Creativity is a team sport Our environments and the people around us matter a lot more than our innate abilities when it comes to creativity The greatest invention Thomas Edison made was not the lightbulb or the battery, but creating a innovation team: www.powerofusnewsletter.com/p/the-myth-o...

Are women more attracted to men with resources? It depends. Romantic preferences for people with economic resources are stronger for the sex that is poorer and individuals who are poorer. This suggests that economic preferences are cultural, rather than evolutionary. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

While psychopathy was positively related to both types of violent extremism, machiavellianism and narcissism predicted defensive extremist intentions. In contrast, religious fundamentalism and social dominance orientation predicted offensive extremist intentions. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

This website visualizes social media as a room with 100 people 3 people are producing most toxic content Most people assume 43 are producing toxic content, because these 3 are hyperactive and amplified by engagement based algorithms. The other 97 quiet voices disappear thenoisyroom.com

Adulthood is just cycling between "If I don't say yes to every opportunity, no new opportunities will ever be offered to me" and "Oh no, I have said yes to too many things" over and over until you die.

Actions that support cooperation, such as indirect fitness, reciprocity, partner choice, or punishment, also perpetuate social division Group cooperation enforces boundaries and paves the way for intergroup conflict, while free-rider narratives can lead to polarization and identity-based conflicts.

National identity reconfigures brain responses from “them” to “us” Briefly priming national versus ethnic identity increases ventromedial prefrontal cortex activation for ethnic out-group faces, a pattern typically reserved for self and in-group processing. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

I'll be speaking at @psychscience.bsky.social in a symposium on "Safeguarding Democracy: Polarization, Populism, and Post-Truth" This symposium examines these dynamics and considers how democracies can build resilience in the face of authoritarianism www.psychologicalscience.org/conventions/...

A new paper challenges the view that higher education liberalizes students (N = 483,885): Students political identities change during college. But there are big differences across majors: Englise/arts students move to the left, while business/engineering shift right psycnet.apa.org/record/2027-...

Although a tiny group of people are spreading misinformation, it is impacting the beliefs of a wide swath of the population. Over 70% of people believe at least one of these false or unproven health claims: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Collaboration can be tricky if personal goals and incentives are ill-aligned with those of the team. @jayvanbavel.bsky.social and @laurakriska.bsky.social offer four insights to help foster team cooperation and boost performance: buff.ly/GqPEnBU

Why do people devalue empathic responses believed to be edited by AI? Because empathy is a predictive social signal: genuine human empathy updates expectations about closeness and social trust. The signaling function of empathy collapses when it is cheaply outsourced. www.cell.com/trends/cogni...

Most teams don’t fail because people are “bad collaborators.” They fail because of the wrong incentives. I have an article explaining how to create successful teams in a new HBR issue on "How to Collaborate Better" hbr.org/2024/11/4-re... Read more here: www.powerofusnewsletter.com/p/four-thing...

We hit 10,000 subscribers! That means there are a lot of folks who want to dig deeper to understand what divides people—and how we can create healthier forms of collaboration and disagreement. We have a new wave of articles, interviews, events & perks! www.powerofusnewsletter.com/p/we-passed-...

Blocking research publications on the efficacy of vaccines is insane. It's essentially covering our eyes and walking off a bridge.

A new global study (n = 46,745) shows that open-mindedness, or one's willingness to consider new information, is a powerful predictor of adherence to public health directives, support for public health policies, and lower endorsement of conspiracy theories.

Check out @stefanleach.bsky.social's thread on this great new preprint!

We found that the preference for allowing freedom of expression vs. limiting the spread of misinformation is politically polarized: In 32 out of 40 countries, right-leaning participants prioritize protecting free expression more than left-leaning participants (55% vs. 48%). osf.io/preprints/ps...

Most participants who had a 20-minute discussion with AI chatbots about health, careers or relationships followed its advice. However, participants receiving advice from AI showed no sustained well-being. LLMs influence decisions without delivering clear benefits. arxiv.org/abs/2511.15352

A new paper evaluated the effects of smartphone bans in schools. Initially, student well-being falls, but the effects on well-being eventually become positive as kids adapt. But there is no clear effect on attendance, self-reported attention or online bullying tom-dee.github.io/files/w35132...

Less than 800 NSF grants awarded over the first half of the fiscal year for the entire country. Previous years were already over 2-3k awards by now. It is not particularly overdramatic to say we are seeing the death of federally funded science research in the United States.

Prestige bias is a major problem in academia: success in academia leads to other unfair advantages. Prestige bias is bigger in fields that are less scientific (eg., art, history). Fields where claims are more testable have lower prestige markers (eg math, physics). kurtishingl.com/files/PTTS_l...

I am giving a talk right now on Sycophantic AI increases attitude extremity and overconfidence It is followed by a live Q&A and the recording will be online to watch any time. www.youtube.com/live/WCnlNh3...

AI developers are building chatbots with sycophantic personas. But creating warm models promotes conspiracy theories, provides inaccurate information & offers incorrect medical advice. These models also validate incorrect beliefs, particularly sadness. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I am begging people looking to make major donations to universities to either 1) care as much about academics as they do sports, or 2) make unrestricted gifts instead. Signed, A faculty member at a university with brand new athletic facilities and crumbling teaching and research infrastructure

"people consistently preferred and chose to interact w/ sycophantic AI models over disagreeable chatbots that challenged their beliefs... conversations w/sycophantic chatbots [also] increased attitude extremity & certainty." @jayvanbavel.bsky.social @steverathje.bsky.social osf.io/preprints/ps...

The best predictor of scientific impact isn't gender, seniority, methodology, or geography, it is the informal network of colleagues and mentors who provide guidance and feedback. We are often ignore the most important source of success--our social support network. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

A new preprint study describes how AI sycophancy increases when users’ beliefs are stated more strongly. This is, of course, the exact opposite of how one should respond when trying to reign in false beliefs and delusional thinking. arxiv.org/abs/2602.23971

Did you know there's a barely hidden market for authorship of fake scientific papers in conferences? New preprint w/ @abalkina.bsky.social, @mkunesova.bsky.social, and @yaamurozturk.bsky.social : arxiv.org/abs/2604.22458 We found 4,000+ ads & matched them to 1,720 IEEE conf. papers! ...🧵

Corporate bullshit is like poison in teams and organizations. Appreciating corporate-bullshit is associated with a positive perceptions of one’s corporate job, but worse performance! Take the bullshit receptivity scale so you can take it yourself here: www.powerofusnewsletter.com/p/what-corpo...

Good god. Trump fired the entire National Science Board without explanation on Friday afternoon.

It takes a village to produce research with impact. This is the idea that motivated us to write this paper, published today.  Kudos to the team: @lluisdanus.bsky.social @william-dinneen.bsky.social @carotorreblanca.bsky.social @guygrossman.bsky.social @asc.upenn.edu www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Young men use moral outrage to claim status in political debates. They are use moral & political discussions to shame others and assert dominance, regardless of their politics Both men & women use moral posturing to build their reputations within their own group www.psypost.org/young-men-us...

Human cooperation undergoes constant breakdown and repair Incentives to cooperate must therefore be actively renewed (don't assume cooperation will sustain itself). www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Academic Freedom Index has slipped in 50 countries, but taken a nosedive in the United States. "‘This academic freedom erosion is part of broader democratic backslide that we’re seeing in the US"

“Their level of polarization dropped by about a quarter after one month.” Listen to @jayvanbavel.bsky.social talk tribalism, AI, politics, and the future of relationships with @allisonhare.bsky.social on the Culture Changers Podcast. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-upT...

What is the one thing that most worries you about AI? In a survey of 3,700 AI researchers, only 3% replied existential risk—despite the prominence given to these risks in media. Far more experts are worried aout malicious use, misinformation, job losses, bias, etc. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Each extra year of schooling increases earnings by about 8% This is more than the cost of education, which implies that additional educatioin pays off financially: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Perceiving automation threat from AI drives people to prioritize creative and social skills over technical skills. People view creativity (and social skills) as less prone to automation and more likely to complement automation. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Perceiving automation threat from AI drives people to prioritize creative skills over technical skills. People view creativity as less prone to automation and more likely to complement automation. This suggests people will increasingly value creativity journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

AI is going to radically reshape who we trust and how we get information. A new report finds that AI is reshaping perceptions of medical expertise, with 64% of consumers believing users fluent with AI can match or outperform doctors in at least one health task. www.edelman.com/trust/2026/t...

i know several people who consistently argue that the issue of misinformation is overblown. But this paper reveals the devastating harm to society in terms of health, mortality and economic costs linked to widespread misinformation:

Influencers & hate: Create grievance, play to identity, and normalize rage and violence. bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Influencer posts "construct group identities, establish epistemic authority and leadership legitimacy, and legitimise violence."

A small fraction of online actors exerts outsized influence over what the public sees, believes, and discusses. In a new paper, we trace how social media influencers turn fringe claims into viral narratives by exploiting a feedback loop between influencers, algorithms & crowds osf.io/preprints/ps...

There are downsides to doomerism. It gets engagement on social media, but the reward system there does not apply very well to the things that drive policy change or behavior. We should be wary about leaning on doomerism when it can backfire so badly: www.powerofusnewsletter.com/p/the-best-w...

If American is so rich, how’d it get so sad? @dkthomp.bsky.social does a fantastic deep dive on this issue, pulling together evidence from economics, public health, and technology to understand the origins of our collective misery: www.derekthompson.org/p/if-america...

“As the NYU psychologist @jayvanbavel.bsky.social has pointed out, online conversations prize and reward negativity and out-group animosity, which convert people who might otherwise enjoy (or tolerate) one another’s presence in a bar or office into antagonists.”

Climate change impacts are here, but public support for action remains polarized. Which climate messages move people? In a ~13,500-person megastudy, we tested 10 of the most-cited messages. Six increased pro-environmental attitudes in the U.S.—but only by 1–4 percentage points. 🧵

Tyranny of the minority: How social media influencers, algorithms, and crowds shape public opinion. (@jayvanbavel.bsky.social @steverathje.bsky.social @rmpillai.bsky.social) More, via Opinion Today: opiniontoday.substack.com/p/260421-top...

Large teams develop and small teams disrupt science and technology An analysis of +65 million papers, patents & software products finds that small teams tend to disrupt science & technology with new ideas, whereas larger teams have tended to develop existing ones www.nature.com/articles/s41...