Benjamin Swerdlow
@baswerdlow.bsky.social
Assistant Professor at Lake Forest College Department of Psychology | Clinical Affective Science | he/him 🏳️🌈
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
New preprint! We investigate the risk of algorithmic bias (across race/ethnicity, gender, and their intersection) in machine learning models predicting suicide attempts across 3 clinical settings in over 1.2 million patients.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
February 10, 2026 at 3:52 PM
New preprint! We investigate the risk of algorithmic bias (across race/ethnicity, gender, and their intersection) in machine learning models predicting suicide attempts across 3 clinical settings in over 1.2 million patients.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
New viewpoint article, "It is time to take chronic suicidal ideation seriously", with Evan Kleiman and @katieleedg.bsky.social now published in Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science!
psycnet.apa.org/record/2027-...
psycnet.apa.org/record/2027-...
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
February 9, 2026 at 11:27 PM
New viewpoint article, "It is time to take chronic suicidal ideation seriously", with Evan Kleiman and @katieleedg.bsky.social now published in Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science!
psycnet.apa.org/record/2027-...
psycnet.apa.org/record/2027-...
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
January 30, 2026 at 3:06 AM
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
"They say they're coming to save us from some evil? They're talking about our neighbors who take care of us ... Alex was murdered while he was helping. Mr Rogers said look for the helpers, & right now the helpers have a target on our forehead ... Mr Rogers would be here right now too, so I'm here."
January 24, 2026 at 9:14 PM
"They say they're coming to save us from some evil? They're talking about our neighbors who take care of us ... Alex was murdered while he was helping. Mr Rogers said look for the helpers, & right now the helpers have a target on our forehead ... Mr Rogers would be here right now too, so I'm here."
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
My specific experience is with NIH, but I’ll stand up and say it:
The people who work at NIH are together one of the great wonders of the world. US biomedical science, cancer cures, dementia research all are built on their talent and dedication.
The people who work at NIH are together one of the great wonders of the world. US biomedical science, cancer cures, dementia research all are built on their talent and dedication.
For some reason, very few people these days will stand up and say it, but: the US federal bureaucracy is one of the great wonders of the world, staffed with incredibly diligent people who do their jobs well and care deeply.
Trump's destruction of the federal apparaus was a historic crime.
Trump's destruction of the federal apparaus was a historic crime.
The Purged
Donald Trump’s destruction of the civil service is a tragedy not just for the roughly 300,000 workers who have been discarded, but for an entire nation.
www.theatlantic.com
January 18, 2026 at 7:29 PM
My specific experience is with NIH, but I’ll stand up and say it:
The people who work at NIH are together one of the great wonders of the world. US biomedical science, cancer cures, dementia research all are built on their talent and dedication.
The people who work at NIH are together one of the great wonders of the world. US biomedical science, cancer cures, dementia research all are built on their talent and dedication.
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
so this is a crime against humanity not a study we all agree right
NEW: After officials in Guinea-Bissau announced they were cancelling a horrifying "Tuskegee"-style vaccine trial funded by the US government, an HHS spokesperson pushed back at us, saying the study will actually "proceed as planned."
Trump Administration Says It's Not Canceling Tuskegee-Style Medical Study That Will Withhold Hepatitis Vaccine From Newborns
A highly controversial study funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services on infants in West Africa has been halted.
futurism.com
January 16, 2026 at 11:26 PM
so this is a crime against humanity not a study we all agree right
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
want new content for your conservation of matter slides? I caught my toddler claiming that we could give our cat "more food" by spreading out his existing food in his bowl to cover a wider area.
youtube.com/shorts/DJBdV...
youtube.com/shorts/DJBdV...
Conservation of matter with cat food
YouTube video by Rebecca Peretz-Lange
youtube.com
January 13, 2026 at 4:42 PM
want new content for your conservation of matter slides? I caught my toddler claiming that we could give our cat "more food" by spreading out his existing food in his bowl to cover a wider area.
youtube.com/shorts/DJBdV...
youtube.com/shorts/DJBdV...
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
If you're an educator and feel anything from disgust to discomfort with AI please consider joining.
November 23, 2025 at 12:34 PM
If you're an educator and feel anything from disgust to discomfort with AI please consider joining.
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
We are excited to announce our partnership with @inclivio.com's software for #SAS2026.
We’re counting down to the conference with a series of posts.
Enter a drawing for 3 EMA study licenses by liking (1 point) and reposting (3 points)!
#SAS #AffectiveScience #EMA #EmotionDynamics
We’re counting down to the conference with a series of posts.
Enter a drawing for 3 EMA study licenses by liking (1 point) and reposting (3 points)!
#SAS #AffectiveScience #EMA #EmotionDynamics
January 8, 2026 at 1:00 AM
We are excited to announce our partnership with @inclivio.com's software for #SAS2026.
We’re counting down to the conference with a series of posts.
Enter a drawing for 3 EMA study licenses by liking (1 point) and reposting (3 points)!
#SAS #AffectiveScience #EMA #EmotionDynamics
We’re counting down to the conference with a series of posts.
Enter a drawing for 3 EMA study licenses by liking (1 point) and reposting (3 points)!
#SAS #AffectiveScience #EMA #EmotionDynamics
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
I don’t mean to sound extreme, but I don’t think we should have torture camps for people with criminal records either.
December 23, 2025 at 1:51 AM
I don’t mean to sound extreme, but I don’t think we should have torture camps for people with criminal records either.
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
My boss did that already: academic.oup.com/ije/article/...
Collider scope: when selection bias can substantially influence observed associations
Abstract. Large-scale cross-sectional and cohort studies have transformed our understanding of the genetic and environmental determinants of health outcome
academic.oup.com
December 21, 2025 at 5:09 PM
My boss did that already: academic.oup.com/ije/article/...
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
I really hope you read this entire essay because it addresses the flaw in your rationale and you should at least contend with it:
news.chanda.science/archive/know...
news.chanda.science/archive/know...
Knowledge Is Worth Your Time
A few thoughts about why we must embrace the hard work of learning.
news.chanda.science
December 9, 2025 at 8:05 PM
I really hope you read this entire essay because it addresses the flaw in your rationale and you should at least contend with it:
news.chanda.science/archive/know...
news.chanda.science/archive/know...
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
New paper! We show how diet culture & weight stigma are baked into eating disorder treatment—leading to missed diagnoses in higher-weight people, BMI-based denial of care, thin-centric programs, and clinicians unintentionally reinforcing fear of weight gain.
www.jandonline.org/action/showP...
www.jandonline.org/action/showP...
www.jandonline.org
December 8, 2025 at 1:58 AM
New paper! We show how diet culture & weight stigma are baked into eating disorder treatment—leading to missed diagnoses in higher-weight people, BMI-based denial of care, thin-centric programs, and clinicians unintentionally reinforcing fear of weight gain.
www.jandonline.org/action/showP...
www.jandonline.org/action/showP...
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
My dad abhors any negative comments about immigrants. Asked him recently why he’s so strong on it: ‘Because we’re always happy to take the rich and clever ones. Which means it’s not about disliking immigrants. It’s about disliking the poor and vulnerable. And that’s a bad human instinct.’
December 7, 2025 at 8:31 AM
My dad abhors any negative comments about immigrants. Asked him recently why he’s so strong on it: ‘Because we’re always happy to take the rich and clever ones. Which means it’s not about disliking immigrants. It’s about disliking the poor and vulnerable. And that’s a bad human instinct.’
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
I mean we are absolutely in a place now where the only solution to this information disorder is for everyone to constantly evaluate the source of information. Never trust a chatbot, but also don't believe a video unless you know and trust where it comes from.
Unfortunately... that's a lot of work.
Unfortunately... that's a lot of work.
December 5, 2025 at 11:18 PM
I mean we are absolutely in a place now where the only solution to this information disorder is for everyone to constantly evaluate the source of information. Never trust a chatbot, but also don't believe a video unless you know and trust where it comes from.
Unfortunately... that's a lot of work.
Unfortunately... that's a lot of work.
My wife is going to be teaching Intro to Counseling/Intro to Psychotherapy next semester. Does anyone have slides they'd be willing to share with her?
November 22, 2025 at 4:37 PM
My wife is going to be teaching Intro to Counseling/Intro to Psychotherapy next semester. Does anyone have slides they'd be willing to share with her?
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
Another reminder that if you got students who wanna do a social psych PhD focusing on identities (specifically Asian, Latine, MENA Americans), I’m recruiting! I’m hustling hard here so pls send people my way 😅
see website for details www.pbandjlab.com
see website for details www.pbandjlab.com
Starting the week strong with a newly accepted paper in Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, co-authored with postdoc @lizsnoland.bsky.social and Sohad Murrar! We merged two largely independent research lines to call for data disaggregation of Asian Americans and MENA Americans
Unpacking Broad Racial Labels: The Disaggregation of Data on Race and Ethnicity: https://osf.io/eyv7b
November 18, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Another reminder that if you got students who wanna do a social psych PhD focusing on identities (specifically Asian, Latine, MENA Americans), I’m recruiting! I’m hustling hard here so pls send people my way 😅
see website for details www.pbandjlab.com
see website for details www.pbandjlab.com
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
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 9:14 PM
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
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
“While the AI industry claims its models can “think,” “reason,” and “learn,” their supposed achievements rest on marketing hype and stolen intellectual labor. In reality, AI erodes academic freedom, weakens critical reading, and subordinates the pursuit of knowledge to corporate interests.”
AI Is Hollowing Out Higher Education
Olivia Guest & Iris van Rooij urge teachers and scholars to reject tools that commodify learning, deskill students, and promote illiteracy.
www.project-syndicate.org
November 15, 2025 at 5:24 PM
“While the AI industry claims its models can “think,” “reason,” and “learn,” their supposed achievements rest on marketing hype and stolen intellectual labor. In reality, AI erodes academic freedom, weakens critical reading, and subordinates the pursuit of knowledge to corporate interests.”
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
If you haven't joined your local AAUP, now is a great time to do so.
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
November 15, 2025 at 12:51 AM
If you haven't joined your local AAUP, now is a great time to do so.
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
If you have tenure at Texas A&M and aren't maliciously emailing the president a dozen times every day to ask if you can say this or you can say that, then what's the point in having tenure?
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Texas A&M adopts policy requiring professors to get OK from school president to discuss certain race and gender issues.
November 13, 2025 at 11:18 PM
If you have tenure at Texas A&M and aren't maliciously emailing the president a dozen times every day to ask if you can say this or you can say that, then what's the point in having tenure?
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
Y'all. N>3,800. !!!!!!!
Goodness gracious.
Goodness gracious.
When do interaction/moderation effects stabilize in linear regression?: https://osf.io/35t84
November 12, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Y'all. N>3,800. !!!!!!!
Goodness gracious.
Goodness gracious.
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
Why hello there former US Treasury Secretary, president of Harvard, and director of the National Economic Council Larry Summers.
Sharing with alt so we can all bask in his hidden insights that we are NOT allowed to share.
And here's the source link:
oversightdemocrats.house.gov/sites/evo-su...
Sharing with alt so we can all bask in his hidden insights that we are NOT allowed to share.
And here's the source link:
oversightdemocrats.house.gov/sites/evo-su...
![Email from the linked document (around page 3 or 4). From: Larry Summers. Sent: 10/27/2017 3:10:13 PM. To: jeffrey E. [jeevacation@gmail.com) Subject: Re: Trending Now: Friends for three decades, Trump whisperer says he is 'stunned" by president's rhetoric
Importance: High
Body of the email reads: Softbank deputy guy i liked and seemed aware and honest re Son.
Lots of slathering to saudis. I yipped about inclusion.
I observed that half the IQ In world was possessed by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of population...
Mnuchin plumbs new depths.
War seems more likely than I used to think
DjT is world s luckiest guy in terms of opposition, economy etc. till think his world will collapse.
I'm trying to figure why American elite think if u murder your baby by beating and abandonment it must be irrelevant to your admission to Harvard, but hit on a few women 10 years ago and can't work at a network or think tank.
[Final statement in all caps] DO NOT REPEAT THIS INSIGHT](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ozma3timm5c32fa7bimb4zaj/bafkreigqdvnbqlxeehcp2ivu2sn3amfrvu7quwr5gz3xpo7wvue2dnswdm@jpeg)
November 12, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Why hello there former US Treasury Secretary, president of Harvard, and director of the National Economic Council Larry Summers.
Sharing with alt so we can all bask in his hidden insights that we are NOT allowed to share.
And here's the source link:
oversightdemocrats.house.gov/sites/evo-su...
Sharing with alt so we can all bask in his hidden insights that we are NOT allowed to share.
And here's the source link:
oversightdemocrats.house.gov/sites/evo-su...
Reposted by Benjamin Swerdlow
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫