Reposted by Wendy HigginsMattan S. Ben-Shachar @mattansb.msbstats.info · 31/05/2026Psychologists doing exploratory factor analysis be like: #statsmeme 611616
Reposted by Wendy HigginsAssociation for Psychological Science @psychscience.bsky.social · 11/08/2026Psychological Science invites submissions presenting innovative research that brings psychological science “into the wild.” #Psychology Submit full manuscripts by January 15, 2027. Questions? Ask the Editors: Roni Porat and @vishnusreekumar.bsky.socialpsychologicalscience.orgSpecial Issue Call for Submissions: “From Lab to Life: Psychological Science in the Real World”Editors: Roni Porat and Vishnu SreekumarPsychological Science invites submissions presenting innovative research that brings psychological science “into the wild,” whether to strengthen its ecological... 086
Reposted by Wendy HigginsRoni Porat @roniporat.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Excited to be co-editing a special issue of @psychscience.bsky.social with @vishnusreekumar.bsky.social: From Lab to Life: Psychological Science in the Real World. We’re looking for research that takes psych theories out of the lab and into the wild. 122
Wendy Higgins @wchiggins.bsky.social · 03/08/2026Glad you liked it @ajgillett.bsky.social And a big thank you to AIMOS for the invitation to talk about my favourite topic 040
Reposted by Wendy HigginsJamie Cummins @jamiecummins.bsky.social · 20/05/2026Austin et al. (2026) advocated for AI in hypothesis-driven scale validation research. In this preprint, led by @wchiggins.bsky.social, we (@malte.the100.ci @bethclarke.bsky.social) sketch out several weaknesses in this paper, and offer recommendations for avoiding them. osf.io/preprints/ps... 1/🧵osf.ioOSF 11910
Reposted by Wendy HigginsJamie Cummins @jamiecummins.bsky.social · 18/05/2026This paper has now been accepted at Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science! 16017
Wendy Higgins @wchiggins.bsky.social · 29/04/2026That is the most striking comparison, but remembering vs despondent is another one. And this is just one sign that all is not right with this test. Some interesting variants include dog and cat eyes, robot eyes, cartoon eyes, and infant eyes. 110
Wendy Higgins @wchiggins.bsky.social · 28/04/2026There is also a version of the test for children, and comparing the two suggests that we become jaded over time. In youth, we saw people as "interested", now they are "uneasy" 150
Reposted by Wendy HigginsRobert Ross @robert-m-ross.bsky.social · 14/04/2026Survey research is often interpreted as showing that belief in conspiracy theories can be surprisingly widespread, including belief in conspiracy theories that would be astonishing if true. For example, in The Atlantic we learn that “12 million Americans believe lizard people run our country” 38338
Reposted by Wendy HigginsEinstein Foundation Berlin @einsteinberlin.bsky.social · 14/03/2026🏆 @simine.com, psychologist at @psychunimelb.bsky.social / @unimelb.bsky.social and Editor-in-Chief of Psychological Science (@psychscience.bsky.social) is a leading voice in the reform movement in psychology - and is now being honored with the €150K Individual Award. Huge congratulations! 🎉 918834
Wendy Higgins @wchiggins.bsky.social · 25/01/2026Great question! A common measure is not very "common" without evidence of comparable performance across relevant contextual factors. If we know *how* a measure works we can predict contextual factors that will impact its validity potential - so I think #understoodmeasures might be a better framing. 030
Wendy Higgins @wchiggins.bsky.social · 24/01/2026We also argue measurement requires a causal relationship from target attributes to measurement outcomes, making it a causal claim. Upshot 1 even correlations between measured variables rely on causal inference. Upshot 2 since good causal inference is hard, establishing realised validity is hard. 120
Wendy Higgins @wchiggins.bsky.social · 24/01/2026Let’s stop talking about “valid measures.” No measurement procedure will *always* measure what it is supposed to measure. Instead: Consider Validity Potential when selecting a measure. Check for Realised Validity when interpreting its output. 110
Wendy Higgins @wchiggins.bsky.social · 24/01/2026Validity Potential = how likely is it that this measurement procedure will measure what I want it to measure? Realised Validity = does the specific output I collected from this measurement procedure measure what I am interpreting it as measuring? 100
Wendy Higgins @wchiggins.bsky.social · 24/01/2026Thrilled to share our new paper introducing “validity potential” versus “realised validity” as a key distinction for psychological measurement, with @davidmkaplanx.bsky.social, Alexander Gillett, @suttonprofessor.bsky.social, and @robert-m-ross.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...sciencedirect.comRethinking psychological measurement: Validity potential versus realised validityWe propose a concept of validity with a novel feature that we argue can facilitate improved measurement validation practices in the psychological scie… 2275
Wendy Higgins @wchiggins.bsky.social · 01/12/2025Thrilled to have been awarded an Australian Psychology Society Award for Excellent PhD Thesis in Psychology! psychology.org.au/about-us/wha...psychology.org.au 2025 APS Major Award winners | APS The APS recognises excellence and promotes achievement in psychology through a program of more than 80 awards each year 150
Reposted by Wendy HigginsDr. Jen Beaudry @drjbeaudry.bsky.social · 21/11/2025Thanks to everyone who came to Sydney for #AIMOS2025! I can't wait to see you in Wellington, NZ next year! 0145
Wendy Higgins @wchiggins.bsky.social · 16/10/2025Attended my PhD graduation ceremony yesterday. Gotta love the hat 020
Reposted by Wendy HigginsJulia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 01/10/2025A lot of psych is already conducted with online convenience samples & ppl are probably excited about silicon samples bc it would allow them to crank out more studies for even less 💸 How about we reconsider the idea that sciencey science involves collecting own data. www.science.org/content/arti...science.orgAI-generated ‘participants’ can lead social science experiments astray, study findsData produced by “silicon samples” depends on researchers’ exact choice of models, prompts, and settings 1423473
Wendy Higgins @wchiggins.bsky.social · 06/08/2025oh wow! lovely to see people engaging with my research 😃 www.bps.org.uk/research-dig...bps.org.ukThe ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test’ may be less robust than we thought | BPSA new paper assesses the widely-used tool. 1339
Reposted by Wendy Higginssimine vazire @simine.com · 08/05/2025My editorial on how journals can earn trust. We often use journal names as proxies for quality. This is bad bc it’s not valid. But it could be. Editors could make journal name a valid signal. And we could place value on journals that show us how they do that. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... 212343
Reposted by Wendy HigginsAnne Scheel @annemscheel.bsky.social · 03/04/2025Chuffed and excited to announce a new journal section in Cortex: *Methods and Assumptions* is open for submissions starting today! Read the opening editorial here (OA): www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 1/sciencedirect.comMethods and Assumptions: A new section in Cortex 25329
Reposted by Wendy HigginsRobert Ross @robert-m-ross.bsky.social · 10/04/2025Wendy Higgins (@wchiggins.bsky.social), who developed all these projects that interrogated the validity of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test, has just been awarded her PhD and joined BlueSky! Follow her for more cutting-edge research on measurement and meta-science! 2164
Wendy Higgins @wchiggins.bsky.social · 10/04/2025Btw, those leonine eyes in my mammal identification test belong to a Chow Chow (dog) – notice any parallels? 010
Wendy Higgins @wchiggins.bsky.social · 10/04/2025Stay tuned for the final paper from my thesis, which takes a step back to rethink validity itself. 110
Wendy Higgins @wchiggins.bsky.social · 10/04/2025It includes a series of papers critiquing the validity of the widely used Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test. Conclusion: The Eyes Test is unsubstantiated, and thus, uninterpretable as a measure of social cognitive ability www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... scholar.google.com.au/citations?us...sciencedirect.comConstruct validity evidence reporting practices for the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test: A systematic scoping reviewThe Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) is one of the most influential measures of social cognitive ability, and it has been used extensively in … 120
Wendy Higgins @wchiggins.bsky.social · 10/04/2025My thesis - Measurement in Crisis? A Critical Evaluation of Measurement Validation Practices in the Psychological Sciences - was awarded the Macquarie University Vice-Chancellor’s Commendation for Academic Excellence. 141
Wendy Higgins @wchiggins.bsky.social · 10/04/2025My PhD was conferred today 🎉 A huge thank you to my amazing supervisors @robert-m-ross.bsky.social @davidmkaplanx.bsky.social, @suttonprofessor.bsky.social, and Alexander Gillett and collaborators @dredeschrijver.bsky.social, @vsavalei.bsky.social, and Vince Polito 161
Wendy Higgins @wchiggins.bsky.social · 10/04/2025Introducing Dr Wendy Higgins and the Reading the Mammal in the Eyes Test. 1166