Career
His areas of research include the psychology of prejudice and discrimination, judgment and decision making, international security and counter-terrorism, interactive web-based research, and the human use of animals and the environment. Plous coined the term “action teaching” in 2000. In this article he presented action teaching as the pedagogical counterpart to action research, a term coined by Kurt Lewin in the aftermath of World World War II (Marrow, 1969).
This experience of action teaching, he says, “leads not only to a better understanding of psychology but to a more just, compassionate and peaceful world.” In 2001, he published a study that evaluated the reliability of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs), and found that animal testing standards in the United States are widely inconsistent across different research institutions.
Plous has published two books, and numerous journal articles, on social issues, animal rights, and psychology. Currently Plous also teaches social psychology online through Coursera"s MOOC.
