Joachim Krueger's Resignation Letters

From the Association for Psychological Science and the Editorial Board of Perspectives on Psychological Science

Dr. Joachim Krueger is Professor of Psychology at Brown University. He has published or edited 10 books and has hundreds of scholarly publications (his vita does not number them, and there were so many, I did not have the energy to count). He has also published over 500 essays at Psychology Today, dozens elsewhere, and has had numerous media appearances, honors and awards. He has also been an editor of psychology journals and on the editorial board of many journals.

Most recently, among other things, he was on the editorial board of Perspectives on Psychological Science (PoPS), which was the setting for a major meltdown in Psychology that included allegations of editorial misconduct on the part of Klaus Fiedler, Editor-in-Chief, as well as charges of racism leveled against him, me, and several other authors.

PoPS is run by the Association for Psychological Science (APS). The meltdown included the organization of a mob of almost 1400 academics who denounced all of us as racists and called for APS to summarily execute an order to dismiss Fiedler. They obeyed. Days later, Fiedler was gone.

As of this writing, five of six PoPS associate editors resigned in response to this meltdown. About 1/3 of the members of the consulting board also resigned. Dr. Krueger was one of those members. He has resigned both his membership in APS, and his consulting board positiong with PoPS. His letters of resignation are published here with his permission.

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Resignation from APS on Dec 6 (Alison refers to Alison Gopnik, then Wendy Wood & Jennifer Eberhardt)

Dear Alison, Wendy, & Jennifer,

When the feeling of righteousness glows through the mind it may not be the case that justice has been served. I have followed the rapidly unfolding story of the dismantling of Professor Klaus Fiedler’s reputation. I am telling you that I am appalled because I cannot think of a stronger word. This morning I shared this epic story of a breakdown of professionalism with my students to warn them of the kind of world they now live in. I told them that the concept of justice rests on notions of ‘vengeance,’ ‘due process,’ and ‘goodwill.’ I told them that the thirst for vengeance is part of our human nature, and that the ideas of due process and goodwill have been hard won against this paleolithic background. You are well aware of what due process means. We study this as psychologists. I do not have to lecture you. I must lecture you, however, on your lack of wisdom, your inability to let this sink in, your helplessness in the face of instinct, your surrender to a mob, your lack of goodwill. You are at fault!

I have known Klaus Fiedler for decades. He is one of the most fair-minded people I know. If indeed he has been a closet racist all these years, he’s royally fooled us. And if so, you failed when appointing him. Now you say ‘oops’ for appointing him, and ‘here’s the bus, Professor Fiedler, please let yourself be thrown under it.’ But Professor Fiedler isn’t a racist, and an allegation does not make it so. Proper review would reveal this.

But no, you let your amygdala do your thinking. How very sophomoric of you. For shame!

I am a charter member and a fellow of the APS and a former member of an APS Task Force. I herewith resign. I am not on Twitter, so please grant me one last favor: put this letter on the APS Twitter feed.

Sincerely,

Joachim Krueger

Professor of Psychology

Brown University

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Resignation from the PPS editorial board on Dec11; Amy is Amy Drew.

Dear Amy,

I herewith resign from the editorial board of Perspectives on Psychological Science. It was a pleasure to serve under the guidance of Professor Klaus Fiedler and to work with the exceptional team of colleagues he assembled. Please remove my name immediately from the list of board members on the PPS website. If you do not, visitors of the site might get the false impression that I endorse the recent political and non-judicious practices displayed by the APS. I urge the APS to apologize publicly to Professor Fiedler and to make amends for the frivolous damage they have done to his reputation.

What may be less obvious to the APS leadership is that the damage it has done to itself is far greater than the damage visited upon individuals. Science is about truth, and truth can inform and guide the way we live. The APS, however, has placed ideological mandates before science, and has thereby begun to throttle it. I do not know how you might recover from this. The public may come to see you as a gang of garden gnomes with axes to grind, axes too heavy for you to lift. It is a pity.

I love psychological science, and over a century of toil we have learned much about the behavior of groups, crowds, and mobs as well as about self-satisfied and moralistic decision-making. In time, someone will write the story of these recent events, and the APS leadership is not likely to star in a heroic role.

Best,

joachim

PS: Please forward this mail to Mr. Gropp, whose email address I was unable to find. 

Joachim Krueger

Professor of Psychology

Brown University