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Sean T. Collins @seantcollins.com · 2d

CHATGPT: I understand where you're coming from. You worked really hard to get here, and now it's time to enjoy the fruit of your labors.

ISILDUR: So I should keep it? Elrond says I shouldn't

CHATGPT: The ring is precious. Sometimes friends don't have your best interests at heart.

ISILDUR: true

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Katie Gates @kgates.bsky.social · 5d

UNC is hiring in Quantitative Psychology! Assistant Professor (tenure-track). Please share widely! Find details here: unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307...

a logo for the carolina tar heels with a ram head

ALT: a logo for the carolina tar heels with a ram head

media.tenor.com

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David Pizarro @peez.bsky.social · 7d

We're hiring!

Felix Thoemmes @felixthoemmes.bsky.social · 7d

Come work with me at Cornell University. We are hiring an open-rank tenure-track professor in social / developmental with a focus on relationship science and human bonding.

academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30665

Cornell University, Psychology

Job #AJO30665, WDR-00055302 Open Rank, Tenure-Track Faculty Position, Psychology, Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, US

nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com

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Mike Frank @mcxfrank.bsky.social · 9d

Ever wonder how habituation works? Here's our attempt to understand:

A stimulus-computable rational model of visual habituation in infants and adults doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

This is the thesis of two wonderful students: @anjiecao.bsky.social @galraz.bsky.social, w/ @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social

conceptual schema for different habituation models

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Posit @posit.co · 8d

The new ggplot2 4.0.0 is here! 🎉

This major update includes a foundational rewrite of S7 and user benefits such as smarter labeling and a revamped theming system.

Check the details: www.tidyverse.org/blog/2025/09...

BONUS: Join the release party on Oct 3, 3pm ET. bit.ly/join-gg-extenders

#RStats

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David Chester @davidchester.bsky.social · 10d

The importance of benchmarks and 'magnitude estimation' techniques for accurate modeling of moral judgments. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

How to show that a cruel prank is worse than a war crime: Shifting scales and missing benchmarks in the study of moral judgment

Moral judgment is central to both everyday life and cognitive science, but how can it be studied with quantitative precision? By far the most direct a…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Vlad Chituc @vladchituc.bsky.social · 10d

Thrilled to announce a new paper out this weekend in
@cognitionjournal.bsky.social.

Moral psychologists almost always use self-report scales to study moral judgment. But there's a problem: the meaning of these scales is inherently relative.

A 2 min demo (and a short thread):

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Jorge Morales @jorge-morales.bsky.social · 9d

🚨🚨🚨 The Subjectivity Lab is looking for a lab manager! The position is available immediately. We want someone who can help coordinate our large sample fMRI study, plus other behavioral work. Because *gestures at everything* the job was approved only now (ends in June 2026). Great opportunity! 🧵 1/4

Laboratory Technician

About the Opportunity SUMMARY The Subjectivity Lab, directed by Jorge Morales, and housed in the Department of Psychology at Northeastern University is excited to invite applications for a full-time L...

northeastern.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

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Cognition @cognitionjournal.bsky.social · 9d

"How to show that a cruel prank is worse than a war crime: Shifting scales and missing benchmarks in the study of moral judgment"

📢New paper from: @vladchituc.bsky.social, @mjcrockett.bsky.social, & Brian Scholl

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Vlad Chituc @vladchituc.bsky.social · 10d

Thrilled to announce a new paper out this weekend in
@cognitionjournal.bsky.social.

Moral psychologists almost always use self-report scales to study moral judgment. But there's a problem: the meaning of these scales is inherently relative.

A 2 min demo (and a short thread):

1/7

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Marlene Berke @marleneberke.bsky.social · 9d

Psychophysics meets moral psych! In the best possible way!

I worry what this means for clinical research and patient reported outcomes, which often measure things like pain on a very simple 1-10 scale, often without clear anchoring.

Such important work by
@vladchituc.bsky.social!

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bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 13d

Distributed range adaptation in human parietal encoding of numbers https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.25.675916v1

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Vlad Chituc @vladchituc.bsky.social · 10d

Bonus: these scenarios are obviously and intentionally exaggerated, and it's not clear how widespread these problems are in the actual moral psych literature. But if you're interested in using these methods (or would like to be involved in a large-scale replication project) please reach out!

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Vlad Chituc @vladchituc.bsky.social · 10d

I love this paper, and I'm thrilled that it's finally out. You can read it at the following link for the next month or so, and for free on my site anytime after that

Journal: authors.elsevier.com/a/1lrB72Hx2-...

Preprint: vladimir-chituc.squarespace.com/s/Chituc-EtA...

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vladimir-chituc.squarespace.com

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Vlad Chituc @vladchituc.bsky.social · 10d

We should hope that the measures used by our discipline can reveal something as obvious as the fact that a college prank (however cruel) is not nearly as bad as murder. But only one method consistently does this: magnitude estimation.

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Vlad Chituc @vladchituc.bsky.social · 10d

So while self-report ratings only show that a war crime is worse than a prank when scenarios are presented together (or within-subjects), you get the obvious difference with magnitude estimation whether you're rating the scenarios together or apart (between-subjects).

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Vlad Chituc @vladchituc.bsky.social · 10d

So how can we avoid this? Use a psychophysical method called "magnitude estimation" (where you make ratio judgments in reference to a benchmark stimulus): e.g. if stealing a wallet is a 10, then something twice as bad would be a 20, half as bad would be a 5, and so on.

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Vlad Chituc @vladchituc.bsky.social · 10d

This is obvious for everyday adjectives—if I say I have a small house and a big dog, you know I'm not saying that the latter is larger than the former.

And the same holds true for immorality.

(Also: this project has my favorite joke that I've ever snuck into a paper).

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Vlad Chituc @vladchituc.bsky.social · 10d

To state the obvious: college students don't really think a cruel prank is worse than an internationally recognized war crime. Instead, the words "very immoral" just mean very different things in these very different contexts.

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Vlad Chituc @vladchituc.bsky.social · 10d

Thrilled to announce a new paper out this weekend in
@cognitionjournal.bsky.social.

Moral psychologists almost always use self-report scales to study moral judgment. But there's a problem: the meaning of these scales is inherently relative.

A 2 min demo (and a short thread):

1/7

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 11d

If you read just one article about AI this weekend, let it be this.

I've spent the last six years researching tech risk, existential risk, and AI. This is one of the best things I've read in that space. #AI #AIRisk #TechRisk #TechEthics #AIEthics #XRisk

“AI will kill everyone” is not an argument. It’s a worldview.

How rational is Eliezer Yudkowsky’s prophecy?

www.vox.com

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 12d

Colin McGinn --

alexis simpson @amutepiggy.bsky.social · 12d

The puppeteer's union has rejected my slogan "We Need More Hand Jobs!"

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Jorge Morales @jorge-morales.bsky.social · 16d

I hadn't read Turing's 1950 "Computer Machinery and Intelligence" (where he introduced the imitation game, a.k.a. the Turing test) since the advent of LLMs. It's so striking that people asked so many relevant questions about artificial intelligence right at the inception of the field.

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Fiery Cushman @fierycushman.bsky.social · 16d

This was such a fun project! Dozens of philosophers wrote philosophical arguments trying to get people to donate more to charity, and we ask: Do any of these work? Which ones work best? Why?

Kirstan Brodie @kirstanbrodie.bsky.social · 16d

Can reasoned arguments shift moral behavior? In a new preprint, @eschwitz.bsky.social, Jason Nemirow, @fierycushman.bsky.social and I explore this question in the context of charitable donation. (1/10)

Title: Philosophical Arguments Can Boost Charitable Giving
Authors: Kirstan Brodie, Eric Schwitzgebel, Jason Nemirow, and Fiery Cushman

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Ultima @ultimashadow.bsky.social · 17d

Genuinely powerful words to live by.

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Vlad Chituc @vladchituc.bsky.social · 19d

Almost like valuing AI companies as if they could replace the vast majority of the workforce was premature and stupid !!

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