Check out what people are saying about our paper on r/science: www.reddit.com/r/science/co... And huge shoutout to the co-authors that are on here! @jakewomick.bsky.social @emilykubin.bsky.social @helenldevine.bsky.social @keithpayne.bsky.social @kurtjgray.bsky.social

Check out our new work with practitioners to find ways to foster empathy and reduce polarisation among American teenagers👇

What happens when we tell each other stories? New research from myself, @kurtjgray.bsky.social, and practitioners at Narrative 4! Full report: hubs.li/Q044v_6_0

⚖️ New paper in Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences! Legal decisions hinge on who counts as a victim — but our judgments are biased & hard to change. We propose solutions: victim impact statements, funding restorative justice, & acknowledgments for exonerees.

Great review from @emilykubin.bsky.social and @vaparker.bsky.social on the challenges of researching what effectively reduces polarization - including knowing if and when reducing polarization should be something we want to do. www.researchgate.net/profile/Emil...

🚨 New Pre-Print🚨 Very excited to share new work w/ Victoria Parker. Here we think about big questions regarding the limitations and barriers affective polarization interventions face in being translated from research to practice www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Check out our recent Character and Context piece explaining how reframing political ideas (including facts!) to be more self disclosing can bridge political divides. spsp.org/news/charact...

Check out this great new piece (so excited to see it out!!). Analysis of German political manifestos shows an increase in victimhood narratives over time (especially by more extreme parties on the left and right).

Thrilled to share our new report stemming from a collaboration between academics and practitioners! Here we show the benefits of a narrative intervention in American high schools for promoting empathy, pro-sociality and reducing affective polarization! osf.io/preprints/ps...

A must read for those concerned about the polarization of truth and the rise of AI. AI can give us the "facts" we want to hear, and make it seem highly credible. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/b...

Is social media dying? How much has Twitter changed as it became X? Which party now dominates the conversation? Using nationally representative ANES data from 2020 & 2024, I map how the U.S. social media landscape has transformed. Here are the key take-aways 🧵 arxiv.org/abs/2510.25417

Can media stories about immigrant success shift public opinion? Unan shows German coverage of BioNTech’s Turkish-German founders boosted support for easing immigration, evidence that positive exposure can reshape perceptions. #Immigration Read more: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

🎈Thrilled to share my first ever solo author work🎈 In this chapter I uncover the relationship between social media, political polarization, and their downstream effects on political censorship. osf.io/preprints/os...

🚨New open access paper out in BJP special issue "Psychological Understanding of Misinformation and Disinformation in the Face of Environmental Crises"! “Fighting fire with fire: Prebunking with the use of a plausible meta-conspiracy framing” 🧵👇 1/12 📖 doi.org/10.1111/bjop...

We're pleased to kick off the 2025 BPS Social Psychology Section Conference with a welcoming speech by our chair @swedishprotests.bsky.social and organisers @shelleymckeown.bsky.social & @nascherme.bsky.social

🚨New Pub Alert!🚨 We find that self-disclosure is a key ingredient for bridging divides between opponents. Importantly, self-disclosure is not only useful when sharing experiences but also can be leveraged to heal divisions when communicating facts. More below 👇 journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10....

When people hear others’ views on politically sensitive topics (e.g., migration, abortion), they quickly become disrespectful or disengage. How can we express our views in such a way that they foster respect and interaction? @emilykubin.bsky.social, @kurtjgray.bsky.social & I studied this. 🧵1/7

new in early view at Political Psychology -->

New chapter out! We examine how media reports discuss Muslims, Islam, and Islamist terrorism--often using mono-thematic and undifferentiated language. More info below! osf.io/preprints/os...

🚨Pre-print alert🚨 Research shows citizens in many Western democracies are increasingly affectively polarized––they feel warm toward their own party but quite cold toward opposing parties. But how does it feel to “feel warmly”? @katharinalawall.bsky.social, @mtsakiris.bsky.social & I asked. 🧵1/8

So honored to receive the Early Career Award at #ISPP2025. Thankful to all my mentors and the many friends I’ve met through this network. @polpsyispp.bsky.social

Just landed in Prague and so excited for ISPP! Looking forward to meet up with old friends and make new ones! (And also present some exciting new research) 🤗 Reach out if you want to grab a coffee!

🚨Preprint alert🚨 How does affective polarization change democracy? Lots of pubs study how AP affects trust, democratic norms, inter-partisan attitudes, and participation. We (w/ @polpsychjoe.bsky.social, @lilymasonphd.bsky.social) examine a vital assumption this research seems to rely on: 1/6🧵

% of Americans, by party, who say they are "extremely" or "very" proud to be an American, 2001-present news.gallup.com/poll/692150/...

Very excited to share I have been awarded the Walter Benjamin Post-Doc Fellowship from the DFG for my project on healing conflict through understanding victimhood narratives. Will be conducting this work @University of Oxford w/ the wonderful @shelleymckeown.bsky.social starting in September 25

The defense of commonsense knowledge against scientific expertise is used as a political weapon across countries onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #AcademicSky #Psychology #SocialPsychology #polpsy #Polisky

I've posted an advert for PhD scholarship to work with me on moral psychology and AI at the University of Kent 🤖🧠📚 Full details here: www.kent.ac.uk/scholarships...

Good news for youth and future generations in 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 deal: “The UK is also negotiating to rejoin the Erasmus+ programme, which allows students to study or do an internship abroad”

Terminating the grants to study misinformation is “an overt act of censoring and preventing accountability,” says Stephen Lewandowsky, a misinformation researcher at the University of Bristol. “Who other than a liar would cancel misinformation research?” 🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...

@sampratt99.bsky.social and I are having a fantastic time in Marrakesh Morocco discussing polarization and pluralism. Enjoying the great discussions across disciplines to tackle some of the most pressing societal issues. Thanks Templeton World Charity Foundation for organizing this event!

Excited to present with a fantastic line-up of interdisciplinary scholars. Register for the event below 👇🏻

New paper by @emilykubin.bsky.social, von Sikorski, & @kurtjgray.bsky.social btw, I love a title that tells me what I need to know! "Political censorship feels acceptable when ideas seem harmful and false" onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.... #PsychSciSky #PoliticalPsych

🚨New pre-print!🚨 We examine how politicians embroiled in scandal can reduce blowback by claiming victimhood. Findings: victimhood is effective across ideological divides, works for male/female politicians, victimhood=more moral and less responsible See pre-print link below: osf.io/preprints/ps...

New Paper out! Ever wondered whether AI generated news can reduce perceptions of bias? We find news developed by AI may reduce media consumers hostile media perceptions. www.frontiersin.org/journals/com...

@kurtjgray.bsky.social and I are thrilled to share our report in partnership with Beyond Conflict and One America Movement. We develop a toolkit for faith leaders facing crisis and polarization based on practitioner and research insights: oneamericamovement.org/trauma-toolk...

Very excited to be starting a visiting researcher position with @shelleymckeown.bsky.social at Uni Oxford! Working on understanding conflict and how to heal divisions. Feeling grateful and ready for this new adventure 🤗

Excited to be hosting @bps-social-psych.bsky.social conference at Lady Margaret Hall next September. Watch this space for more details coming soon.

Applied research is the path to legitimacy in psychological science Comment by Judith P. Andersen Web: go.nature.com/41qmccZ PDF: rdcu.be/d2XLq

Across the six countries featured in our recent report on AI, more respondents expected news produced mostly by AI to be less trustworthy (-17) and less transparent (-8), but more up to date (+22) and cheaper to make (+33) Read the report in full reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/what-does-pu...

When leaders link health policy to partisan identity, people get sicker, miss work more and die younger - part of reason why COVID death rate 43% higher among Republicans @jayvanbavel.bsky.social + Dominic Packer on why polarization = bad for health www.powerofusnewsletter.com/p/why-polari...

When academics regularly express their political opinions online, it under undercuts their credibility with the public. warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/econ...