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Wilson Merrell

@wnmerrell.bsky.social
243 followers 170 following 12 posts

Postdoc at the Centre for the Experimental-Philosophical Study of Discrimination (Aarhus University) Studying social hierarchies (in places, faces, and groups) and the psychology of infectious illness wnmerrell.github.io/personal-website

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Reposted by Wilson Merrell
Eric Shattuck @ericshattuck.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
If you're thinking about a Masters or PhD in anthropology and you want to study health, infectious disease, and the immune system, please consider applying to work with me! Happy to answer any questions, etc.
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Human Behavior & Evolution Society @humbehevosoc.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Do germ concerns shape our social lives? In a new study, people more wary of germs reported having, wanting, and thinking they ought to have fewer friends, especially casual friends and acquaintances at the outer edges of their networks.
hbes.com
More Friends, More Germs: How Disease Concerns Shape Our Social Circles - HBES
– by Soyeon Choi Much of the research on friendship focuses on its benefits. Friends are a major source of support, and people with closer, more supportive friendships tend to report better health…
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Roman Senninger @rsenninger.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
The Department of Political Science at Aarhus University is hiring both Assistant Professors and Associate Professors. Assistant Professor: international.au.dk/about/profil... Associate Professor: international.au.dk/about/profil... Please share these opportunities with your networks!
international.au.dk
Assistant Professor in Political Science - Vacancy at Aarhus University
Vacancy at Department of Political Science, Aarhus University
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Josh Ackerman @joshackman.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Looking for a job? The Social area at the University of Michigan is hiring a Lecturer to teach courses this coming academic year (and potentially longer). If you have a background in and/or have taught courses related to Social Psychology, come join us! careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
careers.umich.edu
LEO Lecturer I - Fall 2026 and Winter 2027 | U-M Careers
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Eric Hehman @erichehman.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
We have a new paper in Psych Review, creating a taxonomy of discrimination, in hopes of better organizing results and knowing when they might generalize With Becca Neel, @lorapark.bsky.social, Keita Christophe Free link: erichehman.com/wp-content/u...
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Michael W. Kraus @mwkraus.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
New preprint, Asian American mythology and pathways to solidarity by Chyei Vinluan, Iseul Cha-ju, and Daniel Sanji It's about how model minority mythology acts as a barrier to solidarity within Asian ethnic groups and btwn Asian and other marginalized groups. osf.io/preprints/ps...
Conceptual model, where model minority mythology creates barriers to inter ethnic and inter minority solidarity and how confronting that mythology is central to solidarity
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Travis Lim @travislim.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
New paper out in JPSP with @erichehman.bsky.social! We asked: What is the framework underlying our impressions of environments? Our large bottom-up study shows that people pay attention to 4 factors. We’re calling it the Environment Impressions Model: doi.org/10.1037/pspa...
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Arnaud Tognetti @atognetti.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
🚨✨ JOB OFFERS ✨🚨 🧠 Interested in disgust and human disease avoidance? 🦠🤢 🎓 2 PhD positions (Montpellier 🇫🇷) + 1 postdoc (Stockholm 🇸🇪) now open! 📢 Exciting projects in VR, psychophysiology, psychoneuroimmunology, social behavior, and health 🧵 Details + deadlines in thread below!
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Kristina Bakkær Simonsen @kristinabsimonsen.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
🔥 POSTDOC POSITIONS ON CHILDREN'S POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION 🔥 Wanna understand young people's beliefs about political leadership, politics, and power? Then this is your chance! I'm looking for two 2-year postdocs to join my ERC-funded research project @au.dk international.au.dk/about/profil...
international.au.dk
2 two-year postdocs on children’s political socialization at Aarhus University - Vacancy at Aarhus University
Vacancy at Department of Political Science, Aarhus University
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Viki Lyngby Hvid @vikipedersen.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
🌟 POSTDOC CALL 🌟 Join the experimental-philosophical research project "Paternalism and Discrimination: Moral Dilemmas in Combatting Group Inequalities" funded by Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond. Application deadline: 1 March 2026 international.au.dk/about/profil...
international.au.dk
Postdoctoral position in experimental-philosophical project on paternalism and discrimination at Aarhus University - Vacancy at Aarhus University
Vacancy at Department of Political Science, Aarhus University
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Michael Bang Petersen @m-b-petersen.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
New paper in @pnas.org: www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1... Coupling surveys of ~8% of the adult Danish population & results of 123 million covid-tests, we show that psychological feelings of coping lowered infection risk. Feelings of fear did not. Authorities should empower people, not scare them.
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Alexander Schakowski @alexschakowski.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Very happy to see our ice-fishing paper on the cover of @science.org this week! 🎣🎉 We tracked large groups of Finnish competitive ice-fishers to study how social foragers use social information when searching for resources. 🐟 Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... (contact me for open access)
science.org
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UM_EHAP @umehap.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Help recognize people who have gone above and beyond in communicating and countering misinformation about human evolutionary science by nominating them for the 2026 Evolution in the Public Eye award! Self-nominations allowed too. Deadline extended until February 7th! forms.gle/VXJgczHA1irD...
forms.gle
EPE 2026 Award Nominations
Nominations for the University of Michigan's Evolution & Human Adaptation Program award: Evolution in the Public Eye Nomination deadline: January 31, 2026 Award Description: This award honors outsta...
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Morteza Dehghani @mdehghani.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
How do resource fears (realistic threat) vs. value clashes (symbolic threat) drive war & peace? We built a virtual society of 25 autonomous agents using the Park et al. (2023) framework to find out, using a "minimal groups" paradigm (Group A vs. B). But first, we looked under the hood. 🧠
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Jan P. Vogler @janvogler.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
🚨 3-Year Postdoc in Political Science at Aarhus University 🚨 I’m seeking to recruit a postdoc for my @erc.europa.eu research project 𝑬𝑸𝑼𝑰𝑳𝑰𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑼𝑴 on state-citizen interactions. Link and more information in second post. Position Start: Fall 2026 Application Deadline: ‼️ February 5, 2026, 23:59 CET ‼️
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Andrea Vik @andreavik.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
New preprint with @alexgalvezpol.bsky.social, Sohee Park & @mtsakiris.bsky.social : 🔗 osf.io/preprints/ps... Key takeaways: 🎨 Political emotions create distinct embodied signatures ⚖️ These bodily patterns shift with ideology. 🗳️ The embodied impact of political emotions predicts participation
osf.io
OSF
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Pantelis P. Analytis @pantelispa.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
I am hiring a postdoc for a DFF-funded project on social influence, and the decision processes that fuel rich-get-richer dynamics in the online/offline world. The position is for up to a year, competitive Danish salary, remote work possible. Interested or know somebody? DM me or share!
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Michael Bang Petersen @m-b-petersen.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Four (!) three-year postdoc positions available at @au.dk: international.au.dk/about/profil... Join an incredible team & help understand the psychological & political implications of the clash between high-speed society & slow-speed democracy. Please share! @tboeggild.bsky.social can help with Qs
international.au.dk
Four three-year postdoctoral positions in the project Slow-Motion Democracy - Vacancy at Aarhus University
Vacancy at Department of Political Science, Aarhus University
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Jin X. Goh | 吴晋勋 @jinxungoh.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
On election day, I wanna announce that I am recruiting social psych PhD students for my lab at UIC. My lab focuses on racial identities (esp Asian, Latino, MENA Americans) and intra-minority conflict/ coalition. So please tell your students to pick me! All details on my website: www.pbandjlab.com
iconic scene from Grey's Anatomy. Meredith Grey in scrub telling Derek "so pick me, choose me, love me"
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Wilson Merrell @wnmerrell.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
New work on resource possession + hierarchy regulation! Do the faces on the left and right look different to you? They were generated using a reverse correlation task by UK ps asked to visualize “poor people”: 🟩 Generated by egalitarians (low SDO) 🟥 Generated by anti-egalitarians (high SDO)
Two sets of faces bounded by a green box (left) and a red box (right). Faces in the left, green box were generated by egalitarians, faces in the right, red box were generated by anti-egalitarians
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Annie Wertz @anniewertz.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
I’m recruiting #PhD students to join my Lab for Infant Learning and Cognition (LILAC) at @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social! We study how infants learn about the natural world from others 🌱 If you’re interested in #devpsych, #EvPsych, and #infantstudies, please reach out and apply! More info below (1/2)
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Darwin A. Guevarra @darwinguevarra.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
I will be reviewing graduate student applications in the Social Psychology Area at Miami University for the 2025–2026 application cycle (Ph.D. start date: Fall 2026). Learn more about the Affective Science & Psychophysiology Lab and how to apply on the “Join Us” tab at www.darwinguevarra.com
darwinguevarra.com
Affective Science and Psychophysiology Lab
The Affective Science and Psychophysiology Lab at Miami University aims to understand affective processes, ways to regulate them, and their impact on psychological and physical health.
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Wilson Merrell @wnmerrell.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
Kicking off #SESP2025 in Lisbon by co-chairing (with Julia Buzan) a symposium bright and early Friday morning! Come by Roma I at 8:30am to hear about new work on resource ecologies, behavior, and intergroup relations from Julia, @dedreu.bsky.social, Oliver Sng, and me.
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Catherine Molho @cmolho.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
🚨New paper led by Lei Fan, with Florian van Leeuwen, @hirotakaimada.bsky.social, and @joshtybur.bsky.social, out in Cognition & Emotion: 🔗 doi.org/10.1080/0269... In two preregistered studies from Japan 🇯🇵 , we find that anger relates to confrontation while disgust to gossip and social exclusion.
doi.org
Linking anger and disgust to motives and anticipations of aggression in the East: testing a socio-functional account of moral emotions in Japan
Anger and disgust often underlie responses to social transgressions, yet their links to aggressive punishments have been primarily studied in Western populations. Across two studies sampling from J...
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Julia M. Smith @julia-m-smith.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
If you could win a prize by guessing the number on a die 🎲 hidden under a cup, would you want to guess before the die was rolled, or after? The odds of winning are the same in both, but they can feel different. 🧵
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Ryan Lei @ryanlei.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
New paper accepted at JEP:G with @sakierahudson.bsky.social, Brandon Kinsler, & former students Ian Davis and Alissa Vandenbark! Come for the opening Aladdin quote, stay for a developmental perspective on SDO! osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io
OSF
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Nick Camp @ncamp.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
New from @ara-eunkyung.bsky.social + me: social psychologists are often interested in space, but have to choose between abstractions at high levels of geography or images taken with limited geographic scope. We identify a tool to sample space at scale: mapping platforms, such as Google Street View.
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Jin X. Goh | 吴晋勋 @jinxungoh.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
Just found out I can put this gif on my lab website so this is gonna be a game changer 😂 Anyway I will be reviewing PhD applications for UIC social-personality psych area to start in Fall 2026, so please let your students know. More info on my website: www.pbandjlab.com/team
media.tenor.com
a cartoon of homer simpson and bart simpson sitting on a couch with the words join us above them .
Alt: a cartoon of homer simpson and bart simpson sitting on a couch with the words join us above them .
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Viki Lyngby Hvid @vikipedersen.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: CEPDISC’25 Conference on Discrimination September 24-26, 2025 Horsens, Denmark The conference brings together researchers working on discrimination from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Deadline for abstract submission is 15 May. See the website for more info:
ps.au.dk
CEPDISC'25 Conference on Discrimination
13th Annual Conference of the Comparative Agendas Project (CAP) at Aarhus University.
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Wilson Merrell @wnmerrell.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
From fancy cars 🚗 to luxury vacations 🏖️, people often show off how they spend their money. In new work with @joshackman.bsky.social, we find that how this flashy behavior is perceived depends on WHAT purchases are being shown off. 🧵on conspicuous consumption, experiences, and status signals (1/7)
Screenshotted title and abstract from this paper: https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672251331658
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Mathias Kruse @matkruse.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
🚨New article🚨 Why does the ethnic majority expect that ethnic minorities "free ride" and contribute less to the collective? In a new article in @bjpols.bsky.social, I show that negative expectations are driven by the correlates of ethnicity rather than ethnicity itself 🧵👇 OA-link: cup.org/4lOX7jN
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British Journal of Political Science @bjpols.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
NEW - The Correlates of Ethnicity: Why the Ethnic Majority Expects That Ethnic Minorities Contribute Less to the Collective - cup.org/4lOX7jN - @matkruse.bsky.social #OpenAccess
BJPolS societal views towards immigrants and ethnic minorities in Europe, focusing on resource contribution and compliance with societal norms. The text discusses a study in Denmark regarding information manipulation and its effects on societal perceptions.
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Charley Wu @thecharleywu.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
🙌 Hot off the presses @natcomms.nature.com! We created a custom #Minecraft environment to study a long-standing puzzle in cognitive science: How do humans flexibly adapt their individual and social learning strategies in dynamic, realistic situations? Check it out 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵👇
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Kristina Bakkær Simonsen @kristinabsimonsen.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
💥Postdoc call 💥 Join my @erc.europa.eu project #YOPOW at Aarhus University 🎇 3-y position (possibility of 1-y extension) ❓How societal norms give rise to biased beliefs about political power in youth 🤖 Computational social science (large-scale text & image data) Deadline May 15: bit.ly/4hIpSeD
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Jin X. Goh | 吴晋勋 @jinxungoh.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Here's a new preprint from my lab. My student and I ran the first study in our last year at Colby, and I finally got around to running follow-up studies. Trying to write about race and racism in the midst of everything is definitely something... Hopefully this will fare well in the review process...
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Ashley J Coventry @ashleyjcoventry.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
🚨New paper! I tackle a confound in mate preference research: Are preferences & standards driven by one's own sex or target sex? Two studies show preferences are (mostly) driven by own sex, but overall standards are driven by target sex. Full paper: doi.org/10.1177/0956... #MatePreferences #Research
doi.org
Deconfounding Sex and Sex of Partner in Mate-Preference Research - Ashley J. Coventry, Selina Mixner, Benjamin Gelbart, Kathryn V. Walter, Daniel Conroy-Beam, Tamsin C. German, 2025
Much of the previous research examining sex differences in human mate preferences has relied exclusively on heterosexual participants. Consequently, prior work ...
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Juliane Degner @julianedegner.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
🧵1/4 Excited to celebrate Anna Huang‘s first first-authored paper just published in EJSP. 🥳 In this theoretical article, Anna explores how Social Identity Theory (SIT) and Self-Categorization Theory (SCT) apply to individuals with Mixed racial-ethnic identities.
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Marjorie Prokosch @mlprokosch.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Next up, @joshackman.bsky.social reminded us that disease remains a potent threat post-pandemic, and has been throughout human history - to the point that we’ve got psychological mechanisms dedicated to preventing and coping with it. (1/5) #EPatSPSP2025 #SPSP2025
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Wilson Merrell @wnmerrell.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Whether we're foraging for food or hunting for houses, humans expect resources to be clumped. What are the implications of this'patchiness psychology' for intergroup relations? Excited to share new geospatial approaches tackling this❓at #SPSP2025 this week--stop by and say hi if you're in town!
Presentation title, time, and location. Mapping conflict: How spatial resource patchiness shapes perceptions of territoriality. Thursday 20 February 2025, 9:15 - 10:00. Blueburd ballroomPresentation title, time, and location. Patchy resource ecologies can evoke intergroup conflict. Thursday February 20, 16:30 - 17:00. Four seasons ballroom
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Chayce Baldwin @chaycebaldwin.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Fun fact I just learned: 30+ countries invest *more than $500M* to fight loneliness and social isolation—but what do we actually know about their global health risks? Not much. Join us at SPSP next Saturday, where we tackle this question with data from 350,000 people across 58 nations:
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Michael W. Kraus @mwkraus.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
I wrote a little reflection on objectivity and diversity in science. Could be useful if you are teaching research methods, as is the companion paper on objectivity interrogation. communities.springernature.com/posts/in-sci...
communities.springernature.com
In science and in backlash, identities matter
In this political moment, anti-science and anti-diversity social forces are resurgent, and they threaten diversity within our disciplines. In this reflection, I discuss why diversity matters by summa...
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Jennifer Sheehy-Skeffington @jsskeffington.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
If you'd like living in the Middle East and looking at the world from a different angle, check out and share these ads for Postdoctoral Fellow (2-yr renewable: apply.interfolio.com/160826) and Lab Manager (1-yr renewable: apply.interfolio.com/160827) and help me build up the Societal Psychology Lab!
apply.interfolio.com
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
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Jennifer Sheehy-Skeffington @jsskeffington.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Starter pack of people I share a research group with who are studying decision-making in contexts of adversity go.bsky.app/CN2PKvY
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Mathias Kruse @matkruse.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Does childhood exposure to coethnics impede or promote the acquisition of citizenship? In a new article in @pnas.org, I show that the modest presence of coethnic peers in school increases migrant children’s probability of getting 🇩🇰 citizenship later in life. 🧵👇 1/15 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
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Josh Ackerman @joshackman.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Feeling a bit ingroupy these days? A little open to extreme punishments for certain crimes? A little down on sibling incest? Maybe living near family (or seeing them at the holidays) is shaping your psychology. New paper on the ecology of relatedness: psycnet.apa.org/record/2025-...
psycnet.apa.org
APA PsycNet
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