Thoughts of a Neo-Academic

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12 posts · 2,514 views

Thoughts of a Neo-Academic contains the ramblings of a professor of industrial/organizational psychology, which covers the application of psychological principles to the workplace. Primary topics of interest are the use of technology in training and education.

Richard Landers
12 posts

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  • August 24, 2010
  • 10:00 AM
  • 64 views

Pre-Teaching Interventions to Maximize Learning

by Richard Landers in Thoughts of a Neo-Academic

What should trainers and instructors do before starting their courses that will maximize learning for students?... Read more »

  • August 19, 2010
  • 09:54 AM
  • 49 views

If You’re Gonna Monitor Employee Vehicles, Do It Right

by Richard Landers in Thoughts of a Neo-Academic

A new student by McNall and Stanton in the Journal of Business and Psychology examines electronic monitoring of employee vehicle location.... Read more »

  • June 29, 2010
  • 10:30 AM
  • 140 views

The Personality of Immersion in Video Games and Virtual Worlds

by Richard Landers in Thoughts of a Neo-Academic

A recent study by Weibel, Wissmath and Mast (2010) examines the Big Five personality correlates of immersion in virtual environments, finding that high Openness to Experience, Neuroticism, and Extraversion are positively related to the tendency to be immersed. ... Read more »

Weibel, D., Wissmath, B., . (2010) Immersion in mediated environments: The role of personality traits. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 251-256. info:/10.1089/cyber.2009.0171

  • June 24, 2010
  • 10:00 AM
  • 91 views

Your Genetics Incline You to Respond to Surveys

by Richard Landers in Thoughts of a Neo-Academic

Genetics play a role in predicting if you'll respond to surveys. Over 1000 twin pairs were contacted through the Minnesota Twin Registry, and it was found that 45% of the variance in survey response behavior could be explained by genetic differences.... Read more »

Thompson, L., Zhang, Z., & Arvey, R. (2010) Genetic underpinnings of survey response. Journal of Organizational Behavior. DOI: 10.1002/job.692  

  • June 16, 2010
  • 07:36 PM
  • 189 views

Even Virtual Attractiveness Changes How People Treat You

by Richard Landers in Thoughts of a Neo-Academic

If you're physically attractive, the world simply treats you better. But what about virtual attractiveness? Do people react to the attractiveness of virtual people the same way they react to real people?... Read more »

Banakou, D. . (2010) The effects of avatars' gender and appearance on social behavior in virtual worlds. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 2(5). info:other/https://journals.tdl.org/jvwr/article/view/779

  • June 9, 2010
  • 10:00 AM
  • 192 views

The Lies That Data Tell

by Richard Landers in Thoughts of a Neo-Academic

Without a clear rationale for doing so, statistical significance testing on sample-level statistics can mislead and confuse. Schmidt (2010) provides a clear explanation of how to avoid this problem through psychometric meta-analysis.... Read more »

Schmidt, F. (2010) Detecting and correcting the lies that data tell. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 233-242. DOI: 10.1177/1745691610369339  

  • June 1, 2010
  • 10:00 AM
  • 178 views

Predicting Dropout Rates for Students Completing Online Surveys

by Richard Landers in Thoughts of a Neo-Academic

An upcoming paper in Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking examines participant drop out rates in online surveys. I even made a handy chart!... Read more »

Hoerger, M. (2010) Participant dropout as a function of survey length in Internet-mediated university studies: Implications for study design and voluntary participation in psychological research. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking. info:/10.1089/cyber.2009.0445

  • May 19, 2010
  • 04:12 PM
  • 176 views

Playing Violent Video Games for a Release That Never Comes

by Richard Landers in Thoughts of a Neo-Academic

A recent article in Psychological Science investigates the use of violent video games by people to experience catharsis - a "release" associated with pent-up aggressive energy. They found that when angered, people are more likely to seek violent video games for an emotional release, despite the fact that playing violent video games does not seem to actually provide that release. ... Read more »

Bushman, Brad J. . (2010) Like a magnet: Catharsis beliefs attract angry people to violent video games. Psychological Science, 1. info:/10.1177/0956797610369494

  • May 15, 2010
  • 12:00 PM
  • 111 views

Fight Your Fear of Cockroaches With Augmented Reality

by Richard Landers in Thoughts of a Neo-Academic

You sit at a desk, wear a virtual reality headset, and then see the desk that you're sitting at covered in cockroaches. Creepy.... Read more »

Breton-Lopez, J., Quero, S., Botella, C., Garcia-Palacios, A., Banos, R.M. . (2010) An augmented reality system validation for the treatment of cockroach phobia. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 1-16. info:/10.1089/cyber.2009.0170

  • February 8, 2010
  • 09:35 AM
  • 349 views

All Current Evidence for Second Life in Business and Education

by Richard Landers in Thoughts of a Neo-Academic

I decided to examine the full extent of scholarly literature supporting (or not) the use of virtual worlds for education and training. It's not a long list.... Read more »

Lester, P.M. . (2009) Analog vs. Digital Instruction and Learning: Teaching Within First and Second Life Environments. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14(3), 457. info:/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01449.x

Edirisingha, P., Nie, M., Pluciennik, M., & Young, R. (2009) Socialisation for learning at a distance in a 3-D multi-user virtual environment. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40(3), 458-479. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009.00962.x  

  • January 19, 2010
  • 09:00 AM
  • 425 views

Video Game Training Makes You Faster, Better

by Richard Landers in Thoughts of a Neo-Academic

And if a few hours of Call of Duty will help you survive, don't you owe it to yourself to pick up a controller?... Read more »

Dye, M., Green, C., & Bavelier, D. (2009) Increasing Speed of Processing With Action Video Games. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18(6), 321-326. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01660.x  

  • December 18, 2009
  • 02:55 PM
  • 550 views

Learning Styles Are Meaningless

by Richard Landers in Thoughts of a Neo-Academic

Compelling empirical evidence for the use of learning styles in education and training simply does not exist.... Read more »

Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2009) Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9(3), 105-119. DOI: 10.1111/j.1539-6053.2009.01038.x  

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