Plans & Projects
This page lists a sample of my current and planned research projects. I welcome feedback on any of these.
Current Projects
Intellectual Dependability: A Virtue Theory of the Epistemic and Educational Ideal (Routledge, 2021).
This research monograph focuses on a suite of neglected intellectual virtues that help make a person intellectually dependable--the sort of person on whom others can depend in their inquiries. The virtues discussed include intellectual benevolence, intellectual transparency, communicative clarity, audience sensitivity, and epistemic guidance. An abstract of the book is here, and three short articles for general audiences discussing themes in the book are here, here and here, and a video of me discussing themes from the book is here. Drafts of chapters will appear below as they are completed:
Introduction
1. Chapter One: The Intellectually Dependable Person
2. Chapter Two: The Virtues of Intellectual Dependability
3. Chapter Three: Educating for Intellectual Dependability
4. Chapter Four: Intellectual Benevolence
5. Chapter Five: Intellectual Transparency
6. Chapter Six: Communicative Clarity
7. Chapter Seven: Audience Sensitivity
8. Chapter Eight: Epistemic Guidance
9. Chapter Nine: Being Intellectually Dependable for Groups
Empirical Work on Others-Centeredness
This project involves developing a scale for measuring others-centeredness, assessing the relationship between others-centeredness and other important variables, and conducting experimental research on the role of others-centeredness in everyday decision-making. Under the mentorship of Peter Hill and Keith Edwards (Psychology, Biola), I completed initial data collection for this project in 2019, and analyzed this data in 2020. We are currently conducting experimental work before publishing our findings. An article about our initial work, written for a popular audience, is here. My poster for the 2020 American Psychological Association presenting our initial findings is here.
Development of the Congregational Character Questionnaire
This project involves developing a new measure of twelve group virtues of Christian Churches and examining the relationship between these virtues and outcomes such as congregant spiritual well-being and satisfaction with church. In 2020, under the mentorship of Peter Hill and Keith Edwards, I collected and analyzed data on this questionnaire, and submitted the findings to a journal of psychology of religion.
The Civic Significance of Expansive Other-Regarding Virtues
With Megan Haggard (Psychology, Francis Marion), I am engaged in a roughly two-year (2019-2021) research project focusing on the civic significance of others-centeredness, the virtues of intellectual dependability, and identification with all humanity. We will develop and validate scales for measuring the virtues of intellectual dependability, and run a series of studies examining the civic significance of all of these expansively other-regarding traits with student and general adult populations.
The Transformative Power of Accepting God's Love
This is an article that explains what is involved in accepting God's love and argues that accepting God's love can serve as an engine for moral improvement for both theists and agnostics.
Current Projects
Intellectual Dependability: A Virtue Theory of the Epistemic and Educational Ideal (Routledge, 2021).
This research monograph focuses on a suite of neglected intellectual virtues that help make a person intellectually dependable--the sort of person on whom others can depend in their inquiries. The virtues discussed include intellectual benevolence, intellectual transparency, communicative clarity, audience sensitivity, and epistemic guidance. An abstract of the book is here, and three short articles for general audiences discussing themes in the book are here, here and here, and a video of me discussing themes from the book is here. Drafts of chapters will appear below as they are completed:
Introduction
1. Chapter One: The Intellectually Dependable Person
2. Chapter Two: The Virtues of Intellectual Dependability
3. Chapter Three: Educating for Intellectual Dependability
4. Chapter Four: Intellectual Benevolence
5. Chapter Five: Intellectual Transparency
6. Chapter Six: Communicative Clarity
7. Chapter Seven: Audience Sensitivity
8. Chapter Eight: Epistemic Guidance
9. Chapter Nine: Being Intellectually Dependable for Groups
Empirical Work on Others-Centeredness
This project involves developing a scale for measuring others-centeredness, assessing the relationship between others-centeredness and other important variables, and conducting experimental research on the role of others-centeredness in everyday decision-making. Under the mentorship of Peter Hill and Keith Edwards (Psychology, Biola), I completed initial data collection for this project in 2019, and analyzed this data in 2020. We are currently conducting experimental work before publishing our findings. An article about our initial work, written for a popular audience, is here. My poster for the 2020 American Psychological Association presenting our initial findings is here.
Development of the Congregational Character Questionnaire
This project involves developing a new measure of twelve group virtues of Christian Churches and examining the relationship between these virtues and outcomes such as congregant spiritual well-being and satisfaction with church. In 2020, under the mentorship of Peter Hill and Keith Edwards, I collected and analyzed data on this questionnaire, and submitted the findings to a journal of psychology of religion.
The Civic Significance of Expansive Other-Regarding Virtues
With Megan Haggard (Psychology, Francis Marion), I am engaged in a roughly two-year (2019-2021) research project focusing on the civic significance of others-centeredness, the virtues of intellectual dependability, and identification with all humanity. We will develop and validate scales for measuring the virtues of intellectual dependability, and run a series of studies examining the civic significance of all of these expansively other-regarding traits with student and general adult populations.
The Transformative Power of Accepting God's Love
This is an article that explains what is involved in accepting God's love and argues that accepting God's love can serve as an engine for moral improvement for both theists and agnostics.
