Journal of Open Inquiry in the Behavioral Sciences
The Journal of Open Inquiry in the Behavioral Sciences (JOIBS) is the official publication of the Society for Open Inquiry in Behavioral Science. Dedicated to fostering intellectual exchange and upholding the highest standards of scholarly rigor, the journal provides a platform for the dissemination of empirical research across all domains of behavioral science, broadly defined. JOIBS emphasizes a commitment to free inquiry and encourages vibrant academic discourse through its policy of post-publication peer commentary. The journal exclusively publishes empirical studies and commentaries on these studies. Submissions are welcomed on a rolling basis, ensuring continuous opportunities for scholars to contribute and engage.
Section: Articles Keywords: Misconception, Performance, Gap, Sex, Male, Female, Athletics Review of Rohrer (2025)
Copyright (c) 2025 April Bleske-Rechek (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Copyright (c) 2025 Joachim Krueger (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
A Dramatic Underestimate of the Performance Gap Between Elite Male and Female Athletes
Section: Articles Keywords: Misconception, Performance, Gap, Sex, Male, Female, Athletics Strong evidence shows that anatomical and physiological sex differences favor men over women in nearly every athletic event, yet several researchers have published widely disseminated claims of an inherent advantage for women in some athletic events. The present study assessed the prevalence of this misconception with a survey of a diverse sample of 300 U.S. adults. For each of four events (1500-m run, 100-m dash, long jump, and 800-m swim), participants were asked, “The world record for professional women is closest to the world record for males of what age?” The correct answer for each event is age 14, yet, for each event, at least 64% of participants responded that the women’s world record is closest to the record for males of age 18 or older (mean and median estimate ≈ age 20). This stark misconception suggests that many people in the U.S. and possibly elsewhere underestimate the contribution of biology to the male-female performance gap in athletics and, by extension, underrate the impact of allowing biological males to compete in female-only sports.
Copyright (c) 2025 Doug Rohrer (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Review of ‘Perceived Effectiveness and Risk of Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE): Perspectives of a US Sample of 125 Male Clients’
Section: Articles Keywords: Sexual orientation change, psychosocial health, marriage, ex-gay Review II
Copyright (c) 2025 Holly Lawford-Smith (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Review of “Perceived Effectiveness and Risk of Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE): Perspectives of a US Sample of 125 Male Clients”
Section: Articles Keywords: Sexual orientation change, psychosocial health, marriage, ex-gay Review I
Copyright (c) 2025 Catherine Salmon (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Perceived Effectiveness and Risk of Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE): Perspectives of a US Sample of 125 Male Clients
Section: Articles Keywords: Sexual orientation change, psychosocial health, marriage, ex-gay Background: Voluntary therapeutic interventions to reduce unwanted same-sex sexuality are collectively known as sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE). Currently almost all evidence addressing the contested question whether SOCE is effective or safe consists of anecdotes or very small sample qualitative studies of persons who currently identify as sexual minority and thus by definition failed to change. We conducted this study to examine the perceived effects and risk outcomes for a group of SOCE participants unbiased by current sexual orientation. Methods: We examined a convenience sample of 125 men who had undergone SOCE for homosexual-to-heterosexual change in sexual attraction, identity and behavior, and for positive and negative changes in psychosocial problem domains (depression, suicidality, self-harm, self-esteem, social function, and alcohol or substance abuse). Mean change was assessed by parametric (t-test) and nonparametric (Wilcoxon sign rank test) significance tests. Results: Exposure to SOCE was associated with significant declines in same-sex attraction (from 5.7 to 4.1 on the Kinsey scale, p <.000), identification (4.8 to 3.6, p < .000), and sexual activity (2.4 to 1.5 on a 4-point scale of frequency, p < .000), with large effect sizes ranging from .56 to .94 (Cohen’s d). From 45% to 69% of SOCE participants achieved at least partial reduction of unwanted same-sex sexuality; full reduction was achieved by 14% for sexual attraction and identification, and 26% for sexual behavior. Rates were higher among married men, but 4-10% of participants experienced increased same-sex orientation after SOCE. From 0.8% to 4.8% of participants reported marked or severe negative psychosocial change following SOCE, but 12.1% to 61.3% reported marked or severe positive psychosocial change. Net change was significantly positive for all problem domains. Conclusion: SOCE was perceived as an effective and safe therapeutic practice by this sample of participants. We close by offering a unifying understanding of discrepant findings within this literature and caution against broad generalizations of our results.
Copyright (c) 2025 D. Paul Sullins, Christopher H. Rosik (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Section: Articles Keywords: Authoritarianism, Left-Wing Authoritarianism, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Ideology, Ideologically-Incongruent Review of Conway & Houck (2025)
Copyright (c) 2025 Joseph Manson (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Can Liberals Also Be Authoritarians? Comment on Conway & Houck (2025)
Copyright (c) 2025 Richard Redding (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Ideologically Incongruent Authoritarianism: Understanding Liberal Right-Wing Authoritarians and Conservative Left-Wing Authoritarians
Section: Articles Keywords: Authoritarianism, Left-Wing Authoritarianism, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Ideology, Ideologically-Incongruent Ideologically incongruent authoritarians – liberal right-wing authoritarians and their counterpart conservative left-wing authoritarians – represent an important yet understudied group. What underlies the incongruence displayed by incongruent authoritarians? We present four conceptual frameworks for understanding this question: Psychological Ambivalence, Rigidity of the Right, Religion-Specific Authoritarianism, and Ecological Threat. We examined each of these frameworks using data from 14 studies and over 9,000 participants. Findings offer modest support for all four frameworks, but no framework on its own comprehensively accounts for incongruent authoritarianism. What is clear, however, is that ideologically incongruent authoritarians in the U.S. comprise a meaningful category with predictable differences from both their fellow non-authoritarian ideologues and their counterpart congruent authoritarians. As such, this work advances our current understanding of authoritarianism, provides unique insight into the psychology of incongruent authoritarians, and contributes to the ongoing asymmetry debate in political ideology.
Copyright (c) 2025 Lucian Gideon Conway III, Shannon C. Houck (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Review of Negy & Ferguson (2025): “Predicting Radical Progressive Ideology (RPI) from Personality and Attitudinal Variables”
Section: Articles Keywords: DEI, Radical Progressive Ideology, Left-Wing Authoritarianism, Anti-White Attitudes, Wokism Review of Negy & Ferguson (2025): “Predicting Radical Progressive Ideology (RPI) from Personality and Attitudinal Variables”
Copyright (c) 2025 Anonymous (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The (De)merits of Radical Progressivism: Commentary on Negy & Ferguson (2025)
Section: Articles Keywords: DEI, Radical Progressive Ideology, Left-Wing Authoritarianism, Anti-White Attitudes, Wokism Commentary on Negy & Ferguson (2025)
Copyright (c) 2025 Sonia Yanovsky (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Uncomfortable Truths in the Science of Sex Differences: Review of Bleske-Rechek et al. (2024)
Section: Articles Keywords: sex differences, harm, liberal science, censorship, identity Review of Bleske-Rechek et al. (2024)
Copyright (c) 2024 Steve Stewart-Williams (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Women’s Stronger In-group Favoritism Underlies Their Censorship of Science: Review of Bleske-Rechek et al. (2024)
Copyright (c) 2024 Tania Reynolds (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Predicting Radical Progressive Ideology (RPI)
Section: Articles Keywords: DEI, Radical Progressive Ideology, Left-Wing Authoritarianism, Anti-White Attitudes, Wokism Many critics of higher education contend it has become infused with a radical progressive ideology (RPI). Critics of this ideology often focus on “Critical Race Theory” (CRT) and “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI). Broadly defined, CRT/DEI are a set of beliefs espousing that U.S. and Western societies are based on “white supremacy” and that social inequalities are due to racially-designed barriers to oppress non-Whites. These views are often accompanied by a deemphasis on classically liberal values such as free speech and due process. Advocates of CRT/DEI demand that society become more egalitarian, just, and inclusive. However, many ideas and tenets of CRT/DEI are debatable and are contested by critics due to the ideas’ questionable empirical support. The purpose of this study was to examine select personality and attitudinal variables that may predict endorsement of CRT/DEI ideas that we call “radical progressive ideology” (RPI). Based on a sample of university students, three variables emerged significantly correlating with RPI: left-wing authoritarianism, anti-White attitudes, and anti-U.S. attitudes. Findings suggest that those embracing RPI may hold prejudicial views of Whites and of the U.S. as a country and may be desirous of punishing those not sharing their radical progressive ideology. Additional implications are discussed.
Copyright (c) 2025 Charles Negy, Christopher J. Ferguson (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Section: Articles Categories: Titles A to Z Keywords: grading, undergraduate education Review of Woessner & Maranto (2025)
Copyright (c) 2025 George Yancey (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Commentary: Do Gradebooks Lean Left? Relationships between Grades andIdeology in American Higher Education
Section: Articles Categories: Titles A to Z Keywords: undergraduate education, grading Review of Woessner & Maranto 2025
Section: Articles Categories: Titles A to Z Keywords: grading, ideology, higher education, undergraduate education, political correctness While considerable quantitative research demonstrates ideological liberalism among American professors, only qualitative work examines whether this affects undergraduate education. Using the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) dataset surveying students in their first and fourth years in college (n=7,207), we use OLS regressions to test whether students’ political beliefs are associated with reported college grades and perceived collegiate experiences. We find that while standardized test scores are the best predictors of grade point average, ideology also has impacts. Even with controls for SES, demographics, and SAT scores, liberal students report higher college grades and closer relationships with faculty, particularly at elite institutions, with findings driven by social issues like abortion. Nevertheless, conservative students consistently show higher levels of satisfaction with college courses and experiences, and higher high school grades. We discuss implications, and possible limitations.
Copyright (c) 2025 Matthew Woessner, Robert Maranto (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Section: Articles Keywords: Psychosocial development Review of Martin et al. (2024)
Copyright (c) 2024 Harry Crane (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Section: Articles Categories: Titles A to Z Keywords: psychosocial development, political ideology, personality, conservatism Review of Martin et al. (2024)
Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Open Inquiry In Behavioral Science https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Psychosocial development is negatively correlated with political extremism
Section: Articles Categories: Titles A to Z Keywords: psychosocial development, political ideology, personality Previous research indicates that in college samples there is a positive correlation between psychosocial development and economic conservatism. We tested the generality of this relationship with a nationally representative sample of respondents from the United States. The result was instead consistent with an alternative hypothesis that psychosocial development is related to political extremism. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an association between psychosocial development and political orientation.
Section: Articles Review of Lauritsen (2024) II
Section: Articles Categories: Titles A to Z Review of Lauritsen (2024)
Schein (1973) Revisited: The Think Manager-Think Male Effect is a Statistical Artifact
Section: Articles Keywords: think manager-think male, gender, bias Schein (1973) is a highly cited article in research on sex and gender biases. The original article concluded that people are biased against women regarding requisite management characteristics. However, the present paper replicates Schein (1973) and demonstrates that the findings were a result of an imbalanced ratio of items which exhibited mean differences between men and women targets. In addition, the use of intraclass correlations creates an illusion of large differences or similarities between targets when the actual mean rating differences are practically trivial and statistically nonsignificant. A bias against women, against men, and no bias are obtained by altering the number of male and female items, or by applying the intraclass correlation to more appropriate data. The implications of the results for the measurement of sex and gender biases are discussed. Broader concerns are raised about ideological biases which allow for conclusions and theories to propagate without empirical support.
Review of Holly Lawford-Smith’s “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Conversion Therapy: Or, Who put the ‘GI’ in ‘SOGI’?”
Section: Articles Keywords: gender identity, ambiguity, "gender identity" After positively discussing Professor Lawford-Smith's central argument, I provide some of my own comments on the term 'gender identity', contrasting it with 'sexual orientation'. I argue that, unlike 'sexual orientation', both components of the phrase 'gender identity' have significant ambiguities that make clear empirical research into the nature of 'gender identity' a non-starter. I briefly suggest some ways to resolve the problem.
Section: Articles Keywords: conversion therapy, gender dysphoria Review of Lawford-Smith (2024) by J. Michael Bailey
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Conversion Therapy: Or, Who Put The ‘GI’ in ‘SOGI’?
Section: Articles Keywords: Sexual orientation, gender identity, SOGI, conversion therapy, legislation, evidence-based medicine, evidence-based law In the last few years, many countries have introduced (or are proposing to introduce) legislation on ‘conversion therapy’, prohibiting attempts to change or suppress sexual orientation and/or gender identity. This legislation covers ‘aversion therapy’, a form of torture that has already been criminalized in most progressive countries, and also ‘talk therapy’, involving things like counselling, psychoanalysis, and prayer. Focusing on this latter category of practices, I explain what is at stake in the fact that sexual orientation and gender identity have been paired for the purposes of this legislation. I use a particular law reform institute’s approach to this legislation as a case study, and review their literature review in mind to discovering whether they provided sufficient empirical justification for including gender identity in their conversion therapy legislation. I conclude that they did not, and suggest that the pairing of sexual orientation and gender identity may be purely political.
Gender Dysphoria: Testing Alternative Hypotheses (Review of Diaz & Bailey, 2023)
Section: Articles Categories: Titles A to Z Keywords: Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria, transgenderism, psychopathology, social transition, emotional contagion The first author of this article is the mother of an ROGD (Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria) youth, who is writing under a pseudonym, and the second author is an expert on transgenderism, homosexuality, and behavioral genetics, having written major works on the subject, such as The Man Who Would Be Queen (Bailey, 2003). This is important to mention because we presume that the first author has intimate knowledge of the nature of the current wave of transgenderism, whereas the second author has in-depth scientific knowledge of the characteristics of transgenderism in the past. Aside from establishing the credentials of both authors, which appear to constitute an optimal combination for addressing the alternative hypotheses proposed, we mention this to frame the basic problem posed by this paper. That question is whether the transgenderism of the current wave of gender dysphoria is identical to what has been traditionally known as such in the past (Hypothesis 1) or whether it is a novel phenomenon that the present paper designates as ROGD (Hypothesis 2). Hypothesis 1 presupposes that the recent increase in gender dysphoria is more apparent than real, and produced by a greater societal openness to atypical sexuality that has disinhibited the reporting of sexual orientations that were previously suppressed by widespread social disapproval. Hypothesis 2 instead proposes that the recent increase is instead quite real, rather than attributable to reporting biases, but that the current wave of gender dysphoria is quite different from conventional transgenderism, and stems from an entirely different set of aetiologies. In describing Hypothesis 2, the authors consider the role of psychopathology, an often ignored predictor, in developing ROGD. The study's results strongly suggest that a sizeable proportion of individuals experienced a psychopathological condition before the onset of ROGD. In particular, anxiety and depression were quite prevalent in the sample. According to the authors, mental health issues crystallized at 10.5 years of age, preceding ROGD by more than three years. The authors also considered the contribution of social influence, concluding that having a transgendered friend increased the likelihood of social transition, which is adopting formal measures to live as the opposite gender. These results, in conjunction with the reported cooccurrence of ROGD in close friends or acquaintances of the individual experiencing ROGD, suggest emotional contagion as part of an underlying affective disorder could operate as a risk factor for the consolidation of ROGD. Hence, the article provides a novel and unique understanding of social influences and mental health issues leading to the persistence of the condition. The article's results offer future avenues concerning the role of premorbid individual attributes, including mental health issues and the nature of social interactions increasing the risk of ROGD. The data is almost completely descriptive rather than inferentially based on theory-driven tests derived from the stated alternative hypotheses. Nevertheless, the descriptive data does seem to support Hypothesis 2 in that the profile presented for ROGD does not look very much like that of conventional gender dysphoria, especially in the seemingly large role of social media as well as the developmentally late and sudden onset of the condition. However, only suspected ROGD cases were surveyed so there is no comparison group available, such as a sampling of individuals that had been chronically gender dysphoric from an early age or individuals that were not gender dysphoric at all. To be fair, these limitations are acknowledged in the Discussion as inherent in the way the data were collected. On the other hand, it would have been helpful for the authors to report any comparable data that might be available from non-ROGD cases, although formal significance testing might not be valid due to sampling differences between these data and previous findings. Table 9 comes close to what might be helpful, but only goes as far back as 2020. We are sure Professor Bailey should have some comparable statistics from his previous studies.
Section: Articles Keywords: Rapid-onset gender dysphoria, Transgender, Gender dysphoria, Adolescent gender dysphoria During the past decade there has been a dramatic increase in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) complaining of gender dysphoria. One influential if controversial explanation is that the increase reflects a socially contagious syndrome among emotionally vulnerable youth: rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD). We report results from a survey of parents who contacted the website ParentsofROGDKids.com because they believed their AYA children had ROGD. Results focused on parent reports on 1,655 AYA children whose gender dysphoria began between ages 11 and 21 years, inclusive. These youths were disproportionately (75%) natal female. Natal males had later onset (by 1.9 years) than females, and they were much less likely to have taken steps towards social gender transition (65.7% for females versus 28.6% for males). Pre-existing mental health issues were common, and youths with these issues were more likely than those without them to have socially and medically transitioned. Parents reported that they had often felt pressured by clinicians to affirm their AYA child’s new gender and support their transition. According to the parents, AYA children’s mental health deteriorated considerably after social transition. We discuss potential biases of survey responses from this sample and conclude that there is presently no reason to believe that reports of parents who support gender transition are more accurate than those who oppose transition. To resolve controversies regarding ROGD, it is desirable that future research include data provided by both pro-transition and anti-transition parents, as well as their gender dysphoric AYA children. Author's Notes: This is a slightly revised version of a paper that was accepted then retracted at Archives of Sexual Behavior. It was retracted in response to an academic outrage mob offended at its findings, and the journal presented a dubious technicality for retracting it that, as far as we know, has never been applied to any other paper there. JOIBS’ policy is to retract papers only when they meet Committee on Publication Ethics for retraction, which involve data fraud or massive data error. This paper has not even been accused of either data fraud or data error, and JOIBS is delighted to have published it here.
Beyond parochial bias: Commentary on Winegard et al. (2023)
Section: Articles Categories: Titles A to Z Keywords: liberal bias, equalitarianism, polarization, Bayesian belief updating Comments on Winegard et al.'s article on bias among liberals and the role of the value of equalitarianism.
The Dangers of Bad History as a Source of Liberal Bias: Comment on Winegard et al. (2023)
Section: Articles Categories: Titles A to Z Keywords: Bias, Education, Ideology Many social science researchers are liberals and progressives. Many published research studies also happen to support liberal and progressive narratives. This is even true for published research articles which might be fairly interpreted as insulting of conservatives such as referring to them as racist or unintelligent. Is this a coincidence? In a series of impressive studies, Winegard et al. (2023) demonstrate that political bias influences liberals’ perceptions and that, in the quest for finding equality, liberals assign greater moral worth to minority groups than majority. These findings have important implications for recent revisionist history approaches within education, and potential misinformation spread among youth in schools.