Nothing ever dies. It merely becomes embarrassing. OR: the Halo theory of science

Theories Don't Die!

Excellent post by @mastroianni.bsky.social on the futility of trying to kill off scientific theories.

#MetaSci #PhilSci

One of my favorites paper got published 🤓 It covers a lot of ground and it’s the best summary of my views on misinformation and what to do about it. Give it a read :)

🔓 osf.io/preprints/ps...
👉 doi.org/10.1177/1461...

Nederland is nergens op voorbereid. Niet op extreem weer. Niet op dreiging China en de VS. Niet op genocide Israël. En waarom niet? Omdat politici hier al jaren druk zijn met vermeende/verzonnen crises rond asielzoekers, vluchtelingen, moslims en immigranten.

Two years of live-streamed genocide and now this. Just horrifying levels of depravity.

Who holds the banner ‘Never Again’?

New research by @hakancakmak.bsky.social and Al-Amine, M. in the UK & US shows that citizens apply double standards when judging police treatment of Jewish protesters—depending entirely on the protester's stance towards Israel and the observer's own ideology. 🧵👇

⁉️ Are anti-immigration people really "sexually modern"?

No

⁉️ Are people more supportive of anti-immigration platforms when these also include progressive positions on gender and sexuality?

Also no

I explore these questions w/ 🇬🇧🇩🇪 original survey data (+ a conjoint in 🇩🇪)

👉 osf.io/preprints/so...

Reform politician Matt Goodwin forced to defend new book after using AI Former candidate for Nigel Farage’s party lost the Gorton and Denton by-election last month

I took his lectures during my master’s. Classes were often cut short, and there was limited engagement with students’ questions. Still, the syllabus included strong readings on populism.

So the takeaway: always read the syllabus and don’t "outsource" it.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

PhD Position: Factual Belief Polarisation and its Attitudinal Consequences | Radboud University Do you want to work as a PhD at the Nijmegen School of Management? Check our vacancy!

🚨 Job alert! 🚨

We are looking for a PhD candidate for my Vidi project on factual belief polarization and its attitudinal consequences.

The position will be at the Department of Political Science of Radboud University (Netherlands). Check out the full job profile below!

www.ru.nl/en/working-a...

Thanks for the post, Mark!

PhD Position: Factual Belief Polarisation and its Attitudinal Consequences | Radboud University Do you want to work as a PhD at the Nijmegen School of Management? Check our vacancy!

PhD Position on Factual Belief Polarisation at Rahoud University, The Netherlands with @roderikrekker.bsky.social, @hakancakmak.bsky.social, @bojanaveckalov.bsky.social, and Carolien van Ham.

#PhDSky #PsychJobs #SocialPsyc polipsy

Conceptualizing and Measuring Support for Collective Violence Although collective violence remains a pervasive issue affecting many societies today, the specific psychological mechanisms underlying individual differences in support for collective violence are r...

Out now and open access! A new scale to gauge support for intergroup violence, including in (post-)conflict settings. With @ramziabouismail.bsky.social, @alekscichocka.bsky.social, @hakancakmak.bsky.social, @samicoksan.bsky.social, and Nikhil Sengupta onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... 🧵

My final PhD work has been accepted for publication in GPIR.

The main takeaway in plain terms: to mobilise people against transgressive leaders, it may be better to clearly emphasise how similar these leaders are to their followers, instead of, e.g., calling them Nazis.

Hit me up for the preprint.

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

Solidarity With Palestinians in Germany and the United Kingdom: The Distinctiveness of Beliefs, Emotions, and Attitudes for Third-Party Solidarity in Democratic, Yet Issue-Specific Repressive Contexts
New from @schreiber-julia.bsky.social

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

It's not hypocrisy, it's capitalism.

The bizarre behaviour of Western states and leaders often seems to betray a moral double standard. But in fact it is all perfectly consistent with a single standard, namely, the objective of maintaining the conditions for capital accumulation in the core.

This is hilarious! 😂 Thanks, Søren!

Great headline!

Together with @spyasin.bsky.social, we also have a lovely chapter on the Clarks' doll studies. I am grateful to Yasin for including me in this project, and thank Jolanda and Hema for bringing an amazing group of people together under the roof of this great contribution.

Introducing our edited book, Political Psychology: Revisiting the Classic Studies! @jolanda-jetten.bsky.social
Each chapter considers an influential early study in the field with a fresh perspective. Published by SAGE: au.sagepub.com/en-gb/anz/po...

A Two-Tier System of Protest Policing Data reveals disparate treatment of peaceful climate activists versus violent far-right agitators.

Data reveals disparate treatment of peaceful climate activists versus violent far-right agitators.

Richest 0.001% Now Own Three Times More Wealth Than Poorest Half of Humanity Combined | Common Dreams A landmark report on global inequality shows that the chasm between the richest slice of humanity and everyone else continued to expand this year

This is a long-term problem for both the economy and democracy, particularly as long as center-left parties refuse to introduce measures that will RADICALLY redistribute wealth.

Politicoloog Arend Lijphart: ‘De VS waren nooit echt democratisch’ Politicologie: Arend Lijphart (89) is de belangrijkste Nederlandse politicoloog aller tijden. Hij werd bekend door zijn werk over de verzuiling, maar vanuit zijn huis in San Francisco volgt hij nu voo...

"Volgens Lijpharts eigen werk is de huidige Amerikaanse situatie gevaarlijk: een zeer gepolariseerd land waar elites geen compromissen sluiten. Een presidentieel systeem, met veel macht bij een persoon, leidt bovendien sneller tot democratische achteruitgang."

www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...

Minority Power

"Marginalized groups develop sophisticated alternative conceptualizations of power as collective resistance, cultural preservation and mutual aid that enable transformation despite structural disadvantages."

#SocialPsyc

New working paper about a question that’s been a splinter in my brain for years – and I know I’m not alone: can researchers draw conclusions about “belief in conspiracy theories” while our research samples consist mostly of people who reject such beliefs? 1/10

link: osf.io/preprints/ps...

I cannot agree more with this statement, unfortunately.

Is academic research becoming too competitive? Nature examines the data Applications for European research grants increased in 2025. Scientists say they’re feeling the competition.

A good reading for a reality check
👇👇👇

"Success rates for Europe’s leading research grants are declining — some to single percentage points — as a surge in applications far outweighs the funds available."

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Extremism at the center: Uncovering political diversity among midpoint responders on the left–right self‐placement item The midpoint of the left-right self-placement item is hiding important political diversity, and may be conflating moderate responders with populists and other political sub-groups. Survey researchers...

Extremely pleased to see this work published! Thank you so much to my excellent collaborators @fmsmallfield.bsky.social @scicomguy.bsky.social @srhastraea.bsky.social @lingtax.bsky.social @mdmarques.com @matthewmatix.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Postdoctoral Fellow in Political Science (3-4 years) (288628) | University of Oslo Job title: Postdoctoral Fellow in Political Science (3-4 years) (288628), Employer: University of Oslo, Deadline: Monday, November 17, 2025

We are hiring PhDs and postdocs to work on the ERC project GETGOV, where I am the PI.

We will investigate governing elites since 1789. I am sure that it will be a lot of fun and result in great research!

Postdocs: www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

PhDs: www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

Takeaway from PhD years: Publishing good papers doesn’t make someone a solid researcher. Academia has many big names and rising stars, hence plenty of room for disappointment: many talk about making the world a better place but, deep down, care merely about their own prestige through their actions.

What a ‘Spiral of Silence’ Can Do to a Democracy Protests show people they are not alone in caring about an issue.

“The fact that organized protest can break the spiral of silence, and correct our impressions of what other Americans think, is one of the most immediate and important values of protesting in the first place. Scientists have [shown] protests update our impressions of what other citizens believe.”

Perhaps I should've posted this earlier — fundamental attribution error 🥳