Oren
@orengriffiths.bsky.social
Cog neuro researcher, lecturer and clinical psychologist. Interests: science, tech, therapy and their intersection. (Opinions my own).
Reposted by Oren
In 2018, Charles Murray challenged me to a bet: "We will understand IQ genetically—I think most of the picture will have been filled in by 2025—there will still be blanks—but we’ll know basically what’s going on." It's now 2025, and I claim a win. I write about it in The Atlantic.
Your Genes Are Simply Not Enough to Explain How Smart You Are
Seven years ago, I took a bet with Charles Murray about whether we’d basically understand the genetics of intelligence by now.
www.theatlantic.com
October 13, 2025 at 1:33 PM
In 2018, Charles Murray challenged me to a bet: "We will understand IQ genetically—I think most of the picture will have been filled in by 2025—there will still be blanks—but we’ll know basically what’s going on." It's now 2025, and I claim a win. I write about it in The Atlantic.
Reposted by Oren
Yesterday I posted about how I used comet browser to take a Qualtrics survey almost undetected. Last night, I ran a pilot (N=400) on @joinprolific.bsky.social . I found that almost 10% of "respondents" identified as AI when directly asked.
I added a question in the survey to identify itself as an AI if instructed to be a human. That seemed to work. Though, I imagine I could jailbreak it eventually.
September 23, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Yesterday I posted about how I used comet browser to take a Qualtrics survey almost undetected. Last night, I ran a pilot (N=400) on @joinprolific.bsky.social . I found that almost 10% of "respondents" identified as AI when directly asked.
Reposted by Oren
📊 New research challenges assumptions about values and well-being. Study of 75 countries finds that personal-focused values may actually benefit people in lower-resource contexts more than social-focused ones.
Read more in #PSPB: ow.ly/uNSs50WwHZN
Read more in #PSPB: ow.ly/uNSs50WwHZN
July 29, 2025 at 8:55 PM
📊 New research challenges assumptions about values and well-being. Study of 75 countries finds that personal-focused values may actually benefit people in lower-resource contexts more than social-focused ones.
Read more in #PSPB: ow.ly/uNSs50WwHZN
Read more in #PSPB: ow.ly/uNSs50WwHZN
Reposted by Oren
"Everyone knows what an emotion is until asked to give a definition. Then, it seems, no one knows." (1984)
psycnet.apa.org/record/1985-...
"The underlying problem is that scientists still don't agree on how to define an emotion." (2025)
www.npr.org/2025/06/01/n...
(No shade here - it's hard).
psycnet.apa.org/record/1985-...
"The underlying problem is that scientists still don't agree on how to define an emotion." (2025)
www.npr.org/2025/06/01/n...
(No shade here - it's hard).
June 5, 2025 at 8:07 PM
"Everyone knows what an emotion is until asked to give a definition. Then, it seems, no one knows." (1984)
psycnet.apa.org/record/1985-...
"The underlying problem is that scientists still don't agree on how to define an emotion." (2025)
www.npr.org/2025/06/01/n...
(No shade here - it's hard).
psycnet.apa.org/record/1985-...
"The underlying problem is that scientists still don't agree on how to define an emotion." (2025)
www.npr.org/2025/06/01/n...
(No shade here - it's hard).
Reposted by Oren
This pup just started their fitness journey and could use a spotter. And a little encouragement. 12/10
May 13, 2025 at 5:15 PM
This pup just started their fitness journey and could use a spotter. And a little encouragement. 12/10
Fascinating. Nonverbal communication so important, so it's interesting to see numbers on this.
New preprint! Thrilled to share my latest work with @esfinn.bsky.social -- "Sensory context as a universal principle of language in humans and LLMs"
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
May 6, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Fascinating. Nonverbal communication so important, so it's interesting to see numbers on this.
Reposted by Oren
Neil deGrasse Tyson on who is the greatest scientific mind in history.
May 5, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Neil deGrasse Tyson on who is the greatest scientific mind in history.
This is the kind of messaging we need. Love it.
My extremely traditional hypermasculine dad was complaining that, “you’re not allowed to be a man anymore” and I said, “no, you can, being a man is good, you just can’t be a dick to people,” and he thought about that for a minute then nodded. “Alright, yeah, that makes sense.”
There’s still hope!
There’s still hope!
May 5, 2025 at 10:38 PM
This is the kind of messaging we need. Love it.
Reposted by Oren
My extremely traditional hypermasculine dad was complaining that, “you’re not allowed to be a man anymore” and I said, “no, you can, being a man is good, you just can’t be a dick to people,” and he thought about that for a minute then nodded. “Alright, yeah, that makes sense.”
There’s still hope!
There’s still hope!
May 5, 2025 at 8:33 PM
My extremely traditional hypermasculine dad was complaining that, “you’re not allowed to be a man anymore” and I said, “no, you can, being a man is good, you just can’t be a dick to people,” and he thought about that for a minute then nodded. “Alright, yeah, that makes sense.”
There’s still hope!
There’s still hope!
Reposted by Oren
For every one Andrew Tate who becomes a rich and powerful influencer by embracing a caricature of masculinity there are ten thousand guys who simply become Divorced
May 4, 2025 at 12:26 AM
For every one Andrew Tate who becomes a rich and powerful influencer by embracing a caricature of masculinity there are ten thousand guys who simply become Divorced
Aus uni sector is in rough shape. Not academics' fault. We're not even inside the tent. We can't afford the rent! www.macrobusiness.com.au/2025/04/lawl...
April 29, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Aus uni sector is in rough shape. Not academics' fault. We're not even inside the tent. We can't afford the rent! www.macrobusiness.com.au/2025/04/lawl...
Reposted by Oren
Academia is not about publishing papers.
It’s about creating knowledge and teaching it to the world.
It’s about asking big bold questions and mentioning the next generation of intellectual leaders.
The difference makes a huge difference.
It’s about creating knowledge and teaching it to the world.
It’s about asking big bold questions and mentioning the next generation of intellectual leaders.
The difference makes a huge difference.
April 28, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Academia is not about publishing papers.
It’s about creating knowledge and teaching it to the world.
It’s about asking big bold questions and mentioning the next generation of intellectual leaders.
The difference makes a huge difference.
It’s about creating knowledge and teaching it to the world.
It’s about asking big bold questions and mentioning the next generation of intellectual leaders.
The difference makes a huge difference.
Reposted by Oren
Harvard’s putting up a fight from the academic sector. Where are our business leaders?? The silence is deafening. The latest No Mercy / No Malice: www.profgalloway.com/breaking-the...
April 27, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Harvard’s putting up a fight from the academic sector. Where are our business leaders?? The silence is deafening. The latest No Mercy / No Malice: www.profgalloway.com/breaking-the...
Reposted by Oren
Check out how the anchors of CBS Evening News ended their broadcast tonight:
April 23, 2025 at 2:58 AM
Check out how the anchors of CBS Evening News ended their broadcast tonight:
Is anyone else noticing a step-change in Gemini lately? Using it much more now, and rarely spotting errors.
April 24, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Is anyone else noticing a step-change in Gemini lately? Using it much more now, and rarely spotting errors.
Have a candle. It's jet black, on a wooden base, smells like the forest. Want to call it my "mandle" (man-candle), but what are the odds that already refers to a sex thing? (i.e. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_34).
Rule 34 - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
April 24, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Have a candle. It's jet black, on a wooden base, smells like the forest. Want to call it my "mandle" (man-candle), but what are the odds that already refers to a sex thing? (i.e. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_34).
Watched 3 new Black Mirror episodes over Easter. 3/3 bangers. So good.
April 22, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Watched 3 new Black Mirror episodes over Easter. 3/3 bangers. So good.
Oof. This isn't great. I wonder if the same trend would be found in mandatory voting regions?
New study analyzed 145 years of U.S. congressional speeches and found a clear shift away from evidence-based language toward more intuition-based language—especially since the mid-1970s.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Computational analysis of US congressional speeches reveals a shift from evidence to intuition - Nature Human Behaviour
This research explores the linguistic traces of evidence-based reasoning and intuitive decision-making in congressional speeches from 1879 to 2022. The analysis suggests that evidence-based language h...
www.nature.com
April 14, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Oof. This isn't great. I wonder if the same trend would be found in mandatory voting regions?
Using the axes of a line graph themselves as the rhetorical device. Neat.
I love this plot. It’s a great example of knowing when to break the rules, in this case by putting a data point right outside the plot area
Economic uncertainty update:
The thing about veering wildly between policy positions, favouring and then discarding a new maverick advisor each week, and using contradictory justifications at every turn, is that even if one particular pivot is in the direction of sanity, chaos is the constant.
The thing about veering wildly between policy positions, favouring and then discarding a new maverick advisor each week, and using contradictory justifications at every turn, is that even if one particular pivot is in the direction of sanity, chaos is the constant.
April 11, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Using the axes of a line graph themselves as the rhetorical device. Neat.
Reposted by Oren
Reflecting on the occasional, paradoxical loneliness of being a psychologist. An abundance of shared goodwill, intimate conversations, genuine moments... but not actual relationships. They are (crucially, appropriately) outside the bounds of professionalism. It's a privilege, but it's odd too.
April 11, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Reflecting on the occasional, paradoxical loneliness of being a psychologist. An abundance of shared goodwill, intimate conversations, genuine moments... but not actual relationships. They are (crucially, appropriately) outside the bounds of professionalism. It's a privilege, but it's odd too.
Reposted by Oren
There are 33m companies in the USA. Only 21k employe 500 or more. And they only make up 23% of workers.
Trump and Elon are ignoring the more than 32m entrepreneurs that can't afford to build a new factory or pay tariffs or absorb cancelled contracts.
Trump and Elon are ignoring the more than 32m entrepreneurs that can't afford to build a new factory or pay tariffs or absorb cancelled contracts.
April 4, 2025 at 1:57 PM
There are 33m companies in the USA. Only 21k employe 500 or more. And they only make up 23% of workers.
Trump and Elon are ignoring the more than 32m entrepreneurs that can't afford to build a new factory or pay tariffs or absorb cancelled contracts.
Trump and Elon are ignoring the more than 32m entrepreneurs that can't afford to build a new factory or pay tariffs or absorb cancelled contracts.
Very soon many or most Australian psychs won't have any postgrad training. What could possibly go wrong?
www.psychologyboard.gov.au/News/2025-03...
www.psychologyboard.gov.au/News/2025-03...
www.psychologyboard.gov.au
April 1, 2025 at 4:23 AM
Very soon many or most Australian psychs won't have any postgrad training. What could possibly go wrong?
www.psychologyboard.gov.au/News/2025-03...
www.psychologyboard.gov.au/News/2025-03...
Reposted by Oren
I'd like to see a revival of panache and artistry in scientific prose style. Since we have to read so many papers, they should be fun and beautiful. I would also argue that this serves the goal of communication: readers will be more likely to remember a striking phrase or image.
March 31, 2025 at 11:07 AM
I'd like to see a revival of panache and artistry in scientific prose style. Since we have to read so many papers, they should be fun and beautiful. I would also argue that this serves the goal of communication: readers will be more likely to remember a striking phrase or image.
Am now seeing partisan politics as daily candles in a volatile market: stressful, incoherent, urgent, biased, loud. Traders (news media, staffers, pollsters) need to care about this, but principled or long-term investors (voters) do not. This metaphor helps.
March 30, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Am now seeing partisan politics as daily candles in a volatile market: stressful, incoherent, urgent, biased, loud. Traders (news media, staffers, pollsters) need to care about this, but principled or long-term investors (voters) do not. This metaphor helps.