*5.1. Self-Suppression*

Self-suppression occurs when people do not pursue certain ideas or try to publish certain findings because they fear punishment or prefer that the findings do not see the light of day. Self-suppression is notoriously di fficult to empirically assess because there is mostly an absence of evidence (if the idea is suppressed, it cannot usually be found). This dynamic was captured beautifully in a podcast by social psychologists Michael Inzlicht and Yoel Inbar [47]. Inzlicht, at about 25 min in:

"What if I felt that overemphasis on oppression is a terrible idea, hurts alleged victims of oppression, and is bad for everyone? What if I was outspoken about this? I suspect I would face a lot more opposition. Even though not much could happen to my job security, I'd have a lot of people screaming at me, making my life uncomfortable. And, truly, I wouldn't do it, because I'd be scared. I wouldn't do it because I'm a coward".

Our view is that Inzlicht is less of a coward than most simply by virtue of having gone forward with this podcast including this sort of statement. Nonetheless, it also nicely captures the social psychology of scientific idea self-suppression.

However, we know of at least 17 cases of self-suppression. Zigerell [48] discovered 17 unpublished experiments on racial bias embedded in nationally representative surveys totaling over 13,000 respondents. These unpublished experiments failed to detect evidence of anti-black bias among white respondents but did detect pro-black bias among black respondents.

Another example of self-suppression can be found in IAT (Implicit Association Test) research. In response to criticism of the ability of IAT studies to account for racial discrimination [49], a retort emphasized the validity of the IAT and included in its title: " ... Executive Summary of Ten Studies that no Manager Should Ignore" [50]. Putting aside the fact that six of the ten studies did not address racial discrimination, even the four that did, found almost no evidence of racial discrimination (see [51], for a review). This was simply not reported in Jost et al.'s reply [50], or in any paper we know of that has cited that reply, until we did a deep dive into the 10 studies and discovered the almost complete absence of racial bias e ffects [52]. Of course, it is possible that, rather than suppression, no one considered it relevant. However, how could findings showing little or no bias not be relevant to establishing the importance of the IAT to predict racial bias?

This raises the following unanswerable questions: How many other unpublished studies providing quality data relevant to important social issues and controversies are out there that have gone unpublished because the researchers feared repercussions, did not see the value of reporting it, or themselves did not want the results to become widely known? How many published papers have buried results (either their own or, in the case of reviews, others) in order to avoid highlighting findings that conflict with preferred narratives? The answer is currently unknowable, but it almost surely exceeds that described.

#### *5.2. Suppression by Others: Modern Examples of Academics Targeted for Punishment for Their Scholarship*

What type of scholarship evokes punishment by academics? Most of these cases involved findings or arguments that challenged (or, perhaps, threatened) academics' equalitarian sensibilities (race, sex, ethnicity, colonialism, etc., [1]). We were interested in identifying examples of academics advocating ideas in their scholarly work (as just described above) that o ffend rightwing sensibilities and who were subject to punishment by academic outrage mobs but were unable to do so. To be clear, there are ample examples of rightwing outrage mobs targeting leftwing academics for their political statements, especially on social media (e.g., [2]), but we excluded those because they were mobs organized outside of academia, and were often for social media posts rather than for scholarship. Additionally, as discussed previously, hundreds of academics lost jobs during the Red Scare of the 1940s and 1950s. Nonetheless, we were unable to find a single example over the last five years of an academic sanctioned by other academics for violating rightwing sensibilities regarding their scholarship.

#### 5.2.1. Firings, Non-Renewals, and Forced Resignations

Firings since 2016 include (see [1] for more details):


#### 5.2.2. Punishment Other than Termination

Academic outrage mobs can inflict all sorts of punishment that falls well short of firing, but which are certainly noxious experiences for their targets (see our prior discussion of Selena Todd). More details about these examples, including links to additional blogs, petitions, and new stories, can be found in Jussim (2020) [1].


which involved the process by which the paper was accepted), and it was again unaccepted [54]. The paper remains unpublished as far as we know.

•Kathleen Lowry, a feminist professor of anthropology, lost her position as the undergraduate associate chair in 2020 for claiming that biological sex exists and is important, on the grounds that "it was not in the best interests of the students" for her to continue in the position.

There are many more examples like these that can be found in Jussim (2020) [1]. Furthermore, the pace at which this sort of punishment is occurring seems to have increased over the last five years compared to any time prior, and especially over the last year compared to even the prior few years.

#### 5.2.3. The Importance of Authorities in Resisting Outrage Mob Calls for Punishment

Although outrage mobs often trigger the punishment process, in Western democracies, mobs no longer actually burn witches at stakes. For most punishment to occur in academia, some authority has to agree to implement the mob's punishment. That is, mobs do not ge<sup>t</sup> academics fired; it is high level administrators, such as deans, provosts, and university presidents that implement firings. Mobs do not ge<sup>t</sup> papers retracted; that is the decision of editors and editorial boards. Thus, the key turning point in whether an academic outrage mob is e ffective at punishing an academic for their ideas is usually the action of authorities. Although as we articulated earlier, simply being targeted by an outrage mob will likely be experienced as punishment, we also acknowledge that there is a qualitative di fference to being denounced publicly and extensively (however unpleasant that may be) and being actually fired. It is the authorities, not the mob, that decide whether to inflict punishment that goes beyond social approbation.

Lest we paint too bleak a picture of academia as an institution overrun with dogmatic ideologues and spineless quislings unwilling or unable to defend academic freedom and free inquiry, we described several cases here of authorities not caving in to mob pressure. Again, summary descriptions of these events, including links to more detailed stories and denunciation petitions and letters, can be found in Jussim (2020) [1]:


from an ancillary consulting position, this paper was not retracted. Thus it is included here as an example of an authority (in this case, the editors) resisting an outrage mob's call to retract, although the incident is plausibly considered an intermediate case, because she was made to jump through extraordinary hoops that, as far as we know, no other author has ever had to jump through at PLoS journals.

• Dr Abigail Thompson [57] published an editorial criticizing the use of mandatory diversity statements in academic hiring. This triggered an academic outrage mob denouncing her and a petition calling for removal from her position as vice president of the American Mathematics Society (AMS). According to the AMS website (https://www.ams.org/about-us/governance/officers/ officers), as of September 2020, she was still listed as vice president. Thus, although we had no inside information, the AMS did not cave to mob outrage. An interesting epilogue is that she has also received a Hero of Intellectual Freedom Award from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni [58].
