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grimalkina

@grimalkina@mastodon.social

Social & Evidence Scientist. Defender of the mismeasured. 🦄🏳️‍🌈 she/they

I do #psychology and #measurement theory and #research with #software teams on how developers thrive. My focus areas include how people form beliefs about #learning and build strategies for #resilience #productivity & #motivation. Quant Psych PhD (but with a love for qual) and VP of Getting Tech to Do Real Open Science.

Founder of the Developer Success Lab ❤️
Neighborhood Cool Science Aunt

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grimalkina, to random
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By the way this is a great reason that research into what marginalized people experience and how they (brilliantly) navigate and craft meaningful connection in the face of adversity benefits ALL OF US. It's not just "bonus theory" or a "special topic" but can reveal fundamental social science that we can then work to apply and extend to many situations and cases (although of course very specifically does apply to these experiences in uniquely important ways)

https://blog.auengun.net/@gregdosh/statuses/01HYNM7QGKDSEV6K51232SRDRT

grimalkina,
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Aka research into things like more inclusive STEM pathways is asking questions that software research isn't but really really needs. We don't need to reinvent every wheel we need to respect and extend the wisdom in other parts of human experience and the progress that other fields have made better than we have.

grimalkina, to random
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So I think this is a cool point too for those who are already trying to create good culture. Lots of people are interpersonally WARM, but not in a way that validates contributions and skills. In fact sometimes you can accidentally diminish contributions with warmth if the only way you've learned to say supportive things is very deprecating ("oh gosh we all make mistakes" is fine sometimes but if it's all someone hears?! Try "actually I saw that x was really good...")

https://blog.auengun.net/@gregdosh/statuses/01HYNKMHG0GCAP7NRFTN6JCX6Z

grimalkina,
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This relates in my mind to well documented other diffs like some people getting "support" but not sponsorship at work. If you are systematically ONLY receiving "warm feedback" you are actually being disadvantaged because what is being foregrounded about your work is always "feelings." But we need both, and recognition and reinterpretation of work in a strengths-based way isn't just about being "nice" it's about validating that we will choose to treat someone as a peer or even expert

grimalkina,
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@specialcase 👏 great recognition!! We often never had this modeled for us either. But it is truly so fun to do this more once you realize you can

grimalkina,
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@complexmath yeah that's fair. I think you are bringing up concerns with hypocrisy for instance, or surface level talk that is contradicted by actual behavior -- in the case of this research they are looking at behavior that is genuinely perceived to be interpersonally warm but lacks the contribution affirming element. So I was thinking about that realm but I agree with your larger point.

grimalkina, to random
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Hearing my wife telling a student that she remembers how scary it feels to lift a really expensive piece of equipment out of the box when you first work in a neuro lab 😭😭😭 THIS is the hidden curricula/the mentorship first gens and other underserved students need.

This is why inclusive STEM education matters and elevating STEM educators who genuinely have lived what their students go through matters.

grimalkina, to random
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I finished these absolutely delicious high waisted trousers in a sustainably sourced chocolate brown herringbone fabric with a slightly oversized but tapered fit and a sewed-down pleat that creates the most pleasing line from a deep side pocket and also the pocket lining is this stunning surprise red jacquard WITH. TINY. LADYBUGS. SEWN. INTO. IT.

grimalkina,
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"Cat they're just brown pants"

They're just brown pants to YOU!!!! To ME they are the recipient of a button I found on the floor while I was my mom's sole caregiver after surgery and stuck in my pocket, the hem that is in dialogue with my favorite pair of boots, the side seam that has little bits of my dog's fluffy white fur sewn into it because he lays on and blesses every fabric while I'm cutting it and I never notice all the fluff

grimalkina,
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@oscarjiminy I do need to fashion show document the last few makes!!

grimalkina,
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Due popular either demand or concern here are the ladybugs, they are happy and unharmed

grimalkina,
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@watters lol here you go I appreciate the nonjudgment

https://mastodon.social/@grimalkina/112496956174028276

grimalkina,
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Jacquard typically refers to a fabric that has a design woven into it!

gregdosh, to random
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Several large studies of "microinclusions," small actions which demonstrate a commitment to shared
belonging, and a recognition of another person’s technical and social contribution, have found that experiencing
microinclusions increases anticipated role fit over and above simply socially warm gestures (Muragishi et al., 2023).

From this paper "Psychological Affordances Can Provide a Missing Explanatory Layer for Why Interventions to Improve Developer Experience Take Hold or Fail" by Cat Hicks really really stuck out to me. Keep rereading bits and pieces of it as it connects to my career in coaching and professional development of technical teams & orgs.

It's a very strong reaffirmation on the way I typically coach and interact in my technical and social spaces has some amount of pre-existing research and thought. My anecdotal evidence is that people always responded warmly to my interactions with time, but it was just anecdotal. My ability to lead with courage and build those true feelings of shared belonging & recognition for abilities & talents.

grimalkina,
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@gregdosh 🥰 absolutely love this dialogue with your important expert lived experience, thank you!

grimalkina, to random
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By the way just a general comment that if I only studied the things I liked and supported personally I wouldn't be much of a social scientist

grimalkina,
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I know it can be tough in this world of linkedin thoughtfluencers but if you try really, really, REALLY hard you can tell the difference*

*many years of empirical research that required an absolutely endless financial sacrifice and claims based on scientifically rigorous work that's in dialogue with hundreds if not thousands of other scientists and cites them instead of claiming to own everything

grimalkina,
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@stevegis_ssg omg. Right.

grimalkina, to random
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Pointed to this paper from a column on it: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4464593

Folks in dev psych and elsewhere often talk about girls being underconfident. But how rarely we frame in terms of boys' overconfidence.

"Across a range of countries, contexts, and domains, men have been found to exhibit higher degrees of confidence in their ability than women (Kay and Shipman, 2014). This phenomenon has been particularly salient in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)."

grimalkina,
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@Di4na big same! I think one of the major problems is that most research teams empowered to release more foundational research (eg think about microsoft research maybe) very rarely hire social scientists. They have interesting qual work but the dialogue is not there with the fields that actually study things like our evaluations and biases in those evaluations.

grimalkina,
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@Di4na this is said with high regard for much of the work I've seen from individuals in those places -- just a very general observation about the gap in social science expertise truly being used in software research.

grimalkina,
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@Di4na that's a given :) But some structures do allow for this. I mean I built one -- if software research used preregistration and similar practices more, researchers would have leverage against internal pressure that wants to hold certain findings back. I am a big believer that for tech to have trusted research we need to adopt open science practices. (even as I am still learning those practices myself)

Our new dev project for instance, you can see our hypotheses and which didn't pan out

grimalkina,
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@Di4na a really good point. Continuing to shift a lot of weight onto the individual (tired) human.

grimalkina,
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@Di4na oh yeah and I appreciate that mindfulness (after all I would appreciate it being recognized for the insane amount of effort that it is). I do dream sometimes about external tech collectives that researchers could be part of that uphold shared transparency standards or something similar that would give protection and leverage for scientists who are at big tech cos. I think turning our backs on all applied researchers is a loss of great minds who really do want to do good work often.

grimalkina,
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@jenniferplusplus @Di4na that's a really good follow-up q. I did wonder while analyzing if it was driven by experience levels but we checked & have confidence that we had a very diverse group of women as well. I never like to lean in too hard to gender effects* because they are very tricky but it is worth thinking about disempowerment because...

*We looked at and measured many identities including NB folks so this is just speaking to what emerged in analysis, see appendix for full details!

grimalkina,
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@jenniferplusplus @Di4na ... Women on software teams also report being more likely to be not using the same tools as the rest of their team, which is a really troubling sign of potentially being cut out from this type of decision making. Also less likely to report feeling able to take time out to learn etc which could just alienate you from big changes. So many contextual things necessary to interpret such a picture and important to gain a better view into it for non-men on software teams

grimalkina, to random
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Great day to be reminded that when you are creative and different and innovative, most business structures will basically do everything they possibly can to suffocate that and stuff you into their pre-existing little well controlled boxes.

Intellectual and knowledge work is no protection in a world where the meritocracy of intellect is a distraction narrative.

grimalkina,
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@mt it sounds like you're doing amazing things. I hope you can take care of yourself and find the appreciation you deserve.

grimalkina,
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@mt I can really relate and empathize. That sounds incredibly lonely and I wonder if there aren't a lot of people benefitting from and being helped by your work but not closing the gap to tell you so. Obviously I can't speak to your personal complex situation but I do wish you that feedback, community and appreciation because it is what we all deserve when we help others and our organizations.

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