EDUCATION
PHD, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE
Social and Personality Psychology; Quantitative Methods
2008 - 2014
BA, OHIO UNIVERSITY
Psychology; Philosophy
2005-2008
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Social Cognition, Judgment & Decision Making, Bias, Conflict, Metascience
I am a behavioral scientist interested in how social motivations influence human judgment and empirical beliefs. Human cognition evolved to help us avoid ostracism and gain social status (among other things). We thus reason in ways that help us persuade others of our moral righteousness and of our value and commitment to our social groups. Although humans care about truth and accuracy, human cognition is also biased toward achieving these social goals.
Lately, I am especially interested in motivated cognition in evaluations of science and among scientists. I have found that scientists who believe that unpopular conclusions are empirically true are particularly likely to self-censor their beliefs and particularly scared of peer ostracism and punishment. This suggests that professional discourse (and perceived scientific consensus) surrounding controversial conclusions is systematically biased toward the rejection of socially undesirable empirical conclusions.
I am also interested in the moralization and politicization of epistemic institutions and other types of organizations. My recent work finds that moral and sociopolitical concerns are associated with the suppression of scientific research. These tendencies are likely contributing to reduced trust in science. In two recent papers, I find that perceived politicization and organizational political action undermine trust in organizations and institutions--and across almost the entire ideological spectrum.
On the more applied side, I am interested in finding ways of de-biasing science and scientists and expediting the truth discovery process. Over the past three years, I (along with Professor Philip Tetlock) have been participating in and advocating for adversarial collaborations, a methodological procedure in which disagreeing scholars mutually design research procedures to test their competing hypotheses. This process can facilitate more rigorous science because both proponents and opponents must agree to fair and unbiased tests. Learn more about our initiative here.
You can read most of my publications here.
SELECTED PAPERS
ABOUT CORY J CLARK
I grew up in Bath, Ohio, childhood hometown of serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, and sometimes home of the GOAT, LeBron James.
A contrarian and skeptic since childhood, at age 7, I disproved the existence of Santa Claus. Peering out my window late one Christmas Eve, I noticed my Aunt and Uncle (and also neighbors) rolling a mini trampoline down their stairs to their Christmas Tree. I realized I could seize this opportunity for discovery. The next day, I asked my cousin whether Santa or her parents gave her the trampoline. She said Santa. Case closed. Only months later I inquired of my Monday night religion teacher, "If there were only two ants on Noah's Arc, what did the anteaters eat?" She provided no satisfactory answer.
Up until college, my long-term plan was to be a backup dancer for Snoop Dogg. Snoop Dogg had to cancel his concert due to bad weather (typical Ohio hazard), and so I was forced to make other plans.
Once in college, I couldn't decide whether I wanted to be an astronaut (physics major), Bertrand Russell (philosophy major), or a person who runs experiments on humans (psychology major). After I calculated my slim odds of being the first person to discover extraterrestrial life and my mom vetoed philosophy, I landed on psychology.
Since then, I received my PhD from University of California, Irvine, and worked as a Postdoctoral Scholar at University at Buffalo and Florida State University, an Assistant Professor at Durham University in the United Kingdom, and the Director of Academic Engagement for Heterodox Academy. Now, I am the Director of the Adversarial Collaboration Project and a Visiting Scholar in The Wharton School and School of Arts and Sciences at University of Pennsylvania.
My hobbies include phojography (taking pictures while jogging), phodography (taking pictures of my dog), solo travel to beautiful or weird places, and planning for my future beet farm/live music venue/goat sanctuary, to be called Beets, Beats, & Bleats.
Follow me on Twitter @ImHardcory.
Note. My chin is not surgically enhanced. That really is just the way it is.
5 Forbidden Topics That Psychology Won't Discuss
The Psychology of Victim Mentality & Cancel Culture
The Psychology of Victimhood
Psychology in Politics
Interview on Demystifying Science
Interview on The Armen Show
Interview on Just Thinking Out Loud
Interview on The Dissenter
Interview on The Dissenter
Interview on the Boyce of Reason
BBC SPECIAL ON WILLPOWER
What is willpower and can we improve it?
Community discussion about political bias, race, media, and being and informed citizen.