Sean Stevens

Research Team
Sean, a native of New Jersey, obtained his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey – New Brunswick in 2013. From 2013 to 2016, he continued to work at Rutgers University, first as the Research Director of the Social Perception Lab and then as a Postdoctoral Fellow, also in affiliation with the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. In 2016, Sean became Heterodox Academy’s first Director of Research where he developed the Campus Expression Survey. In 2020, Sean joined FIRE as a Senior Research Fellow in Polling and Analytics. For almost two decades, Sean's research has focused on understanding how moral convictions produce motivated reasoning within the political domain, how this motivated reasoning can distort research in the social sciences, and how motivated reasoning can lead to political intolerance and create obstacles to political compromise. More recently, he has begun investigating the psychological factors that motivate support for censorship and self-censorship. Sean is also a member of the Best Practices in Science Movement, and he works to promote scientific integrity practices in the social sciences.
Recent Writings
- Emotional intelligence, cognitive ability may predict support for free speech,
- Survey shows majority of college students feel ‘intimidated’ to share opinion, unlikely to disagree with professor,
- 2022 College Free Speech Rankings: Gender differences in censorship attitudes,
- The new and improved College Free Speech Rankings,
- By delaying free speech survey in response to criticism, University of Wisconsin System errs,
- Critics of FIRE’s Free Speech Rankings get it wrong — again.,
- New Republic, old data: Article on UATX wrongly dismisses campus illiberalism problem,
- Addressing criticisms of Scholars Under Fire,
- Letter to the Editors of ‘The Limitations of FIRE’s Database’,
- Survey: Students report open campus climate, want to punish those who offend,
- Survey of college Greek life reveals mixed attitudes about freedom of speech and freedom of association,
- Analysis: Heterodox Academy’s 2020 Campus Expression Survey,
- Canaries in the coal mine: Kaufmann Report warns of ‘Academic Freedom in Crisis’,
- U. of Wisconsin students not big fans of free speech, according to new survey,
- 2020 College Free Speech Rankings Q&A follow-up: Self-censorship and race on campus,
- 2020 College Free Speech Rankings: 45 miles makes a big difference for some students,
- 2020 College Free Speech Rankings Q&A: How we calculated our rankings,
- 2020 College Free Speech Survey: Who finds what kinds of protest behavior acceptable?,
- 2020 College Free Speech Rankings Q&A: How were the students surveyed?,
- 2020 College Free Speech Rankings Q&A: Colleges can improve their ranking by improving their speech policies,
- Faculty report from University of Southern California’s business school reveals deep concerns about academic freedom,
- Catching up with ‘Coddling’ part four: To the surprise of no one, polarization has only gotten worse,
- Spirals of silence: Expressing a minority political view on some campuses is difficult,
- Campus-specific analyses of the climate for free expression reveal stark differences between schools,
- Knight/Gallup survey: College students’ views of free expression complicated, calls for censorship depend on whose ox is being gored,
- Survey data suggests there is a Lake Wobegon effect among campus administrators,
- Political tolerance, academic freedom, and support for faculty free expression,
- Survey: Student affairs officers have rosier perception of campus expression climate than students,

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