From the Board of Directors: Outreach and Advocacy Efforts

SPSP’s outreach and advocacy efforts continue apace. In this installment, I highlight two major developments. First, Character & Context is flourishing under the direction of our new editorial team: Editor Judith Hall and Associate Editors Leah Dickens and Colleen Sinclair. If you are unfamiliar with C&C, which is SPSP’s blog, I encourage you to check it out and sign up for email updates. As has long been the case, most blog submissions are solicited by the editorial team, but we have recently added an online form for potential authors who wish to pitch an idea. The editorial team is interested in hearing from a diverse collection of personality and social psychologists; don’t hesitate to pitch ideas.

Second, SPSP has recently formalized a relationship with Psychgeist Media, a nonprofit organization founded by David Nussbaum and dedicated to communicating psychological science to the public, primarily by helping psychological scientists pitch, write, and publish op-eds in national media outlets. Even before formalizing a relationship with SPSP, Psychgeist Media facilitated the publication of over 70 articles, collaborating with more than 50 SPSP members and facilitating placements across a range of outlets, including The New York Times (6), The Washington Post (10), The Los Angeles Times (13), and Scientific American (11). One of my major goals as Member-At-Large for Outreach and Advocacy has been to increase the number and diversity of SPSP members using their own words to share our science with the public (rather than, say, being selectively quoted in an article written by a journalist). This new, formal collaboration with Psychgeist Media is a major step in that direction. In an era of social upheaval, the contribution of personality and social psychology to the public discourse is more important than ever.