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Reposted by Helen Devine

Sam Pratt @sampratt99.bsky.social · 14d

✍️ New Preprint:

"Sticks and stones may break my bones..." but can words really harm?

We created the Words Can Harm Scale (WCHS) to measure the belief that speech can cause lasting psychological harm.

You can take the online assessment here: sampratt99.github.io/Words-Can-Ha...

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Aug 25

Full preprint: doi.org/10.31234/osf...

Great project to work on w/ @danicajdillion.bsky.social & @kurtjgray.bsky.social !

(with all of that being said... this is my [s̶o̶u̶l̶m̶a̶t̶e̶] dog Finn. 😆)

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Aug 25

Study 3: Surprisingly, even some non-dog owners chose dogs > people in our moral dilemmas.

Valuing and treating dogs as soulmates may be an element of our culture: whether you own a dog or not.💡

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Aug 25

(cont.) Those who saw their dog as a soulmate were more likely to choose dogs > people in every moral dilemma we presented--giving dogs food, money, and saving their life over humans. ⚖️

This effect was stronger for childfree dog owners. 🚫👶

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Aug 25

Study 2: About 3 out of 4 dog owners we surveyed (73%) viewed their dog as a primary emotional soulmate.

When presented with a moral dilemma, more than one in five owners (21%) chose to save a puppy's life over a human stranger. 😳

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Aug 25

Study 1: National spending on pets is strongly negatively correlated with the birth rate (r = -.93; controlling for GDP). This replicated at the county level.

Less babies born = more 💸 spent on pets, which may suggest a caregiving trade-off.

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Aug 25

New preprint: Do people care more about their pet dog than about other people? 🐶 > 🫂

Our findings suggest that increases in "soulmate" emotional reliance on dogs is associated with reduced moral concern for people. 🧵

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Aug 1

@kurtjgray.bsky.social @daviddesteno.bsky.social @jayvanbavel.bsky.social @josephfridman.bsky.social @marycmurphy.bsky.social @andyluttrell.bsky.social

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Aug 1

This week's Science to Impact symposium at Ohio State hosted experts in all kinds of science communication!

Grateful to have helped organize this event and heard from these minds in one room. 🧠 🧪

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · May 12

Smile if you’re moving to Columbus!!

It was a great year at UNC. This summer, @mshastry.bsky.social and I are moving with @kurtjgray.bsky.social ’s Deepest Beliefs Lab to Ohio State! Excited to join.

(forever Go Blue, though 🤗〽️)

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Apr 21

✍️ with @kurtjgray.bsky.social and @sampratt99.bsky.social

moralunderstanding.substack.com/p/strip-club...

Strip Club Physics

Serious decisions need serious settings

moralunderstanding.substack.com

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Apr 21

New post: What do a physicist in a strip club, a pop star in a church, and government officials making war plans in a group chat have in common? 🔬🎤💣

The setting is all wrong—so wrong that their decisions start to feel immoral.

(🔗 in thread)

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Apr 4

Last month, I attended @aplssc.bsky.social in sunny San Juan! 🌤️ #APLS2025

I presented work showing that humans are worse at judging guilt based on walking style than a computer algorithm trained on the same dataset.

w/ @kurtjgray.bsky.social

Poster: tinyurl.com/devineposter...

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Mar 20

Woohoo!!

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Mar 18

2) We find evidence that people who worry more about crime 😨 are more likely to blame victims. 🫵 This may be a self-protective strategy to gain control over potential victimhood.

Poster: tinyurl.com/devineposter...

w/ @kurtjgray

Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Mar 18

1) When facing intrusive consent requests: people think they'd be MORE LIKELY to comply with a friend (and they'd say no 🙅‍♀️ when alone), but almost EVERYONE COMPLIES (in our study: 100% alone, 97% with a friend).

Full talk: tinyurl.com/devinetalksp...

w/ Amie Gordon & @margem_

Helen Devine - Keep your friends close, but your rights closer: Social

tinyurl.com

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Mar 18

I had a great time at #SPSP25 in Denver this weekend! 🏔️🧸
I presented research on 1) how social influences change consent requests and 2) how fear of crime may explain increased victim blaming rhetoric.

More on both in this thread!
🧵(1/3)

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Mar 18

Looking forward to presenting at @SPSPnews next week! Come find me 😊

⚖️ Flash talk at legal precon: Keep your friends close, but your rights closer: Social support and compliance with consent requests (Thurs 9a)
📢 Poster on how fear of crime shapes victim blaming (Thurs 6-7p)

Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Mar 18

@sampratt99 's previous thread does a great job summarizing our newest Substack on this story:

www.moralunderstandingnewsletter.com/p/the-assass...

The Assassination of a CEO

Why some celebrate the pain of the powerful

www.moralunderstandingnewsletter.com

Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Mar 18

Why are so many people celebrating the recent assassination of UnitedHealthcare's CEO?

Insights from psychology can help explain why the perpetrator has become a 'Robin Hood'-like vigilante. 🏹

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Mar 18

Moving Forward

The 2024 Election and the Curse of the Curse of Knowledge

www.moralunderstandingnewsletter.com

Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Mar 18

Well. What's next?

This platform is full of frustration. Animosity will likely rise. It's easy to hate everything. And yet...

with @kurtjgray @sampratt99

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Mar 18

Very excited to share this as my first newsletter I've worked on in the lab. More to come! ☺️

Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Mar 18

We unpack the "tightness-looseness" of different cultures and people (work led by @MicheleJGelfand).

Understanding differences on this trait can assuage moral divides—one sees someone cutting in line as no biggie, while another sees it as the beginning of a social breakdown.

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Helen Devine @helenldevine.bsky.social · Mar 18

New @DeepBeliefsLab substack: Why do some of us get so enraged by minor social norm violations? Turns out anger over slow walkers and double parkers can be adaptive—and in some cases, actually improve— our society. 🤯

w/ @kurtjgray & @sampratt99

www.moralunderstandingnewsletter.com/p/the-psycho...

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