Nick Byrd

Why FSU?

Florida State offered everything I wanted: a good philosophy program, a good psychology program, and proximity to my family.

Motivation to pursue graduate education

I wanted to understand human reasoning and disagreement with more advanced methods.

Importance of research and work

I study how our reasoning biases (or lack thereof) correlate with certain philosophical beliefs (e.g., moral, religious, political beliefs). I find, for instance, that overcoming certain reasoning biases correlates with different moral judgments than not overcoming those biases. This raises a variety of questions about whether some beliefs are more biased than others and whether we should be worried about that. My research indicates that less reflective people tend toward different philosophical beliefs than more reflective people.

Career aspirations

I'd like to continue researching and teaching philosophical reasoning.

Advice for prospective graduate students

Consider your opportunity costs: Getting a PhD can be fantastic, but that doesn’t mean that it will give you an academic job, a nonacademic job, or a solely positive experience.

Accomplishments during graduate career

I am a recipient of the 2019 Graduate Student Research and Creativity Award, the 2018-2019 Graduate Student Cross-Training Fellowship, and the 2018 Dissertation Research Grant. I am also a contributing editor for The Brains Blog at philosophyofbrains.com and recently published the article What We Can (And Can't) Infer About Implicit Bias. Check out my website.