Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Rémi Thériault @remi-theriault.com · 10d

New PSA paper led by Tom Heyman!

We present a tutorial on crowdsourced MULTIVERSE ANALYSES—a transparent way to test how robust findings are across many analytic paths. Experts suggest, then validate possible paths. This helps quantify uncertainty and clarify when/where scientific conclusions hold.

Hu Chuan-Peng @hcp4715.bsky.social · 16d

as a big fun of multiverse, I am really happy to see a nice tutorial was just out: psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...

Congrats to @epronizius.bsky.social, @slewis5920.bsky.social @aggieerin.bsky.social & @psysciacc.bsky.social (sorry i did not follow all of the authors here) #Metascience #OpenScience

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koenfucius @koenfucius.bsky.social · 20d

Review by @rmpillai.bsky.social et al suggests social identity-based group identification and motives influence health behaviours in multiple, mutually reinforcing ways, which explains public health polarization:

buff.ly/4tsTuum
via coauthor @jayvanbavel.bsky.social

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Rémi Thériault @remi-theriault.com · 20d

We revisit the classic Theory of Planned Behavior and highlight how social identity plays a critical role in shaping attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control vis-à-vis a host of health behaviors. Polarization, in particular, can have dramatic consequences on public health.

Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 20d

Our new paper explains the #polarization of public health

Identifying with a social group can shape people’s beliefs and values, leading them to act in ways that have consequences for their health

From vaccine hesitancy to smoking cessation, identity plays a critical role:
osf.io/preprints/ps...

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Rémi Thériault @remi-theriault.com · 24d

Comparing fiction and non-fiction as broad categories might be misleading. Non-fiction isn't a single genre: some books are probably much more powerful than others and might excel at different things. Could some be especially effective at uniting humankind and reducing conflict?

Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 27d

Can reading a book make you a better person?

Reading books is declining. But people who read weekly book excerpts & podcasts instead of meditating had the greatest reductions in aggression and growth in compassionate love, positive attitudes & altruism
www.powerofusnewsletter.com/p/can-readin...

Can reading a book make you a better person?

Research from our lab investigates if reading non-fiction books can make us more prosocial and less polarized.

www.powerofusnewsletter.com

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Reposted by Rémi Thériault

Raunak Pillai @rmpillai.bsky.social · Sep 5

New preprint: From vaccinations to masking, politics predicts health behaviors. In this review we discuss these differences in light of classic psychological theories of group identity and behavioral decision-making.

We welcome any feedback on this working paper!

osf.io/preprints/ps...

OSF

osf.io

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Rémi Thériault @remi-theriault.com · Sep 3

Indeed! What are some of the books that had the greatest impact on you? Feel free to share as comments or private messages! We are interested in hearing your book suggestions

Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · Sep 3

Has a book ever changed your life?

While the benefits of reading fiction are well-studied, the impact of nonfiction is largely unexplored @remi-theriault.com will see if nonfiction can foster inclusive social identities, reduce polarization & promote cooperation
www.mindandlife.org/media/readin...

Reading and Repair: Tackling Social Division Through Contemplative Research

Researchers are exploring how reading nonfiction books can reduce polarization, build compassion, and inspire social change.

www.mindandlife.org

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Reposted by Rémi Thériault

Dr Mircea Zloteanu ☀️ 🌊🌴 @mzloteanu.bsky.social · Jul 18

#statstab #390 modelbased: An R package to make the most out of
your statistical models through marginal means,
marginal effects, and model predictions

Thoughts: Great package for getting predicted probabilities for your models.

#rstats #r #easystats

doi.org/10.21105/jos...

modelbased: An R package to make the most out of your statistical models through marginal means, marginal effects, and model predictions

Makowski et al., (2025). modelbased: An R package to make the most out of your statistical models through marginal means, marginal effects, and model predictions. Journal of Open Source Software, 10(1...

doi.org

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Rémi Thériault @remi-theriault.com · Aug 10

Excited to share that our manifesto for a more globally diverse, equitable, and inclusive open science, led by @sakshighai.bsky.social was selected for a Commendation Award from the Society for @improvingpsych.org !

You can read the open-access paper here: doi.org/10.1038/s442...

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Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science (SIPS) @improvingpsych.org · Jul 24

We are very pleased to announce the 2025 Commendations for the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science! Join us in celebrating the exceptional projects that have revolutionized the field of psychological science.
buff.ly/rzTeLYL

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Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science (SIPS) @improvingpsych.org · Jul 23

We are very pleased to announce the 2025 Awards Winners for the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science! Join us in celebrating the exceptional projects that have revolutionized the field of psychological science.

buff.ly/rzTeLYL

July 2025

By Joanna Rutkowska, SIPS Awards Committee Chair

buff.ly

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Steve Rathje @steverathje.bsky.social · Jul 17

🚨New paper in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social 🚨

Why do some ideas spread widely, while others fail to catch on?

We review the “psychology of virality,” or the psychological & structural factors that shape information spread online and offline: authors.elsevier.com/c/1lRke4sIRv...

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easystats @easystats.github.io · May 30

We're happy to have an accompanying publication for another #rstats #easystats package published! Thanks to @vincentab.bsky.social and @tjmahr.com for reviewing the manuscript!

Journal of Open Source Software @joss-openjournals.bsky.social · May 30

Just published in JOSS: 'modelbased: An R package to make the most out of your statistical models through marginal means, marginal effects, and model predictions' https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.07969

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · May 15

Are #smartphones and #socialmedia harming a generation?

This is a hotly debated and often polarizing debate. So we surveyed over 120 experts on the topic to see where there was genuine consensus (or not), like experts have previous done for climate change.

See our paper: osf.io/preprints/ps...

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Bluesky @bsky.app · Apr 21

We’re introducing a new layer of verification on Bluesky — a user-friendly, easily recognizable blue check.

In addition to account verification issued by Bluesky, we're also introducing Trusted Verifiers. Select independent organizations can verify accounts directly.

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Reposted by Rémi Thériault

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · Mar 12

next Canadian government should think of boosting research funding up here and trying to grab as many American postdocs and researchers as possible

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Rémi Thériault @remi-theriault.com · Mar 10

Please consider signing up for our newsletter (jayvanbavellab.substack.com) and visiting our website: www.centerconflictcooperation.com

The Center for Conflict and Cooperation at NYU | Center for Conflict + Coop. | Substack

Learn about our latest research and insights on group psychology, polarization, intergroup conflict, misinformation, and morality each month. Click to read The Center for Conflict and Cooperation at N...

jayvanbavellab.substack.com

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Rémi Thériault @remi-theriault.com · Mar 10

We will be leveraging shared social identities, artificial intelligence, and carefully selected narratives to create lasting reductions in polarization. I’m excited to put my skills to use to contribute to something larger like this—which the world needs now more than ever.

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Rémi Thériault @remi-theriault.com · Mar 10

I am thrilled to be starting my postdoc with @jayvanbavel.bsky.social and my wonderful colleagues at the newly launched Center for Conflict and Cooperation @centerconflictcoop.bsky.social at NYU @nyu.edu. Together, we will be working at reducing #polarization and its far-reaching consequences.

Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · Feb 15

I am excited to announce that we are launching a new CENTER FOR CONFLICT & COOPERATION @ NYU @newyorkuniversity.bsky.social

See our vision and research team here: www.centerconflictcooperation.com

Sign up for our newsletter here: jayvanbavellab.substack.com

Please spread the word or reach out!

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · Mar 4

Defunding the world’s leading scientific community is akin to a performing a prefrontal lobotomy on the nation—you are effectively severing the connections between the most innovative ideas and its citizens.

Cutting support for science harms everyone! www.powerofusnewsletter.com/p/a-national...

A National Prefrontal Lobotomy: The Costs of Cutting the Social Sciences

Issue 158: The long-term impacts of funding cuts threaten "social science for a safer world"

www.powerofusnewsletter.com

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Mattan S. Ben-Shachar 🎗️🇮🇱🇺🇦 @mattansb.msbstats.info · Feb 27

Recently, the @easystats.bsky.social team (a mix of academics and former academics) discussed the challenges faced by those transitioning from #psychology #academia to data-related jobs, as well as some advantages they have that they might not be aware of.

Here's what we came up with 🧵:

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Patrick S. Forscher @psforscher.bsky.social · Jan 30

You may have heard of Questionable Research Practices and "HARKing" as threats to replicability.

In a new paper led by @sakshighai.bsky.social, we argue that a similar practices -- Questionable Generalizability Practices and "MASKing" -- undermine generalizability.

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

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Sakshi Ghai @sakshighai.bsky.social · Jan 31

So excited to see this in print! A manifesto paving the way for responsible generalisation and co-authorship practices in open science - with an incredible team of scholars!

Very much inspired by the benchmark Munafò et al. manifesto for reproducible science
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

A manifesto for a globally diverse, equitable, and inclusive open science - Communications Psychology

Psychology must embrace more responsible practices in design, reporting, generalisation, and evaluation of research to counteract the spectre of Questionable Generalisability Practices and the issue o...

www.nature.com

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · Jan 14

Across 80 groups, intergroup contact was consistently associated with lower prejudice.

The type of group and type of contact did not matter.

Travis Lim @travislim.bsky.social · Jan 14

My first paper with @erichehman.bsky.social and @acceb.bsky.social is out! We tested intergroup contact across many different types of groups:

doi.org/10.1525/coll...

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Institute for Replication @i4replication.bsky.social · Jan 22

New research alert! Our study investigates the effectiveness of human-only, AI-assisted, and AI-led teams in assessing the reproducibility of quantitative social science research. We've got some surprising findings!

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · Jan 5

Changing our behaviour isn't easy–and changing the behaviour of others is even harder.

Here is a great analysis of 19 behavioural principles we proposed that are rooted in decades of research.

What works and what doesn't when it comes to changing behavior: www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...

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