Title page of our paper, “The Politics of Black Classification: Sociopolitical Cues and Racial Perception,” with Lauren Davenport (Stanford) and Hunter Rendleman (UC Berkeley), dated April 14, 2026. Abstract: What makes someone Black in American society today? From Donald Trump questioning Kamala Harris’s racial identity to Joe Biden’s claim that hesitant Black voters “ain’t Black,” American politics frequently brings questions of racial authenticity and belonging to the surface. Yet political science often approaches race as a fixed attribute rather than a social construction. Here, we seek to understand how Americans define blackness in social and political life. Using a conjoint experiment with a racially diverse sample that includes Black, white, and mixed race Black-white respondents, we evaluate how ascribed and acquired traits influence perceptions of blackness. The results show that inherited characteristics—particularly parentage and skin tone, which are the strongest determinants of racial classification—play a central role, while sociopolitical cues such as partisanship, neighborhood context, and spousal race also influence racial classification. Using a continuous measure, we also show that respondents make graded assessments of blackness rather than purely binary classifications, with some individuals perceived as more Black than others. Black respondents are more likely than white respondents to classify a broader set of profiles as Black, consistent with a more inclusive understanding of racial membership, yet they also place greater emphasis on shared political identity. These findings clarify how racial categories are socially constructed and why that construction carries real political and social consequences.

Our paper, “The Politics of Black Classification: Sociopolitical Cues and Racial Perception” (w/ Lauren Davenport & @hrendleman.bsky.social), has been conditionally accepted at Perspectives on Politics!

Sharing abstract below. Long time coming, but we are really proud of this paper.

More soon!

Weird day today with no meetings because the NSF SBE panel I would have been serving on was canceled.

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...

He recorded 10,000 concerts on tape. Now they’re streaming for free The music collection of a 59-year-old Chicago man who attended more than 10,000 concerts and recorded them on cassette tapes is slowly being digitized and released online for free.

The music collection of a 59-year-old Chicago man who attended more than 10,000 concerts and recorded them on cassette tapes is slowly being digitized and released online for free.

Opinion | Beware conservatives promoting “intellectual freedom” Victor Ray: This conservative lie about schools like mine is furthering authoritarianism

Making tenure count, for MSNOW I wrote about my employer, The University of Iowa, creating a center for intellectual freedom. It's a reactionary project built on decades of conservative propaganda about higher ed.

Filmmakers Take Hard Look at New College Documentarians and students spent three years working on a film about changes at the New College of Florida. Filmmakers discussed the project with Inside Higher Ed.

Students and documentarians spent three years filming the Florida GOP effort to reshape New College of Florida as a conservative institution. I spoke with the filmmakers in this Q&A about the resulting work, "First They Came for My College."

www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

We do now know the NSF is proceeding with dissolving the Social and Behavioral Sciences Division. Congress might reverse it, but it is now already underway. YOU CAN NO LONGER SUBMIT FUNDING PROPOSALS TO SBE. Program officers are being moved to different parts of the agency. Call your Congress member

New preprint! w/Tessa Charlesworth & @williambrady.bsky.social:

The Psychology of Algorithmic Bias

We introduce a psychology-centered framework to specify mechanisms through which human behavior interacts dynamically with AI systems to produce algorithmic bias.

osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/rxu37_v1

Massive budget cuts for US science proposed again by Trump administration Budget proposal would also curb federal payments for scientific publishing.

Concerned about the possible dismantling of the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Directorate of NSF?? www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Find out what's happening and what we can do to protect behavioral science with @fabbs.org Friday April 10th at 1:30 ET. Register at us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

IRiSS Predoctoral Researcher in School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford, California, United States The Stanford Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRiSS) is seeking Predoctoral Researchers to participate in our 2026-2027 cohort. The...

Come join us! We have two research coordinator positions open with the Stanford IRISS predoctoral program, a program designed to mentor students for graduate study:

LEVANTE: careersearch.stanford.edu/jobs/iriss-p...
BabyView: careersearch.stanford.edu/jobs/iriss-p...

(deadline 5/1)

Research Assistant II Company Description: By working at Harvard University, you join a vibrant community that advances Harvard's world-changing mission in meaningful ways, inspires innovation and collaboration, and builds...

🚨🚨 My lab is hiring a Pre-doc Researcher/Lab Manager! 🚨🚨

Full-time pre-doc research opening in my lab at Harvard Psych (start: Summer/Fall 2026).

Review begins April 10
Apply: jobs.smartrecruiters.com/HarvardUnive...

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

Millions used a research website to test their biases. Now the funding has dried up Two local researchers explain why the site matters to their work, and the field of social psychology.

The targeted defunding of science on diversity, equity, & inclusion means that we'll all know less about the world outside our window. @alanyhyu.bsky.social reports on what that looks like at the science nonprofit, Project Implicit (@projectimplicit.bsky.social)

whyy.org/articles/soc...

#polisky the absolute decimation of the social sciences cc @professormusgrave.bsky.social @mcopelov.bsky.social

1/ NEW in Advances in Experimental Social Psychology — our first review of a decade+ of research on understanding & predicting cultural change, with Michael Varnum.
This one is personal. A thread on what we found, what surprised us, and how two kids reading Asimov ended up here. 🧵

Bilbo Baggins looking down at his phone screen, the phone shows him asking ChatGPT “After all, why not? Why shouldn’t I keep it?” ChatGPT responds “You're absolutely right - you found it, it's been with you a long while, and it's only natural to feel fond of something that's served you so well, especially when someone like Gandalf suddenly seems to want it for himself”

I had no idea about this aspect of Hughes' life and work.

This piece is SO GOOD, both as an artifact of what research is, at its best, and as a cautionary tale to those who resist engaging with criticism with at least a somewhat open mind. Thanks for this @kurtjgray.bsky.social! The next time I teach a social science research class, this'll be assigned.

The World Baseball Classic, Team USA, and the war problem On conduct unbecoming.

This is very good: www.pinstripealley.com/yankees-edit... cc: @kevinmkruse.bsky.social

New study. We had adults place historical figures on the left-right ideological spectrum. Folks most often place history's villains (Hitler, Stalin, etc) as extreme examples of their opponents. But they place heroes (Jesus, MLK, Lincoln) are on their own team. 1/4 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Conditionally accepted at the APSR (w/ @scottclifford.bsky.social & @patrickpliu.bsky.social):

Why does political information so often change beliefs but NOT attitudes? We highlight the role of belief relevance, or the extent to which beliefs bear on attitudes.

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

The Contribution of Episodic Memory to Social Cognition Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience invites submissions to a collection on “The Contribution of Episodic Memory to Social Cognition”. Making decisions i

I’m excited to announce a special issue I am guest editing at SCAN with Johanna Jarcho and @maureenritchey.bsky.social on the intersection of memory and social cognition. Find more info here: academic.oup.com/scan/pages/c...

Do You Agree? Do You Strongly Agree? The Effect of the Number of Response Categories on Response Processes and Verification of Substantive Hypotheses Abstract. This study investigates how the number and labeling of response categories in survey scales affect respondent behavior, psychometric properties,

This is consistent with earlier psychometric work that suggests 5-7 is the best response scale options, but good to see that the finding holds up in contemporary research. Also, good to see that labeling scales whether anchored or not has little impact on findings. academic.oup.com/ijpor/articl...

Members of the Social Cognition Lab presented 4 exciting posters at #SPSP2026, all of which are now available via OSF:

I recommend checking out Abhay's (@aalaukik.bsky.social) poster at Computational Psych today (2:45) or Saturday morning (8-9). He's making great progress connecting different measures (e.g., implicit, explicit, behavioroid) with their theorized generative processes. #SPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social

Eva (@egarciaferres.bsky.social) is doing really interesting work informed by multiple literatures and inspired by the times we're living in. Check her thread for where and when to find her on Thursday and Saturday! #SPSP2026

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

Acquiescence Bias and Criterion Validity: Problems and Potential Solutions for Agree-Disagree Scales - Political Behavior Political Behavior - Scholars frequently measure dispositions like populism, conspiracism, racism, and sexism by asking survey respondents whether they agree or disagree with statements...

New w/@scottclifford.bsky.social.

Lots of work uses agree-disagree scales, and a lit review shows these are 1) frequently just measured in one direction (agree = higher trait) and 2) correlated with each other.

This has potentially big issues for conclusions.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Junior faculty- Consider coming to Princeton Psych -all expenses paid- for a few weeks to hang out with my great colleagues! (I can’t host this year, but we have so many great labs to choose from!). Application details below.

Normalize laughing derisively in men's faces when they deserve it.