Researchers tried a bunch of different nudges to increase Covid-19 vaccine uptake in the UK. The most effective was telling people that they're first in line AND that they can choose a time and place. www.nature.com/articles/s41... @england.nhs.uk @natureportfolio.nature.com

I grew up in East Lansing, so it was great to get the chance to visit Michigan State University and give a talk with the management department. Right there on the Red Cedar River!

Are LLMs substitutes for human participants in studies? AI outperforms people on detecting irony and recognizing indirect requests! @psychscience.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

🔍 Behind the Paper: 'How Many People Ditched Their Masks When China Ended "Zero Covid?"'. 🛟 How much of China's high compliance with pandemic restrictions was because of mandates versus free will? 🔗 bit.ly/3HZtb5r #publichealth @thomastalhelm.bsky.social

Why was mask use so high in China? "Well, they had to" is an obvious explanation. But it turns out there was another factor. Here's what we found in the months after China ended its mask rules: communities.springernature.com/posts/how-ma... @springernature.com @springer.springernature.com

Do people lie about wearing masks? Our real-world observational data from 23,000 people lines up pretty well with a YouGov self-report survey, r = .89! journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

New study in Psych Science looking at how people understand rationality through the ways people write about it. One thing that popped out: people associate women with more rationality than men. journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

This is how many years of life you can expect to gain if you make particular changes to your diet, depending on how old you are when you start. Looks like 80 isn't too old!

I ran the Hidden Gem Half Marathon today in 1:15. Wonderfully cool and sunny weather for a race! 🏃‍♂️ Props to the guy playing jazz saxophone for runners near mile 8. That’s a change of pace! 🎷

This is how much mask use dropped when China ended its zero-Covid policy. Observed by real people in public places, not self-report. journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Awful wildfire smoke blanketing Calgary. Breathe safe, Alberta!

Reading about rice theory while desktop background was randomly set to a Chinese rice field (it changes daily). The biggest psych difference between rice vs wheat Chinese cultures is that my Northern Chinese friends will never finish their rice when we go out to eat (and I always finish theirs) 😂

Massive real-world dataset--23,000 people across China! My research team observed whether people in wore masks in public before and after China eded its zero-Covid policy. We went to parks, malls, subways, and sidewalks. journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Time zones versus sunset time

Neat map: Rice versus bread in Asia. Any edits need to be made? For one, I think rice extends too far north in China. Shandong should be bread.

I wrote an article for Scientific American. Are people using nudges in the places their LEAST effective? Check it out! @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/cash...

Is homo economicus male? Most people said "yes." heinonline.org/HOL/LandingP...

Nice resource for researchers: I put materials online for priming holistic versus analytic thought. In my study, this was enough to significantly change people's political attitudes. journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Do natural disasters create a culture of saving? Study finds areas of China that experienced more earthquakes, floods, and other disasters have higher savings rates in the modern day. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Why does Spain eat dinner so late? One theory: It's on the wrong time zone! The decision goes back to Franco and the Nazis, just never went back. www.npr.org/sections/par... @npr.org

Neat to see my study on people assigned to nearby rice or wheat farms in China featured on the Cultural Psychiatrist Substack: georgegillett.substack.com/p/the-cultur...

Interesting psychology in this sign in Alberta provincial parks, near Banff.

@iaccp.bsky.social announced the next conference for cross-cultural psychology will be in Leuven, Belgium, July, 2026. Come for the cultural research, stay for the waffles and chocolate! iaccp2026.com @batjamesquita.bsky.social @kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social

Good relationships are key to a happy life. But so is the freedom to end relationships, research by @thomastalhelm.bsky.social et al finds: www.chicagobooth.edu/review/freed...

Americans like to joke that things are upside down in Australia, but the only thing I saw that was upside down was the fact that these Koala Kare baby changing stations are American!

I’ve been to Vancouver a few times, and I’ve never seen so many Canadian flags as this year. One thing the tariff war is increasing is sales of Canadian flags! 🇨🇦

Bad and less bad wildfire smoke in Chicago as seen from my balcony.

Faking it isn't making it: Review argues we have too many posed expressions in emotion research. We need more real-life expressions. link.springer.com/article/10.1... @springer.springernature.com @springernature.com

Are subjects more important than objects for guinea pigs?? This study says yes! Suggests this primacy could be why many languages place subject before object. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40480211/ @psychscience.bsky.social

🚨 Short thread on a short new study. Cultures made a tradeoff in Covid between death and anxiety: compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1... @covid19disease.bsky.social

Old people from China and I get along really well! 😅 Hot water machine in the Vancouver airport. 🫖👍 @yvrairport.bsky.social

Good relationships are key to a happy life. Research consistently finds a link between social connections and well-being. However, while relationships are important, so is the freedom to end them, according to Chicago Booth's @thomastalhelm.bsky.social. www.chicagobooth.edu/review/freed...

Negative emotions fuel support for populist leaders? Anxiety and worry expressed on Twitter predicts county-level votes for Trump in 2016, finds Sandra Matz, regional differences conference, Vancouver. @columbiabusiness.bsky.social

Tessa Charlesworth reporting on how environmental attitudes measured on social media correlate with actual progress on environmental issues, regional differences conference, Vancouver.

A method to measure how fractionalized cultures are in their attitudes, from Cindel White, regional differences conference, Vancouver.

What we can learn about culture from the DR Congo, Nathan Nunn, regional differences conference, Vancouver

Should we use standard deviations to measure diversity of attitudes across cultures? We should use the heterozygosity index instead, argues Plamen Akaliyski, regional differences conference, Vancouver.

Country differences explain more differences in values over time in Europe, from 2002 to 2024. Europe becoming more fractured and divided? Maksim Rudnev, @uwaterloo.ca, regional differences conference

Can we predict societal change? Igor Grossmann presenting at regional cultural differences conference, Vancouver

Openness to experience personality across the U.S. Low in the upper Midwest, high on the west coast and around New York City. Regional differences conference, Vancouver @UBC Michael Ohlinger, University of Saint Gallen

Markus Jokela explaining that highly sociable people in rural areas are more likely to move, but LESS likely to move if they’re in urban areas. Regional differences conference, Vancouver

The more politicians talk about greed on Twitter, the more likely people are to retweet and favorite (especially for opposition parties). Eric Mercadante, at regional differences conference, Vancouver

Three types of values are common around the world: stability seekers, status seekers, and experience seekers, finds Nick Kay at UBC, regional differences conference.

Sakshi Sahakari reporting new data on tightness-looseness of social norms across regions in India. Regional differences conference, Vancouver, UBC

Masaki Yuki explaining how the behaviors that are adaptive in some cultures are maladaptive in others. Relational mobility can explain it. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Josh Jackson offers an explanation for why western cultures have WEIRD values. Regional differences conference, Vancouver

Michele Gelfand presenting at the regional differences conference in Vancouver. She mentioned three pieces of advice from her mentor Harry Triandis: 1. Be passionate 2. Don’t be afraid to be controversial 3. Don’t take yourself too seriously

Neat new study on tattoos and personality! Participants saw pictures of people's tattoos and guessed their personality. Then researchers compared those guesses to the tattoo owners' self-rated personality. From @chops310.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Have you heard of the research on cultural differences in valuing high arousal versus low arousal positive emotions? Well this stick figure in Australia is PUMPED about remaining seated. 😆 culture-emotion-lab.stanford.edu/sites/cultur...

Australia has some sassafras! Seen in Melbourne.