Chris Ferguson
@cjferguson1111.bsky.social
PhD Psychologist, Author of Suicide Kings; Moral Combat: Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong & How Madness Shaped History. Member of an awesome family.
Substack: grimoiremanor.substack.com
Website: www.ChristopherJFerguson.com
Substack: grimoiremanor.substack.com
Website: www.ChristopherJFerguson.com
In our latest study we reexamined errors in introductory #psychology textbooks. How are they doing compared to our earlier study on books from the early 2010s?
The publisher is allowing 50 free eprints, so grab your copy while you can!
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/FVSSQ...
The publisher is allowing 50 free eprints, so grab your copy while you can!
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/FVSSQ...
www.tandfonline.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:41 PM
In our latest study we reexamined errors in introductory #psychology textbooks. How are they doing compared to our earlier study on books from the early 2010s?
The publisher is allowing 50 free eprints, so grab your copy while you can!
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/FVSSQ...
The publisher is allowing 50 free eprints, so grab your copy while you can!
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/FVSSQ...
New chart from Mike Males using MTF and Pew Research data finds that trends in teen social media and smartphone use are unrelated to teen loneliness (which hasn't changed much over the years anyway aside from an unexplained dip in the 2000s).
November 21, 2025 at 10:16 PM
New chart from Mike Males using MTF and Pew Research data finds that trends in teen social media and smartphone use are unrelated to teen loneliness (which hasn't changed much over the years anyway aside from an unexplained dip in the 2000s).
Everybody knows gut microbes cause autism.
But did anyone tell that to the microbes? Today, I look at the data for another common belief.
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
But did anyone tell that to the microbes? Today, I look at the data for another common belief.
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
Gut Microbes Cause Autism
(Or maybe not. Grimoire Manor looks at the evidence).
open.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Everybody knows gut microbes cause autism.
But did anyone tell that to the microbes? Today, I look at the data for another common belief.
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
But did anyone tell that to the microbes? Today, I look at the data for another common belief.
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
In this post, I talk a bit about #artificialintelligence in music production. Is it ok to like AI music? What are the ethics? Have a read.
music.ai/news/music-i...
music.ai/news/music-i...
Creatives Confront the Inevitability of AI in Music, Push for Fairness and Transparency
Chris Ferguson, Professor of Psychology at Stetson University, says the music industry must guide AI ethically with clear labels and fair pay.
music.ai
November 18, 2025 at 7:38 PM
In this post, I talk a bit about #artificialintelligence in music production. Is it ok to like AI music? What are the ethics? Have a read.
music.ai/news/music-i...
music.ai/news/music-i...
Today, I take a look at how the #race panic of 2020 died off so quickly, and what we can learn from it in regards to battling other moral panics.
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
How the 2020 Race Moral Panic Died.
This is a free post.
open.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Today, I take a look at how the #race panic of 2020 died off so quickly, and what we can learn from it in regards to battling other moral panics.
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
I recently wrote about loneliness and the faux “loneliness epidemic” for Real Clear Investigations. I’d done some interviews with teens on the matter, but as happens, those got cut from the final draft. I included them here in this post.
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
What Do Kids Say About Loneliness, Schools and Technology?
Recently, I wrote about the “loneliness epidemic” for Real Clear Investigations.
open.substack.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:02 PM
I recently wrote about loneliness and the faux “loneliness epidemic” for Real Clear Investigations. I’d done some interviews with teens on the matter, but as happens, those got cut from the final draft. I included them here in this post.
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
Yet another unpublished studies finds #smartphone bans in #schools don't work (but pretends it did).
Also, 2 years into #florida's state cellphone ban, Florida's standardized test scores drop to their lowest in 20 years.
Read about it here: grimoiremanor.substack.com/p/another-st...
Also, 2 years into #florida's state cellphone ban, Florida's standardized test scores drop to their lowest in 20 years.
Read about it here: grimoiremanor.substack.com/p/another-st...
Another Study Finding Cellphone Bans Don't Work is Misleadingly Hyped
Please God, send your Holy Asteroid to make the bad science stop...
grimoiremanor.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Yet another unpublished studies finds #smartphone bans in #schools don't work (but pretends it did).
Also, 2 years into #florida's state cellphone ban, Florida's standardized test scores drop to their lowest in 20 years.
Read about it here: grimoiremanor.substack.com/p/another-st...
Also, 2 years into #florida's state cellphone ban, Florida's standardized test scores drop to their lowest in 20 years.
Read about it here: grimoiremanor.substack.com/p/another-st...
There’s a whole bunch of silly myths about academia we see on television and in the movies…find out the cold hard truth here!
grimoiremanor.substack.com/p/surprising...
grimoiremanor.substack.com/p/surprising...
Surprising Things About Academia?
Do we really have departments of parapsychology? Are assistant professors really assistants to other professors? What the hell is tenure anyway? Read on to find out!
grimoiremanor.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:49 PM
There’s a whole bunch of silly myths about academia we see on television and in the movies…find out the cold hard truth here!
grimoiremanor.substack.com/p/surprising...
grimoiremanor.substack.com/p/surprising...
Coming tomorrow! Secrets revealed! For paid subscribers only (well, some tidbits for the freebies). Get your paid subscription now!
November 8, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Coming tomorrow! Secrets revealed! For paid subscribers only (well, some tidbits for the freebies). Get your paid subscription now!
Curious if anyone could recommend a good book on the history of the Navajo. Not just the code talkers. As per usual, I’d be interested in something fair and balanced, neither portraying Native Americans, like they were innocent children, nor blowing past some of the real challenges, they have faced.
November 7, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Curious if anyone could recommend a good book on the history of the Navajo. Not just the code talkers. As per usual, I’d be interested in something fair and balanced, neither portraying Native Americans, like they were innocent children, nor blowing past some of the real challenges, they have faced.
In my essay today for Real Clear Investigations, I look at the #loneliness epidemic. Is it a real issue, or news media/government policy hype?
Read to find out! www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/202...
Read to find out! www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/202...
Americans Are Increasingly Alone, But Are They Really Lonely?
In 2023, then-U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy released a bombshell report, “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation,” that painted a bleak picture of citizens feeling “isolated, i
www.realclearinvestigations.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:49 PM
In my essay today for Real Clear Investigations, I look at the #loneliness epidemic. Is it a real issue, or news media/government policy hype?
Read to find out! www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/202...
Read to find out! www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/202...
We've now had two unpublished studies of #cellphonebans get ballyhooed as if they were evidence in support of the bans. A closer look at both has revealed that the impact was basically indistinguishable from zero.
Thus it is with moral panics. Be wary, we'll be seeing more of the same.
Thus it is with moral panics. Be wary, we'll be seeing more of the same.
November 3, 2025 at 3:07 PM
We've now had two unpublished studies of #cellphonebans get ballyhooed as if they were evidence in support of the bans. A closer look at both has revealed that the impact was basically indistinguishable from zero.
Thus it is with moral panics. Be wary, we'll be seeing more of the same.
Thus it is with moral panics. Be wary, we'll be seeing more of the same.
In the spirit of Halloween, my post today is some science facts about bats. Enjoy and don’t eat too much candy!
grimoiremanor.substack.com/p/bats-bats-...
grimoiremanor.substack.com/p/bats-bats-...
Bats! Bats! Bats!
And Happy Halloween...
grimoiremanor.substack.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:20 AM
In the spirit of Halloween, my post today is some science facts about bats. Enjoy and don’t eat too much candy!
grimoiremanor.substack.com/p/bats-bats-...
grimoiremanor.substack.com/p/bats-bats-...
AI music is here and it's good. But are we allowed to like it? My latest...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
AI Music is Here and it's Good
But are we allowed to like it?
open.substack.com
October 25, 2025 at 1:42 PM
AI music is here and it's good. But are we allowed to like it? My latest...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
I talked with Chicago's Morning answer about the decline in youth identifying as nonbinary & along with other data, how this helps documented that #socialmedia use had nothing to do with #genderidentity.
It was a great & fun conversation give it a listen: morninganswerchicago.com/chris-fergus...
It was a great & fun conversation give it a listen: morninganswerchicago.com/chris-fergus...
Chris Ferguson: The Social Shift Behind Declining Trans Identification Among Gen Z - Chicago's Morning Answer with Dan Proft
Chris Ferguson, psychology professor at Stetson University, on what the latest research says about adolescent-onset gender dysphoria and the influence of social media.
morninganswerchicago.com
October 22, 2025 at 8:00 PM
I talked with Chicago's Morning answer about the decline in youth identifying as nonbinary & along with other data, how this helps documented that #socialmedia use had nothing to do with #genderidentity.
It was a great & fun conversation give it a listen: morninganswerchicago.com/chris-fergus...
It was a great & fun conversation give it a listen: morninganswerchicago.com/chris-fergus...
Was the hypothesis that #socialmedia caused some youth to identify as #transgender wrong? It’s starting to look that way.
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
The Littman/Shrier/Haidt Hypothesis of Social Media and Youth Gender Was Wrong
New data!
open.substack.com
October 17, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Was the hypothesis that #socialmedia caused some youth to identify as #transgender wrong? It’s starting to look that way.
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
Everybody knows you can just turn the notifications on your #smartphone off all by yourself, right? Or just not say "yes" when your apps ask about activating them in the first place?
October 15, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Everybody knows you can just turn the notifications on your #smartphone off all by yourself, right? Or just not say "yes" when your apps ask about activating them in the first place?
ICYMI: New analysis finds that trends in youth gender identification are unrelated to #socialmedia consumption. Fits well with our research also finding no correlation. The Littman/Shrier/Haidt hypothesis of "social media made kids trans" may be dying
x.com/epkaufm/stat...
x.com/epkaufm/stat...
Eric Kaufmann on X: "8/ The fall of trans and queer seems most similar to the fading of a fashion or trend. It happened largely independently of shifts in political beliefs and social media use, though improved mental health played a role. https://t.co/KCKzrO3hYc" / X
8/ The fall of trans and queer seems most similar to the fading of a fashion or trend. It happened largely independently of shifts in political beliefs and social media use, though improved mental health played a role. https://t.co/KCKzrO3hYc
x.com
October 15, 2025 at 1:18 PM
ICYMI: New analysis finds that trends in youth gender identification are unrelated to #socialmedia consumption. Fits well with our research also finding no correlation. The Littman/Shrier/Haidt hypothesis of "social media made kids trans" may be dying
x.com/epkaufm/stat...
x.com/epkaufm/stat...
Today, I take a look at how the climate activist movement has comprehensively failed. They failed to consider how persuasion actually can work. Have a read!
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
How The Climate Activist Movement Failed
Climate change as a political issue is done for unless climate activists figure out how to persuade
open.substack.com
October 12, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Today, I take a look at how the climate activist movement has comprehensively failed. They failed to consider how persuasion actually can work. Have a read!
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
Got or about to get a PhD in social psychology?
Tired of standing on the breadlines?
Not a psychopath?
Can teach research methods to undergrads?
Like Disney/Universal and the beach?
Come work for us at @StetsonU! Job ad below!
www.stetson.edu/administrati...
Tired of standing on the breadlines?
Not a psychopath?
Can teach research methods to undergrads?
Like Disney/Universal and the beach?
Come work for us at @StetsonU! Job ad below!
www.stetson.edu/administrati...
www.stetson.edu
October 11, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Got or about to get a PhD in social psychology?
Tired of standing on the breadlines?
Not a psychopath?
Can teach research methods to undergrads?
Like Disney/Universal and the beach?
Come work for us at @StetsonU! Job ad below!
www.stetson.edu/administrati...
Tired of standing on the breadlines?
Not a psychopath?
Can teach research methods to undergrads?
Like Disney/Universal and the beach?
Come work for us at @StetsonU! Job ad below!
www.stetson.edu/administrati...
Today I talk about the brouhaha over Bari Weiss ascending to the Editor-In-Chief position at CBS News. I argue that the real problem how news media has become obsessed with news personalities, with objective fact-telling the primary casualty.
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
Bari Weiss and the Decline and Fall of The Western News Empire
Ms. Weiss' ascention is a symptom, not a cause of news media's downward spiral.
open.substack.com
October 8, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Today I talk about the brouhaha over Bari Weiss ascending to the Editor-In-Chief position at CBS News. I argue that the real problem how news media has become obsessed with news personalities, with objective fact-telling the primary casualty.
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
In my post today, I consider the alarmist trend to compare every conceivable public health issue as “the new cigarettes”. It’s most often misleading, isn’t working and maybe we should stop. Have a read!
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
Are Processed Foods/Soda/Podcasts/Substack Articles the "New Cigarettes"?
We need to stop comparing everything to cigarettes.
open.substack.com
October 4, 2025 at 3:10 PM
In my post today, I consider the alarmist trend to compare every conceivable public health issue as “the new cigarettes”. It’s most often misleading, isn’t working and maybe we should stop. Have a read!
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
In my post today I look at our new study of playing as or against orcs in video games. Consistent with previous data, exposure to evil orcs in a video game was not related to racist attitudes .
This “orcs are racist” hypothesis is scientifically dead.
grimoiremanor.substack.com/p/a-new-stud...
This “orcs are racist” hypothesis is scientifically dead.
grimoiremanor.substack.com/p/a-new-stud...
A New Study Examines The "Orcs are Racist" Hypothesis
The idea is probably dead...alas we'll be stuck with its consequences for some time.
grimoiremanor.substack.com
October 1, 2025 at 5:02 PM
In my post today I look at our new study of playing as or against orcs in video games. Consistent with previous data, exposure to evil orcs in a video game was not related to racist attitudes .
This “orcs are racist” hypothesis is scientifically dead.
grimoiremanor.substack.com/p/a-new-stud...
This “orcs are racist” hypothesis is scientifically dead.
grimoiremanor.substack.com/p/a-new-stud...
Recently the Economist Magazine claimed a study in India provided a “ringing endorsement” of cellphone bans in schools. But did the study in question do any such thing? Or was this yet another example of the kind of sloppy journalism that typifies moral panics?
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
Did a Large Study Really Provide a "Ringing Endorsement" of School Cellphone Bans?
How The Economist completely screwed this up.
open.substack.com
September 27, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Recently the Economist Magazine claimed a study in India provided a “ringing endorsement” of cellphone bans in schools. But did the study in question do any such thing? Or was this yet another example of the kind of sloppy journalism that typifies moral panics?
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
open.substack.com/pub/grimoire...
A pretty good takedown of the MIT #ai study that claimed using AI to help write essays damages the brain. This unpublished study was accepted by the news media and general public with zero critical thinking and can support no such conclusion.
www.piratewires.com/p/chatgpt-do...
www.piratewires.com/p/chatgpt-do...
ChatGPT Doesn't Cause Brain Damage. Academia Does.
an mit study allegedly claimed using chatgpt damages your brain. it was uncritically accepted by almost
www.piratewires.com
September 25, 2025 at 12:53 PM
A pretty good takedown of the MIT #ai study that claimed using AI to help write essays damages the brain. This unpublished study was accepted by the news media and general public with zero critical thinking and can support no such conclusion.
www.piratewires.com/p/chatgpt-do...
www.piratewires.com/p/chatgpt-do...