It's International Fact-Checking Day!
Here's an old article from me about why we generally stink at fact-checking and the important role that professional fact-checkers serve in the information ecosystem.
theconversation.com/why-you-stin...
When you collect data online, are the results from humans or AI? In a project led by Booth PhD student Grace Zhang, we estimate the prevalence of AI agents on commonly used survey platforms:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
🧵
I'm a cognitive scientist with an interest in epistemic vigilance, and this essay that's been going around gave me pause.
I don't think it's straightforward to apply the concept of epistemic vigilance to interactions with LLMs, as this essay does.
🧵/
sbgeoaiphd.github.io/rotating_the...
New poll: In 2024, low-engagement voters went for Trump over Harris by 11 percentage points. But now they disapprove of the way he's handling the presidency by 13. They have moved 25 points against Trump — 2x as large as the shift for high-knowledge voters www.gelliottmorris.com/p/trump-lost...
Yesterday, I awoke to news of another ICE killing in MN. On Bluesky, the conversation was deeply critical of ICE. But I wanted to see how things were going on X. Surprisingly, the attempts there to blame the victim weren't getting as much traction as I suspected. So I wrote a thing.
My first registered replication report, study on the illusory truth effect, and study published in PB&R with @lkfazio.bsky.social ‼️Preprint here: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Previous research found that the illusory truth effect was smaller for conspiracy statements than for trivia statements...
Ranking categories found on a recommendation portal for a PhD program. It reads: Top 5%: Applicant is exceptional in this category and is among the best I've collaborated with in my career Top 10%: Applicant has demonstrated consistent excellence and has performed well above the average of their peers in this category Top 25%: Applicant has consistently performed above the average of their peers in this category Top Half: Applicant has consistently performed at an average level or midpoint of their peer group's performance in this category Bottom Half: Applicant has consistently performed below the average of their peers in this category No Basis for Judgement: I have not interacted with the applicant in a manner that allows me to fairly assess their competency in this category
Begging PhD programs to agree on a common app with only letters of rec that writers upload once. These inane likert scales when students are applying to 15-20 programs is destroying my soul
🚨New WP🚨
Dialogues with our AI DebunkBot:
✔️Reduced belief in antisemitic conspiracy theories among believers
✔️Effect durable at 1+ month
✔️Improved attitudes towards Jews among initially negative participants
🟰Debunking works for deeply rooted, identity-linked conspiracies
osf.io/preprints/ps...
If you’re at #psynom25, stop by my lab’s posters and talks!
today 12 - 1:30 PM:
Jae counters the assumption that demand for political fact-checks is low (167)
@katie-allen.bsky.social finds that while repetition inflates many judgments, it doesn’t always create an illusion of creativity (168)
stop by my #psynom25 poster and learn what happens when ostracism (Cyberball) meets fake news ❤️🔥
"While high-quality content is posted more and receives more total engagement across platforms...a given author attracts higher levels of engagement when they post lower-quality content"
"pattern we find seems to be driven more by an underperformance of particularly popular high-quality outlets"
Am I reading this correctly?
A grad student ... in Computer Science ... enrolled in an undergraduate seminar ... in the American Indian and Indigenous Studies program ... where he ignored the readings and hijacked discussions to talk about Israel and defend its actions in Gaza?
What the hell?
Excerpt from the proposed 2026 NOAA Budget, showing the total funding for climate research reduced from $220 million per year to $0.
The proposed NOAA budget for 2026 contains the literal line:
Total, Climate Research: $0
www.commerce.gov/sites/defaul...
Not sure what to do about the fact that this country’s latest illegal war is being waged by a presidential administration that consists, top to bottom, of people who lie about everything, all the time
Here is a 9-min high-level summary of my group's work on using GPT4 to debunking conspiracies. "I've been accused of being an AI optimist. But really I'm an AI pragmatist..." www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHD2...
it will take years to rebuild from the damage that is being done today to the NSF pipeline that supports so so many germinal experiences for students and trainees. 💔
Exclusive: National Science Foundation staff were told today that the agency’s 37 divisions—across all eight directorates—are being abolished and the number of programs within those divisions will be drastically reduced.
Had a chat about “debunkbot” and the research supporting it on CBS Mornings yesterday!
www.cbsnews.com/video/ai-cha...
The Spencer Foundation is offering rapid response bridge funding for those who lost NSF research grants.
www.spencer.org/grant_types/...
this is batshit
Update: I have been able to confirm grants worth ~$6M were terminated but think the total may be as high as $94M.
If you or your colleagues got a termination letter, considering responding to the form. You can do so anonymously.
Me: someday my research will be mentioned in the opening paragraph of a New York Times article!
Also me: hmmm should have been more specific.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/s...
This statement from the NSF is insane.
Science is, in essence, designed to separate the true from the false.
Understanding how falsehoods spread is key to the scientific endeavor. It is not a violation of free speech to be proven wrong.
I got an email yesterday afternoon that my NSF SPRF Postdoctoral Fellowship was terminated. My grant focused on testing interventions to address online misinformation and I was 8 months into a two year appointment.
Northwestern just announced that the university will meet the funding needs of any research that is being impacted by stop orders. LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOO! #edusky #academicsky
wgntv.com/evanston/nor...
Does the culture you grow up in shape the way you see the world? In a new Psych Review paper, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & I tackle this centuries-old question using the Müller-Lyer illusion as a case study. Come think through one of history's mysteries with us🧵(1/13):
If you’re at #psynom24, check out my lab’s posters today!
Katie finds that while repetition inflates many judgments, it doesn’t create an illusion of creativity (12-1:30 PM; 5168)
And @phuchuynhle.bsky.social counters the intuition that ostracized people share more fake news (6-7:30 PM; 6062)
Check out @dfreelon.bsky.social's piece in our special issue on the Psychology of Misinformation www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti.... He theorizes that prejudice and conspiracy theory belief both share similar precursors (right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, need for closure)
Abstract
🚨New WP🚨
Field experiments with 33 million FB users & 75k Twitter users: Ads prompting users to think about accuracy reduce misinformation sharing!
Accuracy prompts offer platforms a content-neutral approach that is scalable and preservers user autonomy osf.io/preprints/ps...