My name is James Horton. In 2021 I received my PhD from a well-respected university on the west coast. After years of fighting my way through academia to get a degree I got right to the end and then, after all that fighting I decided that I wanted to situate myself in the public sphere, conducting research of interest to the public, using methods accessible to the public, and presenting my research first and foremost to... the public.

This is not common. Most scholars hide comfortably behind the forms and institutions of academia, publishing their findings in journals, presenting them in conferences, and letting reporters take care of bridging the moat separating the ivory tower from the great green outdoors. It takes a different mindset to want to leave the tower.

Incidentally, you can do this while staying plugged into academia. It's a simple matter of output, and allegiance. For years I have practiced creating content for the public--some academic, some personal, some helpful, and mostly playful. My first goal, which I pursued up until 2023, was simply to get comfortable writing for a broad audience, and I did. And then? I started itching to put the second part of my goal into practice.

The second part was to speak with confidence and grace from a place of experience. I spend my weeks elbows-deep in data, and when I'm not elbows deep in data, I am studying history. The number of amazing things a person can learn when they wade into the raw material of the scientific literature is astounding, and my goal is to share that, while also holding on to much of the therapeutic work that marked my early transition to becoming a prolific public writer.

I specialize in a small cluster of topics that resonate with the public. I study emotion, social organization, relationships, well-being, and productivity. Of late, that specialty has also grown to embrace much larger social concerns related to relationships, such as the attitude of society towards singles, changing attitudes towards romance, and the decline in fertility across the globe. All of these topics are marked by a long history of amazing research, and the data on them is just as fascinating. Follow along if you're interested, because I'm excited to share what I find with you.

James Horton, PhD.