Sign in

Andy Vonasch

@andyvonasch.bsky.social
619 followers 1.6K following 36 posts

Senior lecturer in social psychology at the University of Canterbury. I study moral judgment and decisions

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Andy Vonasch
Katie Hinde @mammalssuck.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
"For too long, the university has ignored the wisdom of the donor class and hired based on academic excellence. Regrettably, this has led to the underrepresentation of discredited viewpoints in elite higher education." www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/wer...
mcsweeneys.net
We’re Diversifying the University by Hiring More Crackpots
“For too long, the university has ignored the wisdom of the donor class and hired based on academic excellence. Regrettably, this has led to the underreprese...
171409507
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Congrats this is important work!
010
Reposted by Andy Vonasch
Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Study after study shows campaign ads barely move the needle. So where does money’s real power come from? I ranked the five ways money corrupts politics—from least to most corrosive. What I’ve learned from 15 years of tracking political money:
open.substack.com
Money Doesn't Buy Elections. It Does Something Worse.
Campaign ads barely move the needle. The real influence is hiding in plain sight.
461217541
Reposted by Andy Vonasch
koenfucius @koenfucius.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
If the shopkeeper demanded 1p more than the advertised price fur a pint of milk, most people would not just pay up. They’d challenge the seller, perhaps even refuse to buy and pay even more elsewhere. Isn’t that odd? My weekly post suggests an answer: buff.ly/jVboMjQ
021
Reposted by Andy Vonasch
Gordon Pennycook @gordpennycook.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
New postdoc position at Cornell! This is a bit of a unique one: It's a teaching postdoc focused on integrating active learning strategies into psychology courses (including one of my own). Should be a lot of fun! Apply here: academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/31738
01521
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
…with other less silly implications for wage setting and discount setting
000
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Come see my talk at SPSP tomorrow afternoon. I’ll be talking about why it’s suspicious to offer to pay people to eat cookies.
121
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
I know I was just being silly. Plus a chance to share red hand fish!
030
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
But red hand fish exist! (Maybe they have hands, not legs?)
media.tenor.com
a red fish with the words party time written on the bottom
ALT: a red fish with the words party time written on the bottom
120
Reposted by Andy Vonasch
koenfucius @koenfucius.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
We are quick to condemn people as irrational for not choosing the most generous offer, but cool research by @andyvonasch.bsky.social et al suggests this is overlooking how people suspect ‘phantom costs’, eg in very high pay offers, or very cheap products or services: buff.ly/bVPs9ln
033
Reposted by Andy Vonasch
Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
Only a small % of people engage in toxic activity online, but they’re responsible for a disproportionate share of hostile or misleading content on nearly every platform Because super-users are so active, they dominate our collective impression of the internet www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...
theguardian.com
Are a few people ruining the internet for the rest of us?
Why does the online world seem so toxic compared with normal life? Our research shows that a small number of divisive accounts could be responsible – and offers a way out
21565215
Reposted by Andy Vonasch
Bart Bonikowski @bartbonikowski.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Essential reading (by @jasonstanley.bsky.social) for every American. The media, aided by a handful of reactionary academics and compliant university administrations, has sold the public a huge lie about wokeness on college campuses, enabling the extreme right. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The mainstream media has enabled Trump’s war on universities | Jason Stanley
For the past decade, the US press has fueled a moral panic over leftists on campus while failing to report on the right’s assault
181297466
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Moral Saurus learns the three goals of philosophy from Preston Stovall youtu.be/sZ_Yu9LwhO8
youtu.be
Moral Saurus learns the three goals of philosophy from Preston Stovall
YouTube video by Moral Saurus
030
Reposted by Andy Vonasch
Ellen Roche @ellroche.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Disappeared Tufts Human Dev. PhD student Rumesya Ozturk is also a graduate of Teachers College - she’s a dev. psychologist studying children’s media & prosocial development. She also bakes without recipes and binge-watches cartoons. She is our colleague & she was abducted on the street w/ our tax $.
6354372322
Reposted by Andy Vonasch
Rocky Alcoa @ivortossell.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
I just don’t think that - real brainwave here - “believe in something and stand up for it” is some niche leftist tactic. Baffled by those who do. It’s what normal people respond to.
04012
Reposted by Andy Vonasch
Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
"even lawmakers within his party have feared for their personal safety, and at least one has told confidants that it has swayed his decision-making" "Tillis told people that the FBI warned him about 'credible death threats' when he was considering voting against Pete Hegseth’s nomination"
vanityfair.com
“They’re Scared Shitless”: The Threat of Political Violence Informing Trump’s Grip on Congress
With the president smashing norm after norm, even lawmakers within his party have feared for their personal safety, and at least one has told confidants that it has swayed his decision-making.
2091339618
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Very excited to announce that my former PhD student, Scott Danielson, has accepted a faculty position at Lincoln University!
050
Reposted by Andy Vonasch
Dr. Mel @dr-mel99.bsky.social · 28/12/2024
I haven’t listened to the podcast yet, but this summary is an interesting and hopeful take on why “getting out into nature” - a common intervention I use with my clients is so often helpful - the “awe walk” apple.news/AZGLdS58nSdm...
apple.news
Scientists Asked People To Do 1 Thing Differently While Taking A Walk. The Results Were Astounding. — HuffPost
“It [creates] an amazing cascade of physiology that we can find almost any day and is very good for you,”
021
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Can you please add me?
120
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
At SASP and just met a very friendly colleague
060
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Thanks!
020
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Please add me, thanks!
120
Reposted by Andy Vonasch
CLaE @claeneuro.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Nature Human Behaviour The effect of seeing scientists as intellectually humble on trust in scientists and their research www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
The effect of seeing scientists as intellectually humble on trust in scientists and their research - Nature Human Behaviour
Across five pre-registered studies, Koetke et al. find that perceptions of scientists’ intellectual humility positively affect the perceived trustworthiness of scientists and their research.
14217
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 09/11/2024
youtu.be/FEw98ipUA1I Need some levity in your life? Watch a new episode of Moral Saurus! He talks with philosopher Manuel Vargas about how humans flourish through moral responsibility... and not eating their young.
youtu.be
Moral Saurus discovers the secret to human flourishing… don’t eat your young
YouTube video by Moral Saurus
030
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 09/11/2024
You could come give a talk at the University of Canterbury in NZ
120
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 03/11/2024
Let’s see some cats
030
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 25/10/2024
www.eurekalert.org/news-release... we discovered a psychological bias toward killing anonymous bystanders in war
eurekalert.org
Bystanders in a combat zone are treated as guilty until proven innocent
People’s bias toward sacrificing unknown bystanders appears to stem from assuming the unidentified person is an enemy, according to a study published October 23, 2024, in the open-access journal...
010
Reposted by Andy Vonasch
koenfucius @koenfucius.bsky.social · 23/10/2024
Gossiping carries the risk of backfiring on the gossiper, but new research suggests women’s gossip, when disguised as concern, harms reputation the reputation of the target, while protecting the gossiper: buff.ly/4heeKam
021
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 10/10/2024
Thanks I’ll look it up
000
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 10/10/2024
Which book?
000
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 02/09/2024
Wow this is so reasonable. What a shock that this is shocking
000
Reposted by Andy Vonasch
simine vazire @simine.com · 01/06/2024
Hi I’m a psych researcher. My greatest hits include: -p-values can’t tell you that -that definitely won’t replicate -ok but some humans are not US college students -you measured that with a self-report? -your brain images don’t impress me and -sorry that’s not the only plausible mechanism
1535
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 08/02/2024
www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.... new study showing ai cannot be detected with enough accuracy to prevent fraudulent participants from ruining online studies… we don’t know how prevalent this issue is yet, but soon it will likely be a problem
010
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 05/01/2024
Yes thanks! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Self-serving bias in moral character evaluations
Are people self-serving when moralizing personality traits? Past research has used cross sectional methods incapable of establishing causality, but th…
010
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 05/01/2024
Fixed link! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Self-serving bias in moral character evaluations
Are people self-serving when moralizing personality traits? Past research has used cross sectional methods incapable of establishing causality, but th…
020
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 05/01/2024
This doesn't mean people don't self-servingly inflate the moral importance of traits like intelligence...but we just couldn't test that because it's so hard to randomly assign that kind of belief. I'm happy to consult with anyone wanting to test other traits...but good luck!
000
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 05/01/2024
The results replicated successfully across both studies, but we were unable to replicate it when we attempted to randomly assign people's intelligence types (analytical vs. emotional). Turns out people don't believe feedback saying they're less analytical/emotionally intelligent.
100
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 05/01/2024
5. We analyzed the results only for people who believed their personality feedback (but we also found the same pattern of results for the entire participant group, even if they said they didn't fully believe the personality feedback they received).
100
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 05/01/2024
4. We had participants briefly write about a time when they displayed their high scoring trait, to reinforce the idea that they really possessed that trait.
100
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 05/01/2024
3. We chose traits that are morally ambiguous (idealism/strong will), instead of traits that would be clearly morally relevant (e.g., trustworthiness), so we could measure a change in how morally relevant it was.
100
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 05/01/2024
2. We chose traits that are less obvious whether you have them or not (idealism/strong will), so that people could believe the feedback they received. If we chose a trait like extraversion, people would usually know whether they were extraverts, so random feedback wouldn't work.
100
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 05/01/2024
1. We purposefully used a face-invalid personality test, with strange items like "I like to take stairs two at a time"...what does this tell you about personality? Probably not much...which was perfect because we didn't want participants to know which traits we were testing.
100
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 05/01/2024
These experiments required some pretty crazy methods. We had to assign personality traits at random--but people know themselves, so we had to convince them they had traits they probably didn't have. How did we achieve this?
100
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 05/01/2024
Caveats...we had to do some difficult methods to test this, and it's difficult to test the relative amounts that self-serving bias influences moral judgments compared to other things. My hunch is it may depend on how principled people are, but that has yet to be shown.
110
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 05/01/2024
Some caveats...these experiments show that moral judgments are influenced by self-interest. People think their own traits are more morally important than others. These experiments do not show this is all that matters in moral judgment. Other things (like principles) matter, too.
100
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 05/01/2024
People think their own traits are more morally important than other people's traits. And also think other people with similar traits as them are more moral. (Even if people only THINK they themselves have those traits).
100
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 05/01/2024
They're also cool because they show that people's moral judgments are self-serving. Most work on the self-serving bias is about non-moral things, e.g. are you competent at this task or ability, or are you a better, friendlier kind of person...we show this also in moral judgments.
110
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 05/01/2024
This is a form of the self-serving bias. People tend to think about things in ways that benefit the self. But these experiments are cool because they show this is even true of personality traits that aren't obviously linked with morality (idealistic/strong willed).
100
Andy Vonasch @andyvonasch.bsky.social · 05/01/2024
People said the personality traits they were high in--WHICH HAD BEEN ASSIGNED BY RANDOM CHANCE--were more morally important than other traits. i.e., People think their own traits are more moral than other traits, because they are their own traits.
100