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mark brandt

@mjbsp.bsky.social
5.8K followers 1.5K following 1.2K posts

Social/Political Psychology @ Tilburg University | ♥ Burritos+Vinyl+ | if there aren’t typos, I didn’t write it tbslaboratory.com

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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 18h
New Zealand had a jump start: www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Amid cuts to basic research, New Zealand scraps all support for social sciences
Scientists shocked as “blue-sky” Marsden Fund has half its budget shifted to research focused on helping economy
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Igor Grossmann, PhD @igi.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
We're hiring research engineers, research associates & several postdocs at the Wisdom & Culture Lab @UWaterloo to build experiments, tools & models on how AI shapes human reasoning, decisions & culture. Psych, cogsci, ML/NLP, HCI & eng backgrounds welcome. uwaterloo.ca/wisdom-and-c...
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
People lie is quite an extreme inference from this.
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Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
For my new research unit Politics of Democracy at the Berlin Social Science Center @wzb.bsky.social, we have 3 open research positions. 2 postdocs: 4 + 2 years (100%) 1 doc: 2 years (75%) Starting date: 1 March 2027 (negotiable) Application deadline: 1 November
Job adjob ad
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Erin J. Wamsley 🧠📈😴 @wamsleylab.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The fiscal year is over. The dying Social, Behavioral, and Economic division of NSF ended up awarding 90 total grants this year, as opposed to ~700-800 in recent past years. Source: grantwitness.org/nsf/analyses...
The graph shows the cumulative number of awards made by month across this fiscal year, as compared to the last 6 fiscal years. The line for this year is total flat until June, but then finally gets up to 91 by October. In prior years the increase starts building earlier and ends on average in the 700-800 range (with variability, last year was only between 400-500).
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hilzoy @hilzoy.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Kieran Healy, on that tourism graph. kieranhealy.org/blog/archive...
kieranhealy.org
Trump Tourism Effects
In the past day or two on social media I kept seeing this graph from a Semafor story on the declining volume of international visitors to the United States. Semafor Graph. It seems to show, and was be...
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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 12/08/2026
Create an (almost) free personal/professional 1-page website in 4 steps using #rstats and R Markdown 🧪: 1. Buy a personal domain name (~ $10/yr): www.cloudflare.com/products/reg... 2. Create your page in R markdown using this R package (this is one of five templates): github.com/seankross/po...
Screenshot of an example webpage with Name, profile pic, links, Bio, Education, and Experience
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
How do people make decisions in complex conjoint experiments of policy choices? When decomposing individual responses into different strategies, most people use a heuristic strategy. Personally, I was surprised how many people are using the rational strategy! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
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Stephen Vaisey 🇺🇦 @stephenvaisey.com · 29/09/2026
So happy to see (finally) this truly excellent paper in print!
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Will Gervais @willgervais.com · 29/09/2026
🚨NEW PREPRINT🚨 @aiyanakoka.bsky.social Meara Geraty and I revisited religious priming, breaking the causal claim into links that we robustly tested. Do God Primes Prime God? Converging Evidence Against the Efficacy of Experimental Religious Priming osf.io/preprints/ps... #PsychSciSky #metascience
Do God Primes Prime God? Convergint evidence against the efficacy of experimental religious priming.

WIll Gervais, MEara Geraty, Aiyana Willard

then the rest of the image is a screenshot of the table of contents.plot summarising bayes factor results testing:
Prime -> Religious concepts (overt primes yield positive evidence, scrambled sentence negative)

Prime -> prosociality: universaly evidence strongly favoring the null result across 4 primes and 2 operationalisations of prosociality

Prime -> suspicion: fairly universal evidence in favor of priming methods causing suspicion

Religious concepts -> $$$: four independent sets of evidence favoring the null
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Andreas Goldberg @acgoldberg.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The deadline to apply for this PhD position in our new project is fast approaching⏰
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IE Political Science Department @iepolisci.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Just under one week left to apply for our three tenure track positions (Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Political Economy). Links to the calls are in the post below. Please help spread the word to candidates who may be interested!
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Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The Max Weber postdoc program at @eui-eu.bsky.social has its deadline 16 October, for a September 2027 start: www.eui.eu/en/academic-...
eui.eu
Max Weber Programme for Postdoctoral Studies
Making a Difference in Global Academia
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
New generation categories just dropped Generation Costco vs Generation Aldi
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[Christopher M. Federico] @chrispps.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
new in an issue of Political Behavior: my article with @caitybarrett.bsky.social on how "Needs for Security and Certainty Relate Differently to Support for Universal Basic Income Versus Other Social Safety Net Programs Across European Nations" link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Needs for Security and Certainty Relate Differently to Support for Universal Basic Income Versus Other Social Safety Net Programs Across European Nations - Political Behavior
Needs for security and certainty (NSC) vary in their relationship with economic preferences as a function of political engagement. Among those low in engagement, NSC is directly related to left-leanin...
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I worry that their models assume that there is not time stable factor for their variables (eg Hamaker et al 2015). A good way to find significant effects in a CLPM is to make that assumption.
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Josh Grubbs @joshuagrubbsphd.com · 26/09/2026
I worked with Jake on this story for months, and it’s truly one of the best deep dives into how online sports gambling works that I’ve ever seen
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Alexander Wuttke @kunkakom.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
We are hiring at LMU Munich: two PhD positions and one postdoc on democracy, political psychology and computational social science. Start: January 2027 or as soon as possible. We review applications on a rolling basis until October 20. Details below. Reposts very welcome! 1/7
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moin syed @syeducation.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
New paper! Despite qualitative researchers claiming that generalizability is not a goal, their published work does indeed contain generalizable claims. We document this and provide recommendations for how all researchers can better calibrate their generalizability claims. doi.org/10.1177/2515...
article header for, "Qualitative Researchers Can and Do Generalize: Generalizability Claims in Qualitative Psychological Research". Metascience!
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Ruth Dassonneville @rdassonneville.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
‼️ A new paper with Patrick Fournier and @zeynsom.bsky.social is now out in @wepsocial.bsky.social! We examine citizens’ perceptions of parties that combine left/progressive stances on some issues with right/conservative stances on other issues - which we refer to as ideological inconsistency. 🧵
tandfonline.com
Voters’ perceptions of ideologically inconsistent parties
There is a growing consensus in party politics that new fault lines are emerging, and scholars increasingly characterise competition as multidimensional. In a multidimensional space, parties can ad...
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Commodifying humans for profit is not famously on the side of restoring humanity
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Happy to support candidates interested in studying belief system and political attitude dynamics
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The Dutch NWO opens the call for the Mosaic 3.0 PhD scholarship program. This program aims to increase representation of people with a non-Western migration background in the scientific community Pre-proposals due 3 November More information, qualification criteria etc: www.nwo.nl/en/calls/mos...
Screenshot of criteria for Researchers with a migration background outside EuropeScreenshot for criteria for Researchers with a recent asylum background
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Ruth Dassonneville @rdassonneville.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
🤓 Cool to be cited in this The Economist article that is trying to think through the political consequences of limited economic growth. 🔗 www.economist.com/finance-and-...
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I do not want to know this level of detail about anyone...
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
New paper with @j-rock.bsky.social, in press @socpsyjournal.bsky.social "Evaluating an In-Person Depolarization Program and Testing a Light-Touch Enhancement" tbslaboratory.com/files/papers...
Screenshot of abstract that reads, "We evaluated whether an in-person, multi-hour conversation intervention reduced animosity toward people with different (political) attitudes. We also experimentally tested whether stacking a brief video intervention highlighting sympathetic narratives onto the intensive intervention boosted its ability to reduce animosity. Across events (N= 209, Events k= 10), participants reported less animosity and more empathy following the events compared to before, suggesting the intervention is effective. Different than preregistered, this effectiveness was not significantly affected by the light-touch video treatment. The program improved intergroup relations, but we did not boost the intensive treatment's effects with the addition of a light-touch video treatment."
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
need the WashU expansion
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Jerad @j-rock.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Can you reduce animosity and increase empathy? Yes! With help from @mjbsp.bsky.social & funding from @pascl-stanford.bsky.social we were able to prove not only that @mnchurches.bsky.social ' works, but also study a new question: When you have something that works, can you make it work EVEN BETTER?
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Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
3-year postdoc at @wzb.bsky.social to work on family diversity and inequalities in children's attainment and health within Heike Solga's unit. Start: January 2027. Deadline: 4 October. wzb.eu/en/jobs/post...
wzb.eu
Postdoctoral Research Fellow (f/m/x) (ID 416)
The research unit “Skill Formation and Labor Markets” (Director: Professor Heike Solga) at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) is looking for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (f/m/x) (ID...
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I appreciate the editor and reviewers openness to our mixed findings. I hope our paper helps others as they plan their own work and think about how to build strong and resilient communities.
Screenshot of coda stating, "Learning how to discuss difficult topics with empathy across meaningful differences is an important skill in a pluralistic society where disagreement is inevitable. In many such cases, efforts to depolarize and maintain civility are valuable for learning others’ perspectives and identifying shared interests. However, goals related to depolarization and civility are not the only relevant goals and they may not be the best goals to pursue in some situations. For example, there is initial evidence that depolarization programs might make some people less likely to confront misinformation and racism (Blair et al., 2025a). Cultivating empathy might also be less motivating than other emotions, like moral outrage, for motivating collective action and peaceful protest in responses to injustice (e.g., Spring et al., 2018; Tager et al., 2011). Rather than seeing depolarization and civility as ultimate goals, scientists and practitioners should see these goals as one set of possible goals and tools to draw on as we seek to better society."
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Multiple possible explanations for the non-significant experimental result, from low power, no neutral control condition, or just a general lack of an effect (see discussion in the paper).
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
We also layered on the light touch intervention experimentally. We used a video developed by Civity (www.civity.org/services/diy...) and found to reduce affective polarization in Voelkel et al's (2024) mega-study Although the effects were in the predicted direction, they were not significant
Two-panel figure showing the video intervention's treatment effect on five outcome scales (liking, respect, empathy, moral humility, confidence). Left panel shows treatment-control residual outcome values as individual data points for control versus treatment groups. Right panel shows the treatment effect with 95% confidence intervals across four models (All Data, Preregistrations 1-3); effect sizes are small (d = 0.03 to 0.15), and most confidence intervals cross zero
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
We found that the events did appear to build empathy, increase confidence in discussing differences, and increase liking for community members who disagreed. This was with a pre-post one-group design and so needs a control group for better causal evidence.
Two-panel figure showing pre-post change across five outcome scales (empathy, confidence, liking, respect, moral humility). Left panel shows individual pre- and post-test data points with means highlighted. Right panel shows the pre-post difference with 95% confidence intervals across four models (All Data, and Preregistrations 1-3), with effect sizes ranging from d = 0.24 (moral humility) to d = 0.60 (empathy); all confidence intervals lie above zero.
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
We think that this is a worthwhile question because it would provide a relatively straightforward route to take ideas and evidence from the social science literature and use it to improve community-run programs.
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Our context was the Minnesota Council of Churches Respectful Conversations program (a program that @j-rock.bsky.social stewards) Our question: Can we simply stack a light touch intervention onto their in depth program to increase the programs effectiveness?
Diagram comparing the general case to this study's intervention stack. In the general case, a less-intensive boosting intervention sits above a more-intensive existing intervention. In this study, the boosting intervention is the Civity Video Intervention (watched at home, approximately 7 minutes), and the existing intervention is the MCC Respectful Conversations Event (held at an event space, approximately 3 hours).Flowchart of the study design. Participants sign up for the Respectful Conversations Event, then complete pre-test questions (invite email sent 2-3 days before the event). They are randomly assigned to either the Civity Video Intervention or a No Video control condition. Both groups then attend the MCC Respectful Conversations Event, followed by post-test questions (reminder immediately after the event, plus a follow-up email).Table listing the steps of the MCC Respectful Conversation Event: I. Shared meal; II. Event welcome with stated purpose and framing topic; III. Video showing a humorous animation of physiological response to conflict, plus a video illustrating guiding principles with improv actors; IV. Improv actors humorously violating each principle; V. Small table groups review guiding principles and sign an agreement; VI. Small table groups have a facilitated conversation through four circle questions plus unstructured time; VII. Large group open reflection; VIII. Evaluation."Table of sample sizes for 10 events across pre-test and post-test time points, by control and treatment condition, with response rates and median post-test completion dates. Total pre-test sample is 259 (146 control, 113 treatment); total post-test sample is 209 (116 control, 93 treatment). Events are marked with superscripts indicating which preregistrations' inclusion criteria they satisfy: superscript a for Preregistration 1, a and b for Preregistration 2, and a, b, and c for Preregistration 3; unmarked events were not part of any preregistration.
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
New paper with @j-rock.bsky.social, in press @socpsyjournal.bsky.social "Evaluating an In-Person Depolarization Program and Testing a Light-Touch Enhancement" tbslaboratory.com/files/papers...
Screenshot of abstract that reads, "We evaluated whether an in-person, multi-hour conversation intervention reduced animosity toward people with different (political) attitudes. We also experimentally tested whether stacking a brief video intervention highlighting sympathetic narratives onto the intensive intervention boosted its ability to reduce animosity. Across events (N= 209, Events k= 10), participants reported less animosity and more empathy following the events compared to before, suggesting the intervention is effective. Different than preregistered, this effectiveness was not significantly affected by the light-touch video treatment. The program improved intergroup relations, but we did not boost the intensive treatment's effects with the addition of a light-touch video treatment."
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Johanna Ray Vollhardt @jrvollhardt.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Call for proposals to present in the Psychology of Resistance in Repressive contexts Virtual Meeting series - deadline Sept. 30. Proposal form: tinyurl.com/resistance-p... More information on the series, recordings of past sessions, mailing list etc: resistancepsych.blogspot.com
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Thomas Talhelm @thomastalhelm.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
🚨 It's published! 🚨 This is the big one. 100 cultures, 12,000 people, 108 researchers. Why people (and our most-used surveys) get collectivism wrong and how to fix it. www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natureportfolio.nature.com
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
As a reviewer and editor, I’ve found it very hard to convince researchers that it isn’t doing what they think it is (magically addressing multiple comparisons)
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Bastian Jaeger @bxjaeger.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Now out at EJSP: We explored cultural & individual differences in the hierarchy of moral concern across student samples from 41 cultural groups (n >6500). doi.org/10.1002/ejsp...
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Did he just ask ChatGPT what Republicans in Ireland like?
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bergelsonlab @handle.invalid · 10/09/2026
RIP SBE. One point of confusion maybe someone can clarify? SBE is not listed as one of the directorates for the GRFP, but e.g. psychology is still an eligible major field of study per the appendix here www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo.... so where's that $ come from?
nsf.gov
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
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Daniel Devine @danjdevine.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
If you would like to work as a journal editor, @jeppjournal.bsky.social is looking for an Associate Editor, broadly in public opinion and behaviour. Couldn't recommend it enough! Deadline is next week - 15th September. editorresources.taylorandfrancis.com/editor_recru...
editorresources.taylorandfrancis.com
Associate Editor needed for Journal of European Public Policy
Editor Resources provides insights and information to support the editor’s role and build connections between journal editors and research communities.
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Jin X. Goh | 吴晋勋 @jinxungoh.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
🚨 ‼️ new paper ‼️ 🚨 With political scientist Nathan Chan, we used the latest 2024 and 2020 CMPS to look at why Asians and Latinos (the 2 largest immigrant groups in US) might support deportation policies. Out now in Political Psychology! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Working hard to belong: Meritocratic ideology and deportation sentiments among Latino and Asian Americans
Why do some Latino and Asian Americans support conservative policies that may discriminate against them? Elaborating on system justification theory, we argue that ideologies such as meritocracy perpe...
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Macartan Humphreys @macartan.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Post doc alert: Very nice new opportunity in Hamburg: Climate change and social conflict www.uni-hamburg.de/stellenangeb...
uni-hamburg.de
Ausschreibung
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Generally, it’s faster and takes less reviewer resources. I also think it encourages editors to be editors, rather than vote counters. One downside is that sometimes a reviewer gets annoyed because they aren’t allowed to be the final gatekeeper.
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This is the norm in social psychology. It’s been standard practice at every journal I’ve worked for. As @kepowers.bsky.social mentioned, it’s now our practice @ispp-pops.bsky.social.
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
At least I’m it alone! I do hope it doesn’t take so long to upload a pdf that is < 1mb!
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mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
TBC, I did the normal sign out, clear cache etc. I just always seem to run into basic issues trying to work with preprints.
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