​John Wilcox is an adjunct professor of psychology at Columbia University and the founder of Alethic Innovations. He was formerly a visiting scholar at Stanford University where he also obtained a PhD covering topics across philosophy, psychology and political science. He previously obtained Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Auckland where he was also awarded the first-place Jonathan Hunt prize in the political studies and international relations program.

In 2022, he published the book, "Human Judgment: How Accurate Is It, and How Can It Get Better?" (Springer Nature). He also publishes public-oriented pieces in outlets like Psychology Today and the LSE Impact Blog.

Praise for "Human Judgment":
  • "John Wilcox presents an accessible, insightful take on the questions that should captivate any social scientist.... A must-read for those interested in all disciplines, including those of us concerned with improving politics and policy.” - Rachel George, PhD, Lecturing Fellow, Duke University
 
  • “John Wilcox’s book is a timely and lucid study of what it means to think rationally and why it’s important for our understanding of human minds.” - Samuel Gershman, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University
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  • “This is a great and educational read – we ALL make decisions every day of our lives. Wilcox is our expert guide on how each of us, and society at large, could do a better job with these, and improve our calibration in the process.” - Mark Graber, MD, Founder of the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine

The book can be downloaded or purchased in hard copy here. 
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Social media links
TWITTER - mastodon

​AREAS of Specialization​

Cognitive Psychology & Epistemology

Much of John’s research revolves around human cognition—especially the question of how to improve human reasoning. The hope is that improving reasoning will improve decision-making and, ultimately, the quality of our lives as individuals and as a collective. 

Selected publications in cognitive psychology and epistemology:
​Metascience & Philosophy of Science

​John also works in philosophy of science and metascience. He regularly reviews academic work for publishers such as the Cambridge University Press, the British Journal of Philosophy of Science and others, and he has made novel contributions to the philosophy of science.

Selected publications in metascience and philosophy of science:
  • Stanford Encyclopedia entry on the reproducibility of scientific results, including the metascience of the reproducibility crisis
  • Journal article articulating and proving new normative Bayesian constraints on scientific reasoning
Moral Psychology & Ethics
 
John also explores moral psychology and ethics. He is also the co-director and lead researcher at an interdisciplinary research team called The Metachangemakers Project. The project focuses on how to cultivate changemakers—that is, people with the motivation and competencies to make a positive impact on the world, to contribute to collective wellbeing and to address societal challenges.

His innovations in this space also include developing a new solution to the so-called “moral twin earth problem” in metaethics (under review).

You can learn more about metachangemaking from his team’s presentation at the first Life Improvement Science conference (to the left).