Taylor Brown
Biographic Data
| ID | 4122772 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Taylor Brown |
| GIVEN NAMES | Taylor |
| FAMILY NAME | Brown |
| SIGNATURE | BROWN T |
| AFFILIATIONS | RMIT University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5284-338X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 53 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The drug abuse screening test
The Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10) is one of the most widely used instruments for assessing problematic illicit drug use and its associated consequences, yet little is known about its long-term temporal stability in a longitudinal studies. Although its psychometric properties are well-established, limited evidence exists regarding its long-term temporal stability. This study aimed to evaluate the test–retest reliability and agreement of the …
User-Avatar discrepancy scale
An avatar is one’s figure of representation within the virtual world. The user-avatar bond is suggested to carry information about who/how the person is in their real life. Discrepancies between an individual’s self and avatar perceptions have been associated with disordered gaming and reduced well-being, requiring assessment. Although several instruments purport to measure UAB, there is no targeted user-avatar discrepancy scale. To address this …
Trauma-informed precepting
PURPOSE: Traumatic experiences are ubiquitous and associated with negative impacts on health and wellbeing in patients, students, and clinicians. Trauma-informed care (TIC) is a harm reduction framework that aims to minimize re-traumatization and the negative health impacts of trauma. TIC is increasingly being incorporated into undergraduate medical education (UME) curricula; however, to date, there is no standardized curriculum to support facult…
Machine Learning(s) in gaming disorder through the user-avatar bond
In response to our study, the commentary by Infanti et al. (2024) raised critical points regarding (i) the conceptualization and utility of the user-avatar bond in addressing gaming disorder (GD) risk, and (ii) the optimization of supervised machine learning techniques applied to assess GD risk. To advance the scientific dialogue and progress in these areas, the present paper aims to: (i) enhance the clarity and understanding of the concepts of t…
The Bergen Shopping Addiction Scale (BSAS)
The Bergen Shopping Addiction Scale (BSAS; Andreassen et al., 2015) is a theory driven self-rating questionnaire for assessing shopping addiction. The current study employed Confirmatory Factor Analysis to examine its factor structure, and its longitudinal measurement invariance among adult participants (N = 276) aged 18 to 62 years (mean = 31.86 years; SD = 9.94 years) over a two-year period, with assessments conducted at three time points. Over…
Exploring user-avatar bond profiles
Avatars serve as the virtual embodiment of users, facilitating their online interaction, with potential positive and negative effects. These effects range from enhancing social and personal development to facilitating disordered gaming patterns. As past literature has identified different disorder gaming patterns based on the connection an individual has with their avatar (referred to as the User-Avatar Bond [UAB]), the present study explored the…
The Diffusion and Reach of (Mis)Information on Facebook during the U.S. 2020 Election
Social media creates the possibility for rapid, viral spread of content, but how many posts actually reach millions? And is misinformation special in how it propagates? We answer these questions by analyzing the virality of and exposure to information on Facebook during the U.S. 2020 presidential election. We examine the diffusion trees of the approximately 1 B posts that were re-shared at least once by U.S.-based adults from July 1, 2020, to Feb…
Training Computational Social Science PhD Students for Academic and Non-Academic Careers
Social scientists with data science skills increasingly are assuming positions as computational social scientists in academic and non-academic organizations. However, because computational social science (CSS) is still relatively new to the social sciences, it can feel like a hidden curriculum for many PhD students. To support social science PhD students, this article is an accessible guide to CSS training based on previous literature and our col…
Like-minded sources on Facebook are prevalent but not polarizing
Many critics raise concerns about the prevalence of ‘echo chambers’ on social media and their potential role in increasing political polarization. However, the lack of available data and the challenges of conducting large-scale field experiments have made it difficult to assess the scope of the problem 1,2 . Here we present data from 2020 for the entire population of active adult Facebook users in the USA showing that content from ‘like-minded’ s…
Asymmetric ideological segregation in exposure to political news on Facebook
Does Facebook enable ideological segregation in political news consumption? We analyzed exposure to news during the US 2020 election using aggregated data for 208 million US Facebook users. We compared the inventory of all political news that users could have seen in their feeds with the information that they saw (after algorithmic curation) and the information with which they engaged. We show that (i) ideological segregation is high and increase…
How do social media feed algorithms affect attitudes and behavior in an election campaign?
We investigated the effects of Facebook’s and Instagram’s feed algorithms during the 2020 US election. We assigned a sample of consenting users to reverse-chronologically-ordered feeds instead of the default algorithms. Moving users out of algorithmic feeds substantially decreased the time they spent on the platforms and their activity. The chronological feed also affected exposure to content: The amount of political and untrustworthy content the…
Roadmap for Trauma-Informed Medical Education
Research has established that trauma is nearly universal and a root cause of numerous health and social problems, including 6 of the 10 leading causes of death, with devastating consequences across the life course. Scientific evidence now recognizes the complex injurious nature of structural and historical trauma (i.e., racism, discrimination, sexism, poverty, and community violence). Meanwhile, many physicians and trainees grapple with their own…
Co-occurrence of Common Biological and Behavioral Addictions
The present study used network analysis to examine the network properties (network graph, centrality, and edge weights) comprising ten different types of common addictions (alcohol, cigarette smoking, drug, sex, social media, shopping, exercise, gambling, internet gaming, and internet use) controlling for age and gender effects. Participants ( N = 968; males = 64.3%) were adults from the general community, with ages ranging from 18 to 64 years (m…
Using Online Gambling Disorder Questionnaire (OGD-Q) with Adults
Factor Structure of the Symptoms of Alcohol Use, Gaming, and Gambling Addictions
Trauma-Informed Medical Education (Time)
The majority of patients and medical students experience some form of psychological trauma or adversity across their life course. All forms of trauma can be associated with adverse health consequences and can negatively affect learning and professional development. Trauma-informed care (TIC) offers a framework to address and mitigate these consequences and promote safety and health. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration de…
Overcrowding and Covid-19 mortality across U.S. counties
A growing line of research underscores that sociodemographic factors may contribute to disparities in the impact of COVID-19. Further, stages of disease theory suggests that disparities may grow as the pandemic unfolds and more advantaged areas are better able to apply growing knowledge and mitigation strategies. In this paper, we focus on the role of county-level household overcrowding on disparities in COVID-19 mortality in U.S. counties. We ex…
Unique Associations of Revised-Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory Constructs with Social Anxiety
Prestige, Proximity, and Prejudice
A large literature examines the global diffusion of institutions and policies, yet there is much less systematic research on how cultural tastes, consumption preferences, and other individual interests spread across the globe. With a data set that tracks the most popular Google search terms in 199 countries between 2004 and 2014, and drawing on Gabriel de Tarde, this article introduces a theoretical framework to examine how country-level differen…
Exposure to opposing views on social media can increase political polarization
Significance Social media sites are often blamed for exacerbating political polarization by creating “echo chambers” that prevent people from being exposed to information that contradicts their preexisting beliefs. We conducted a field experiment that offered a large group of Democrats and Republicans financial compensation to follow bots that retweeted messages by elected officials and opinion leaders with opposing political views. Republican pa…
Channeling Hearts and Minds
Do advocacy organizations stimulate public conversation about social problems by engaging in rational debate, or by appealing to emotions? We argue that rational and emotional styles of communication ebb and flow within public discussions about social problems due to the alternating influence of social contagion and saturation effects. These "cognitive-emotional currents" create an opportunity structure whereby advocacy organizations stimulate mo…
Exploitation of Intercountry Adoption
The conflation of various illicit intercountry adoption activities under the umbrella of “child trafficking” has caused confusion in the adoption literature. Utilizing a pragmatic approach, this article explores the cacophony of opinions that have arisen with regard to trafficking in illicit adoption activities and identifies the concept of exploitation as a useful framework for differentiating among them. To improve and increase the accuracy of …
Channeling Hearts and Minds
Do advocacy organizations stimulate public conversation about social problems by engaging in rational debate, or by appealing to emotions? We argue that rational and emotional styles of communication ebb and flow within public discussions about social problems due to the alternating influence of social contagion and saturation effects. These "cognitive-emotional currents" create an opportunity structure whereby advocacy organizations stimulate mo…
Prestige, Proximity, and Prejudice
A large literature examines the global diffusion of institutions and policies, yet there is much less systematic research on how cultural tastes, consumption preferences, and other individual interests spread across the globe. With a data set that tracks the most popular Google search terms in 199 countries between 2004 and 2014, and drawing on Gabriel de Tarde, this article introduces a theoretical framework to examine how country-level differen…
Exploitation of Intercountry Adoption
The conflation of various illicit intercountry adoption activities under the umbrella of “child trafficking” has caused confusion in the adoption literature. Utilizing a pragmatic approach, this article explores the cacophony of opinions that have arisen with regard to trafficking in illicit adoption activities and identifies the concept of exploitation as a useful framework for differentiating among them. To improve and increase the accuracy of …
Training Computational Social Science PhD Students for Academic and Non-Academic Careers
Social scientists with data science skills increasingly are assuming positions as computational social scientists in academic and non-academic organizations. However, because computational social science (CSS) is still relatively new to the social sciences, it can feel like a hidden curriculum for many PhD students. To support social science PhD students, this article is an accessible guide to CSS training based on previous literature and our col…
Exploitation of Intercountry Adoption
The conflation of various illicit intercountry adoption activities under the umbrella of “child trafficking” has caused confusion in the adoption literature. Utilizing a pragmatic approach, this article explores the cacophony of opinions that have arisen with regard to trafficking in illicit adoption activities and identifies the concept of exploitation as a useful framework for differentiating among them. To improve and increase the accuracy of …
Channeling Hearts and Minds
Do advocacy organizations stimulate public conversation about social problems by engaging in rational debate, or by appealing to emotions? We argue that rational and emotional styles of communication ebb and flow within public discussions about social problems due to the alternating influence of social contagion and saturation effects. These "cognitive-emotional currents" create an opportunity structure whereby advocacy organizations stimulate mo…
Exposure to opposing views on social media can increase political polarization
Significance Social media sites are often blamed for exacerbating political polarization by creating “echo chambers” that prevent people from being exposed to information that contradicts their preexisting beliefs. We conducted a field experiment that offered a large group of Democrats and Republicans financial compensation to follow bots that retweeted messages by elected officials and opinion leaders with opposing political views. Republican pa…
Prestige, Proximity, and Prejudice
A large literature examines the global diffusion of institutions and policies, yet there is much less systematic research on how cultural tastes, consumption preferences, and other individual interests spread across the globe. With a data set that tracks the most popular Google search terms in 199 countries between 2004 and 2014, and drawing on Gabriel de Tarde, this article introduces a theoretical framework to examine how country-level differen…
Trauma-Informed Medical Education (Time)
The majority of patients and medical students experience some form of psychological trauma or adversity across their life course. All forms of trauma can be associated with adverse health consequences and can negatively affect learning and professional development. Trauma-informed care (TIC) offers a framework to address and mitigate these consequences and promote safety and health. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration de…
Overcrowding and Covid-19 mortality across U.S. counties
A growing line of research underscores that sociodemographic factors may contribute to disparities in the impact of COVID-19. Further, stages of disease theory suggests that disparities may grow as the pandemic unfolds and more advantaged areas are better able to apply growing knowledge and mitigation strategies. In this paper, we focus on the role of county-level household overcrowding on disparities in COVID-19 mortality in U.S. counties. We ex…
Unique Associations of Revised-Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory Constructs with Social Anxiety
Using Online Gambling Disorder Questionnaire (OGD-Q) with Adults
Factor Structure of the Symptoms of Alcohol Use, Gaming, and Gambling Addictions
Like-minded sources on Facebook are prevalent but not polarizing
Many critics raise concerns about the prevalence of ‘echo chambers’ on social media and their potential role in increasing political polarization. However, the lack of available data and the challenges of conducting large-scale field experiments have made it difficult to assess the scope of the problem 1,2 . Here we present data from 2020 for the entire population of active adult Facebook users in the USA showing that content from ‘like-minded’ s…
Asymmetric ideological segregation in exposure to political news on Facebook
Does Facebook enable ideological segregation in political news consumption? We analyzed exposure to news during the US 2020 election using aggregated data for 208 million US Facebook users. We compared the inventory of all political news that users could have seen in their feeds with the information that they saw (after algorithmic curation) and the information with which they engaged. We show that (i) ideological segregation is high and increase…
How do social media feed algorithms affect attitudes and behavior in an election campaign?
We investigated the effects of Facebook’s and Instagram’s feed algorithms during the 2020 US election. We assigned a sample of consenting users to reverse-chronologically-ordered feeds instead of the default algorithms. Moving users out of algorithmic feeds substantially decreased the time they spent on the platforms and their activity. The chronological feed also affected exposure to content: The amount of political and untrustworthy content the…
Roadmap for Trauma-Informed Medical Education
Research has established that trauma is nearly universal and a root cause of numerous health and social problems, including 6 of the 10 leading causes of death, with devastating consequences across the life course. Scientific evidence now recognizes the complex injurious nature of structural and historical trauma (i.e., racism, discrimination, sexism, poverty, and community violence). Meanwhile, many physicians and trainees grapple with their own…
Co-occurrence of Common Biological and Behavioral Addictions
The present study used network analysis to examine the network properties (network graph, centrality, and edge weights) comprising ten different types of common addictions (alcohol, cigarette smoking, drug, sex, social media, shopping, exercise, gambling, internet gaming, and internet use) controlling for age and gender effects. Participants ( N = 968; males = 64.3%) were adults from the general community, with ages ranging from 18 to 64 years (m…
Machine Learning(s) in gaming disorder through the user-avatar bond
In response to our study, the commentary by Infanti et al. (2024) raised critical points regarding (i) the conceptualization and utility of the user-avatar bond in addressing gaming disorder (GD) risk, and (ii) the optimization of supervised machine learning techniques applied to assess GD risk. To advance the scientific dialogue and progress in these areas, the present paper aims to: (i) enhance the clarity and understanding of the concepts of t…
The Bergen Shopping Addiction Scale (BSAS)
The Bergen Shopping Addiction Scale (BSAS; Andreassen et al., 2015) is a theory driven self-rating questionnaire for assessing shopping addiction. The current study employed Confirmatory Factor Analysis to examine its factor structure, and its longitudinal measurement invariance among adult participants (N = 276) aged 18 to 62 years (mean = 31.86 years; SD = 9.94 years) over a two-year period, with assessments conducted at three time points. Over…
Exploring user-avatar bond profiles
Avatars serve as the virtual embodiment of users, facilitating their online interaction, with potential positive and negative effects. These effects range from enhancing social and personal development to facilitating disordered gaming patterns. As past literature has identified different disorder gaming patterns based on the connection an individual has with their avatar (referred to as the User-Avatar Bond [UAB]), the present study explored the…
The Diffusion and Reach of (Mis)Information on Facebook during the U.S. 2020 Election
Social media creates the possibility for rapid, viral spread of content, but how many posts actually reach millions? And is misinformation special in how it propagates? We answer these questions by analyzing the virality of and exposure to information on Facebook during the U.S. 2020 presidential election. We examine the diffusion trees of the approximately 1 B posts that were re-shared at least once by U.S.-based adults from July 1, 2020, to Feb…
Training Computational Social Science PhD Students for Academic and Non-Academic Careers
Social scientists with data science skills increasingly are assuming positions as computational social scientists in academic and non-academic organizations. However, because computational social science (CSS) is still relatively new to the social sciences, it can feel like a hidden curriculum for many PhD students. To support social science PhD students, this article is an accessible guide to CSS training based on previous literature and our col…
User-Avatar discrepancy scale
An avatar is one’s figure of representation within the virtual world. The user-avatar bond is suggested to carry information about who/how the person is in their real life. Discrepancies between an individual’s self and avatar perceptions have been associated with disordered gaming and reduced well-being, requiring assessment. Although several instruments purport to measure UAB, there is no targeted user-avatar discrepancy scale. To address this …
Trauma-informed precepting
PURPOSE: Traumatic experiences are ubiquitous and associated with negative impacts on health and wellbeing in patients, students, and clinicians. Trauma-informed care (TIC) is a harm reduction framework that aims to minimize re-traumatization and the negative health impacts of trauma. TIC is increasingly being incorporated into undergraduate medical education (UME) curricula; however, to date, there is no standardized curriculum to support facult…
The drug abuse screening test
The Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10) is one of the most widely used instruments for assessing problematic illicit drug use and its associated consequences, yet little is known about its long-term temporal stability in a longitudinal studies. Although its psychometric properties are well-established, limited evidence exists regarding its long-term temporal stability. This study aimed to evaluate the test–retest reliability and agreement of the …
Psychology (18 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · Political science (9 works) · Medicine (8 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Social Media and Politics (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Internet privacy (5 works) · Politics (5 works) · Business (4 works)