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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer
@robbwiller.bsky.social
7K followers 1.8K following 100 posts
Professor of Sociology, Psychology, & Org Behavior @ Stanford. Director of Polarization and Social Change Lab (@pascl-stanford.bsky.social), Co-Direct Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. Obsessive basketball fan
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · Jun 17
Saturday's No Kings protests were massive, inclusive, and nonviolent. It was an honor to team up with
@owasow.bsky.social to analyze how nonviolent resistance can wins hearts, minds, and elections.
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Reposted by Robb Willer
littvay.bsky.social
Levente (Levi) Littvay @littvay.bsky.social · 1d
NEW! The public opinion effects of antisemitic elite cues: a survey experiment on the Hungarian Soros campaign in @eepolitics.bsky.social w/ @bencehamrak.bsky.social @erinjenne.bsky.social G.Simonovits. Soros cues worked through partisan motivated reasoning & not antisemitism doi.org/10.1080/2159...
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Reposted by Robb Willer
atrupar.com
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 16h
Pritzker: "He wants to militarize major cities because he wants us to get used to the idea of troops on the streets. I believe he's gonna post people outside of polling places and if he needs to in order to control those elections, he'll assume control of the ballot boxes & count the votes himself"
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 15h
Congrats, Hahrie! This is much deserved and wonderful to see.
Reposted by Robb Willer
rahaeli.bsky.social
rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 1d
Also, you can't be simultaneously upset that the ML classifier gets things wrong and be upset at the thought of training on user data, because the two are mutually exclusive. The only way to get more accurate ML models is to retrain with real-world examples.
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Reposted by Robb Willer
chrisbail.bsky.social
Chris Bail @chrisbail.bsky.social · 1d
Junior and senior faculty positions in computational social scientists at Bocconi, one of the world's best universiites: Assistant Prof: jobmarket.unibocconi.eu?id=841
Associate/Full Prof: jobmarket.unibocconi.eu?id=843
Job Market - Bocconi University
Recruiting, Faculty, Post-doc Grant, Collaboration Contracts
jobmarket.unibocconi.eu
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Reposted by Robb Willer
chrisbail.bsky.social
Chris Bail @chrisbail.bsky.social · 1d
New jobs for computational social scientists at UNC and USC: unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307... amd uscjobs.sc.edu/postings/194...
Assistant Professor
This Assistant Professor position will teach graduate and undergraduate courses, conduct research in the field of Sociology, participate in departmental service, and mentor graduate students.
unc.peopleadmin.com
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Reposted by Robb Willer
socialmedialab.ca
Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 1d
Wow, that looks seriously bubblicious. The velocity of AI $ is now in a league of its own.

Nvidia and OpenAI tangle web of deals are “increasingly complex and interconnected web of business transactions is artificially propping up the trillion-dollar AI boom.“ www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
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Reposted by Robb Willer
dgrand.bsky.social
David Rand @dgrand.bsky.social · Dec 16
🚨In Science🚨
Conspiracy beliefs famously resist correction, ya?
WRONG: We show brief convos w GPT4 reduce conspiracy beliefs by ~20%!
-Lasts over 2mo
-Works on entrenched beliefs
-Tailored AI response rebuts specific evidence offered by believers
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
1/
[X->BSky repost]
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 1d
Paper: osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF/prereg: osf.io/g59fm/
All chatbots linked above!
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 1d
Major kudos to brilliant post-doc Jonas Schoene, who led this project!

Thanks to co-authors: Johannes Eichstaedt, Aadesh Salecha, Sonja Lyubomirsky

And to: @stanfordhai.bsky.social
@stanfordpacs.bsky.social
@pascl-stanford.bsky.social
@uclaanderson.bsky.social
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 1d
We find high public interest in using validated well-being chatbots.

In a nationally rep survey (N=3,056), about 1/2 of U.S. adults said they’d use empirically validated well-being chatbots. About 1/4 have already used #generativeAI chatbots for well-being.
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 1d
Importantly, results generalized to key subpopulations, including those with high baseline levels of anxiety or depressed mood.
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 1d
Linguistic analyses showed users had diff conversations with each chatbot:

Savoring → Sensory perceptions & positive emotions
Gratitude → Social interactions & positive emotions
Meaning → Reflection on others & cognitive processes
Hero’s journey → Achievement & cognitive processes
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 1d
Does use tradeoff with human therapy?
Maybe, though initial evidence against: conversations increased willingness to try well-being chatbots again and to seek human therapy, even among those previously reluctant.
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 1d
RESULTS: All four chatbots…

⚡️Improved happiness, life satisfaction, and meaning,
⚡️Reduced anxiety and depressed mood, relative to control.

Effect sizes exceed or match those from traditional positive psych interventions in @dunnhappylab.bsky.social recent meta-analysis.
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 1d
#4: The Hero’s Journey Chatbot

Guides the user to reframe their life story in terms of the archetypal Hero’s Journey, highlighting challenges, strengths, and next steps (h/t Ben Rogers,
@kurtjgray.bsky.social, Herrison Chicas)

👉 herobot.cpwbinterventions.xyz/readme
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 1d
#3: The Meaning Chatbot

Prompts the user to reflect on what gives their life purpose, such as people, activities, and beliefs that are meaningful to them.

👉 cpwbinterventions.xyz/readme
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 1d
#2: The Gratitude Chatbot

Guides user through a short exercise to express gratitude to a specific person. Encourages the user to notice others’ contributions and articulate what they appreciate.

👉 gratitudebot.cpwbinterventions.xyz/readme
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 1d
#1: The Savoring Chatbot

Guides user to slow down and reflect on a positive moment from their life in detail, e.g., associated sensations, thoughts, and meaning.

👉 savoringbot.cpwbinterventions.xyz/readme
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 1d
In a preregistered, randomized experiment (N=2,922), we tested whether four different AI chatbots could improve happiness and feelings of meaning in life.
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 1d
Millions use #GenerativeAI chatbots for emotional support, yet little research re: whether AI dialogues can improve psychological well-being

We test whether brief, structured dialogues grounded in psych research can reliably help

WP👉 osf.io/preprints/ps...
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 1d
🚨New WP!🚨

Structured AI Dialogues Can Increase Happiness and Meaning in Life

In a preregistered RCT, four psychology-grounded #AI chatbots improved well-being across several outcomes.

Co-authors: Jonas Schoene, Johannes Eichstaedt, Aadesh Salecha, Sonja Lyubomirsky

🧵👇
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 9d
We were fortunate to work with Gov Cox and the @natlgovsassoc.bsky.social on a field experiment (led by @chagaiweiss.bsky.social) testing the #DisagreeBetter ads, which increased viewers' openness to those they disagree with politically. Learn more👇

bsky.app/profile/robb...
robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 26d
It is great to see Gov Spencer Cox stepping up to turn the temperature down and focus ppl on grieving the tragic killing of Charlie Kirk. Gov Cox has long promoted civility across party lines. Our research finds that his messages are persuasive when Americans see it.

👇
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robbwiller.bsky.social
Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 9d
Last night's @60minutes.bsky.social with
Governor Spencer Cox offers a great chance to learn about the #DisagreeBetter campaign, an effort to encourage respectful and constructive political disagreement: www.cbsnews.com/video/928202...
9/28/2025: A Lonely Voice; The Mystery of the Eagle S; Dana White
First, a message from Utah Gov. Cox after the Charlie Kirk murder. Then, a report on undersea cable cutting in the Baltic Sea. And, UFC head Dana White: The 60 Minutes Interview.
www.cbsnews.com
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Reposted by Robb Willer
crampell.bsky.social
Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 19d
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