Tomorrow is the deadline for our VAP position! Feel free to share with anyone who might be interested in joining our department ☺️

Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology at Warren Wilson Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina, welcomes applications for a Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology for the 2026–27 academic year. We seek candidates with a background in devel...

Warren Wilson College is Hiring! 🐻🌲🌈

WWC is looking for a Visiting Assistant Professor in Psychology starting in Aug. 2026! Applicants must be able to offer courses in Developmental Psych & Intro Psych.

Interested? See the link below for more info:
warren-wilson.breezy.hr/p/20d6c142d8...

Excited to share that our lab will be presenting multiple projects at SPSP 2026!

If you’re interested in social perception, race talk, intergroup dynamics, or collective action — come check us out!

#SPSP2026 #SocialPsychology #PersonalityPsychology #AcademicResearch #RaceTalk

🚨🚨 My lab is hiring a Postdoc! 🚨🚨

Postdoc opening in my lab at Harvard Psych (start: Summer/Fall 2026).

We study identity, group dynamics, language, & politics.

Rolling review begins 3/14
Apply: academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/15806

Please repost + tag folks who might be a good fit! 👇

SPSP 2026 Student Mentoring Sessions Sign-ups are open for the SPSP Student Committee’s 1-Hour Mentoring Events at the SPSP 2026 Annual Convention! Sign up today for the best availability. Do you want to meet an expert in the field for s...

Are you a student coming to @spspnews.bsky.social? Sign up for the mentoring sessions on Friday & Saturday! I will be there chatting about how to "Deal with 'toxic' people in grad school: maintaining professional relationships" on Saturday ☺️ www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D44A8...

Excited to share that former SAMC Lab grad student @dymoral.bsky.social has accepted a postdoc at @cornellbctr.bsky.social. He'll be studying purpose, identity, and well-being among adolescents and adults. Sad not to have Daniel in the lab anymore & also very excited for his new adventure! 🎉🎉🎉

For folks interested in applying to work with me as a grad student, see below for:

More info about SBU's Cognitive Science PhD program: www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/psyc...

More info about my lab and work: rmpillai.com

Resources for Trans Youth In North Dakota In North Dakota, HB1254 bans best-practice healthcare for transgender youth, making hormone therapy, puberty-delaying medication, and surgery inaccessible in North Dakota for any trans person until th...

Yesterday, families of transgender children in ND lost their lawsuit against our anti-gender-affirming care law. If you are able, consider supporting this (or any other) organization that will help them get the care they need to thrive as themselves. southernequality.org/nd/

I clearly thrive under pressure 😅

Thank you Mikey!! ☺️

Thanks Ben!!

I am beyond excited to officially announce that I have accepted a TT Assistant Professor of Psychology position at Warren Wilson College. The next 3 weeks will be filled with packing and last minute Hawaiʻi adventures before we make our way to Asheville, North Carolina!

The Association of Religion Data Archives (@religiondata.bsky.social) is one of the central programs of the Center. The ARDA contains more than 90 learning modules on religion data, including notable topics such as religious views on homosexuality. Learn more at www.thearda.com/categories/t....

🎓🌈🌺🥰

Dissertation Dedication:

“I wrote a song for all those nice little Jewish kids who don't get to hear any Chanukah songs”

Adam Sandler, Chanukah song, Saturday Night Live December 3, 1994

Full circle moment as I reread Many Forms of Culture (Cohen, 2009) and found notes written in from the summer before I started grad school about Religious v. Cultural Jews — next week I defend my dissertation focused on understanding different facets of Jewish Identity.

Had a great time at @spspnews.bsky.social this past week! Every year, I leave the conference reminded why I love my work and academic support system so much — even with 7 inches of unexpected snow ❄️❄️❄️

By pawpular request, I've migrated over to this other side! Please help me find my furriends on here and tell them to follow me. Woof!

Sharing my posters from the religion pre-con and opening poster session at @spspnews.bsky.social

I presented some of my Jewish ID diss. results and a side project about religion and political beliefs!

Also, shameless plug, I am on the post-doc market if you are looking for a post-doc! :)

SPSP 2025 Student Mentoring Sessions Sign-ups are open for the SPSP Student Committee’s 1-Hour Mentoring Events at the SPSP 2025 Annual Convention! Sign up today for the best availability. Do you want to meet an expert in the field for s...

Are you an undergrad/early grad student Coming to SPSP in Denver and want to chat about how to pick a Thesis or Dissertation topic? Sign up using the link below for my mentoring session on Saturday the 22nd at 9:30! (I am table #20)

www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D44A8...

list of banned keywords

🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.

The cover of the book Parable of the Sower.

Cannot stop thinking about how Octavia Butler wrote a book in 1993 about climate change. It opens with deadly fires in LA in 2025. In the story, a fascist President has just won office with the campaign slogan "Make America Great Again."

She was a modern day Nostradamus. If only we'd listened.

Flier to participate in a study. Blue background with a white box containing the following text in blue: The Culture and religion lab at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa is conducting a study: Perceptions of Jewish Identity We are recruiting volunteers who... Personally Identify as Jewish Open to all observance levels including non-practicing/secular Converted OR at least 1 Jewish parent Are 18 or older Were born and raised in the U.S. Volunteers will complete a 15-20 minute online survey at their own convenience. The purpose of this study is to understand how perceptions about different Jewish identities may vary. All answers will be confidential and anonymized. To participate go to: https://manoahawaiiss.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9EuidMsZvObRRHM For more information email: JIDStudy@hawaii.edu

Officially running the last of my dissertation surveys! If you are eligible please consider taking this survey :)

Feel free to share with others who are interested in participating!

manoahawaiiss.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Hard to believe my first day in the Balas Lab was 10 years ago this June 🤯

I appreciated the opportunity to bridge my topics from undergraduate work in cognitive science with @bjbalas.bsky.social with my PhD work in social psychology, culture, and religion! :)

Throughout, our commentary discusses the cyclical nature of an individual's cognition, their individual cultural and religious factors (e.g., denomination, beliefs), and their broader religious and cultural environment (e.g., social-norms of religion within a particular culture).

Building upon the call by John Teehan in the Target Article, we discuss the importance of taking a variety of cultural and religious experiences into consideration when conducting psychology research, and particularly cognitive psychology.

Integrating culture into the cognitive science of religion Published in Religion, Brain & Behavior (Ahead of Print, 2024)

Ending the year with my commentary with Joni officially in press! Check out this special issue focused on The Cognitive Science of Religion and our commentary titled "Integrating culture into the cognitive study of religion" 🧵

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Picture of an adult cat that is mostly black with a little white tuft of fur on her chest and greenish-yellow eyes. She is sitting inside of a cardboard cat house that has snowflakes and red and white stripes. The full house (outside of the view of the image) is in the shape of a gift box and she is sitting inside the arch shaped cut out on the bottom which is a cardboard scratching post material. The cat house is on a top of a purple and white crocheted blanket.

Starting winter break off early with picking up our newest foster cat, Beerus from the Hawaiian humane society! She is around a year old and will be with us for a few weeks as she recovers from femur surgery. She will be our 23rd foster since starting in 2022!

Two small to medium sized dogs laying on a rug on the floor. The dog on the left is white with tan patches and is wearing a collar that is teal with little sushi cartoon drawings. She is sitting with her head up looking at the camera. The dog on the right is all brown with big ears that stick up. He is laying with his paws crossed and his head laying on top of his paws and he is looking away from the camera towards the dog on the left.

So sorry for your loss! Sending a cute pet pic your way — Addie (left) and Garu (right)