Preconference

Psychology is in a replication crisis. Next to questionable research practices, the reasons for this crisis are rooted in psychology’s ‘problem in theory’. Psychological theories are typically verbal. That is, central concepts and their relationships are described primarily with words. Verbal theories are often interpreted differently by different scholars, do not explicitly state their underlying assumptions, and the full range of their implications is difficult to grasp. Put differently, theory testing, successful replications, and thus cumulative theory-building remain challenging. This workshop discusses how formal modeling, especially agent-based modeling (ABM), can help addressing psychology’s ‘problem in theory'.

In formal models, researchers use mathematical representations to specify the terms and assumptions of a theory. For complex phenomena, psychologists are increasingly drawing on ABMs. In ABMs, virtual agents are created and allocated with properties and rules for dynamic interactions with other agents based on psychological evidence. ABMs thereby allow simulating collective behavior. The assumptions of the model are stated explicitly or can be deduced. Thus, ABMs are well-suited for an iterative process of theory-building, allowing for exploring the full range of a theory’s implications, and inviting a more productive discussion and improvement of a theory.

To help psychologists start gaining experience with ABM, the workshop will:

(a) discuss psychology’s ‘problem in theory’ and how formal modeling, especially ABM, can help,

(b) introduce participants to an accessible software for ABM—NetLogo—by programming a specific model and simulating data from it, and

(c) provide time for participants to start formalizing their own theories.

Language:
English; when all participants are German native speakers, we will switch to German

Number of Participants:
6 - 20

Requirements:
Participants need to bring their laptops and install NetLogo (free software)

Forced migration has become a relevant societal topic in recent years and received considerable attention in various fields of social sciences and the humanities. Pressing questions that arise in this context are how service providers in the sector of education and the labor market, as well as volunteers can be supported. Additionally, it is important to find answers to the questions of how experiences of racism and discrimination can be discerned, also when they are experienced vicariously by so-called social aides. The social psychological expert network on forced migration and integration seeks to develop different ways to respond to these questions (www.fachnetzflucht.de), combining evidence provided by theory and practice. The network seeks to establish a better exchange between science and practitioners in the field of refugee integration. In the planned workshop, participants will learn about recent projects, including the evaluation of completed projects, and will be actively involved in the planning of future projects of the network. Tasks and challenges that we will address include effectiveness evaluation of relevant past and current projects, additional questions that should be addressed for practitioners. Also, interested participating researchers, who are not part of the network yet, can write a contribution for the network. Interested parties are more than welcome to participate in the workshop, to learn more about the network via introductory presentations and to get involved in the network.

Language:
Depending on the needs of the attendees, the preconference may either be held in German or English.

Number of Participants:
No restrictions

Requirements:
None

Big data has become increasingly important for social psychology. It allows researchers to study a plethora of natural behaviors by large and diverse populations and identify broad patterns and trends. With the vast amounts of data generated by social media and other digital platforms, researchers can now collect data on a scale that was previously unimaginable. While most current social psychological research is based on studies in highly controlled environments that offer high internal validity, these web-based Big Data can complement social psychological research by providing a less controlled, but more generalizable and externally valid data basis. 
Specifically, people increasingly use the internet in a variety of different ways and leave their digital footprint in doing so. This so-called found data (i.e., data that was not collected for the specific purpose of research) can be used to test social psychological hypotheses and extend experimental findings.
This workshop aims to serve as a first step for researchers that are interested in accessing and harnessing different types of found data. The workshop will combine short presentations about the application of found data with hands-on interactive programming sessions using R. In these sessions, participants will learn step-by-step how to write code to automatedly download data from websites (web scraping) and how to use the Youtube API to acquire data from Youtube directly in R.
Finally, we will discuss legal and ethical concerns that arise when using found data.

Language
Depending on the needs of the attendees, the preconference may either be held in German or English.

Number of Participants
8-15 persons

Requirements

• Laptop with the latest version of R and R-Studio.
• Basic knowledge of R is helpful, but not crucial.

Has anyone ever told you that your paper should tell a story? This is great advice; storytelling is the essence of scientific writing. But to apply this advice, you still need to know what a story is.

Content: In this preconference, you'll discover the art of storytelling in scientific papers and learn:

• What makes a story?
• How scientific articles tell a story?
• How to find the story of your paper?

Goals: The tools that you will learn in this workshop will help you find the thread of your paper, captivate your readers, and publish in top journals.

Methods: The workshop is designed for junior and experienced researchers who wish to improve their writing skills. The sessions are interactive and takes place in a relaxed atmosphere. The inputs and methods taught in this workshop are easy to use, effective and directly applicable to your current situation.

Trainer: Dr. Gayannée Kedia is a researcher in social psychology and neuroscience at the University of Graz, Austria. She has worked for several universities in France, the UK, Germany, and Austria. Parallel to her academic activity, she works as a writing coach and is the founder of abrilliantmind.blog, a blog aimed at helping scientists be more productive and happier in their professional activity.

Language
English

Number of Participants
6 – 20

Requirements
None

You have a special research interest in the field of social psychology and you want to communicate it to people other than your colleagues? Then this workshop is for you: Get on stage and get your message out! This skills workshop is about targeted science communication, about presenting yourself and your research in an exciting way and developing a clear take-home-message for your audience. Participants will be instructed to clearly present their work in a short form in front of fellow presenters in several iterations. In between, participants will work on refinements for clearer structure and language, which will be discussed with the workshop hosts. Finally, participants will record their work on a smartphone or digital camera. Skills obtained in this workshop will help participants to obtain a feeling how they are being perceived by others. Moreover, creating a short video may guide participants to use these formats on social media as a means to effective science communication.

Language
Depending on the needs of the attendees, the preconference may either be held in German or English.

Number of Participants
8-15 persons

Requirements
A research topic (e.g., in the context of a PhD or PostDoc project) and a smartphone