Dialogue for a Listing of Current and Vegas (See the Call for Submissions Bi-Annual Meeting Following the SPSP Newly Elected Members)

The Official Newsletter of the Society for E Personality and DIALOGU Social Psychology

Volume 24, No. 1 Spring, 2009 Spring, 2009 Co-Editors: Hart Blanton & Diane Quinn

Inside the Current Issue: SPSP Goes to Vegas in 2010

President’s Col- 1, 3, The 2010 SPSP convention The hotel recently completed to)! Rooms will be priced umn on SPPS 4 will be at the Riviera Hotel in a $50 million renovation pro- lower than in past years Las Vegas, Nevada, January ject that involved upgrading (around $160 per night), and 28 – 30. This famous hotel, rooms (including the creation the many relatively inexpen- Call for SPSP 2 located right on “The Strip,” of more non-smoking rooms), sive direct flights to Las Ve- 2010 Proposals has been featured in a number and improving the sizeable gas from various parts of the of films, including Austin convention space attached to country should lower the State of SPSP 2, 19 Powers: International Man of the hotel. The block of rooms costs even more. Mystery, Casino , and Ocean’s for SPSP will be in a tower The 2010 Convention Com- Publication Commit- 4 Eleven . Its original opening, that is totally non-smoking, tee Report mittee includes Monica Bier- in 1955, was hosted by Joan and conference goers will not nat (Chair), Wendi Gardner, Crawford and Liberace, and have to walk through the hotel and Toni Schmader. Chairing Travel Section: 6,7 its owners over the years have casino when going from the Marketing the Program Committee this included Harpo Marx, hotel rooms to the non- year are Serena Chen and Gummo Marx and Dean Mar- smoking convention hall Will Fleeson. APA Council Report 7,10 tin. (unless, of course, one wants 10 Ways to In- 8,9 crease a Paper’s President’s Column: More Than You Wanted to Chance of Success

Training Committee 11 Know about the Founding of SPPS Report By Richard E. Petty, ment in the new journal is was the recommendation for concerned, I’ll begin the saga the society to explore the es- Dear Me! 11 2009 SPSP President with a special publications tablishment of a new short task force that was charged by reports journal modeled after Determinism is Not 12, 15 As I write this, our new jour- 2007 SPSP President Harry the highly successful Psycho- Just Causality nal, Social Psychological and Personality Science (SPPS ) Reis to look into changes in logical Science, but focusing has opened its doors (or web publication practices (e.g., exclusively on personality and The Will is Caused, 13, 15 “open access”) and new pub- social psychology. Short re- Not “Free” portals) for business for two weeks. In just the first week lishing opportunities. This ports were becoming an in- Graduate Student 14,15 of operation alone, 35 papers task force was chaired by then creasingly popular format in president-elect Jack Dovidio longstanding social psychol- Committee Report were submitted. In the next week, a similar number of and included Matt Lieberman, ogy journals with the current Trends and Hot 16,17, papers was added. Clearly, Julie Norem, Nicole Shelton wave perhaps being stimu- Topics in Social 19 this rate cannot continue, but and Eliot Smith as members. lated when Russ Fazio created Psychology SPPS seems to be off to an David Dunning and Harry a special section for brief re- exceptionally fast and healthy Reis served in an ex officio ports in JESP. start. What follows is a brief Diversity and Cli- 18,19 capacity. The task force As many long time mem- summary of how our new mate Committee made several key recommen- bers of SPSP might recall, our journal came into being – at dations to the SPSP Executive very first journal, PSPB , be- Report least as far as my sometimes Committee (EC) at its 2008 gan as an outlet for short re- faulty memory allows. And Away We Go! 20 annual meeting in Albuquer- ports with rapid publication. As far as SPSP’s involve- que. Of most relevance here (Continued on page 3) 2 GUE DIALO Call for Proposals: SPSP 2010

The SPSP Program Committee invites Poster Sessions ing a balanced and broadly represen- proposals for symposia and posters to be Poster sessions will involve standard tative program. presented at the Eleventh Annual Meet- poster presentations, which will also be ing of the Society for Personality and printed as poster abstracts in the Pro- General Submission Information Social Psychology (SPSP), which will ceedings. Poster submissions must in- An individual may be first author on be held January 28-30th, 2010, in Las clude the title, the authors’ affiliations, only ONE submission (symposium or Vegas, Nevada. The submission dead- and an abstract of up to 250 words. poster) and may serve only ONCE in a line is July 20, 2009. symposium speaking role. Individuals Submission Content may, however, be co-authors on more Submissions may be in the form of sym- • Abstracts must contain the specific than one paper (symposia and posters). posia or poster presentations and must goals of the study, the methods used, Please note that discussants are no be submitted electronically via the con- a summary of the results, and conclu- longer allowed in regular symposia sub- ference organizer’s website. E-mailed sions. missions. It is incumbent on symposia Calls for Proposals will provide the • Data must be collected prior to ab- organizers to verify that speakers in their internet site address for submission. stract submission. We will not con- symposia have not submitted their Deadline for submission is soon: July sider abstracts for studies that have names as speakers in other symposia. 20! not been conducted. Failing to do so may result in a symposia • The title of the abstract should clearly being rejected. Individuals are not al- Presentation Formats define the work discussed. lowed to switch who fills the speaker • After listing authors' names, give the role after submission. Symposia name of each author's institutional The 2010 Program Committee : Symposia will be 75-minute sessions affiliation. Serena Chen ( Co-Chair) that include three or more talks on a • Use only standard abbreviations. William Fleeson ( Co-Chair) common topic, printed as symposia ab- • Submissions will be reviewed with David Amodio stracts in the Proceedings. Symposium regard to: scholarly/theoretical merit, Veronica Benet-Martinez proposals must include a title, abstracts soundness of methodology, relevance Lorne Campbell of up to 250 words for each talk, and a to social and personality psychology, Melissa Ferguson 250-word (maximum) summary describ- clarity of presentation, significance, Mike Furr ing and justifying the symposium theme. and originality. Final selection among Kate McLean Please include audio/visual require- submissions deemed meritorious will Stacey Sinclair ments. be made with an eye toward achiev- Jeanne Tsai Iven Van Mechelen State of SPSP: Notes from the Executive Committee Meeting

The SPSP Executive Committee held its Dialogue for a listing of current and Vegas (see the call for submissions bi-annual meeting following the SPSP newly elected members). above). Also on the horizon is the 2011 convention in Tampa Florida, on Febru- conference site, which will be in San th th Below we mention just a few of the top- ary 8 and 9 , 2009. Headed by Presi- ics covered in the meeting. Please see Antonio, Texas. The committee is now dent Rich Petty, the meeting explored the more extensive committee reports working on a site for 2012. The commit- new ways of expanding the informa- throughout this issue. tee also expressed a desire to build on tional reach of the society by growing some of the strong program coordination membership, improving interactions Membership and Treasurer’s Report . efforts of program committee co-chairs, with media, promoting society publica- SPSP membership continues to rise and, Sam Gosling and Wendi Gardner. The tions and on-line forums, and expanding as of January 2009, membership was at committee felt the emphasis on schedul- ongoing training efforts. These goals an all-time high of 5,637. Increased ing debates was a success. One good were greatly benefited in the past year membership, combined with increased “problem” the program committee con- from a conservative investment strategy. income from journals have also provided fronts is that the convention is attracting Monies not hidden under Rich Petty’s the society with a buffer it needs to so much high-quality work the there is mattress were placed in accounts with no good way to feature all of it with weather short-term downturns. secure returns, and as a result the society symposia. The EC discussed the addi- maintains broad freedom to pursue its Convention Committee. Coming off a tion of another day to the convention goals in the coming year. Any sugges- successful meeting in Tampa, Florida, schedule, but they concluded this was tions for the direction SPSP might take this year’s convention committee is hard not feasible given the success of precon- should be forwarded to members of the at work organizing the 2010 meeting in ferences. They concluded that a goal for SPSP Executive Committee (see back of (Con’t on page 19) 3 GUE DIALO

President’s Column (continued from page 1)

The short report tradition continued until pointed me to make connections with a certain editor of PSPB (that was me, I specific other societies and report back – the four of us decided to have a joint guess) decided to remove the highly at the mid-year August, 2008, meeting in venture agreement prepared that we restrictive page limits as a requirement Boston. I first set a meeting with Linda could pass by our respective societies for for submission. Although this move Skitka who was representing the Society approval. The joint venture agreement might have been one small step in the of Experimental Social Psychology would specify all of the rules of the con- progression of the journal into the high (SESP) in their attempt to start a new sortium and how the journal would be impact outlet future editors brought journal. Beginning with SESP was ideal run. In hindsight, it is hard to imagine a about, it also (unfortunately) removed because rumor had it that they were fur- better group with whom I could have from our field a place where brief scien- thest along in their planning for a new worked than Linda, Carsten, and Brent. tific papers could flourish. As just journal and the SESP co-membership Each of these individuals effectively noted, however, the short reports form with SPSP is very high. represented the interests of their own did not disappear when PSPB abandoned societies but also always had the larger Linda and I met in Chicago interests of the scientific community in it, but rather it eventually moved to other during the MPA meeting in May, 2008. places. mind. Thus, the articulation of consor- This meeting was a crucial one because tium governance and journal policies, In any case, prompted by the if Linda and I could not agree on the rules, and procedures, went very recommendation from the Dovidio task basic ground rules of cooperation for the smoothly. With our joint venture details force on publictions, the SPSP EC talked journal, then it was unlikely to go for- spelled out, the group put together a pro- extensively about the need for a new ward – at least as a joint venture. Fortu- spectus for the new journal and began to journal, what its possible benefits might nately, the meeting went very smoothly contact publishers. Four publishers were be, and what risks might be present. In and Linda and I hammered out the basics contacted and each sent in a bid for the addition to consideration of the merits of of an agreement for sharing costs and journal. establishing such a journal (versus im- revenues. Rather than a traditional ap- plementing a short reports section in proach in which each society might bear By the Boston mid-year EC PSPB ), a practical consideration was the the cost of its own members, we con- meeting in August, 2008, a tentative rumor that one or more other societies curred on a plan in which societies joint venture agreement among the four and publishers were independently con- would buy “shares” of the journal. For societies had been fashioned, and four sidering establishing such a journal. example, a society with a 20% stake in publisher proposals were in hand. Sur- Thus, a core consideration was whether the journal would bear 20% of the costs prising to me, at least, these proposals SPSP should compete with others in a of the journal and earn 20% of the prof- differed dramatically in their details and race to initiate a new journal, or whether its regardless of membership size. Linda in the potential revenue they would gen- some sort of cooperative arrangement and I also agreed on other societies to erate for the societies. Notably, two of among societies might be struck. Al- approach about the journal. Next up was the proposals were clearly superior to though it was agreed that as the largest the European Association of Social Psy- the other two. The two top proposals organization devoted to personality and chology (EASP). became finalists and each publisher was social psychology, SPSP would likely asked to prepare a revised proposal that Taking advantage of an already was even better than their first one. The emerge victorious in any horse race to planned conference in the Netherlands I establish a new journal, it was also EC endorsed the progress the consortium was attending, Carsten de Dreu, Presi- had made so far and agreed to have its agreed that the field of personality and dent-elect of EASP, and I met in Am- social psychology would be best served attorney examine both the joint venture sterdam in June, 2008. Like Linda, agreement and the eventual publishing by a spirit of cooperation rather than Carsten was enthusiastic about a joint competition. After due consideration of contract before signing on the dotted venture among several societies and was line. the key issues, the EC decided to go interested in having EASP purchase ahead with the journal and to explore shares. With some tweaking of the Following the Boston meeting, cooperation with other societies who agreement that Linda and I had struck in the consortium continued negotiations were simultaneously considering a new Chicago, we were ready to approach one with publishers and solicited suggestions short reports journal. To enhance the more organization, the Association for from society members for editors and breadth and appeal of the new journal, Research in Personality (ARP), to ensure the name of the journal. In addition, sev- the EC also recommended seeking out that personality was represented. Like eral other societies were contacted about societies that were not known to be ex- the others, Brent Roberts, representing sponsoring the journal. The following ploring a new journal but would provide ARP, was interested in collaborating on groups heeded the call and also gave better representation for personality psy- the project after learning about it via e- input on possible editors: The European chology. mail and in a phone call. Association of Personality Psychology With a formal motion to ex- (EAPP), The Asian Association of So- Although there were various cial Psychology (AASP), and the plore a new journal in cooperation with other societies that could be approached other societies in place, the EC ap- – and that would be approached shortly (Con’t on page 4) 4 GUE DIALO President’s Column (continued from page 3)

Society of Australasian Social Psycholo- ties to the governing board of the jour- lishing contract with Sage. The contract gists(SASP). There were a number of nal. There were just a few more critical is a good one, we think. It will provide superb nominations for editor including details to be settled such as the name for all members of the four owning societies several individuals who had already the journal. Across the participating (ARP, EASP, SESP, and SPSP) with served as either editor or associate editor societies, there were over 100 different free access to an electronic subscription of a leading journal. Progress on the titles that were suggested by over 100 to the journal. A print copy will be journal was proceeding rapidly even different people. Many of the sugges- available at cost. In addition, several co- though a formal publishing agreement tions had Personality, Social, and Psy- sponsoring societies will be able to offer was yet to be signed. By the Tampa chology in the title along with a descrip- the journal to their members at signifi- SPSP meeting in 2009, the joint venture tor such as Reports, Advances, Letters, cantly reduced rates – though these ar- agreement was translated into legalese, Updates, or Briefs. One of the most rangements have not yet been formal- and the first face-to-face meeting of the popular descriptors was “Science,” how- ized. When all is said and done, the sponsoring society representatives took ever, and the governing board ultimately journal will have an instant subscription place. Vincent Yzerbyt was named as settled on the title Social Psychological base of over 6,000 personality and social inaugural editor of the new journal and and Personality Science . Although it psychologists worldwide. And, in a few he began immediately to pull his edito- turned out that this title was not one of years, as library adoptions take hold, it is rial team together. the many nominated by society mem- expected to pay dividends to SPSP and the other owning societies. Shortly after the Tampa meet- bers, the governing board felt that it was ing, the joint venture agreement was a title that described exactly what the With all of the i’s dotted and t’s signed by the four founding societies, content of the journal would be. crossed, the new journal is off and run- and Linda, Carsten, Brent, and I were A final step was for the consor- ning. May SPPS live long and prosper! officially named by our respective socie- tium members to sign an official pub- Publication Committee– End of Year Report, 2008 By Randy Larsen two Senior Associate Editors, nine Asso- editorial decision lag of 9.7 weeks. The ciate Editors, and 90 editorial board rejection rate for 2008 was 78.8%, down members. PSPB set a record for new slightly from 84.7%, the year before. submissions in 2008, with 665 new sub- The impact factor of PSPR jumped sub- SPSP’s publications continue to missions coming in during the year. stantially during the 2007 year (4.76, up flourish even though there have been a Editorial lag time continued to be im- from 3.35 for the previous year). This number of editorial changes. The most pressive (at 9.4 weeks for Judy and 4.4 makes it the first year that the impact obvious editorial change to readers of weeks for Shinobu as of Dec. 2008). factor for PSPR surpassed that of JPSP this report is the change in editors of the The impact factor of PSPB has contin- (which was 4.50 in 2007). Congratula- Dialogue , commencing with this issue. ued its yearly increase (rising to 2.58 in tions to Galen and his editorial team for The editorial team of Monica Biernat 2007, ranking PSPB #4 out of 47 jour- this outstanding achievement! and Chris Crandall ended their term on nals in Social Psychology). PSPB is on Galen’s four-year term as editor December 31, 2008 (after eight years). very solid footing and in good hands. Starting January 1, 2009, Hart Blanton of PSPR will come to and end on Dec. and Diane Quinn (both at University of One new feature at PSPB is that 31, 2009. Consequently, the Publication Connecticut) began a four-year editorial it has transitioned to SageTrack as the Committee initiated a search for his re- term. Over the years Dialogue has de- web-based manuscript management sys- placement by placing calls for nomina- veloped into an informative and enter- tem. The previous editorial team used tions on the SPSP listserve and in the taining professional newsletter, and we RapidReview, but Sage encouraged us to society’s journals. This call resulted in are confident that it will continue along transition to SageTrack. The transition 16 persons receiving one or more nomi- these lines under the new editorial team. has not been entirely smooth, mostly on nations. After much discussion the Pub- the editorial end. The high-volume lication Committee forwarded a short list Personality and Social Psychol- manuscript flow through PSPB places to the Executive Committee, who voted ogy Bulletin also underwent a change in extreme demands on SageTrack. Since to offer the editorship of PSPR to Mark editor during this period. Judy it is a Sage product, they are working Leary (Duke University). Mark ac- Harackiewicz’ editorship ended Septem- with us to improve user experience. cepted the offer and will begin receiving th st ber 30 , 2008, and on October 1 Shi- manuscripts for PSPR on Jan. 1, 2010. nobu Kitayama became the new editor PSPR Editor Galen Boden- hausen reports that the journal received We wanted to express our gratitude to of PSPB . Shinobu had a crack editorial Mark for taking on this important edito- team in place at the start, and so the 67 new submissions during 2008, which consistent with previous years. Galen rial duty for SPSP and to wish him the journal has experienced a very smooth best as he prepares to start his editorial transition to his editorship. Shinobu has and his associate editors provided authors with timely feedback, averaging an term. 5 GUE DIALO

Guilford Ad Here 6 GUE DIALO TRAVEL SECTION We are happy to announce a new section for Dialogue , our Travel Section. The goal of this section is to report on the travel adventures of social and personality psychologists “living abroad.” In each edition of Dialogue , we will use this section to publish contributions from one or more members who are working outside the boundaries of traditional social and personality training programs. We hope that, with this section, we can help members from traditional training programs learn more about the world around them and the myriad of career paths open to them. If you would like to make a contribution to this section, please contact the editors. This month, we are publishing an invited contribution from Dr. Kathleen Vohs. Kathleen was trained as a social personality psychologist in the Psychological and Brain Sciences program at Dartmouth College, but her current position is an Associate Professor (McKnight Land-Grant Professor) in the Department of Marketing at the Carlson School of Management (University of Minnesota). We asked her to contribute to our inaugural edition because (1) we knew she would have plenty of sharp insights to share from her life as a social psychologist working in a Mar- keting Department, and (2) we knew she’d get us 1,000 words of copy on a very tight deadline. She didn’t disap- point us, in either respect.

Traveling psychologist: Better Know a Marketing Professor

By Kathleen Vohs population coming into the lab. So, al- these various factors is that the number though lab space is more limited than in of publications on marketing faculty University of Minnesota, psychology departments, collecting data CVs tend to be fewer than their peers in Carlson School of Management might not necessarily be difficult. psychology. With respect to tenure, Research funds : Getting a job with a schools also vary on how many market- Comparing being a social psychologist ing publications they require, with some in a marketing department versus a so- psychology department means a big start-up fund, but then little help from wanting a predominance of marketing cial psychologist in a psychology depart- and others happy with people publishing ment is a bit like comparing living in the university or department once those funds dry up. Business schools seem to only in basic disciplines. One last com- Canada versus the U.S. (I did that too): ment is that marketing professors coau- There are a lot of similarities, but those operate oppositely: Relatively little money is given for start-up but typically thor much more with other professors who know both sides see real differences than is true in psychology. The field of as well. In this Traveling column, I high- there are funds available for faculty (and PHD students) each year. Most schools marketing does not (by and large) hold light the differences. My impressions the belief that untenured professors have been gleaned through faculty ap- provide a research/teaching fund for each faculty that is replenished each should work by themselves or with post- pointments in and visits to marketing docs/graduate students. This stands in departments, which means that my per- July. Amounts that faculty receive range dramatically by the school, from $2,000 contrast to the preference in psychology ceptions pertain mainly to marketing that assistant professors not publish with a year to north of $25,000. departments although probably some senior professors and especially not with apply broadly to behavioral science in Publishing : There is an emphasis in mar- one’s mentors. Marketing faculty gener- business schools. keting departments to publish in what ally hold the belief that good working Research : On one hand, business schools are called “A” journals. What counts as relationships are hard to come by and so have less lab space than psychology dean “A” journal varies from school to scholars should nurture those kinds of partments and what space there is gets school with most settling on a core relationships when they find them; and, shared among faculty and PHD students. group, which includes marketing outlets conversely, that relationships that are not Therefore, there is less freedom in terms such as Journal of Consumer Research mutually beneficial will fade with time. of space use and scheduling. On the and Journal of Marketing Research but Additionally, marketing has smaller other hand, labs are often run by a full- also JPSP and sometimes PSPB or Psy- PHD programs than psychology (see time staff, which is an enormous help to chological Science , as well. One striking below) and more interactions with other getting studies completed. Regarding difference is that the marketing culture schools, which engender professor- subjects: Some marketing departments seems to favor publishing primarily in professor collaborations. have undergraduate subject pools similar these "A" journals. This “A” level emphasis means that there is less accep- Teaching : Time spent teaching through- to psychology; other marketing depart- out the year is less than in psychology ments have only paid subject pools. tance of going to a second-tiered journal that many psychologists would have no departments but teaching demands are (This is in part why there’s sometimes a more intense. Marketing classes often sizeable budget given to faculty; see qualms about. Marketing faculty publish almost no book chapters; I think this is use case-based teaching, and there are below). Moreover, an emerging trend is high expectations about the energy level to have an online subject pool with a because there just aren’t many edited volumes in the field. The totality of in the classroom. Good teaching is im- slick setup to supplement the subject portant and student ratings are held in 7 GUE DIALO high esteem, due to the ranking system cause there are very few postdoctoral and typically guaranteed for the first of business schools by business maga- slots. (But postdoctoral opportunities in several years of one’s appointment. At zines. Good teaching means application business schools are increasing some.) some schools, summary salary is guaran- more than theory because MBA stu- Colleagues : Working in a business teed for all research-active faculty. dents, whose tuition is a big part of reve- school means that your colleagues will To close, I want to stress that the simi- nue, want news they can use. Perform- have a wide range of backgrounds. larities between being a professor of ance in research and teaching, at my PHDs in engineering, economics, math, marketing versus psychology are greater school, count equally when it comes to sociology, and psychology are common than the differences: We teach, we men- determining raises (but not tenure cases: in marketing departments (in addition to tor, we pitch in on service. And our hap- research is more important than teach- marketing PHDs, of course). This range piness is wrapped up in creating theo- ing). of starting points means that there are ries, testing them by collecting data, and PHD students : There are fewer market- more inquiries about basic frameworks publishing those findings — we’re so- ing PHD students than in psychology and questioning of assumptions. I find cial and personality psychologists, after departments, and PHD students are that aspect particularly fun, but present- all, just like you. funded by the school not the professor. ing in a marketing seminar can be a bit Marketing students work with multiple challenging because of the breadth of Footnote : Social and personality psycholo- faculty members (formal rotations that the audience’s backgrounds. gists could work in either a department of require students to work with different marketing or organizational behavior, the Salary : It’s true: business school profes- latter sometimes being a unit within a larger faculty are common), take more classes, sors have larger salaries, by rank and and have fewer publications than do management department. Research interests status, than their peers in psychology. tend to differentiate who goes where: a per- psychology PHD students. Marketing Every year the field of marketing col- son who studies (ir)rational decision making, students get jobs. This is due to both lects information, gathered and offered consumption (e.g., spending, eating), util- more resources leading to more positions by the newly-minted PHDs themselves, ity/happiness, persuasion, or goals would and a smaller number pool of applicants. on rookie salaries likely be in marketing. A person who studies Furthermore, there is a strong interna- (http://docsig.eci.gsu.edu/WWW2008.pdf). power, negotiations, perspective taking, tional focus in business schools that fos- For marketing PHD students who gradu- stereotypes, or interpersonal relationships ters sought-after jobs in Asia and ated spring 2008, the median 9-month would likely be in management. Note, Europe. If students do not get academic salary was $118,000 with 2/9ths summer though, that there is much overlap and many jobs and want them, then this is often salary above and beyond this number social psychologists in business schools eas- more difficult than in psychology be- ily could work in either department

Report on the February 2009 Meeting of the APA Council

staff merit raises, elimination of the APA tractive alternatives in the Obama ad- By M. Lynne Cooper branding campaign on NPR, a reduction ministration and elsewhere in Washing- in the public education campaign for psy- ton. Together these actions resulted in a The APA Council of Representatives chology practice, a reduction in the APA 2009 budget with a “razor thin” surplus (COR) met for 3 ½ days in Washington, congressional fellowship program, elimi- of about $300,000. Although the inclu- DC, in February for its regularly sched- nation of discretionary funds for the sion of such large raises for non- uled biannual meeting. The meeting was Board of Directors and the COR, and executive staff in the face of so many unusually gloomy, however, dominated cancellation of the fall consolidated meet- painful cuts triggered spirited debate on by budgetary concerns due to the recent ings where APA boards and committees COR, this budget was nevertheless ap- economic downturn. A confluence of typically meet to work out details of the proved by Council. events, including a 40% loss in the value upcoming year’s priorities and programs. of APA’s investment portfolio, decreas- In addition, the launch of the Science and To help Council and the Executive Of- ing revenues from dues and print publi- Education Directorates’ public education fice make thoughtful and disciplined cations, and increasing costs, created a campaign was delayed, and funding for decisions in the face of such chal- projected deficit of $11.8 million in the several popular grant programs was tem- lenging circumstances, APA has 2009 budget. To avoid running a deficit porarily suspended. At the same time, elected to continue work on the de- budget next year, the APA central office central office staff recommended that a velopment of a new strategic plan. took drastic steps to reduce expenses in 4% raise pool and a 1% merit pool for As part of that process, Council ap- line with projected income. These in- non-executive staff be maintained, as proved a vision statement for APA cluded a freeze on central office hiring many of APA’s most valued employees and held break-out sessions to begin (including in the science directorate), might otherwise be wooed away by at- translating the vision into goals. elimination of executive management (Con’t on page 10) 8 GUE DIALO

Ten Ways to Increase a Paper’s Chances for Success in the Review Process By Deborah A. Kashy, Richard E. Lucas, & M. Brent Donnellan

There is no single attribute that guar- Deborah Kashy is senior associ- 4. Stay close to the data in terms of antees that a paper will be accepted construct-operationalization cor- ate editor for Personality and for publication at a top journal in so- respondence. The notion that cial and personality psychology. Social Psychology Bulletin, Rich- manuscripts should “tell a good Journal acceptance rates are typically ard Lucas just ended a term as story” sometimes leads authors quite low, but there are a number of to discuss their research in terms simple things that authors can do to associate editor for Journal of of constructs that are only mod- improve their chances. In this article Personality and Social Psychol- estly related to the variables ac- we provide some basic recommenda- ogy while beginning a term as the tually measured in the research. tions regarding research and writing editor for Journal of Research in 5. Use reliable and valid measures practices that are intended to increase for all variables, including con- the likelihood that a manuscript Personality. Brent Donnellan is trol variables. Researchers usu- makes it through the review process associate editor for Journal of ally know that they should meas- successfully. These suggestions are Research in Personality. ure their key constructs using designed to facilitate transparent re- multi-item measures with high porting practices, which make it is reliability. However, they may easier to judge the extent to which a then throw in brief measures of paper can advance the science of so- you don’t “have to”. A study variables that they want to use to cial and personality psychology. that shows interesting and statis- demonstrate that their hypothe- Recommendations tically significant effects with an sized effects emerge even con- n = 100 is considerably more 1. Proof-read, proof-read, and proof- trolling for these other variables. convincing than a study that If the measurement characteris- read again. Papers that have ty- shows similarly interesting and pos and errors are annoying to tics of the control variables are significant effects with an n = poor, then these sorts of supple- read. More importantly, they 40. Bigger samples provide convey a sense of sloppiness that mental analyses will not be more precise estimates (i.e., they meaningful or convincing. makes editors and reviewers yield narrower confidence worry that the underlying research bands). For example, consider 6. Include descriptive statistics for might also have been conducted the difference in the confidence all study variables (including in a similar fashion. One highly bands for a correlation of r = .30 means, standard deviations, effective (and admittedly unpleas- when n = 50 versus n = 200. In zero-order correlations, reliabil- ant) method for finding errors in a both cases the correlation is sta- ity coefficients). Most analyses paper is to read the entire final tistically significant, but with the that are reported in so- version aloud, with a second per- smaller sample the 95% confi- cial/personality journals have a son following along with the writ- dence interval ranges from .02 to set of common alternative inter- ten text. .53, whereas in the larger sample pretations that can easily be 2. Ask trusted colleagues to read and this range is from .17 to .42. We ruled out if this information is critique the paper before sending could “reject the null hypothe- provided. For instance, the lack it out for review. Be open to the sis” that the correlation is differ- of an effect (or more interest- feedback you receive and recog- ent from zero in both cases, but ingly the lack of an effect in one nize that your friends and col- in the first case our estimate of group but not another) can easily leagues will probably be nicer to the strength of the relationship be explained away by ceiling or you than the reviewers will be. between the two variables ranges floor effects (with the accompa- Also, reciprocate the favor – there from very small to large, nying low variability) or poor is much to be learned by reading whereas in the second case we reliability. Simply reporting that drafts of other people’s work. know that the strength of the substantial variance exists, that its value is similar across groups, 3. Use large samples, even when relationship is moderate. 9 UE IALOG and that the variance is reliable D steps. goes a long way towards ruling out between the new variables and 10. Think carefully about the value of common alternative explanations Ten Ways to Increase a Paper’s Chances those that were used to construct mediation analyses given the data that will come to reviewers' and them. that are available. Although there editors’ minds. Moreover, all pa- are many issues to consider when 9. Use multiple regression analyses pers that use structural equation conducting mediation analyses, with care and report results com- modeling should report the under- one of the most common that we pletely. In many cases, authors lying correlation matrix with stan- see occurs when the hypothesized are only interested in a few of the dard deviations so that others can mediator could be interpreted as predictors in their models, and so reproduce the main analyses and an alternate measure of either the specify alternative models. they only provide results (e.g., bs, predictor or the outcome. In such βs, ts) for those effects. How- cases, partial mediation is almost 7. Report and interpret effect sizes, ever, because multiple regression and use the effect sizes that are guaranteed to be found provides conditional estimates of (particularly if the mediator is most appropriate for the analysis the effects of each predictor that you are reporting. Generally, measured more reliably than the depend on all other variables in predictor). Yet such analyses tell when comparing means, d-metric the model, it is critical to know effect sizes are appropriate (and us very little about the underlying this is true whether the analysis is process. When considering me- There is no formula that can diation analyses, ask yourself a t-test or an ANOVA); η2 and whether the mediator and the out- especially partial-η 2 are much less guarantee publication -- income variable are conceptually intuitive and can be difficult to deed, all papers are differ- distinct constructs, whether a interpret when a design includes ent, and so our suggestions meditational model that switches more than one predictor. When the mediator and the outcome examining the associations be- will not apply universally. might also be plausible, and tween two continuous measures, r- whether the underlying theoretical metric effect sizes are appropriate. what other variables are included model guiding the meditational 8. Understand the ramifications of and what their effects are. On a hypothesis is compelling. These common data transformations. It related note, be careful when in- are questions that editors and reis often the case that researchers terpreting regression coefficients viewers will ask, and therefore, are interested in constructs that if predictors are correlated, as it they are questions you should con- can only be assessed by transform- can be deceptively difficult to in- sider before conducting these ing primary data in some way. terpret regression results in the analyses and reporting their re- However, some common data context of moderately correlated sults. transformations can have unfore- predictors. Finally, think carefully There is no formula that can guarantee seen consequences. For example, about whether an analysis really publication -- indeed, all papers are difference scores are often used as requires the use of a hierarchical different, and so our suggestions will predictors in relationships research approach to multiple regression. not apply universally. Nevertheless, when researchers are interested in Hierarchical regression should be our experience suggests that papers do whether differences between part- reserved for occasions when re- better when authors anticipate and ad- ners are predictive of some out- searchers want to know whether a dress the kinds of questions that arise come such as relationship satisfac- group of predictors significantly in the review process (e.g., what is the tion. Researchers sometimes adds to the prediction of the out- zero-order correlation between predic- overlook the fact that difference come over and above another set tors, what are the reliability coeffi- scores are essentially interaction of predictors, and the change in 2 R cients for the measures, what variables terms, and that it is therefore es- is the critical statistic generated by were included in a regression model) sential to include the main effects this approach. All too often, when before they even submit the paper for (i.e., the two variables that were authors report hierarchical regres- review. To be sure, the primary con- used to create the difference score) sion results it can be unclear sideration for whether or not a paper in the model. If you create a new whether the reported coefficient should continue in the re- variable from other variables estimates come from the final view/publication process should be (whether by looking at differences model or an earlier step. Because the empirical and theoretical contri- between measures, variability multiple regression provides esti- across items or measures, or any mates of partial relationships, it is bution that the paper makes. Atten- other related transformation), do important for authors to present all tion to the details we have described not be lulled by the seeming intui- of the coefficients from the final makes it much easier for reviewers tiveness of the transformation. model, regardless of whether they and editors to recognize a paper’s Investigate and report the links present estimates from earlier positive qualities. 10 GUE DIALO

Report from the APA council (continued from page 7 )

The statement (produced in its en- to develop strategies leading to its ests, (b) examining issues related to tirety within this report) begins with inclusion among the ranks of STEM the ethics of and regulatory require- an affirmation of APA’s core identity disciplines. Gaining recognition as a ments for research involving humans as a science-based organization, and STEM discipline would and disseminating accurate informa- is generally seen as highly supportive tion about such research, and (c) de- of the role of science in APA. The open the door to new sources of veloping and disseminating guide- next step, which will be undertaken at funding currently reserved or priori- lines for protecting the rights and the August Council meeting in To- tized for STEM. welfare of humans involved in re- ronto, involves translating this vision search, and consulting on the imple- into more concrete goals and objec- Council also accepted or approved a mentation of these guidelines. tives aimed at realizing APA’s vision. number of task force reports and We encourage Division 8 members to resolutions during its February meet- I would like to end on a more per- share with us (Janet Swim at ing, including a resolution support- sonal note by saying that the Febru- [email protected] or Lynne Cooper at ing ethnic minority training in psy- ary council meeting was not nearly [email protected] ) any as much fun as thoughts you have APA Vision Statement about goals and ob- usual. In addition to jectives you would The American Psychological Association aspires to excel as a valuable, effec- the gloomy eco- like to see APA pur- tive and influential organization advancing psychology as a science, serving as: nomic news, my fel- sue as part of their A uniting force for the discipline; low Division 8 rep- strategic plan. The major catalyst for the stimulation, growth and dissemination of psycho- resentative, Janet Incoming president logical science and practice; Swim, was absent Dr. James Bray pro- The premier innovator in the education, development, and training of psy- due to the sudden vided an overview of chological scientists, practitioners, and educators; and unexpected the presidential ini- The leading advocate for psychological knowledge and practice informing death of her father tiatives that will policy makers and the public to improve public policy and daily living; just days before the meeting. I’m sure I guide his efforts as A principal leader and global partner promoting psychological knowledge and president. These in- methods to facilitate the resolution of personal, societal and global chal- speak for all Divi- clude: (1) delineat- lenges in diverse, multicultural and international contexts; and sion 8 members in ing the future of psy- The application of psychology to promote human rights, health, well being extending my sym- chological practice; and dignity. pathies to Janet, as (2) obtaining recog- well as our thanks chology; a resolution promoting nition of psychology as a STEM dis- for her tireless efforts to represent healthy, active lifestyles; and two cipline; (3) identifying psychology’s the interests of the Division 8 mem- task force reports, one on Sexual role in ending homelessness; and (4) bership on the COR. Orientation and the Military and a holding a “convention within a con- second on Increasing the Number of The SPSP Training Committee vention” at this year’s APA conven- Quantitative Psychologists. Council tion in Toronto. Of central importance has created a new website also approved the formation of a to Division 8 members are Dr. Bray’s with many useful links for Committee on Human Research, efforts to have psychology recognized those considering applied whose responsibilities will include as a STEM (Science, Technology, (a) facilitating the conduct of and career moves: http://www. Engineering, and Mathematics) disci- training in scientifically and ethically spsptrainingcommittee.org/ pline. Dr. Bray has established a task responsible research involving hu- force, headed by Jack Dovidio, to index.htm . Members are mans, and establishing and maintain- document the many ways in which encouraged to give the site a ing cooperative relations with or- psychology is a STEM discipline, and look! ganizations sharing common inter- 11 GUE DIALO Tastes from the table of the training committee By Jamie Arndt, Chair of the development, and provide avenues look, how to hone, and how to present SPSP training committee through which our research can have so- research ideas so that their interest and cietal impact. importance can be more effectively com- Often those of us with ideas about basic The healthy Tampa two-step was closed municated. psychological processes are searching with a unique event: a post-conference Looking forward, the training committee for a ballpark to play in. What should (organized by William Klein, University is pleased to welcome Michael Robinson we measure, or how might we operation- of Pittsburgh and Kara Hall, NCI) specifi- (North Dakota State University) to its alize the psychological constructs we cally directed toward obtaining grant ranks and is in the process of planning examine when we study things like so- funding through NCI’s R03 mechanism. two events for the society’s upcoming cial comparison, goal disengagement, With support from the SPSP training meeting in Las Vegas (Jan 28-30, 2010). terror management, ambiguity and un- committee, representatives from NCI and The first will be a pre-conference that certainty, cognitive dissonance, or any social psychologists with experience serv- focuses on how to navigate the troubled other of a variety of topics? ing on R03 review panels and/or with waters of the contemporary academic job During the society’s recent meeting in prior funding through the R03 mechanism market. The second will be a symposium Tampa, Florida the SPSP Training Com- (as well funding through R01 and K- offering advice for new and established mittee (Jamie Arndt, Marti Hope Gon- Award mechanisms) provided a primer on faculty on the vital task of mentoring zalez, and Terri Vescio) partnered with strategies for planning, preparing and graduate students. the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to submitting R03 funding applications. bookend the conference with two events Sandwiched in between these events was For more information about NCI’s sup- that suggest one viable direction: health. port of social and personality research, a training committee symposium that was The first event was a pre-conference, see http://cancercontrol. can- organized by Terri Vescio (Pennsylvania organized by James Shepperd cer.gov/bbrb/iisp_theory.html. State University) and went to the very (University of Florida) and Jamie Arndt heart of what we do as researchers. The For more information on applying for (University of Missouri), that showcased symposium explored sources of research funding through the R03 mechanism at how health domains may provide a use- ideas, strategies for developing and test- NCI, see ful forum in which to test social and ing research, and advice for where to http://dccps.nci.nih.gov/smallgrants/ personality theory, stimulate theoretical

DEAR ME!

Need some advice? Need help resolving a relational conflict with a faculty mentor, a student, a journal editor or a parent? Out of ideas but still hoping to publish words of some sort, preferably in a high-impact journal? Have you found yourself forming a close, personal bond with a variable, wishing it was more constant? Have you tired of accurately predicting tracta- ble, real-world behaviors in meaningful social settings but now lack the tools that you need to successfully predict self- reported changes in response latencies, measured in (perceived) milliseconds? Have you learned that the only person citing you has your same last name and first initial?

To help you through such troubled times, SPSP is happy to announce the launch of its first advice column, Dear Me! This column is staffed by a committee of trained social and personality psychologists, all of whom have advanced degrees that prevent them from being paid for the advice they give and so this service is free (except for members residing in the Virgin Islands, where we can charge for these services and accept any major credit card).

To use this service, email your questions to [email protected] . For each issue of Dialogue , the editors will choose one or more questions to send to the advice committee to get their reactions. If you send a question and it is answered in an issue of Dialogue , you can help not just yourself but also others in the field who are struggling with the same concern as you, or who know someone who is suffering similarly, or who just find entertainment value in reading about people like you who want solu- tions to problems such as the one that is troubling you. If you send a question and it is not chosen for consideration, best of luck with that. All email exchanges from this service will be handled anonymously, by which we mean that the advice committee intends to remain anonymous. Just to be safe and fair, however, it probably also is a good idea for advise-seekers to protect their identity by using cute names like “marginally significant in Denver” or “data pattern seeking theory” or “Jenny Crocker.” Only this contact information will be published in Dialogue, one would assume. 12 GUE DIALO DETERMINISM IS NOT JUST CAUSALITY

By Roy F. Baumeister & In a similar vein, belief in divine or super- lar momentum, distance to the ground, natural forces is possibly true, despite and so forth. You simply do not know Kathleen D. Vohs inconsistency with daily experience. whether it will be heads or tails, so it We wish, however, to point out seems indeterminate to you. The uncer- The recent debate on free will at tainty is only in your mind. SPSP led to the realization that some of some of the mental gymnastics one must the ostensible disagreement, and perhaps go through in order to practice psycho- Notice, however, that this is not most of the surplus emotion swept along logical science while maintaining faith in how we talk about statistics in our text- with it, stemmed from misunderstandings. determinism. Let us return for a moment books, courses, and journal articles. We Many psychologists say it is important to to choice, which has been an important discuss the probability of an event occur- uphold determinism — yet they do not topic of study in social psychology for ring (e.g., by chance), not the gaps in our decades. To a determinist, there is no knowledge. In determinism there is no really know what determinism is. such thing as actual choice, in the sense such thing as chance. To be true to faith Determinism is more than belief of having more than one possible option in determinism, it would be necessary to in causality. The defining feature of deter- and making a selection that makes one alter the way we think about and discuss minism is a belief in the inevitability of option come true and makes the others probabilities and perhaps even to alter the causality. The way we use them. essence of deter- Editors’ Note: (We apologize to minism is that While developing the keynote sessions for the meeting in Tampa, the program committee chairs determinists for using everything that the word “perhaps,” (Wendy Gardner and Sam Gosling) sought to promote sessions that might stimulate healthy de- happens is the which is itself incom- bate. Attendance at these sessions and post-symposia chatter suggested to us that this move on only thing that patible with determin- their part was a success. In one wildly popular session, Constantine Sedikides chaired an ex- could possibly ism.) happen under change between Roy Baumeister and John Bargh exploring social psychological views on the those circum- nature of ‘free will.’ This session not only gave the audience members food for thought, but it also Counterfac- stances (that is, seems to have stuck with the speakers – so much so that Kathleen Vohs and Roy Baumeister ap- tual thinking is also given the past as it proached us with an interest in sharing some reactions regarding the distinction between causality incompatible with was). The cate- and determinism. We next learned that John Bargh was preparing some thoughts of his own, and determinism. It is gory of the possi- he agreed to prepare them in part as a reaction to the contribution from Kathleen and Roy. Un- silly to think “If I had ble and the cate- fortunately the publication deadline for Dialogue arrived before we could invite more reactions not said those things, gory of the actual and commentaries, but the conversation continues and you can contribute to it on Roy Baumeis- we could have avoided the argu- are exactly the ter’s blog (http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/cultural-animal) . same. If you knew ment” if everything that happened was everything about the world today and cease to be possible. To a determinist, knew all the causal principles, you could inevitable. To a determinist, people may choice (in this sense) is an illusion, be- think such things, indeed cannot avoid calculate everything in the future and the cause only one outcome is possible all past with 100% accuracy. To a determi- thinking them. Technically, such thoughts along. You subjectively believe you might be regarded as sound arguments nist, the universe is just grinding along as might choose A or B or C, but this belief a giant machine with no uncertainty what- from false premises. What the person said stems from your ignorance. Causal proc- caused the argument, and so if the person soever. The future and the past are both esses are in motion outside of your aware- set in stone, so to speak. Check any text- had said something different, the argu- ness that will lead inevitably to make you ment might not have happened — but the book or handbook of philosophy. choose B. There was never a chance that person could not possibly have said Many psychologists defend de- you would actually choose A or C. Your something different, so the entire counter- terminism thinking that they are defend- belief that A, B, and C are all possible is a factual thought process is an idle exercise ing the notion of causality itself. They mistake; only B is actually possible. in futility. think, science studies causes, and if we Statistical probability presents a Laypersons often confuse deter- abandon causation, we cannot do science. difficult challenge to determinists. The But these fears are irrelevant. Everyone minism with fatalism, but this is a mis- notion of probability entails that different take. Fatalism means that the outcome believes in causes. The important differ- outcomes are possible, which violates the ence is between probabilistic causation would have been the same regardless of central point of determinism. To a deter- what you did. To a determinist, the out- and deterministic causation. minist, there are no probabilities in real- come stemmed from what you did, and if Determinism might or might not ity. Again, the determinist must say that you had acted differently, the outcome the seeming indeterminacy simply reflects be correct. Determinism is impossible to would have been different. prove or disprove. It directly contradicts our ignorance. For example, suppose that the everyday experience of making when you flip a coin, the outcome is Some researchers say psycholo- choices and having multiple options, but 100% inevitable once the coin is spinning gists should believe in determinism in everyday experience could be mistaken. through the air, given the physics of angu- (Con’t on page 15) 13 GUE DIALO THE WILL IS CAUSED, NOT “FREE”

By John A. Bargh & Brian Earp of social psychology, after all, has been cus we still see a morning sunrise, not the to identify (a) external-to-the-individual earth (and ourselves) tilting towards the We welcome the opportunity to causes of judgment, motivation, and sun, even though we know better scien- summarize our main points from the behavior, such as situational influences, tifically. As Dan Wegner, Paul Bloom, SPSP debate; first though we will re- and (b) internal-to-the-individual causes, Dan Dennett, and others have argued, spond to the additional arguments here which research has shown increasingly there are strong natural supports for the about determinism and causality. We see to operate outside of awareness and con- belief in supernatural entities, just as there no problem with the assertions that psy- scious intention—not “freely chosen” in are for free will -- and sunrises too, for chologists need not be strict determinists any sense of the term. Are there some that matter. And if, as countless recent to practice their science, and that deter- human behaviors that are possible only surveys show, the prodigious evidence in minism and causality are not the same if free will exists and is a true causal favor of evolutionary theory accumulated thing. However, neither of these points source of action? There may be. But over the past 150 years has done little to is relevant to the basic question of free let’s not give up on the search for non- erode the popular belief in a creator-god, will. The ‘free’ in free will means free- mystical causes just yet. then we can rest assured that the rela- dom from causation, either by external tively nascent research on unconscious forces (in the political sense of the term) This brings us to an area of agreement revealed in the debate: that a causes of motivation, judgment, and be- or internal ones (in the psychological havior will not result in anarchy or the sense); and in our view it is just as prob- belief in free will is important for human strivings. People cherish their sense of collapse of social norms and moral be- lematic to claim that the will is uncaused havior. as it is to argue it is not determined. control over the world and their own behavior. In the debate, we noted recent We should also not forget past Free will may be defined as an empirical articles by Vohs and by Bau- social psychological research demonstrat- agent’s ability to act on the world inde- meister showing negative consequences ing that the belief in personal free will is pendently of purely physical (as opposed (cheating, aggression) of informing par- selective: people routinely make self- to metaphysical) causes and prior states ticipants that free will does not exist. serving attributions about the causes of of the world. The folk notion of free will Our response to these ‘new’ articles is their behavior. We take credit for the is laden with the concept of a soul, a that our field revealed the existence of positive things we do (free will), but not non-physical, unfettered, internal source such positive illusions decades ago, and for our misdeeds and failures ( “I had no of choice-making—in other words, an we already know how essential they are choice”, “I was abused as a child”, “I was uncaused causer. “The soul” may have to normal functioning. Clearly it is mo- angry”). This suggests to us that much of gone out of fashion, and “the mind” tivating for each of us to believe we are the emotion surrounding the issue of free taken over many of its functions and better than average, that bad things hap- will is not about freedom per se but about connotations, but the intuitive notion of pen to other people, not ourselves, and self-esteem maintenance. We take per- free will has stayed much the same. De- that we have free-agentic control over sonal pride in our ancestors, our blue terminism, if it were true, would indeed our own judgments and behavior -- just eyes or rich brown skin, our height or rule out this sort of free will, or shunt it as it is comforting to believe in a be- birthday or name (as in the name-letter into the realm of total redundancy. But nevolent God and justice for all in an effect)—none of which we chose or had in determinism (of whatever flavor) isn’t afterlife. But the benefits of believing in any control over. Accordingly, we ana- any kinder to the notion. Just because free will are irrelevant to the actual exis- lyzed hundreds of individuals’ spontane- some choice or behavior is not strictly tence of free will. A positive illusion, no ous self-descriptions, and indeed 34% of determined by prior physical data does- matter how functional and comforting, is their first-to-mind completions to the n’t mean it is caused by a free will. still an illusion . stem “I am _____” were such non-chosen If one wishes nonetheless to use And we must take exception to aspects of self. It seems that people do the existence of error variance as evi- conclusions drawn from such research not possess a consistent belief in free will dence for free will, we can only reply findings (implicitly or explicitly) that we so much as they strongly wish to take that our business as scientists is to strive should either (a) not make findings credit for the good things they are and do to reduce this unexplained variance by against the existence of free will known (regardless of whether they caused them), replacing it with explanation . Calling it to the public or (b) stop doing such re- and to distance themselves from the bad ‘free will’ and walking away satisfied search altogether. The belief in personal things (even if they caused them). Evi- rather misses the point. free will is a deeply rooted aspect of dently, the belief in free will is not princi- pled, but socially strategic in nature. But let us assume that there is a human phenomenal experience, and is so free, internal source of control that powerful that even those who do not So what, then, if one’s will is not guides our behavior and is ultimately subscribe to it intellectually still feel it in ‘free’ of internal causation? It is still responsible for ‘real’ choices. To attrib- their personal lives as much as everyone your will and my will and each is unique: ute human behavior to this mystical else. It is not uncommon for one’s first- a confluence of genetic heritage, early source is to place one’s bets on an in- person experience to be at odds with absorption of local cultural norms and physical reality: 500 years after Coperni- creasingly shrinking sphere. The project (Con’t on page 15) 14 GUE DIALO Graduate Student Committee Report

Chentsova Dutton, John Edlund, Ken- toids about various social psychologists. By Helen Lee Lin taro Fujita, Nicolas Geeraert, Omri Gil- While social hour attendees enjoyed beef Just recently, the 2008-2009 Graduate lath, Deborah Hall, Jennifer Harman, satay, Thai spring rolls, and other delec- Student Committee wrapped up a busy Graeme Haynes, Jeremy Heider, Ryan table items, we quizzed them intermit- and eventful year. Here is a recap of the Howell, Joanne Kane, Jaime Kurtz, Jeff tently during the event and allowed stu- 2009 meeting in Tampa, including Larsen, Sadie Leder, Alison Ledger- dents who responded with the correct award winners and the many individuals wood, Jennifer Lodi-Smith, Anson answer to select a prize of their choice. who deserve our thanks! We appreciate Long, Todd Lucas, Victor Luevano, The students enjoyed a chance to learn your hard work! Beth Morling, Chris Nave, Laurel New- about a different side of many faculty in man, Matt Newman, Elizabeth Page- social psychology, and they were thrilled 2009 STUDENT POSTER AWARDS Gould, Jennifer Passey, Susan Persky, about the prizes -- brand-new, auto- We named three winners during each April Phillips, Jessica Salvatore, Lavo- graphed psychology books donated by poster session – one first place winner nia Smith-LeBeau, Brandon Stewart, members of the SPSP community, many and two honorable mentions. Each first Meredith Terry, Liad Uziel, Gregory of whom provided several of their place winner received $100 and prizes Webster, and Vivian Zayas. Our won- books! We would like to thank Monica donated by Blair Jarvis of Empirisoft, derful judges had a difficult time, as Biernat, Chris Crandall, Kay Deaux, and each honorable mention winner re- many applicants presented outstanding Bella DePaulo, Sam Gosling, Elaine ceived $50. posters. We thank you for your instru- Hatfield, John Jost, Mark Leary, Eliza- mental support of this GSC event! beth Lee, Nicole Shelton, and Alexander Session A - First place: Laura Luchies Todorov for their kindness and generos- (Northwestern U.); Honorable Mentions: 2009 OUTSTANDING RESEARCH ity. Finally, SAGE Publications also Rebecca Schlegel (U. of Missouri), AWARD SYMPOSIUM donated over 40 books to the GSC for Randi Shedlosky (Ohio State U.) The Outstanding Research Award Sym- next year’s conference. Many thanks to Session B - First place: Dina Eliezer posium, co-chaired by Megan O’Grady everyone who helped! (UCSB); Honorable Mentions: Danielle and Jennifer Pattershall, featured talks 2009 MENTOR LUNCHEON Blanch (Northeastern), Curtis Phills by the four winners of the second Out- (York) standing Research Award competition: Luncheon coordinators Sonia Kang and Session C - First place: Mathew Isaac M. Janelle Cambron (U. of Houston), Greg Preuss expanded the ever-popular (Northwestern); Honorable Mentions: Michael W. Kraus (UC Berkeley), Ste- mentoring event this year by planning a Amanda Terman (UCSB), Joanna ven J. Stanton (Duke), and Adam Waytz two-day event featuring 35 mentors! Anderson (U. of Waterloo) (U. of Chicago). During the sympo- The mentors covered a variety of topics, Session D - First place: Lindsey Beck sium, M. Janelle Cambron presented her from content (e.g., non-verbal communi- (Yale); Honorable Mentions: Johanna investigation of the role of friendship- cation, social neuroscience) to career Peetz (Wilfrid Laurier), Richard Ronay contingent self-esteem (FCSE) in pre- development (e.g., advice from the edi- (U. of Queensland) dicting depression. Michael W. Kraus tor’s desk, jobs outside North America), Session E - First place: Angela Nierman described his work on the automatic and the students who participated truly (U. of Kansas); Honorable Mentions: activation of self-verification goals in enjoyed the chance to chat with their Richard V. Kendrick (U. of Tennessee), relationship domains. Steven J. Stanton mentors. We are grateful to the indi- John Paul Schott (Washington U.) highlighted his research on the unique viduals who enthusiastically gave their Session F - First place: Alexa Tullett role of estrogen in dominance motiva- time to this event: David Amodio, (U. of Toronto); Honorable Mentions: tion in women, and Adam Waytz dis- Emily Balcetis, Jennifer Beer, Justin E.J. Masicampo (Florida State), Mat- cussed the outcomes of inducing ele- Buckingham, Jennifer Crocker, John thew Kugler (Princeton) vated and decreased social connected- Dovidio, Russ Fazio, Will Fleeson, Aye- Session G - First place: Erika Carlson ness on humanization. We thank all let Fishbach, Cindy Frantz, Peter Glick, (Washington U.); Honorable Mentions: who submitted their research for consid- Judith Hall, Judith Harackiewicz, Marie Emma Bäck (U. of Stockholm), Alexan- eration – it was a difficult decision for Helweg-Larsen, Rick Hoyle, Aarti Iyer, der Schoemann (U. of Kansas) the reviewers. Congratulations to you John Jost, Cheryl Kaiser, Arie Kruglan- all on your exceptional research! ski, Jeff Larsen, Mark Leary, Lisa Congratulations to you all! 2009 STUDENT SOCIAL HOUR Libby, Brenda Major, Kathryn Morris, Keith Payne, Jennifer Richeson, Diana We would also like to recognize the in- This year’s social hour featured a few Sanchez, Constantine Sedikides, Nicole dividuals who volunteered their time to twists! Member-at-Large Megan Shelton, Sam Sommers, Janet Swim, judge during each poster session: O’Grady teamed up with incoming Kathleen Vohs, Gregory Walton, Stephanie Afful, Maya Aloni, Ginni Members-at-Large Marina Milyavskaya Kipling Williams, and Vivian Zayas. Blackhart, Kosha Bramesfeld, Rachel and Nicole Noll to compile a list of The mentor lunch was a resounding suc- Calogero, Amy Canevello, Melody trivia questions about classic studies in cess, thanks to you all! Chao, Kelly Cotter, Kristy Dean, Yulia social psychology and little-known fac- 15 GUE DIALO

Graduate Student Committee Report (continued )

’04), Darin Challacombe (GSC Presi- GSC POSTER ON JOB APPLICANT Fortune (U. of Manitoba), Marina dent ’05-’06), John Edlund (GSC Presi- CHARACTERISTICS Milyavskaya (McGill U.), Nicole Noll dent ’06-’07), and Lavonia Smith- The GSC surveyed the SPSP community (Temple U.), Jennifer Pattershall (U. of LeBeau (Member-at-Large ’05-’07). on their job applicant characteristics, Arkansas), and Past President Helen Lee asking doctoral candidates and recent Lin (U. of Houston) will serve their fel- graduate to answer questions about their low graduate students in 2009-2010. TALK TO US OUR APPRECIATION GOES TO... publications, teaching experience, and If you have questions about job market experiences. If you did not Finally, the GSC would once again like the GSC news or future have a chance to stop by the poster dur- to voice our gratitude to the individuals ing the SPSP meeting in Tampa, please who volunteer for and participate in events, don’t hesitate to con- contact Helen at [email protected] to receive GSC activities time and time again. tact us at [email protected] . an electronic copy of the poster. Addi- There are many students and faculty The GSC Past President, Helen tional analyses of the data are forthcom- who are devoted to helping us, and we ing. Thanks to all who participated in are humbled by their efforts. Your en- Lee Lin, can be reached at the study and all who stopped by the thusiasm and belief in our cause reminds [email protected] , and the 2009- poster! It was a pleasure to chat with us of the reason we serve, and your sup- 2010 GSC President, Austin you all. port genuinely means a great deal to us. PLEASE WELCOME THE NEW Thank you! Lee Nichols, can be reached at GSC I also applaud the indispensable GSC [email protected] . As always, We are pleased to announce our succes- officers who continue to contribute their you can find us on the Web at sors, who took office on March 1, 2009. time and services to graduate student www.spsp.org/student . We President Austin Lee Nichols (U. of concerns: Camille Johnson (GSC Presi- love to hear from you! Florida), Members-at-Large Kathleen dent ’02-’03), Jennifer Harman (’03-

DETERMINISM IS NOT JUST CAUSALITY (Con’t) order to be like so-called real scientists. physics. Here is the issue. If we know In conclusion, we think it is We believe this is also mistaken. Many everything (mass, velocity, etc.) about a possible to maintain a belief in determin- natural scientists see the physical world tiny particle, we can predict with cer- ism, but it should not be obligatory for as probabilistic, not deterministic. Quan- tainty where it will go. Every so often, psychologists. In fact, psychologists who tum indeterminacy would entail that empirical observation shows that it fails retain a faith in determinism must keep determinism is wrong, by definition. to go there. Is this because nature is in- this an abstract belief and violate it in Indeed, as far as we know, there is no determinate? Or is it because there are practice: They must act as if people proof that there is any deterministic cau- hidden variables affecting it, other than really make choices, as if multiple possi- sation anywhere, in the sense that any the variables we know? In psychology it bilities exist for future life, and as if sta- event is 100% inevitable. Obviously, is easy to always assume hidden vari- tistical probabilities refer to different some causal events have extremely high ables when a person’s behavior does not possible events. Determinism is not vi- probabilities, having been demonstrated conform to predictions, because there able in practice but is an elegant theory over and over. But there is no way of are endless additional things that possi- that people may find appealing as an knowing whether it is merely well above bly could be known about someone. But abstract article of faith. The main alter- 99% or it is actually 100%. with a tiny subatomic particle, there is native to it is a probabilistic universe, in The so-called “hidden vari- not much else that could be known, and which multiple futures are really possi- ables” argument may paradoxically al- indeed the set of variables known to ble and causes operate by changing the low determinism to survive in psychol- physics does not have any room for odds that something will happen rather ogy even if it becomes untenable in mysterious other things. than guaranteeing it.

THE WILL IS CAUSED, NOT “FREE” (Con’t) values, and particular individual life proud of one’s will and its products as experiences. After all, one can claim one is proud of the exploits of great- personal ownership of one’s will just as great-Grandma the pioneer, even though much as one claims ownership of one’s one’s ‘free will’ played no role in any of name, eye color, and birthday, and be as these. 16 GUE DIALO

Trends and Hot Topics in Personality and Social Psychology: An Analysis of SPSP Poster Title Words from 2005 and 2009 By Gregory D. Webster & accepted at SPSP in 2005 (11,585 title shows the top 25 most frequent title Austin Lee Nichols words from 1,016 posters) and 2009 words for SPSP posters in 2005 and (18,552 title words from 1,573 posters). 2009, their counts, and their proportion- What do personality and social We used the Internet website Wordle ate representation as a percentage of all psychologists typically research? What (http://www.wordle.net ) to create “word title words for that year. Both consis- are some of the current “hot topics” of clouds” based on the word frequencies tency and change are evident in Table 1. study, and have these topics changed of inputted text. The font sizes of words For example, the most frequent title much over the last five years? One way appearing in word clouds are propor- words – “social,” “effect(s),” “role,” to address these questions is to examine tional to the number of times the words “implicit,” and “relationship” – re- poster titles over time from the annual appear in the inputted text. For example, mained virtually unchanged between SPSP conference. Title words often re- if the inputted text was “social, social, 2005 and 2009. In contrast, at least one veal the general topics studied in a given social, personality, personality, psychol- title word – “attitudes” – increased dra- research project and, given the impor- ogy,” then “social” would appear in a matically in relative frequency (from a tance of the SPSP meeting, can provide font size 1.5 times larger than rank of 14 to 7), whereas other words – a resource for efficiently extracting in- “personality,” and “personality” would “personality” and “self-esteem” – de- formation about what personality and appear in a font size 2.0 times larger creased dramatically in relative fre- social psychologists are currently re- than “psychology.” A word cloud is an quency (from ranks of 10 to 22, and searching. In addition, as graduate stu- efficient visualization technique that from 6.5 to unranked, respectively). dents are the primary presenters of post- combines descriptive and quantitative Some title words dropped out of the top ers, determining trends in poster topics information about word frequencies in a 25 after 2005 – “self-esteem,” “affect,” may reveal future research trends in our fun, empirically grounded way that “information,” “negative,” field. bridges art and science. “performance,” “self,” and “threat” – and were replaced with other title words To this end, we examined The results of our analyses are in 2009’s top 25 – “gender,” “positive,” 30,137 title words from 2,589 posters shown in Table 1 and Figure 1. Table 1 (text con’t on page 19) Figure 1. Title word frequency clouds (via Wordle.net) from SPSP posters for 2005 (top) and 2009 (bottom); 100 word limit per cloud. 17 GUE DIALO

Table 1. Rankings, Counts, Percentages, and Change Data for SPSP Posters Title Words, 2005 and 2009

2005 2009 Change

Rank Title word # % Rank Title word # % Rank Title word D

1.0 social 125 1.08 1.0 social 157 0.85 1.0 attitudes 7.0

2.0 effects 113 0.98 2.0 effects 132 0.71 2.0 impact 3.0

3.0 role 70 0.60 3.0 role 105 0.57 3.0 differences 2.5

4.0 implicit 55 0.47 4.0 effect 95 0.51 4.0 prejudice 1.5

5.0 relationship 50 0.43 5.0 implicit 82 0.44 5.5 effect 0.5

6.5 effect 47 0.41 6.0 relationship 74 0.40 5.5 influence 0.5

6.5 self-esteem 47 0.41 7.0 attitudes 66 0.36 8.5 social 0.0

8.0 behavior 42 0.36 8.5 behavior 59 0.32 8.5 effects 0.0

9.0 relationships 41 0.35 8.5 differences 59 0.32 8.5 role 0.0

10.0 personality 39 0.34 10.0 identity 53 0.29 8.5 relationship 0.0

11.5 differences 38 0.33 11.5 influence 51 0.27 11.0 behavior -0.5

11.5 influence 38 0.33 11.5 prejudice 51 0.27 12.5 implicit -1.0

13.0 prejudice 36 0.31 13.5 gender 49 0.26 12.5 identity -1.0

14.0 attitudes 35 0.30 13.5 relationships 49 0.26 14.0 bias -1.5

15.5 group 32 0.28 17.0 group 43 0.23 15.0 group -2.0

15.5 identity 32 0.28 17.0 impact 43 0.23 16.0 romantic -2.5

17.5 affect 30 0.26 17.0 positive 43 0.23 17.0 relationships -4.5

17.5 romantic 30 0.26 17.0 interpersonal 42 0.23 18.0 personality -12.0

19.5 bias 29 0.25 17.0 perceptions 42 0.23

19.5 impact 29 0.25 20.5 romantic 41 0.22

23.0 information 28 0.24 20.5 bias 40 0.22

23.0 negative 28 0.24 22.0 personality 39 0.21

23.0 performance 28 0.24 23.0 emotional 37 0.20

23.0 self 28 0.24 25.0 perceived 36 0.19

23.0 threat 28 0.24 25.0 motivation 35 0.19

25.0 support 35 0.19

Note . # = count. % = percentage of all title words. D = change. Boldface = title word in top 25 only once. 18 GUE DIALO Diversity and Climate Committee Report By Buju Dasgupta to start developing professional and GLBT community members and allies to mentoring networks. We extended a mix and mingle socially and profession- The SPSP Diversity and Climate Com- special invitation to the influential schol- ally to develop professional networks mittee (DCC) organizes activities and ars identified by the awardees to attend and foster an inclusive and supportive programs within the society with the the reception with the expressed purpose climate. For more information on goal of increasing the diversity of the of seeking out and chatting with the GASP, please visit http:// SPSP membership (in terms of race/ graduate student(s) who nominated www.psych.utah.edu/gasp/ . ethnicity, sexual orientation, social class, them. Many of us who are now faculty Diversity Symposium disability, etc.) and ensuring that the can remember a time when, as students, climate of the Society is inclusive and we waited on the sidelines looking for an This year, the DCC sponsored a sympo- supportive. Below, I describe the activi- opportunity to join a conversation with sium at the conference that was most ties we had organized for the SPSP con- an admired, yet seemingly intimidating, closely in line with issues of diversity. ference in Tampa in February 2009. senior researcher. Alternatively, from the This symposium was held on Saturday Diversity Fund Undergraduate Regis- other perspective, we have noticed the afternoon and was entitled “Unity in tration and Graduate Travel Awards faces of hovering students trying to work Diversity? The Effect of Ethnic Diversity up the nerve to ask an interesting ques- on Perceptions of the Self, Organiza- SPSP provided financial assistance to tion. These conversations can be critical tions, and the Nation State” (Co-Chair: undergraduate and graduate students to the intellectual development of any Kumar Yogeeswaran, University of from various demographic groups that student researcher, and working through Massachusetts). The symposium fea- are underrepresented in personality and one’s anxieties to meet the challenge can tured talks by Michael Zárate, Valerie social psychology. For undergrads, be liberating. Sometimes there are addi- Purdie-Vaughns, Thierry Devos, and these awards paid for conference regis- tional barriers to these interactions for Kumar Yogeeswaran. tration so that students could attend the students whose life experiences and conference and get a taste of the profes- Some modifications to the Diversity sional lives of personality and social Awards psychologists. This year, undergraduate Many of us who are now fac- We plan to move up the deadline of the students also received a complimentary ulty can remember a time graduate diversity award to October 15 copy of a book entitled Getting In: A (same deadline as the Student Travel Step-by-Step Plan for Gaining Admis- when, as students, we waited Award). We also plan to move up the sion to Graduate School in Psychology on the sidelines looking for deadline for the undergraduate registra- published by APA books. Our thanks to tion award to December 31. Moreover, APA Books for providing this book at a an opportunity to join a con- in the past, the undergraduate registra- considerable discount. versation with an admired, tion award was limited to students who were enrolled in a college in the region Graduate student awardees received a yet seemingly intimidating, $500 cash award to assist with confer- of the conference. However, several ence-related expenses, a copy of How to senior researcher. SPSP members noted that this criterion Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Pro- is likely to favor states in warm parts of ductive Academic Writing , and an oppor- group memberships are not well- the country where SPSP is typically tunity to meet 2-3 influential scholars of represented among conference attendees. held. Thus, we plan to open up the un- their own choosing at the Diversity Re- The DCC seeks to alleviate those barri- dergraduate registration award to all ception. These were social or personality ers. undergraduate Psychology majors who are currently enrolled in college. psychologists whose work had played an Coffee get-together of the GLBT Alli- important role in the award winners’ ance in Social Psychology (GASP) Final Words intellectual development. This year we We welcome any comments and input received 68 applicants for the Graduate As in previous years, the DCC also from SPSP members. If you are inter- Travel Award and we granted 24 awards worked with the GLBT Alliance in So- ested in serving on the committee at (35%). Please visit http://www.spsp.org/ cial and Personality Psychology some point, or if you have ideas about divwin.htm for pictures and biographies (otherwise known as GASP) to sponsor expanding or improving our programs or of all our award winners. a coffee hour at the Tampa conference. GASP provides social support and pro- activities, please send an email to any of Diversity and Climate Committee Re- fessional information to lesbian, gay, the committee members. The DCC ception bisexual, and transgender students and members for 2009-10 are Nilanjana The DCC also sponsored a reception at faculty and other individuals whose re- (Buju) Dasgupta (chair), Denise Sekaq- the Tampa conference to honor the search focuses on issues of sexuality. uaptewa, and Keith Maddox; each of awardees. This provided an opportunity Like all DCC events, this reception was whom can be contacted via the Social for graduate and undergraduate open to all conferences attendees, and Psychology Network awardees to mingle with senior social was held on Saturday afternoon. The (www.socialpsychology.org ). psychologists as well as their peers and coffee hour provided an opportunity for 19 GUE DIALO Trends and Hot Topics in Posters (Con’t from page 16) “interpersonal,” “perceptions,” there are fewer personality researchers of the changes over time may be more “emotional,” “perceived,” “motivation,” than social psychology researchers. Nev- attributable to sampling error than un- and “support.” Interestingly, the title ertheless, assuming it is not due solely to derlying trends, but some of the larger word “negative” was replaced by sampling error, the drop in relative rank- changes may be difficult to dismiss by “positive” in the top 25 between 2005 ing of posters with “personality” in their error alone. In sum, we hope the present and 2009, which may reflect the grow- titles between 2005 and 2009 is poten- findings will inform personality and ing influence of positive psychology tially interesting. The fact that the Asso- social psychologists on what most of (e.g., Fredrickson, 2001; Gable & Haidt, ciation for Research in Personality is them are studying most of the time. We 2005; Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peter- holding its first stand-alone conference also hope this will encourage our inter- son, 2005; Sheldon & King, 2001). The this summer (as opposed to holding an ested colleagues to play around with title words “emotion” and “motivation” SPSP preconference, as in previous Wordle.net as a fun and informative also surged in relative frequency in 2009 years) may partly account for the drop in word frequency visualization tool. compared to 2005, and this may reflect a SPSP posters with “personality” in their References growing interest on research on affective titles. A recent issue of the Journal of processes (e.g., Barrett, 2006). This in- Research in Personality offers a variety Barrett, L. F. (2006). Solving the emotion para- dox: Categorization and the experience of crease in emotion may not be something of perspectives on the person-situation emotion. Personality and Social Psychology to get too emotional over, however, be- interaction and where social-personality Review , 10 , 20-46. cause the title word “affect” fell from the psychology may be headed in the future Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., Funder, D. C. ranks of the top 25 over time. The title (see Donnellan, Lucas, & Fleeson, (2007). Psychology as the science of self word “behavior” was roughly as rela- 2009). Third, it appears research on atti- reports and finger movements: Whatever tively frequent in 2005 as in 2009, which tudes may be at least a slightly hotter happened to actual behavior? Perspectives on might suggest that a recent criticism of topic now than in was a few years ago. Psychological Science , 2, 396-403. social psychology’s lack of actual be- Particularly interesting is the Donnellan, M. B., Lucas, R. E., & Fleeson, W. havioral measures was either overstated potential for these trends to give us a (Eds.). (2009). Personality and assessment at or that researchers have already at- age 40: Reflections on the past person- glimpse into the future of personality situation debate and emerging directions of tempted to refocus on studying actual and social psychology. At the SPSP con- behavior, perhaps as a reaction to this future person-situation integration [Special ference, graduate students conduct a issue]. Journal of Research in Personality , criticism (see Baumeister, Vohs, & Fun- majority of the research within our field 43 (2). der, 2007). Of course, putting the word and present the majority of posters. As Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive “behavior” in one’s title does not neces- graduate students graduate and begin emotions in positive psychology: The sarily mean one is measuring “actual independent research careers, they are broaden-and-build theory of positive emo- behavior” in their research (e.g., “What likely to continue the research presented tions. American Psychologist , 56 , 218-226. can the behavior of title words tell us?”). in posters. Therefore, an examination of Gable, S. L., & Haidt, J. (2005). What (and What implications do these SPSP poster titles may provide some why) is positive psychology? Review of Gen- findings have for personality and social clues about future research trends in our eral Psychology , 9, 103-110. psychology? First, these findings sug- field. Sheldon, K. M., & King, L. (2001). Why posi- gest social psychology has some face tive psychology is necessary. American Psy- These findings are not without chologist , 56 , 216-217. validity because the most frequent poster their limitations. Title words are not title word was indeed “social.” Second, Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & perfect indicators of a research project’s Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology the lower frequency of the word focal topics, but they do reflect a fair “personality” is not unexpected given progress: Empirical validation of Interven- amount of accuracy in this regard. Some tions. American Psychologist , 60 , 410-421. State of SPSP: Notes from the Executive Committee Meeting (con’t from page 2) future meetings will be to raise the visi- rent SPSP site (http://spsp.org/). It such an individual with the hope of hir- bility and status of poster sessions to would also complement other existing ing someone for a four-year term. Un- better use this vehicle for promoting web resources, by including member der the advisement of this individual, the research. services (e.g., dues paying, voting), links EC can then explore the addition of SPSP Web Planning Committee. The of interest to members, current event and other personnel or other sources of tech- Web committee, chaired by Don For- news features, blogs and web casts, and nical assistance as it moves to daily syth, is charged with exploring and pro- other networking/research tools of use to maintenance of the site and its content. posing new uses of the web as a means members. A great deal of conversation One issue to consider in the future is the of achieving goals for SPSP. It is plan- focused on the need to begin a search for best way to coordinate Dialogue and ning to develop a new online resource, a web editor (“webitor”), someone who PSPC, so as to build on their unique tentatively titled Personality and Social will help create a web advisory board strengths. Psychology Connections (PSPC). This and begin planning and initiating the The next Executive Committee meeting will launch from or supplement the cur- contents and components of PSPC. The will take place in Toronto in August, committee voted to begin a search for following the APA Convention. 20 News of the Society Since 1986 GUE DIALO al Offici The e of th letter SPSP Officers and Committee Members, 2009 News r ety fo Soci President Richard Petty y and onalit President-Elect Jennifer Crocker Pers logy sycho Past President John F. Dovidio ocial P S Executive Officer David Dunning Secretary-Treasurer Rebecca Shiner Dia logue Mis Dia sion St logue is atemen Editor, PSPB Shinobu Kitayama f the off t or Perso icial ne nality a wsletter Editor, PSPR Galen Bodenhausen twice e nd Soci of the S very ye al Psyc ociety read ar, in th hology. ership i e sprin It appe Co-Editors, Dialogue Hart Blanton, Diane Quinn of s memb g and fa ars D ialog ers of t ll. Its i ue is to he Soc ntended stimul report iety. Th Convention Committee Jeff Simpson (chair), Monica ate deb news o e purpo and ate on i f the S se occasi ssues, a ociety, Biernat, Bill Graziano s onally e nd gen ummar ntertain erally in ies abou . D ialo form APA Program Chair Lee Fabrigar execu t meet gue pub tive co ings of lishes as mmitte the Soc announ e and su iety’s Diversity Committee Nilana Dasgupta (chair), Keith cement b- com editor, s, opin mittees humor, ion piec , as wel Maddox, Denise Sekaquaptewa to p and oth es, lett l ersonal er artic ers to th s ity and les of g e Publication Committee Randy Larson (chair), Duane eek to p social p eneral ublish sycholo interest contri all relev gists. T Wegener, Wendy Wood butions ant and he Edi to d , althou approp tors etermin gh the E riate s e publi ditors Training Committee Jamie Arndt (chair), Marti Hope olicited shabilit reserve by the y. Cont the rig memb Editors ent ma ht Gonzales, Theresa Vescio ers. Ne or offe y be Rep ws of th red, uns orts are e Socie olicited Fellow Committee Debbie Moskowitz (chair) o review ty and C , by fficers o ed for a ommit r comm ccuracy tee Members at Large Lisa Feldman Barrett, Jennifer conten ittee ch and co t is revi airs of ntent b ewed a SPSP. A y Eberhardt, Laura King, John t the dis ll othe cretion r of the E Lydon, Nicole Shelton ditors. APA Council Rep Lynne Cooper, Janet Swim Webmaster Yoel Inbar at Office Manager Christie Marvin t us ntac u or Co n.ed ucon nn@ du .qui nn.e iane uco d ton@ t.blan har And Away We Go! But Where are We Going?

This edition of Dialogue is our first as the new co-editors. We approached the prospects of taking over the reins more than a little humbled by the strong stewardship of Dialogue by Chris Crandall and Monica Biernat. While researching the newsletter and asking members to share their thoughts on it, the one common reaction we heard was quick praise of the job Chris and Monica have done over the years. We agree with what we’ve heard — the issues they edited were consistently informative, lively, and entertaining. As the new editors, we have benefited not just by their example but also from their generosity. In February of this year – at about the time we both were feeling more than a little overwhelmed at the task of turning out our first edition of the newsletter – we visited them in Kansas to receive whatever sage advice they could offer. They not only played wonderful hosts to our trip – showing us the KU campus and introducing us to their fantastic colleagues and students – they also patiently walked us through the entire Dialogue process, from conceptualization to publication, and they answered every question we had in thoughtful detail (and posed better questions to us than we knew to ask). After this brief visit, the two of us returned home feeling confident that the other one now had some clue what to do next. Oh, sure, we both disappointed each other in the coming weeks. But Chris and Monica could only do so much. Over the past couple of months, we both have been asked by friends and colleagues to share the goals that led us to take on our editing roles. For Diane, it was personal. In her on-going quest to overcome historical barriers, she wanted to show the Society that it is actually possible for a non-married duo to edit a newsletter. For Hart, it was practical. Faced with the prospect of getting his 8 th driver’s license after his profession moved him from VA to NJ to IA to MI to NY to NC to TX and now to CT (with layovers in NL and PA), he felt like it would save a lot of time for the Society if he took over the Comings and Goings section of Dialogue . Other than these individual concerns, we both were keenly aware of the fact that Dialogue is the one SPSP publication that is charged with being fun, and so it seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. We might on occasion publish articles related to hot intellectual controversies. (See in this issue, for instance, the discussion on free will between Roy Baumeister and John Bargh and also consider purchasing cable access to their televised pay-per- view grudge match.) But mostly we see in Dialogue a chance to promote the shared goals of SPSP – to promote our students, our community, our science. We hope whatever decisions we make in the coming years we communicate this desire. ~ Hart Blanton and Diane Quinn