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Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 4d

Macron remarks are notable- some quotes: "We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks that are controlled either by large American entrepreneurs or large Chinese companies, whose interests are not at all the survival or proper functioning of our democracies."

Defend Democracy @defenddemocracy.bsky.social · 4d

President Macron: “Europeans, let's wake up!

We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks.”

defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...

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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 5d

President Macron:
“We were very naive to leave our public space to social media networks controlled by US or Chinese companies that don’t share our interests and not interested in survival of our democracies.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MggN...

French President Macron Speaks at German Unity Day Ceremony | WION LIVE

YouTube video by WION

www.youtube.com

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Pete Scarborough @petescarbs.bsky.social · 5d

Climate and food scientists: Hey everyone, here's a massive report showing how we need to make radical changes to our diet to avoid environmental catastrophe, but if we did it we could have amazing health benefits!

UK media:

a dirt road going through a desert landscape with mountains in the background

ALT: a dirt road going through a desert landscape with mountains in the background

media.tenor.com

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 6d

In a new paper, we find that sycophantic #AI chatbots make people more extreme--operating like an echo chamber

Yet, people prefer sycophantic chatbots and see them as less biased

Only open-minded people prefer disagreeable chatbots: osf.io/preprints/ps...

Led by @steverathje.bsky.social

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Claes de Vreese @claesdevreese.bsky.social · 6d

Come work with us 🚨

We are looking for a #postdoc in our @aimediademlab.bsky.social lab.

Profile: Comm sci / poli sci/ computational social science.

Great team, timely topocs, fabulous city, good conditions.

DL 🗓️ November 1

werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

Vacancy — Postdoctoral researcher Communication Science at AI, Media & Democracy Lab

Do you want to be part of the AI, Media & Democracy Lab? We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher with a profile in communication science.

werkenbij.uva.nl

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Steve Rathje @steverathje.bsky.social · 7d

🚨 New preprint 🚨

Across 3 experiments (n = 3,285), we found that interacting with sycophantic (or overly agreeable) AI chatbots entrenched attitudes and led to inflated self-perceptions.

Yet, people preferred sycophantic chatbots and viewed them as unbiased!

osf.io/preprints/ps...

Thread 🧵

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Joe Bak-Coleman @jbakcoleman.bsky.social · 7d

One of the loudest bells tolling for social science right now is that the decade of abundant data on humans is coming to a close. Whether you work on digital trace or surveys, LLM pollution is a serious problem, even while the wide roll out of LLMs creates an urgent need for social science.

Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 7d

A lot of psych is already conducted with online convenience samples & ppl are probably excited about silicon samples bc it would allow them to crank out more studies for even less 💸

How about we reconsider the idea that sciencey science involves collecting own data.
www.science.org/content/arti...

AI-generated ‘participants’ can lead social science experiments astray, study finds

Data produced by “silicon samples” depends on researchers’ exact choice of models, prompts, and settings

www.science.org

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 8d

Our data suggest that AI’s perceived neutrality could help reduce “echo chambers” by broadening people’s exposure to diverse information--so long as AI systems remain trusted as impartial and prioritize accuracy. osf.io/preprints/ps...

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 8d

People trusted ingroup over outgroup sources, but...
- In a political fact-checking task, people preferred AI over outgroup and ingroup sources
- We found a similar pattern for a task that was completely unrelated to identity
- This was not driven by priors, but by how people accumulate evidence

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 8d

Our new paper finds that AI can overcome partisan #bias

We find that AI sources are preferred over ingroup and outgroup sources--even when people know both are equally accurate (N = 1,600+): osf.io/preprints/ps...

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David Garcia @dgarcia.eu · 13d

🚨Call for papers for the 2026 Inequality conference in Konstanz. I'm co-organizing it and we welcome submissions from Computational Social Science. The deadline is approaching quickly!
inequality-conference.de

In_equality Conference 2026

The "Politics of Inequality” research center invites interdisciplinary & international researchers to Konstanz, Germany, for the In_equality Conference, 15-17 April 2026.

inequality-conference.de

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Fernando Blanco 🦋 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ @fernandoblancopsy.com · 15d

ICYMI: We are hiring a postodoctoral researcher to join us at @cimcyc.bsky.social (Granada, Spain) to study mis/disinformation.

🚨 Only a few days left to apply!

Fernando Blanco 🦋 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ @fernandoblancopsy.com · 22d

We are offering a 2-year postdoctoral position at CIMCyC (Granada, Spain) to work on the psychology of dis(mis)information.

Apply before 26th September. Nice city, great environment ☺️

Please share! 🔃

cimcyc.ugr.es/en/informati...

#socialpsychology
#cogpsyc
#PsychSciSky
#PsychJob
#PhDJob

Job Offer: Postdoctoral Researcher in Disinformation

As part of the strategic plan linked to the María de Maeztu Seal of Excellence award, the CIMCYC is recruiting a postdoctoral researcher with experience in the field of the psychology of disinformatio...

cimcyc.ugr.es

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Alan Jagolinzer @jagolinzer.bsky.social · 23d

Call for Papers, 2026 Cambridge Disinformation Summit

Research on systemic risks from technology that affects information streams or the amplification or monetization of disinformation.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/call-p...

CALL FOR PAPERS Cambridge Disinformation Summit, 8-10 April 2026 University of Cambridge UK

Research on systemic risks from technology that affects information streams or the amplification or monetization of disinformation. Potential research focus might include (but is not limited to) the e...

www.linkedin.com

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Talia Lavin @swordsjew.bsky.social · 26d

*watching innocent people rapidly acquire the cursed knowledge that has driven me to madness* oh no

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Tobia Spampatti, PhD @tspampatti.bsky.social · Sep 8

In this new Commentary in @natclimate.nature.com, I reflect on the recent focus on truth discernment in #misinfo research and argue that this outcome alone may not be beneficial to society if interventions do not improve behaviour and other outcomes because... 1/

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Truth discernment may not help to overcome misinformation

Nature Climate Change - Scientists increasingly assess interventions against misinformation mainly via truth discernment. However, pursuing truth discernment may not be sufficiently beneficial to...

www.nature.com

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Tobia Spampatti, PhD @tspampatti.bsky.social · 28d

Perspectives on Psychological Science, Social Psychology and Personality Review, or Psychological Inquiry would be my guess (can you tell I am psych trained?)

Tobia Spampatti, PhD @tspampatti.bsky.social · 29d

Yes it is :) repetition is a pretty strong persuasive tool in our arsenal!

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Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD

Mikey Biddlestone @mikeybiddlestone.bsky.social · 29d

🚨New open access paper out in BJP special issue "Psychological Understanding of Misinformation and Disinformation in the Face of Environmental Crises"!

“Fighting fire with fire: Prebunking with the use of a plausible meta-conspiracy framing” 🧵👇 1/12
📖 doi.org/10.1111/bjop...

Landing page for our article "Fighting fire with fire: Prebunking with the use of a plausible meta-conspiracy framing" published in the British Journal of Psychology

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Tobia Spampatti, PhD @tspampatti.bsky.social · Sep 8

Yes to all! I think we're talking past each other :) I argue these outcomes are important as a general end goal, but also bc they can be affected by misinfo. As such, they should be studied alongside discernment, especially bc protecting other outcomes from misinfo may be more imp than discernment

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Tobia Spampatti, PhD @tspampatti.bsky.social · Sep 8

but I try to raise awareness that we should also consider those outcomes in misinfo research as well, bc I would argue that misinfo affects those outcomes beyond discernment. To your last point, I think @jgranadossamayoa.bsky.social shows bypassing can be better than misinfo interventions sometimes!

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Tobia Spampatti, PhD @tspampatti.bsky.social · Sep 8

Thank you Gordon! I agree with you - the point I was trying to make is that there are more outcomes of relevance than just truth discernment for studies of 1) misinfo susceptibility and 2) misinfo interventions. I agree other outcomes are common to other fields (psych and political persuasion)...

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Tobia Spampatti, PhD @tspampatti.bsky.social · Sep 8

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Might be of interest: @lkfazio.bsky.social @jayvanbavel.bsky.social @dgrand.bsky.social @gordpennycook.bsky.social @katestarbird.bsky.social @anaskozyreva.bsky.social @lewan.bsky.social @rakoenmaertens.bsky.social @seanbogart.bsky.social @nielsmede.bsky.social 7/end

Truth discernment may not help to overcome misinformation

Nature Climate Change - Scientists increasingly assess interventions against misinformation mainly via truth discernment. However, pursuing truth discernment may not be sufficiently beneficial to...

www.nature.com

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Tobia Spampatti, PhD @tspampatti.bsky.social · Sep 8

I am very grateful to @sachaltay.bsky.social Jon Roozenbeek and @profsanderlinden.bsky.social for the engaging reviews for the past year :) I think the paper is in a better state thanks to their feedback! 6/

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Tobia Spampatti, PhD @tspampatti.bsky.social · Sep 8

The stakes of effectively curtailing the detrimental effect of misinformation on relevant behaviour are substantial. I hope this Commentary will help the misinformation field increase its impact! 5/

Again, the paper is found here:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Truth discernment may not help to overcome misinformation

Nature Climate Change - Scientists increasingly assess interventions against misinformation mainly via truth discernment. However, pursuing truth discernment may not be sufficiently beneficial to...

www.nature.com

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Tobia Spampatti, PhD @tspampatti.bsky.social · Sep 8

are 1) measuring the efficacy of interventions on multiple psychological and societally relevant outcomes will better explain susceptibility to misinformation. And 2) synthetically modelling (i.e., ABMs) the effects of misinformation on relevant outcomes at scale.

4/

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