iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

9/9 I love working with open responses because they can provide insights that established scales often don't. But not everyone has an army of research assistants or programming experience. We hope that SCORES will make the use of open-response data in research more accessible.

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

8/n Of course SCORES also has it's limitations. E.g. it doesn't work great for long responses. We include this guide to help researchers decide whether or not they want to use SCORES:

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

7/n It also shows different quality indices. It weighs them by default to select the ideal cluster number, but you can also use this view to make your own decision.

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

6/n SCORES automatically names the clusters based on the most central response and shows you all responses that fall into the cluster. You can of course also re-name the cluster if you don't like the default name.

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

5/n Researchers then have a lot of flexibility, e.g. you can exclude certain words, set min and max number of clusters, use outlier detection (and be more or less exclusionary with outliers), and merge similar clusters (and decide how similar they have to be to be merged).

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

4/n SCORES has an intuitive, user-friendly interface (no programming knowledge required) and a tutorial mode that can guide researchers through the decision processes. You simply upload your data and select which columns you want to include in your analysis:

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

3/n SCORES clusters responses via word embeddings (which reflect similarity in meaning), similar to the process of reading through the responses, creating coding categories, and having human coders assign each response to a category.

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

2/n Have you ever read a cool paper that uses open response data & analyzes it using word embeddings (e.g. psycnet.apa.org/buy/2022-585... by @gandalfnicolas.bsky.social, a paper I LOVE) but were too intimidated by the methodology to do something similar? If so, SCORES might be for you!

psycnet.apa.org

APA PsycNet

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

1/n I'm really excited to share this (open access) paper in which we introduce SCORES (Semantic Clustering of Open Responses via Embedding Similarity) - a user-friendly tool to analyze (short) open-response data. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... With the magical @bpaassen.bsky.social.

Abstract
Free-text responses are a crucial part of psychological research, enabling participants to respond without bias toward a predefined set of answers. Unfortunately, many established methods for analyzing such responses require extensive manual coding, which is time- and resource-intensive. To address this issue, automatic-processing methods based on word embeddings and clustering techniques have been proposed. In this article, we introduce SCORES (Semantic Clustering of Open Responses via Embedding Similarity), a user-friendly, graphical tool that makes such automatic methods easy to use and understand for psychological researchers.

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Kristina Olson @olsonista.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Our lab has a new postdoc position that is ideal for someone interested in a career in data science or statistical consulting and an interest in gender diversity / trans health. apply.interfolio.com/182278

apply.interfolio.com

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

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Eric Hehman @erichehman.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Postdoc position! Myself and @jordanaxt.bsky.social are seeking applications for a shared post-doctoral researcher at McGill, beginning Fall 2026. Topic area broadly centered on intergroup dynamics, prejudice, discrimination Full description here: hehmanlab.org/ad 1/2

hehmanlab.org

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Kira Means @kirameans.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Hi folks! We are conducting a meta-analysis examining the relationship between different facets of gender or gender-related essentialism and prejudice against transgender people. Therefore, we are requesting your unpublished data to include in the meta-analysis! The inclusion criteria are: 🧵

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Eric Hehman @erichehman.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

McGill is hiring a faculty lecturer in social psychology, in a (non-adjunct) permanent teaching position. Please consider being my colleague, Montreal is really great: mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/McGill...

mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com

Faculty Lecturer - Department of Psychology

Please refer to the How to Apply for a Job (for External Candidates) job aid for instructions on how to apply. If you are an active McGill employee (ie: currently in an active contract or position at ...

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Nadira Faber @nadirafaber.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Why do people oppose plant-based alternatives to meat? We find it has a lot to do with a symbolic association between meat & masculinity. And with sexism. Open access in SPPS with A. Salmen, V. Krings, & @kristofdhontphd.bsky.social #socialpsyc journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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Teri Kirby @teriak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

🧵1/4 New paper alert! psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-... Can you celebrate diversity while undermining it? Our new paper in American Psychologist discusses how people/organizations can appear committed to diversity while their conceptualizations of diversity actively undercut it.

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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

Evolutionary psychologists have long believed that men prefer physical traits in women which are cues to high potential fertility. A new review concludes: “current evidence base is too weak to support the claim that women’s feminine morphological traits are associated with reproductive potential”

cambridge.org

A systematic review of the association between women’s morphological traits and fertility | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core

A systematic review of the association between women’s morphological traits and fertility

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Z. Ferguson @z-fergu.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

🚨 LGBTIQ+ Research Across the Globe Pre-conference at #SPSP2026 Come participate in small group discussions and networking opportunities designed to spark collaborations across borders! Submit your abstract by 23 Oct. Our goal is to have representation across all continents! ow.ly/xPHL50X68mH

ow.ly

Preconferences | SPSP

Explore SPSP Annual Convention preconferences—specialized sessions offering in-depth insights, networking, and collaboration in personality and social psychology.

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

New paper! "Reviewing Research on Transgender and Nonbinary People in Social Psychology: Insights and Future Research Directions" With the magical @kirameans.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

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Christiane Büttner @chrbuettner.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

📣 Call for unpublished studies on discrimination of bisexual people! ⬇️ Please see the full call below We are very grateful for all contributions! #SocialPsych #PsychSciSky

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Please consider participating in our research! We're looking for social psychologists (broadly defined) who study gender (broadly defined). Research is (unfortunately) limited to people from/living in US, Canada, Australia, European Economic Area, and UK.

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Jin X. Goh | 吴晋勋 @jinxungoh.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

#Psychjobs My former institution Colby College is hiring a tenure track in intergroup relations, broadly defined & open to many psych areas (not just social). This is my replacement line. I truly enjoyed my time at Colby and it's a great dept! Happy to answer Qs if I can. apply.interfolio.com/172552

apply.interfolio.com

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

and feel free to chat to my current grad students @kirameans.bsky.social and Heejoo Chung (not on here) to find out what it's like to work with me.

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

I'll be recruiting a grad student to join the UNICORN lab for Fall 2026! If you know any magical students interested in gender/sex, LGBTQ+ issues, intergroup relations, stereotyping & prejudice, social cognition, feminism, issues of bodily autonomy, or anything else I do, please send them my way!

media.tenor.com

a cartoon unicorn with a rainbow mane is dancing on a dance floor

ALT: a cartoon unicorn with a rainbow mane is dancing on a dance floor

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

Check out our new pre-print in which we argue something that might be obvious but doesn't seem to be obvious to everyone: Large Language Models (such as ChatGPT) do not simulate human psychology.

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

You can email me at tmorgenr(at)purdue.edu

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

P.S.: Am I a real social psychologist now that I've published in JPSP? 😆

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

18/18 Finally: All our materials and data are openly available: osf.io/xkbgh/. Studies 1 and 2a were not preregistered. For all remaining studies, we preregistered hypotheses, sample size, exclusion criteria, measures, and analytic strategy, and report deviations from the preregistrations.

osf.io

Materials and data

Hosted on the Open Science Framework

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

17/n Our studies emphasize how such sex/gender-dependent granting of rights might be justified and psychologically and societally sustained. We hope that our work does not remain the last to shed psychological light on this topic!

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

16/ Many questions are of course still open and there's a bunch of limitations - but we hope that this is a useful contribution to the literature. Bodily autonomy – a core value in philosophy and human rights – seems to be granted less to women than to men across several domains.

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

14/n Everyone thought harm-based arguments were the most convincing, regardless of condition. But, in line with our predictions, the relative convincingness of harm (compared to fairness/purity) was increased when talking to the political outgroup. (figure is for Republican participants)

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

13/n ... the most convincing arguments for their position (pro or anti decriminalization of sex work). Importantly, we told them to either convince a group of fellow Republicans/Democrats, a group of the political outgroup, or a mixed group.

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

12/n So in the remaining studies, we examined whether people are more likely to use harm-based arguments when talking to a value-based outgroup member. We recruited Democrats who supported the decriminalization of sex work and Republicans that opposed it. We asked them to select...

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

11/n But why does harm make such a useful strategic tool? We argue that people know that it is the "common ground" they share with outgroups. E.g. someone opposing sex work bc of religious beliefs likely knows that arguments based on religion will not be convincing to non-religious people.

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

10/n ... I care more about other stuff anyway." So we gave opponents and supporters information either in line or contradicting their views. As expected, people claimed harm was a less important reason for their views when the information was in opposition to their pre-existing views:

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

9/n ... claims that the decriminalization of sex work increases or decreases harm shouldn't affect the stated importance of harm. But if people use harm strategically, then giving them information that contradicts their views may make them go "actually, harm is not that important to me. ...

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

8/n Ok, so people don't seem to be accurate in their perceptions of what predicts their views, but we also wanted to show that people use harm _strategically_, i.e. when it benefits them in some way. So in Study 3, we reasoned that if people truly care about harm, giving them information that...

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

7/n So everyone says harm matters. But does it really? When we measure importance of harm (& other foundations), it doesn't predict opposition. Only importance of fairness and purity are predictive.

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

6/n In Study 2, we replicated these patterns when asking people directly about harm (& other foundations) and found similar patterns for another topic related to women's bodily autonomy (abortion).

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

5/n As you can see in the figure, harm was the "common ground" between opponents and supporters - the only foundation that these groups used with similar frequency.

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

4/n In Study 1, we focused on the decriminalization of sex work and asked people to list their reasons for support/opposition. We then coded responses using moral foundations theory as a framework (given it's popularity, it might be a good proxy for lay conceptualizations of morality).

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

3/n Importantly, we don't argue that harm doesn't matter or that harm-avoidance never underlies people's views. Indeed, we believe that people use harm strategically exactly BECAUSE it is something everyone can agree is bad and should be avoided.

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

2/n When people explain their stance on issues concerning restrictions to women's bodily autonomy, they often invoke morality and specifically focus on harm. We test whether harm-based concerns are used strategically, that is, when they support one’s goals and pre-existing points of view.

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

1/n you can access the accepted version of the paper here: 6065f709-e7d1-45f5-8165-0af3d7b11614.filesusr.com/ugd/d76e66_2...

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Thekla Morgenroth @theklamorgenroth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Our paper "The strategic use of harm-based moral arguments in the context of women’s bodily autonomy" is now out in JPSP! 🥳with @shellkryan.bsky.social, @abiclick29.bsky.social, and @nadirafaber.bsky.social. 🧵

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