New paper out in the EJSP! 🎉 We look at how the UK Covid-Sceptic movement framed the pandemic as elite control over 'the people', and offer a new view of populism as a social representational system used to mobilise against an 'elite'. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author...

ya hep beraber, ya hiçbirimiz! Yıldız Tar on the state and future of LGBTQ+ legislation in Turkey. A worrying outlook. youtu.be/zT18J0dzz-E?...

My latest, for @techpolicypress.bsky.social When I read Alex Karp’s book last year, I thought it should’ve been a tweet. Now Palantir has turned it into a tweet-length manifesto, which could’ve just been a picture of a MAGA hat. Karp is… not a subtle thinker. www.techpolicy.press/palantirs-ma...

Comments from myself and others, including @selimkoru.bsky.social, in this article on Turkey's continued slide into authoritarianism. It isn't on the world's radar anymore, but it's still getting worse. as.ft.com/r/392d9017-b...

As Hungary votes, would recommend this piece about how Viktor Orban has used public money to bankroll an international ultraconservative network - including Roger Scruton cafes and €10k a month for failed Reform candidate Matt Goodwin democracyforsale.substack.com/p/orbans-brits

I’ll be presenting our work on the 2023 election rallies in Turkey this Thursday at the Political Psychology seminar. We’ll explore how crowd events like political rallies attempt to define a vision of the future and who belongs in it. Register through the link to join..

Amid an intense backlash led by Spain, Ursula von der Leyen goes on the record to clarify where she stands on the rules-based order. Full story.

“The videos shown to the data annotators also go further, including credit card details and sexual acts. While some footage certainly could've been filmed on purpose by the user, it's thought that many instances were caught without the user or the video's subjects being fully aware.“

Really sobering

One of my favourite sides of politics/media.

‼️ Attention Early Career Researchers! 📖 The Early Career Committee are seeking #BlogPosts based on empirical research (quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods) lead by ECRs. 👇 Details below - submissions can be sent to [email protected] by 20th March 2025.

Read this sentence slowly: “Gov. Gavin Newsom, crypto executives and business leaders are ramping up efforts this week to stop the proposed wealth tax...” gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/u...

Prediction markets warp reality by manufacturing false narratives of consensus. When these fake indicators spread through media, they can influence public opinion (undecided people tend to favor what they think is popular, see "social proof.") A dangerous tool, and CNN has a partnership, too.

In terms of what cures are being lost: - Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis - herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis - shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease

ICE's attempt to access EU biometric data is extremely worrying & unacceptable EU must oppose the sharing of biometric data with the US while fundamental rights are at risk in the current political climate Data protection is a pillar of our sovereignty & not a bargaining chip

Our paper on anti-refugee discourses are now available!!! “Justifying violence and hostility through discourse: A critical discursive psychology analysis of anti-refugee hostility on social media during disasters” Please see below for the link!!

A former scholar of the far right will stand as a far-right candidate in the U.K. Anyone who knows Matt, or has followed his career, will not be surprised by this. It is, nevertheless, a good reminder that the tides have turned and the grift is moving (far) right these days, also within academia.

Democracy doesn’t require perfect truth—but it does require something more fragile: independent voices. The “wisdom of crowds” depends on independence between judgments. If a single actor can speak through thousands of inauthentic accounts, the apparent consensus of the crowd stops being informative

Native Americans are being swept up by ICE in Minneapolis, tribes say www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Ankara is unlikely to fulfill its ambition to build a Turkish-led order in the Levant and beyond, argues @asliaydintasbas.bsky.social. “Turkey simply lacks the economic capacity to underwrite Syria’s reconstruction—or any other major regional project, for that matter.”

📰 Sunday extras: "Dirty Work—The Hidden Machinery and Human Toll of Europe’s Broken Recycling Trade" by Adnan Khan. [1/5]

📣 Last paper of the year is out in the British Journal of Social Psychology! #OpenAccess Honour across borders: How cultural norms shape prejudice confrontation in migration contexts doi.org/10.1111/bjso...

This was not an easy one to write, but here it is! 🎈🤡 Freshly published in Collabra: Psychology: the life and death of one of the coolest findings in my PhD dissertation. 🎈🤡 With the usual – and wonderful – Karen M. Douglas, @paulbertin.bsky.social, and @olivierklein.bsky.social. 1/11

Are welfare states bankrupting Europe—or saving its democracy? In ForeignPolicy, Omer Taspinar argues that strong welfare states aren’t the source of Europe’s democratic crisis—they’re one of the few tools left to stop populism and authoritarianism. foreignpolicy.com/2025/12/12/e...

Kids, wake up. New Network State just dropped.

How many times do we need to point this out? By appeasing the far right, you do not weaken it. You strengthen it. While weakening your own position. There's a vast amount of academic research showing this. But Labour will not listen. www.theguardian.com/law/2025/dec...

WSJ story on pardon of Honduras' drug-trafficker ex-president notes his role in “Próspera, a libertarian ‘startup city’ backed by Silicon Valley investors including Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen.” “A Thiel spokesman said Thiel wasn’t involved in the pardon.” 🎁 link: www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

New working paper about a question that’s been a splinter in my brain for years – and I know I’m not alone: can researchers draw conclusions about “belief in conspiracy theories” while our research samples consist mostly of people who reject such beliefs? 1/10 link: osf.io/preprints/ps...

Please take a minute to scroll through this—and share it. It's the story of our time. The Authoritarian Stack: How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic American—And Why Europe Is Next. www.authoritarian-stack.info

Thanks to @bps-social-psych.bsky.social for bringing my notes together from the event that @merveozturkey.bsky.social & I organized. Reflections came from the responses of: @profjohndrury.bsky.social @lucygobag.bsky.social Dr Rim Saab and Dr Nihan Albayrak-Aydemir www.bps.org.uk/news/rising-...

🚨 New paper out in the European Journal of Social Psychology! Across one study using aggregated nation-level data and four preregistered experiments, we examined how freedom of speech within a society influences belief in conspiracy theories.

@studyorecap.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=q717... Yıldız Tar, nefret suçlarını yasalaştırma çabasındaki iktidarın, birimize sahip çıkmazsak toplumdaki en savunmasızından başlayıp sırayla hepimizi nasıl hedef alacağını çok güzel anlatmış.

1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it). But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that

I read ISPP's statement early this morning and I have been thinking about it since, trying to wrap my head around the goal of this second statement and what it actually says to its readers.

@alexhaslam.bsky.social @pallavi28.bsky.social @dannagalher.bsky.social @micavarela.bsky.social @christinamaxwell.bsky.social @andrewlivingstone.bsky.social @yaseminulusahin.bsky.social

Stay tuned ⌛ @yasemingacar.bsky.social @swedishprotests.bsky.social It will be available for pre-order starting in September! www.routledge.com/Social-Psych...

Updated flyer without typo in the time of the last session:

[Resharing with a typo on session time fixed in flyer:] Join us for several discussions and talks in the Palestine solidarity track at ISPP in Prague this week if you are attending! For more information about "Political Psych 4 Palestine" sign up here (same as QR code): tinyurl.com/PolPsy4Palestine

I am so excited to announce the publication of my first PhD paper, written in collaboration with Laurent Licata and amazing participants! “We Are No Longer the First to Lead the Dance”: Analysing Intergroup Conflicts Within the French-Speaking Belgian Feminist Movement doi.org/10.1002/casp...

10 years work has led to this: Social identity networks: People holding attitudes are a collective social identity information system & bipartite networks are a useful way to represent them. European Review of Social Psychology. @polpsyispp.bsky.social doi.org/10.1080/1046...

The POWER OF US Course: A syllabus for teaching about social identity open.substack.com/pub/powerofu...

‘Nothing to lose or a world to win’: Reconsidering efficacy, in confrontational collective action New from @metesefauysal.bsky.social @yasemingacar.bsky.social & me Funding: @polpsyispp.bsky.social Scholars Under Threat bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...