Curriculum Vitae

Education

  • Bachelor of Science, Psychology, University of Oregon, 2013
  • M.A., Political Science, Stony Brook University, 2015
  • Ph.D., Political Science, Stony Brook University, 2020
                  Subfield: political psychology & quantitative methods

Dissertation

"Individual Differences in Selective Exposure to Attitude-Congruent Political Information: Intuition, Faith, and Social Environment"

              Dissertation committee: John Barry Ryan, Milton Lodge, Stanley Feldman, Paul Djupe

Publications

  • Cragun, James (2020) "Rigid Religious Faith Promotes Selective Exposure to Attitude-Congruent Political Information." Political Behavior.

Research works in progress

  • Reflectiveness and Intuitiveness as Sources of Individual Differences in Selective Exposure
  • Evolution of One-Shot Cooperation Under Uncertainty: An Agent-Based Model
  • The Importance of Interactive Control Variables when Testing Interactive Hypotheses
  • The Effect of Social Environment Heterogeneity Among Residents of Student Housing on Selective Exposure to Attitude-Congruent Political Information

Conference presentations

  • Western Political Science Association 2018
  • Midwest Political Science Association 2018
  • American Political Science Association 2018

Teaching experience

As course instructor:
  • POL 201: Statistical Methods in Political Science, 2016 Fall
  • POL 201: Statistical Methods in Political Science, 2017 Spring
  • POL 201: Statistical Methods in Political Science, 2017 Fall
  • POL 201: Statistical Methods in Political Science, 2018 Spring
  • Math camp for incoming PhD students, 2018 Summer
  • POL 201: Statistical Methods in Political Science, 2019 Spring
  • Math camp for incoming PhD students, 2019 Summer
  • POL 348: Political Beliefs and Judgment, 2019 Fall
  • POL 348: Political Beliefs and Judgment, 2020 Spring
As teaching assistant (with responsibility for weekly discussion section and occasional guest lectures):
  • POL 604: Applied Data Analysis 3 (doctoral-level course), 2018 Fall

Graduate coursework completed

Methods courses:
  • Applied Data Analysis 1, Yanna Krupnikov (general course in statistical methods)
  • Applied Data Analysis 2, Michael Peress (linear models)
  • Applied Data Analysis 3, Michael Peress (non-linear models, Maximum Likelihood Estimation)
  • Experiment Design, Andy Delton
  • Causal Inference, Jason Barabas}
  • Game Theory, Martin Steinwand
  • Computational Modeling, Oleg Smirnov (especially agent-based models)
  • Measurement, Scaling, and Covariance Structure Models, Stanley Feldman
  • Statistical Analysis of Big Data, Michael Peress (including Bayesian statistics, machine learning, nonparametrics, automated text analysis, and ideal point estimation)
Substantive courses:
  • Political Psychology, Jennifer Jerit
  • Political Economy, Martin Steinwand
  • American Politics, John Barry Ryan
  • Ideology, Stanley Feldman
  • Ecological Rationality, Andy Delton
  • Social Influence,Yanna Krupnikov
  • Evolutionary Psychology and Political Decision Making, Peter DeScioli

References

  • John Barry Ryan
    Associate Professor
    Stony Brook University
    john.ryan@stonybrook.edu
    My dissertation advisor

  • Jason Barabas
    Professor
    Stony Brook University
    jason.barabas@stonybrook.edu
    Instructor of a course for which I served as teaching assistant

  • Milton Lodge
    Distinguished University Professor
    Stony Brook University
    milton.lodge@stonybrook.edu
    Member of my dissertation committee

  • Stanley Feldman
    Professor
    Stony Brook University
    stanley.feldman@stonybrook.edu
    Member of my dissertation committee