Can training individuals on survey methodology boost their critical processing of polls? Kuru compares three preemptive interventions and finds that “psychological inoculation” is particularly effective for critical evaluation of polls. Read now: doi.org/10.1093/poq/...

Conditioning Public Opinion Perceptions by “Survey Methods 101”

🚨 AI is turning research into a scientific monoculture — and as a scientist, I worry about the long-term resilience of our research ecosystem. Our new piece in @commspsychol.nature.com with @profsanderlinden.bsky.social and Jon Roozenbeek: www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Reflexivity and Positionality Statements in Quantitative Research "Choices about research questions, data sources, analytical techniques, and interpretation are all influenced by researchers’ epistemological commitments, their lived experiences..." By @maddipow.bsky.social & @scordoban.bsky.social

We can build civic strength for an AI era not just by regulating tech, but by investing in communities, public literacy, and systems that help people participate meaningfully in decisions that affect them.

🚨Fully revamped paper with @iganson.bsky.social: We study levels of, and partisan differences in, "unconditional political bias" (UPB). This is a partisan's own admission that *nothing* a politician could do would lower their support for that politician.

Many media observers have weighed in about The Atlantic’s “hypothetical” measles story and the #ContentConfusion it created: e.g. @laurahazardowen.bsky.social, @kellymcb.bsky.social, @bgrueskin.bsky.social… Adding my own two cents in this 🧵. 1/4

"The mediating role of perceived benefits of AH treatments...highlights the need for [educational interventions] to provide evidence-based information about the limitations of AH in managing serious health conditions, while also recognizing its potential complementary role in holistic care."

The importance of good surveys - with random samples: the much reported resurgence of religiosity in young adults evaporates in the face of good data…

Relevant to today's conversation about AI's inherent sexism, here's an email from cognitive psychologist and early AI theorist Roger Schank, arguing to Epstein that women can't be truly intelligent, because they care too much about what other people think.

Political campaigns worldwide experiment with AI. But how do people see different electoral uses of AI and with what consequences? In a new study in @polcommjournal.bsky.social with @adrauc.bsky.social and @kunkakom.bsky.social, we address these questions. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 1/

Gaza death toll in early part of war far higher than reported, says Lancet study

Altman’s comments are a classic example of dehumanizing people: childhood and education are reduced to “training” for the purposes of economic productivity. These are obviously not the same, but Altman’s words imply the main purpose of humans is to serve capital 3/

The FDA quietly removed a web page warning against therapies and treatments making “false claims” about autism. Some of those so-called cures include raw camel milk, clay baths, and chlorine dioxide. trib.al/ezfRUbd

NEW - Adolescent Exposure to Economic Inequality and Belief in the ‘American Dream’ on Entering Adulthood - https://cup.org/4rmfyyE - @sldemora.bsky.social & Benjamin J. Newman #OpenAccess

💥New | Good impact narratives must connect to our everyday lives ✍️Anna Przybyło-Józefowicz #ResearchImpact #SciComm #ImpactNarratives

Our new study published in Health Communication: Wu and Kuru (2026). Medical Decision Making in Relative Risk Scenarios: Understanding the Challenges of Communicating Alternative Health. free first 50 copies link here

Our new study published in International Journal of Public Opinion Research: @taberez.bsky.social , Tan, Kuru (2026). The Interplay of Conservatism and Religiosity on Misinformation Susceptibility: Evidence From the 2022 Malaysian General Election

RFK Jr. can't change state vaccine regulations. But, he can dismantle the vaccine supply chain. FDA's failure to review Moderna's mRNA flu vaccine demonstrates how HHS can weaponize the vaccine approval process to discourage the production of new, innovative, and potentially life-saving vaccines.

This is AWFUL. Univ of Texas is consolidating 4 depts into 1: African and African Diaspora Studies and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, American Studies, and Mexican American and Latino Studies will become "a Social and Cultural Analysis department." www.texastribune.org/2026/02/12/t...

Asian Americans have long histories of violence, discrimination, & exclusion. Much of this behavior is poorly understood. The literature on discrimination against other racial groups is much larger than the literature on anti-Asian animus. A group of my coauthors and I are trying to fill that gap.

Gallup ends presidential approval polling. There are plenty of alternatives but having one firm back the 1930s was a great continuity. Here is my last update of their series. RIP. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Not only that, but social cues about entertainment audiences provide indicators both of the demographic make-up of the audience as well as whether watching certain content is normative of one's partisan (and racial) ingroup—all of which predicts exposure intentions.

Out now with Wiley: The Handbook of Inoculation Theory and Practice, edited by Bobi Ivanov, Kimberly Parker, and me—the first handbook devoted entirely to inoculation theory. Grateful for my co-editors and contributors. #InoculationTheory www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Ha...

There have been increasingly shrill accusations against the EU over its digital legislation, based on accusations of "censorship" by defenders of "free speech" -- including, so it appears, the right to peddle an AI app that seemingly produces child sexual abuse material (CSAM). 1/9

65% of Americans, up from 54% in June of 2025, think the actions of ICE have gone too far in enforcing immigration laws. (NPR/PBS News/@maristpoll.bsky.social) More, via Opinion Today: opiniontoday.substack.com/p/260205-top...

New study on communicative dynamics in relative risk scenarios in health decision making, forthcoming in Health Communication, Yuanyuan Wu & Ozan Kuru

Very specific to certain medical research, yet also a warning about other vulnerable areas

Characteristically thoughtful discussion of a known snag of survey research -- people who care a lot about politics are more likely to take political polls -- and what we might be able to do to address that (As noted, I think this is such a fun experiment)

Our BPP paper on government shutdowns, need for chaos, and prospect theory (w/ Erin Fitz, @stecula.bsky.social, Matt Hitt, and me). Here's the abstract and link for "Mindset to Gain? Framing Effects, Need for Chaos, and the Limits of 'Burning It All Down'." www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Recent paper to read on this: By @jinxungoh.bsky.social and team. drive.google.com/file/d/1_MbT...

I wrote about our recent paper for @uk.theconversation.com "...it does mean that judging these responses without understanding their cultural roots risks blaming individuals for navigating systems that were never designed to protect them." theconversation.com/why-some-peo...

How does information on public opinion on environmental issues shape citizens' opinions? Out and open access with @mbarnfield.bsky.social, @florianstoeckel.bsky.social, @benlyons.bsky.social, @vittoriomerola.bsky.social, and @jasonreifler.bsky.social + others! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New real-world field study *inoculating* against misinformation in live social media scroll feeds out in Harvard Misinfo Review @misinforeview.bsky.social We targeted +375k users with a short ad on Insta using a novel quasi-experimental method (1/3) misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/preb...

"A central insight from our study was that the question of what purpose a review should pursue depended critically on the status of knowledge in a field. Ultimately, we succeeded in mapping the different purposes onto four main directions a review can progress a field of research (Fig.1)"

“Why do both economically advantaged and disadvantaged voters sometimes converge in their support for conservative parties? ... Because inequality is inherently relational, its political implications arise not only from the objective distribution of resources but from ... themselves and others"

People keep referring to what’s going on in the US right now as a “modern-day gestapo” and “un-American”. In my @annualreviews.bsky.social preprint w/ @abautistachavez.bsky.social (doi.org/10.1146/annu...), we show that the US has repressed and expelled marginalized communities throughout history.

There's a type of survey that is fueling talk of a young adult religious revival in the UK & the US. You should be concerned about this type of survey because it is increasingly common and it may produce misleading results on many topics other than religion. Read more:

There’s a lot of discussion about what is meant to distract from what in the current news environment. This is the wrong way to think about things; Donald Trump’s modus has always been to constantly redirect attention so that nothing becomes “the big story.” That was the big lesson of our book.

🚨 #Bots and #LLMs threaten the integrity of online surveys and public opinion research, but we can identify LLM-generated text in open narrative responses by fine-tuning #BERT. New #OpenAccess article with @jkhoehne.bsky.social @rubac.bsky.social @carohaensch.bsky.social. 👉 doi.org/10.1177/0894...

New party identification polling from Gallup this week shows Americans are moving against Trump faster than they did in his first term. Adults were R+4 in 2024, now D+8. That 12-pt drop is 3x the change in the first year of his first term. www.gelliottmorris.com/p/backlash-t...

Pub Alert! Introducing new JoC publication: “Words that trigger: a meta-analysis of threatening language, reactance, and persuasion in health”, by Rong Ma, @zxma.bsky.social Callie Kalny, Nathan Walter. Read here: doi.org/10.1093/joc/...

Does news about a more diverse Congress change how Americans see democracy? In POQ, Olson et al. find that diversity boosts Democrats’ trust in Congress, has no effect on Republicans, and does not weaken support for democratic norms. Read now: doi.org/10.1093/poq/...

"Transparency" is utilised to avoid ethical discussions around genAI. The ppl pushing for it have a very particular idea of what science is & how it is done. It is specially concerning that universities & other institutions fail to see the wider context of this fascist technical apparatus. #ResistAI

ONLINE FIRST! This article by @antoniskalog.bsky.social, @richardfletcher.bsky.social, and @rasmuskleis.bsky.social compares inequalities in #news use in traditional offline and #online news #media environments over time among #internet users in six countries. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Guys, I found a poll from 1998 in the @ropercenter.bsky.social archives about their predictions for the year 2025 www.cnn.com/2025/12/29/p...

These technologies can and are being used to create lifelike images and videos of actual living women and girls. For what I think are pretty obvious gendered civil rights reasons, it needs to be a recognized civil cause of action to create an AI image or avatar of a woman without her consent.

New survey: As measles cases rise, the public's views of the MMR vaccine's safety and effectiveness -- and a willingness to recommend it -- have dropped. www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/as-measles-c...

This is very informative. Thank you @perrybaconjr.bsky.social and @victorpickard.bsky.social