David Chester
@davidchester.bsky.social
Associate Prof at VCU. Experimental psychologist. Aggression scientist. Dad.
https://davidchester.weebly.com/
https://davidchester.weebly.com/
Pinned
OSF
osf.io
Check out this new preprint from our lab, led by @brownwt.bsky.social and the Bluesky-less Sydney Kavanaugh. We found that psychopathy, especially its antagonistic and disinhibited facets, is more linked to low self-reported levels of **positive** than negative empathy.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Fruit pies should only be served cold.
November 26, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Fruit pies should only be served cold.
Social isolation during COVID was linked to a greater likelihood of perpetrating intimate partner violence. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Social isolation during COVID was linked to a greater likelihood of perpetrating intimate partner violence. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
The fear of being single, the desire to be in a relationship, and satisfaction with your relationship status represent distinct constructs with unique motivational underpinnings. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Pursuing Relationships or Avoiding Singlehood? Differentiating Singles' Fear of Being Single, Desire for a Relationship, and Satisfaction With Relationship Status
Attitudes toward singlehood have been operationally and methodologically framed in different ways, with some focused on desire for relational pursuit, some on satisfaction or contentment with singleh...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:12 PM
The fear of being single, the desire to be in a relationship, and satisfaction with your relationship status represent distinct constructs with unique motivational underpinnings. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
We approve of prosocial liars, who give people false but positive feedback, even when they only lie prosocially to those they deem as vulnerable to negative feedback. bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
<em>British Journal of Social Psychology</em> | Wiley Online Library
In two studies (N = 886), we examined how individuals judge and select feedback providers for those who either handle criticism well or poorly after performing a low-quality task. Prosocial liars who...
bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:15 PM
We approve of prosocial liars, who give people false but positive feedback, even when they only lie prosocially to those they deem as vulnerable to negative feedback. bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Antagonistic traits are amenable to valid assessment via informant reports. psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
November 24, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Antagonistic traits are amenable to valid assessment via informant reports. psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
People don't prioritize improving their moral character because they believe they are already paragons of morality and that improvement in other traits (e.g., sociability, energy level, self-control, anxiety) would be more effective at improving their lives. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:06 PM
People don't prioritize improving their moral character because they believe they are already paragons of morality and that improvement in other traits (e.g., sociability, energy level, self-control, anxiety) would be more effective at improving their lives. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
A chimpanzee community reaped reproductive benefits after the males killed members of neighboring groups and took their land. Supports a clear evolutionary mechanism underlying warfare. www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
November 24, 2025 at 9:59 PM
A chimpanzee community reaped reproductive benefits after the males killed members of neighboring groups and took their land. Supports a clear evolutionary mechanism underlying warfare. www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
Reposted by David Chester
In our rejoinder, we argue 1) Dark terminology isn't used responsibly as BL et al. claim, 2) the term can be replaced with a more sensible and scientific one, 3) data support our position (Stanton et al., 2025), and 4) popularity ≠ importance. @davidchester.bsky.social @drlynam.bsky.social
The 'Dark Triad' may be popular, but more importantly, it is irresponsible, moralizing, trivializing, and ultimately, replaceable: A rejoinder to Borraz-Leon, Rantala, and Jonason (2025): https://osf.io/u86th
November 17, 2025 at 9:42 PM
In our rejoinder, we argue 1) Dark terminology isn't used responsibly as BL et al. claim, 2) the term can be replaced with a more sensible and scientific one, 3) data support our position (Stanton et al., 2025), and 4) popularity ≠ importance. @davidchester.bsky.social @drlynam.bsky.social
Refusing to forgive, versus inaction, can make people feel empowered, principled, and courageous. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Refusing to forgive can have psychological benefits
Offering forgiveness can confer benefits to victims in terms of enhanced sense of self. In the present research, we argue that refusing to forgive may…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Refusing to forgive, versus inaction, can make people feel empowered, principled, and courageous. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Analysis of mouse-tracking data reveals support for both dynamic competition and impulse inhibition accounts of self-control, thought inhibition is relatively rare. www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
November 4, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Analysis of mouse-tracking data reveals support for both dynamic competition and impulse inhibition accounts of self-control, thought inhibition is relatively rare. www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Telling problem drinkers that there's no safe level of alcohol consumption helps them recognize their problem, but it also freaks them out and they dislike the message.
Effects of 'No Safe Level' and 'Cutting Down' Alcohol Messages on Problem Recognition, Defensive Processing, and Self-Efficacy in Heavy Drinkers: A Randomized Experimental Study: https://osf.io/jze7p
November 1, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Telling problem drinkers that there's no safe level of alcohol consumption helps them recognize their problem, but it also freaks them out and they dislike the message.
Reposted by David Chester
Mouse cursor tracking contributes to the psychological validation of the drift diffusion model: https://osf.io/74rjv
October 31, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Mouse cursor tracking contributes to the psychological validation of the drift diffusion model: https://osf.io/74rjv
Check out this new preprint from our lab, led by @brownwt.bsky.social and the Bluesky-less Sydney Kavanaugh. We found that psychopathy, especially its antagonistic and disinhibited facets, is more linked to low self-reported levels of **positive** than negative empathy.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
October 31, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Check out this new preprint from our lab, led by @brownwt.bsky.social and the Bluesky-less Sydney Kavanaugh. We found that psychopathy, especially its antagonistic and disinhibited facets, is more linked to low self-reported levels of **positive** than negative empathy.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
A truly Strong Test™ of attachment theory, longitudinally testing whether infants' early caregiver relationships explain variance in their adult attachments. Fortuitously for our field, they do (though effect sizes are much smaller than I would've imagined). psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
October 31, 2025 at 7:41 AM
A truly Strong Test™ of attachment theory, longitudinally testing whether infants' early caregiver relationships explain variance in their adult attachments. Fortuitously for our field, they do (though effect sizes are much smaller than I would've imagined). psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
Reposted by David Chester
A reminder that I’m accepting applications for PhD students!
✨✨ I will be reviewing applications for the University of Minnesota psychology PhD program this fall!
Information for potential applicants can be found on my lab website: ringwaldlab.psych.umn.edu/join-lab
Please spread the word!
Information for potential applicants can be found on my lab website: ringwaldlab.psych.umn.edu/join-lab
Please spread the word!
Join the Lab | Ringwald Lab
ringwaldlab.psych.umn.edu
October 30, 2025 at 2:54 PM
A reminder that I’m accepting applications for PhD students!
Reposted by David Chester
So that is why you don't prompt people once a day for an entire year... #OpenESM - data from openesmdata.org/datasets/001...
October 24, 2025 at 7:30 AM
So that is why you don't prompt people once a day for an entire year... #OpenESM - data from openesmdata.org/datasets/001...
Reposted by David Chester
Such a precious gift! Thank you for this resource.
We built the openESM database:
▶️60 openly available experience sampling datasets (16K+ participants, 740K+ obs.) in one place
▶️Harmonized (meta-)data, fully open-source software
▶️Filter & search all data, simply download via R/Python
Find out more:
🌐 openesmdata.org
📝 doi.org/10.31234/osf...
▶️60 openly available experience sampling datasets (16K+ participants, 740K+ obs.) in one place
▶️Harmonized (meta-)data, fully open-source software
▶️Filter & search all data, simply download via R/Python
Find out more:
🌐 openesmdata.org
📝 doi.org/10.31234/osf...
October 23, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Such a precious gift! Thank you for this resource.
A neural signature for self-focused thinking. www.jneurosci.org/content/45/4...
October 23, 2025 at 3:13 PM
A neural signature for self-focused thinking. www.jneurosci.org/content/45/4...
Reposted by David Chester
We have a new tutorial out in Social Cog methods issue, a resampling tool we made in R that basically tells you when some average is "stable" and can be used to guide data collection or test hypotheses related to variance. Quick explanation here
1/n
guilfordjournals.com/doi/10.1521/...
1/n
guilfordjournals.com/doi/10.1521/...
October 21, 2025 at 1:47 PM
We have a new tutorial out in Social Cog methods issue, a resampling tool we made in R that basically tells you when some average is "stable" and can be used to guide data collection or test hypotheses related to variance. Quick explanation here
1/n
guilfordjournals.com/doi/10.1521/...
1/n
guilfordjournals.com/doi/10.1521/...
Perceptions of men seem to have become more negative over the past 50 years.
October 17, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Perceptions of men seem to have become more negative over the past 50 years.
Can AI ever become conscious? It will depend on whether consciousness can only arise from the electrochemical processes inherent to biological entities. www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
Can only meat machines be conscious?
Computational functionalism claims that executing certain computations is sufficient
for consciousness, regardless of the physical mechanisms implementing those computations.
This view neglects a comp...
www.cell.com
October 8, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Can AI ever become conscious? It will depend on whether consciousness can only arise from the electrochemical processes inherent to biological entities. www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
Positive emotions are bouba and negative emotions are kiki. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Spiky anger, round peace: examining valence, arousal, and linguistic associations in emotion-eliciting concepts
This research examines how valence, arousal, and linguistic co-occurrence patterns influence shape-emotion associations. Across three studies, we tested whether positive and negative words are asso...
www.tandfonline.com
October 8, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Positive emotions are bouba and negative emotions are kiki. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
VCU is hiring two TT Assistant Profs in Psychology (Open area)! Please reach out to me if you have questions.
vcujobs.com/jobs/assista...
vcujobs.com/jobs/assista...
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology - VCU Main Campus, Virginia, United States
Benefits: All full-time university staff are eligible for VCU’s robust benefits package that includes comprehensive health benefits, paid annual and holiday leave granted up front, generous tuition be...
vcujobs.com
October 7, 2025 at 1:13 PM
VCU is hiring two TT Assistant Profs in Psychology (Open area)! Please reach out to me if you have questions.
vcujobs.com/jobs/assista...
vcujobs.com/jobs/assista...
A conceptual analysis of hundreds of participants' descriptions of humiliating experiences. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
October 6, 2025 at 5:36 PM
A conceptual analysis of hundreds of participants' descriptions of humiliating experiences. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Adversarial collab shows conservatives are less likely to update their beliefs based on evidence than libs. Authors could not have gone more out of their way to express that these effect sizes are small, but I find them to still be of a meaningful size. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
An adversarial collaboration on the rigidity‐of‐the‐right, symmetry thesis, or rigidity‐of‐extremes: The answer depends on the question
In an adversarial collaboration, two preregistered U.S.-based studies (total N = 6181) tested three hypotheses regarding the relationship between political ideology and belief rigidity (operationaliz....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 30, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Adversarial collab shows conservatives are less likely to update their beliefs based on evidence than libs. Authors could not have gone more out of their way to express that these effect sizes are small, but I find them to still be of a meaningful size. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...