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

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

…with other less silly implications for wage setting and discount setting

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.

I know I was just being silly. Plus a chance to share red hand fish!

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

But red hand fish exist! (Maybe they have hands, not legs?)

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

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

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...

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

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...

Moral Saurus learns the three goals of philosophy from Preston Stovall YouTube video by Moral Saurus

Moral Saurus learns the three goals of philosophy from Preston Stovall
youtu.be/sZ_Yu9LwhO8

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 $.

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.

“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.

"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"

Very excited to announce that my former PhD student, Scott Danielson, has accepted a faculty position at Lincoln University!

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,”

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...

Can you please add me?

At SASP and just met a very friendly colleague

Thanks!

Please add me, thanks!

MetaROR - Research on Research A platform for open peer review of metaresearch

We are launching MetaROR, a peer review service for research on research, about an hour from now!
researchonresearch.org/project/meta...
You could join us online by registering for our ongoing conference (low free or free) here: agbarnett.github.io/aimos.confer...

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.

Nature Human Behaviour

The effect of seeing scientists as intellectually humble on trust in scientists and their research

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Moral Saurus discovers the secret to human flourishing… don’t eat your young YouTube video by Moral Saurus

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.

You could come give a talk at the University of Canterbury in NZ

Let’s see some cats

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...

www.eurekalert.org/news-release... we discovered a psychological bias toward killing anonymous bystanders in war

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: https://buff.ly/4heeKam

Thanks I’ll look it up

Which book?

Wow this is so reasonable. What a shock that this is shocking

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