Agent skill

Cogpsych Topic Selection

by brycewang-stanford in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills

A skill your agent uses when deciding whether a cognition project fits Cognitive Psychology (Elsevier) and what contribution shape to target.

MITAuto-check passed

Install Cogpsych Topic Selection

skills CLI
$ npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill cogpsych-topic-selection -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills cogpsych-topic-selection --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/Cognitive-Psychology-Skills/skills/cogpsych-topic-selection .claude/skills/cogpsych-topic-selection && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
cogpsych-topic-selection
GitHub stars
1.2k
Token cost
~1.6k tokens
SKILL.md length
585 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
2,387
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

A skill your agent uses when deciding whether a cognition project fits Cognitive Psychology (Elsevier) and what contribution shape to target.

  • Works in 4 steps: Theoretical advance, not an effect. It… → Integrative scope. The contribution is… → Formal/computational backbone where apt.… → …
  • Deciding whether a cognition project fits Cognitive Psychology (Elsevier) and what contribution shape to target
  • SKILL.md covers When to trigger, The fit test, Contribution shape and Fit scoring — worked example…, plus 6 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Cogpsych Topic Selection is an agent skill from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills. Use when deciding whether a cognition project fits Cognitive Psychology (Elsevier) and what contribution shape to target. The journal favors longer, integrative, model-driven work that produces a substantial theoretical advance — not a single isolated effect. Frames the question and the model-or-theory payoff; it does not collect data.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.6k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

The repository describes itself as: Journal-specific Claude Code/Codex skill packs covering mainstream journals — AER, QJE, Nature, Cell, 管理世界, 经济研究 & 200+ more — your fast track to getting published. | 覆盖主流期刊的… The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Deciding whether a cognition project fits Cognitive Psychology (Elsevier) and what contribution shape to target

Example prompts

  • “/cogpsych-topic-selection”

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Theoretical advance, not an effect. It changes a theory of cognition — adjudicates between
  2. Integrative scope. The contribution is carried by a program (multiple experiments and/or a
  3. Formal/computational backbone where apt. Cognition here is often expressed as a model that is
  4. Reproducible and shareable. You can deposit data, model/analysis code, and materials so the

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 932eb23. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Cogpsych Topic Selection loads about 1.6k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 91 tokens; SKILL.md has 585 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~91
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.6k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills at commit 932eb23, republished under its MIT licence (© brycewang-stanford). 585 words, ~1,566 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/cogpsych-topic-selection/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
cogpsych-topic-selection
description
Use when deciding whether a cognition project fits Cognitive Psychology (Elsevier) and what contribution shape to target. The journal favors longer, integrative, model-driven work that produces a substantial theoretical advance — not a single isolated effect. Frames the question and the model-or-theory payoff; it does not collect data.

Topic Selection & Fit (cogpsych-topic-selection)

Cognitive Psychology publishes longer, integrative articles that have a major impact on theories of cognition. The bar is a substantial theoretical advance — usually carried by a multi-experiment program tied to a formal/computational model, an incisive experimental series, or a modeling/review contribution. Use this skill to pressure-test fit before investing.

When to trigger

  • Choosing among possible projects or framings for Cognitive Psychology
  • A reader said the work feels "one effect," "atheoretical," or "better as a short report"
  • Deciding whether the contribution needs a formal model, more experiments, or both
  • A modeling or review project you want to place

The fit test

A strong Cognitive Psychology paper usually clears all four:

  1. Theoretical advance, not an effect. It changes a theory of cognition — adjudicates between accounts, formalizes a mechanism, or maps a phenomenon's boundary — rather than adding one more demonstration. State the theory it moves.
  2. Integrative scope. The contribution is carried by a program (multiple experiments and/or a model fit to data), not a single study. Each piece must add inference.
  3. Formal/computational backbone where apt. Cognition here is often expressed as a model that is fit and compared; if your account can be formalized, the venue rewards doing so (see cogpsych-theory-and-hypotheses).
  4. Reproducible and shareable. You can deposit data, model/analysis code, and materials so the modeling is reproducible (see cogpsych-open-science-and-transparency).

Contribution shape

  • Multi-experiment empirical — a controlled series that jointly constrains a theory (each experiment rules out an alternative or extends scope).
  • Experiment + model — the journal's signature shape: experiments designed to discriminate models, with a formal model fit to the data and compared to rivals.
  • Modeling-led — a new model (or analysis) tested by fitting, model recovery, and comparison against existing or new data.
  • Theoretical / integrative review — a synthesis that delivers a substantive theoretical advance, not a literature catalogue.

Fit scoring — worked example (illustrative)

Score a candidate against the four gates before investing. A recognition-memory project, two framings:

Candidate A (off-fit): one N = 40 experiment showing a novel list-length
            effect, described verbally, no model, request-only data.
  Theoretical advance ✗ (one effect)   Integrative scope ✗ (single study)
  Formal backbone ✗ (verbal only)      Reproducible ✗ (request-only)
  Verdict: off-fit → either grow into a model-driven program or place as a
           short report elsewhere.

Candidate B (strong): three experiments that separate unequal-variance signal
            detection from a dual-process account, both models fit and
            compared, open data + model code.
  Theoretical advance ✓ (adjudicates two theories)  Integrative scope ✓
  Formal backbone ✓ (fit + compared)   Reproducible ✓ (code deposited)
  Verdict: strong fit → Experiment + model contribution.
Show full SKILL.md (265 more words)Show less

Contribution-type decision rules

If the work is...Target shapeWhy
A controlled series constraining one theoryMulti-experiment empiricalthe integrative arc the venue expects
Experiments that can discriminate formal modelsExperiment + modelthe journal's signature, highest-impact shape
A new model tested by fitting + recovery + comparisonModeling-ledformal contribution to theory
A synthesis with a genuine theoretical advanceIntegrative reviewnot a catalogue; must reframe the field
One surprising effect, no theory, no modelwrong venue (reframe)belongs in a short-report journal

Sibling-journal fit guard

  • Cognition (Elsevier) also takes cognition papers but is broader and more effect-/phenomenon-led; Cognitive Psychology skews longer and more model-driven.
  • JEP: General (APA) overlaps but Cognitive Psychology leans harder into formal modeling and the multi-experiment program.
  • Psychological Science wants short, single-finding reports — the opposite length/ambition.
  • Journal of Memory and Language is the natural home for memory/language work that is narrower in scope; bring the integrative-model contribution here.

Reviewer / editor pushback at the fit stage

  • "This is one effect" → identify the theory it adjudicates and the further experiments/model that make it a program.
  • "Atheoretical" → formalize the mechanism; show the model that the experiments test.
  • "Better as a short report" → if it cannot sustain a long, integrative argument, it is the wrong venue.

Anti-patterns

  • A single experiment reporting one isolated effect with no formal/theoretical payoff
  • A "model" that is only verbal and never fit or compared
  • A review that catalogues the literature without a theoretical advance
  • A project whose modeling cannot be reproduced because code/data cannot be shared

Output format

【Question / phenomenon】one sentence
【Theoretical advance】which theory it moves, and how
【Scope】program of experiments and/or a fitted model? [Y/N]
【Formal backbone】can it be formalized + compared? [Y/N/NA]
【Reproducible】data + model code + materials shareable? [Y/N]
【Type】Multi-experiment / Experiment + model / Modeling-led / Review
【Fit verdict】strong / needs reframing / off-fit (why)
【Next】cogpsych-theory-and-hypotheses

Supplementary resources

© brycewang-stanford, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in Cognitive-Psychology-Skills/skills/cogpsych-topic-selection of brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 932eb23

Compare with similar skills

Cogpsych Topic Selection next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Cogpsych Topic Selection compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Cogpsych Topic Selection this skillbrycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills1.2k—~1.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Marketing Psychologynexu-io/open-design100k—~317Automated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Cognitive Patternruvnet/ruflo74k—~384Automated safety check: NotesMIT
Table Fitasgeirtj/system_prompts_leaks69k—~772Automated safety check: PassCC0-1.0
Furniture Fit Checkpascalorg/editor25k—~5.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
TopicsZimoLiao/scholaraio577—~294Automated safety check: PassMIT

Similar skills

  • Marketing Psychology

    nexu-io/open-design

    Apply psychological principles and behavioral science to copy and design.

    100k GitHub stars~317 tokensUpdated today
    Marketing & SEOAuto-check passed
  • Cognitive Pattern

    ruvnet/ruflo

    Define and manage cognitive patterns for agent reasoning and decision-making

    74k GitHub stars~384 tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check: notes
  • Table Fit

    asgeirtj/system_prompts_leaks

    Keep a Markdown table readable in a narrow terminal of about 100 display columns - a wide table or one carrying prose in its cells wraps into unreadable ragged rows.

    69k GitHub stars~772 tokensUpdated yesterday
    Testing & QAAuto-check passed
  • Furniture Fit Check

    pascalorg/editor

    Checks whether a sofa, table, bed or appliance fits in a measured Pascal room and reports only what the evidence supports, or asks for the missing measurements.

    25k GitHub stars~5.1k tokensUpdated yesterday
    Agent WorkflowsAuto-check passed
  • Topics

    ZimoLiao/scholaraio

    A skill your agent uses when the user asks about research themes, topic distribution, BERTopic clustering, topic overview, topic papers, topic merges, or HTML topic visualizations.

    577 GitHub stars~294 tokensUpdated 14 days ago
    Auto-check passed
  • Topic Modeling

    brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills

    Structural topic modeling: STM spec, topic count, coherence-exclusivity.

    4.5k GitHub stars~3.7k tokensUpdated 4 days ago
    AI & LLM EngineeringAuto-check passed

More from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills

All 2,387 skills in this repo
  • Aaag Data Analysis

    brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills

    A skill your agent uses when running and reporting the analysis for an Annals of the American Association of Geographers manuscript — spatial statistics and modeling, remote-sensing accuracy, or…

    1.2k GitHub stars~1.3k tokensUpdated 12 days ago
    Auto-check passed
  • Aaag Literature Positioning

    brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills

    A skill your agent uses when positioning an Annals of the American Association of Geographers manuscript in the literature — engaging geographic scholarship across the relevant area and the…

    1.2k GitHub stars~1.3k tokensUpdated 12 days ago
    Auto-check passed
  • Aaag Rebuttal

    brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills

    A skill your agent uses when responding to an Annals of the American Association of Geographers decision letter (major/minor revision) — building a point-by-point response to the subject editor and…

    1.2k GitHub stars~1.4k tokensUpdated 12 days ago
    Auto-check passed
  • Aaag Research Design

    brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills

    A skill your agent uses when defending the research design of an Annals of the American Association of Geographers manuscript — spatial/quantitative analysis and GIScience, remote-sensing and…

    1.2k GitHub stars~1.4k tokensUpdated 12 days ago
    Auto-check passed
  • Aaag Review Process

    brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills

    A skill your agent uses when you need to understand how the Annals of the American Association of Geographers evaluates a manuscript — double-anonymous review routed through a subject editor by…

    1.2k GitHub stars~1.3k tokensUpdated 12 days ago
    Auto-check passed
  • Aaag Submission

    brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills

    A skill your agent uses when running the final pre-submission preflight for the Annals of the American Association of Geographers via ScholarOne Manuscripts — area/article-type selection…

    1.2k GitHub stars~1.6k tokensUpdated 12 days ago
    Auto-check passed

Questions about Cogpsych Topic Selection

What does Cogpsych Topic Selection do?

A skill your agent uses when deciding whether a cognition project fits Cognitive Psychology (Elsevier) and what contribution shape to target. Cogpsych Topic Selection is an agent skill from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills. Use when deciding whether a cognition project fits Cognitive Psychology (Elsevier) and what contribution shape to target.

When should I use Cogpsych Topic Selection?

Cogpsych Topic Selection fits situations like: deciding whether a cognition project fits Cognitive Psychology (Elsevier) and what contribution shape to target.

How do I install Cogpsych Topic Selection in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill cogpsych-topic-selection -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (Cognitive-Psychology-Skills/skills/cogpsych-topic-selection in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills) into .claude/skills/cogpsych-topic-selection in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Cogpsych Topic Selection in Codex?

Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill cogpsych-topic-selection -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (Cognitive-Psychology-Skills/skills/cogpsych-topic-selection in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills) into .agents/skills/cogpsych-topic-selection in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Cogpsych Topic Selection in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill cogpsych-topic-selection -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/cogpsych-topic-selection, .gemini/skills/cogpsych-topic-selection, .github/skills/cogpsych-topic-selection and .opencode/skills/cogpsych-topic-selection in your project.

What does Cogpsych Topic Selection need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Cogpsych Topic Selection is instructions for the agent only.

Does Cogpsych Topic Selection access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Cogpsych Topic Selection safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Cogpsych Topic Selection use?

Cogpsych Topic Selection is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Cogpsych Topic Selection use?

About 1.6k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 6.3k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Cogpsych Topic Selection?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Cogpsych Topic Selection: Marketing Psychology (nexu-io/open-design, 100k stars), Cognitive Pattern (ruvnet/ruflo, 74k stars), Table Fit (asgeirtj/system_prompts_leaks, 69k stars) and Furniture Fit Check (pascalorg/editor, 25k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Cogpsych Topic Selection?

brycewang-stanford (a GitHub user) maintains it in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, which has 1,228 GitHub stars. The repository holds 2,387 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 27, 2026.

Source: brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.