Almog Simchon
@almogsi.bsky.social
Assistant Professor at Ben-Gurion University. Computional social psychologist. Studying social media, misinformation, polarization and language
Reposted by Almog Simchon
If you're a psychologist working with text data in R, this package is for you.
Just published in JOSS: 'embedplyr: Tools for Working With Text Embeddings' https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.08262
November 11, 2025 at 7:40 AM
If you're a psychologist working with text data in R, this package is for you.
This project wouldn’t have come together without the amazing team -- Tomer Zipori and @louisteitelbaum.bsky.social for the heavy lifting and computational analysis, @lewan.bsky.social for his insight, and @profsanderlinden.bsky.social whose vision made this possible. Truly grateful for this!
New Bayesian *Meta-Analysis* of Psychological Inoculation Against Misinformation! Open-access 👇Thread! Buckle up
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
✅We find that prebunking interventions improve people's ability to discern between reliable & unreliable news without causing undue skepticism!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
✅We find that prebunking interventions improve people's ability to discern between reliable & unreliable news without causing undue skepticism!
October 28, 2025 at 4:20 PM
This project wouldn’t have come together without the amazing team -- Tomer Zipori and @louisteitelbaum.bsky.social for the heavy lifting and computational analysis, @lewan.bsky.social for his insight, and @profsanderlinden.bsky.social whose vision made this possible. Truly grateful for this!
An opportunity to work with the best!
My lab is looking for a Senior Scientist (= PostDoc with option of permanency)!
We are looking for someone interested in doing cutting-edge computational social science + helping us with data & software engineering 🤓.
See job ad for details jobs.uni-graz.at/en/jobs/7d14...
We are looking for someone interested in doing cutting-edge computational social science + helping us with data & software engineering 🤓.
See job ad for details jobs.uni-graz.at/en/jobs/7d14...
Universität Graz
jobs.uni-graz.at
October 28, 2025 at 10:09 AM
An opportunity to work with the best!
Reposted by Almog Simchon
1/3 New post up! 📝 I took the workhorse 🔧 of binary modeling—logistic regression—and gave it a Bayesian tune-up using a Kaggle SMS-spam dataset.
July 14, 2025 at 7:14 AM
1/3 New post up! 📝 I took the workhorse 🔧 of binary modeling—logistic regression—and gave it a Bayesian tune-up using a Kaggle SMS-spam dataset.
Our new #rstats embeddings tutorial is now published in Psychological Methods! Led by the one and only @louisteitelbaum.bsky.social
New conceptual review + tutorial on text embeddings out in #APA_Journals w/ @almogsi. Beginner-friendly, but experts will find spicy new takes as well. Tag a colleague who’s still counting words... #RStats #tidyverse #quanteda
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June 24, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Our new #rstats embeddings tutorial is now published in Psychological Methods! Led by the one and only @louisteitelbaum.bsky.social
Reposted by Almog Simchon
For my first BlueSky post I want to share this freshly published paper in PNAS @pnas.org!
We show how belief and disbelief shape narrative processing in the brain, not just as opposites of a continuum, but as distinct effects, including a cool truth/belief bias.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
We show how belief and disbelief shape narrative processing in the brain, not just as opposites of a continuum, but as distinct effects, including a cool truth/belief bias.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
June 9, 2025 at 6:57 PM
For my first BlueSky post I want to share this freshly published paper in PNAS @pnas.org!
We show how belief and disbelief shape narrative processing in the brain, not just as opposites of a continuum, but as distinct effects, including a cool truth/belief bias.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
We show how belief and disbelief shape narrative processing in the brain, not just as opposites of a continuum, but as distinct effects, including a cool truth/belief bias.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Almog Simchon
My latest column in Science went up yesterday doi.org/10.1126/scie... . I argue that “Knowledge is power”—or at least it was when Sir Francis Bacon coined this phrase in the 16th century. 1/n
Public health suffers when those in power dismiss knowledge
“Knowledge is power”—or at least it was when Sir Francis Bacon coined this phrase in the 16th century. In today’s world, we frequently encounter a different variant of this philosophy, perhaps best de...
doi.org
June 6, 2025 at 4:17 PM
My latest column in Science went up yesterday doi.org/10.1126/scie... . I argue that “Knowledge is power”—or at least it was when Sir Francis Bacon coined this phrase in the 16th century. 1/n
Reposted by Almog Simchon
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.
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.
April 18, 2025 at 8:51 PM
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.
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.
Only @lewan.bsky.social can distill four years of research into such an insightful 🧵. Proud to have co-authored these works and especially grateful to Segun Aroyehun for leading our latest paper. Collaborated with the fantastic team: @janalasser.bsky.social @fabiocarrella.bsky.social @dgarcia.eu
Honest people don’t lie. Or do they? Liars aren’t honest. Or are they?
One puzzling conundrum in contemporary politics is that politicians who seem to be estranged from facts and evidence are nonetheless considered honest by their followers.
1/n
One puzzling conundrum in contemporary politics is that politicians who seem to be estranged from facts and evidence are nonetheless considered honest by their followers.
1/n
April 10, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Only @lewan.bsky.social can distill four years of research into such an insightful 🧵. Proud to have co-authored these works and especially grateful to Segun Aroyehun for leading our latest paper. Collaborated with the fantastic team: @janalasser.bsky.social @fabiocarrella.bsky.social @dgarcia.eu
Reposted by Almog Simchon
1/6 Hello Bluesky! 👋 Excited to join this community and share my new blog. First post: Using Bayesian hierarchical models to rescue "unreliable" cognitive tasks, with the dot-probe task as my case study. cogpsychreserve.netlify.app/posts/dotpro...
The Dot-Probe Task is Probably Fine – CogPsych Reserve
cogpsychreserve.netlify.app
March 7, 2025 at 9:14 AM
1/6 Hello Bluesky! 👋 Excited to join this community and share my new blog. First post: Using Bayesian hierarchical models to rescue "unreliable" cognitive tasks, with the dot-probe task as my case study. cogpsychreserve.netlify.app/posts/dotpro...
Reposted by Almog Simchon
We are delighted to invite applications for an open-rank, tenure-track position at the developmental psychology track within the Department of Psychology at Ben-Gurion University in Israel.
For more information, follow the link:
bgu-academic-recruitment.my.site.com/Recruiters/V...
For more information, follow the link:
bgu-academic-recruitment.my.site.com/Recruiters/V...
February 7, 2025 at 12:28 PM
We are delighted to invite applications for an open-rank, tenure-track position at the developmental psychology track within the Department of Psychology at Ben-Gurion University in Israel.
For more information, follow the link:
bgu-academic-recruitment.my.site.com/Recruiters/V...
For more information, follow the link:
bgu-academic-recruitment.my.site.com/Recruiters/V...
Reposted by Almog Simchon
My latest column just appeared in Science, entitled "Free speech, fact-checking, and the right to accurate information”. (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) I use one of President Trump’s first executive orders to unpack the terrain between misinformation and claims to free speech 1/n
Free speech, fact checking, and the right to accurate information
True to his campaign promises, on 20 January 2025, US President Donald Trump signed a broad range of Executive Orders, the scope of which ranged from renaming the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America” t...
www.science.org
February 6, 2025 at 7:31 PM
My latest column just appeared in Science, entitled "Free speech, fact-checking, and the right to accurate information”. (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) I use one of President Trump’s first executive orders to unpack the terrain between misinformation and claims to free speech 1/n
Grateful to be a coauthor on this paper led by @fabiocarrella.bsky.social , and part of this terrific team
How politicians communicate shapes online discourse in ways we might overlook.
Our new paper shows that their choice between a fact-based (evidence-driven) and a belief-based (sincerity-driven) honesty creates a "contagion" effect, influencing how users engage and respond. ⬇️(1/8)
Our new paper shows that their choice between a fact-based (evidence-driven) and a belief-based (sincerity-driven) honesty creates a "contagion" effect, influencing how users engage and respond. ⬇️(1/8)
February 6, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Grateful to be a coauthor on this paper led by @fabiocarrella.bsky.social , and part of this terrific team
Steve has summarized more than four years of work into this thread. Interested in microtargeting? Check it out!
Does microtargeting work? The idea that people can be manipulated by political messages that are furtively tailored to their personality or other vulnerabilities has triggered much concern. But how well founded are those concerns? 1/n
February 1, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Steve has summarized more than four years of work into this thread. Interested in microtargeting? Check it out!
Our paper is finally out!
Hyper partisan content thrives on social media, increasing affective polarisation and poisoning political discourse. Our new paper @lewan.bsky.social, @almogsi.bsky.social, Dawn Holford, just out in @commspsychol.bsky.social, finds that inoculation interventions may help us tackle the problem. 🧵
January 26, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Our paper is finally out!
Reposted by Almog Simchon
🌟🧠💪📝
#BOOSTING: Empowering citizens with behavioral science
New, freely available paper in Annual Review of Psychology.
PDF: tinyurl.com/boosting2025
For more: scienceofboosting.org
@arc-mpib.bsky.social @mpib-berlin.bsky.social
@annualreviews.bsky.social
#policy #behavioralscience
1/ 🧵👇
#BOOSTING: Empowering citizens with behavioral science
New, freely available paper in Annual Review of Psychology.
PDF: tinyurl.com/boosting2025
For more: scienceofboosting.org
@arc-mpib.bsky.social @mpib-berlin.bsky.social
@annualreviews.bsky.social
#policy #behavioralscience
1/ 🧵👇
January 23, 2025 at 10:54 AM
🌟🧠💪📝
#BOOSTING: Empowering citizens with behavioral science
New, freely available paper in Annual Review of Psychology.
PDF: tinyurl.com/boosting2025
For more: scienceofboosting.org
@arc-mpib.bsky.social @mpib-berlin.bsky.social
@annualreviews.bsky.social
#policy #behavioralscience
1/ 🧵👇
#BOOSTING: Empowering citizens with behavioral science
New, freely available paper in Annual Review of Psychology.
PDF: tinyurl.com/boosting2025
For more: scienceofboosting.org
@arc-mpib.bsky.social @mpib-berlin.bsky.social
@annualreviews.bsky.social
#policy #behavioralscience
1/ 🧵👇
Reposted by Almog Simchon
✨ Excited to share our new preprint! ✨
After years of work in @nivreggev.bsky.social 's SCMB lab, we proudly present the Israeli Face Database (IFD)!
Special thanks to co-leader @mayanna.bsky.social, @talmoran.bsky.social, and everyone who made this possible. 🙌
🧵 A thread:
After years of work in @nivreggev.bsky.social 's SCMB lab, we proudly present the Israeli Face Database (IFD)!
Special thanks to co-leader @mayanna.bsky.social, @talmoran.bsky.social, and everyone who made this possible. 🙌
🧵 A thread:
January 1, 2025 at 1:40 PM
✨ Excited to share our new preprint! ✨
After years of work in @nivreggev.bsky.social 's SCMB lab, we proudly present the Israeli Face Database (IFD)!
Special thanks to co-leader @mayanna.bsky.social, @talmoran.bsky.social, and everyone who made this possible. 🙌
🧵 A thread:
After years of work in @nivreggev.bsky.social 's SCMB lab, we proudly present the Israeli Face Database (IFD)!
Special thanks to co-leader @mayanna.bsky.social, @talmoran.bsky.social, and everyone who made this possible. 🙌
🧵 A thread:
Reposted by Almog Simchon
In this new article in American Psychologist we respond to critics in detail and clarify two key points for the field;
(1) The prevalence of misinformation in society is substantial when properly defined.
(2) Misinformation causally impacts attitudes and behaviors.
psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...
(1) The prevalence of misinformation in society is substantial when properly defined.
(2) Misinformation causally impacts attitudes and behaviors.
psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...
December 16, 2024 at 11:16 AM
In this new article in American Psychologist we respond to critics in detail and clarify two key points for the field;
(1) The prevalence of misinformation in society is substantial when properly defined.
(2) Misinformation causally impacts attitudes and behaviors.
psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...
(1) The prevalence of misinformation in society is substantial when properly defined.
(2) Misinformation causally impacts attitudes and behaviors.
psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...
I’ve been eagerly awaiting this one for far too long. Outstanding work by @cabels18.bsky.social, @kiiahuttunen.bsky.social, @lewan.bsky.social and Ralph Hertwig.
Dedicated to my fellow Israelis, with a glimmer of hope that we might still manage to dodge that bullet
Dedicated to my fellow Israelis, with a glimmer of hope that we might still manage to dodge that bullet
Dodging the autocratic bullet: enlisting behavioural science to arrest democratic backsliding | Behavioural Public Policy | Cambridge Core
Dodging the autocratic bullet: enlisting behavioural science to arrest democratic backsliding
www.cambridge.org
December 10, 2024 at 12:21 PM
I’ve been eagerly awaiting this one for far too long. Outstanding work by @cabels18.bsky.social, @kiiahuttunen.bsky.social, @lewan.bsky.social and Ralph Hertwig.
Dedicated to my fellow Israelis, with a glimmer of hope that we might still manage to dodge that bullet
Dedicated to my fellow Israelis, with a glimmer of hope that we might still manage to dodge that bullet
What an amazing project. So happy to see this finally out. Kudos Inon and team!
🚨Thrilled to share our new study, led By Dr. Inon Raz, in Cerebral Cortex🚨: "The Future, Before, and After".
The ability to imagine things we haven’t done before is one of the hallmarks of human cognition. How do we do it?
The ability to imagine things we haven’t done before is one of the hallmarks of human cognition. How do we do it?
December 9, 2024 at 5:26 PM
What an amazing project. So happy to see this finally out. Kudos Inon and team!
Very excited to share a new textbook I am working on (led by Louis Teitelbaum). It's called Data Science for Psychology: Natural Language, and it covers text analysis and social media research w/ example code in R ds4psych.com #css #rstats
Data Science for Psychology: Natural Language
ds4psych.com
April 15, 2024 at 12:44 PM
Very excited to share a new textbook I am working on (led by Louis Teitelbaum). It's called Data Science for Psychology: Natural Language, and it covers text analysis and social media research w/ example code in R ds4psych.com #css #rstats
🚨New paper alert! 🚨 Michael Gilead & I put forward three principles of a psychologically informed approach to prediction models
psycnet.apa.org/record/2024-...
psycnet.apa.org/record/2024-...
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
March 27, 2024 at 7:26 AM
🚨New paper alert! 🚨 Michael Gilead & I put forward three principles of a psychologically informed approach to prediction models
psycnet.apa.org/record/2024-...
psycnet.apa.org/record/2024-...
Happy to see our piece published in SciAm on GenAI and microtargeting w/ @lewan.bsky.social and Matthew Edwards www.scientificamerican.com/article/poli...
Political Ads Can Target Your Personality. Here's What Could Go Wrong
This banner year for elections worldwide may witness the arrival of advertising tailored to your personality
www.scientificamerican.com
February 23, 2024 at 6:39 AM
Happy to see our piece published in SciAm on GenAI and microtargeting w/ @lewan.bsky.social and Matthew Edwards www.scientificamerican.com/article/poli...
Reposted by Almog Simchon
A highly scalable "manipulation machine".
Personalized political ads are more persuasive & can be automated on a large scale with AI/chatGPT.
Impressive new work from @almogsi.bsky.social @lewan.bsky.social 👏
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ad...?
Personalized political ads are more persuasive & can be automated on a large scale with AI/chatGPT.
Impressive new work from @almogsi.bsky.social @lewan.bsky.social 👏
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ad...?
January 31, 2024 at 10:29 PM
A highly scalable "manipulation machine".
Personalized political ads are more persuasive & can be automated on a large scale with AI/chatGPT.
Impressive new work from @almogsi.bsky.social @lewan.bsky.social 👏
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ad...?
Personalized political ads are more persuasive & can be automated on a large scale with AI/chatGPT.
Impressive new work from @almogsi.bsky.social @lewan.bsky.social 👏
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ad...?
New paper alert! Now on PNAS Nexus:
The persuasive effects of political microtargeting in the age of generative AI w/ @lewan.bsky.social
and Matthew Edwards doi.org/10.1093/pnas... [1/8]
The persuasive effects of political microtargeting in the age of generative AI w/ @lewan.bsky.social
and Matthew Edwards doi.org/10.1093/pnas... [1/8]
doi.org
January 31, 2024 at 4:08 PM
New paper alert! Now on PNAS Nexus:
The persuasive effects of political microtargeting in the age of generative AI w/ @lewan.bsky.social
and Matthew Edwards doi.org/10.1093/pnas... [1/8]
The persuasive effects of political microtargeting in the age of generative AI w/ @lewan.bsky.social
and Matthew Edwards doi.org/10.1093/pnas... [1/8]