five inventory—versions 4a and 54" - has been cited over 6,000 times yet the only actual copy of it I can find anywhere is just another "citation" listing. Seems like this should be readily available given how frequently this measure is/has been used!
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Hey psychology friends - I'm doing some digging trying to find the original validation of the 44-item BFI measure from John et al. It seems like the original validation data was not reported in a peer-reviewed publication but a technical report that doesn't seem to be available anywhere.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 07/01/2026
Jacob Frey: "To ICE -- get the fuck out of Minneapolis"
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Of course they do of course they do!
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
As scientists who are also humans with human politics - this is so incredibly important for all of us to support like our lives depend on it (they do).
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Will I get in trouble if I share a pre-print and tell everyone that they should read that version bc it is better than the one that got published? 😅
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
*deep fatherly sigh*
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Social psychologist here - I can easily explain it. He promised his supporters one of the most decadent treats of all - revenge on others with absolutely no risk to them. All the other promises are secondary to this one. We love revenge. When we get it the reward centers of our brain light up.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
This takes me back to middle school when our principal banned all Pokemon cards because kids were stealing from each other and getting into fights. He refused to pronounce it correctly as a belittling joke - "Poke-uh-Man" He didn't realize the jokes that followed would haunt him forever.
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Samuel West @sjwest.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
Crystal [meth] Castles
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Just gonna keep suggesting this: We are letting bad people set our information agenda when we talk about them all the time.
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