Scholar

Mohammad Atari

Videos
H-index: 30
Psychology 47%
Sociology 13%
more

by Rebecca Sear — Reposted by: Mohammad Atari, Lesley A. Hall

rebeccasear.bsky.social
“The idea that humans evolved to be protective & sensitive to harm directed towards women appears increasingly popular in evolutionary psych [but] ethnographic evidence conflict with this perspective, [which seems] rooted in contemporary WEIRD values rather than an evolved psychological mechanism”
Did humans evolve to 'protect' women?
Ethnography complicates a convenient narrative
open.substack.com
2 5 26

Reposted by: Mohammad Atari

socphilpsych.bsky.social
‼️ Recent work by Setayesh Radkani, Joshua Tenenbaum & Rebecca Saxe:

What people learn from punishment: A cognitive model
What people learn from punishment: A cognitive model | PNAS
Authorities, from parents of toddlers to leaders of formal institutions, use punishment to communicate disapproval and enforce social norms. Ideall...
www.pnas.org
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Reposted by: Mohammad Atari

edouardmachery.bsky.social
Join us tomorrow, Tuesday October 7th at 12PM EDT for a talk with former fellow Michael Tomasello!

"Agency and the Organization of Human Experience."

More info and abstract here: ow.ly/usIc50X4wS7

Zoom Link: pitt.zoom.us/j/96906545761
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Reposted by: Mohammad Atari

abdoe.bsky.social
Hi all! Having recently moved to @uh.edu, I’ll be reviewing graduate applications to join the newly minted Worldviews in Motion lab for Fall 2026! Please share with anyone who might be interested 😊

For lab info, check out our (though it’s mostly me atm) website: www.abdoelnakouri.com
WIM Lab
www.abdoelnakouri.com
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Reposted by: Mohammad Atari, Brian A. Nosek, John Drury

ericmshuman.bsky.social
I am hoping to recruit a Ph.D. student to join the SPARC (Social Psychology of Activism, Resistance, & Change) Lab at @UVAPsyc in Fall 2026! You can find more info about my research on my website (ericshuman.com), and the program here (psychology.as.virginia.edu/social-psych...).
Home
ericshuman.com
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Reposted by: Mohammad Atari, Larry W. Hunter

myra.bsky.social
AI always calling your ideas “fantastic” can feel inauthentic, but what are sycophancy’s deeper harms? We find that in the common use case of seeking AI advice on interpersonal situations—specifically conflicts—sycophancy makes people feel more right & less willing to apologize.
Screenshot of paper title: Sycophantic AI Decreases Prosocial Intentions and Promotes Dependence
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Reposted by: Mohammad Atari

jdmiller.bsky.social
Apropos of recent open science conversations - this paper is an awesome primer for grad students and faculty who want to learn more: online.ucpress.edu/collabra/art...
Easing Into Open Science: A Guide for Graduate Students and Their Advisors
This article provides a roadmap to assist graduate students and their advisors to engage in open science practices. We suggest eight open science practices that novice graduate students could begin ad...
online.ucpress.edu
1 13 22

by Mohammad Atari

mohammadatari.bsky.social
New chapter preprint: Is Empathic AI possible?

osf.io/preprints/ps...
2

Reposted by: Mohammad Atari

pnasnexus.org
Although men and boys are more directly and indirectly aggressive than women and girls in most contexts, a study of 24 countries finds one specific context in which this pattern is reversed: the sibling relationship. In PNAS Nexus: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
A girl pretends to pull her brother’s ear. Stock photo.
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Reposted by: Mohammad Atari

dornsife.usc.edu
Is extreme wealth a moral failure, or a badge of honor? A global study co-led by USC Dornsife reveals what really drives our judgments.
What people really think about ultra-wealthy billionaires
Is extreme wealth a moral failure or a badge of honor? A global study reveals what really drives judgments about the ultra-rich
dornsife.usc.edu
2 2

by Mohammad Atari

mohammadatari.bsky.social
Glad this is finally out! Check out @igi.bsky.social ‘s thread!

Thanks to @edouardmachery.bsky.social and team.
igi.bsky.social
Igor Grossmann, PhD @igi.bsky.social · Aug 13
1/10 Finally out in Proceedings B @royalsociety.org ! This took a while—big scope, many hands. We started with a worry: maybe Solomon’s paradox (doi.org/10.1177/0956797614535400) is “too obvious.” If stepping back helps wise choices, surely everyone does it… right?
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Reposted by: Mohammad Atari

igi.bsky.social
1/10 Finally out in Proceedings B @royalsociety.org ! This took a while—big scope, many hands. We started with a worry: maybe Solomon’s paradox (doi.org/10.1177/0956797614535400) is “too obvious.” If stepping back helps wise choices, surely everyone does it… right?
1 4 19

Reposted by: Mohammad Atari, Lisa W. Fazio, Gordon Pennycook , and 3 more

manikyaalister.bsky.social
We know that a consensus of opinions is persuasive, but how reliable is this effect across people and types of consensus, and are there any kinds of claims where people care less about what other people think? This is what we tested in our new(ish) paper in @psychscience.bsky.social
Screenshot of the article "How Convincing Is a Crowd? Quantifying the Persuasiveness of a Consensus for Different Individuals and Types of Claims"
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Reposted by: Mohammad Atari, Gordon Hodson, David M. Amodio , and 3 more

jenikubota.bsky.social
🎉New paper out @Psychological Review on the neuroscience of intergroup contact🎉

Led by the fantastic @margaretrwelte.bsky.social ‬and Jas Cloutier!

@apajournals.bsky.social @spspnews.bsky.social @sansmeeting.bsky.social #PsychSciSky #SocialPsyc #AcademicSky

psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
5 29 82

Reposted by: Mohammad Atari, Markus Freitag, Olga Onuch , and 5 more

jayvanbavel.bsky.social
Only a small % of people engage in toxic activity online, but they’re responsible for a disproportionate share of hostile or misleading content on nearly every platform

Because super-users are so active, they dominate our collective impression of the internet www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...
Are a few people ruining the internet for the rest of us?
Why does the online world seem so toxic compared with normal life? Our research shows that a small number of divisive accounts could be responsible – and offers a way out
www.theguardian.com
17 190 480

Reposted by: Mohammad Atari, Mark J. Brandt

pnasnexus.org
Most people don’t find excessive wealth immoral when considered separately from economic inequality; however, people in countries with high GDP and high levels of inequality find being too rich more morally wrong than being of average wealth. In PNAS Nexus: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
The perceived immorality of too much wealth in 20 nations. Scores are standardized, and whiskers represent the 95% confidence interval.
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by Mohammad Atari

mohammadatari.bsky.social
Congratulations, Emma! 🎉
1

by Mohammad Atari

mohammadatari.bsky.social
Thanks.
humbehevosoc.bsky.social
Human Behavior & Evolution Society @humbehevosoc.bsky.social · Jun 23
HBES is happy to recognize the following Rising Stars (<8 years post-PhD) for their research contributions:
Mohammad Atari: mohammadatari.com
Catherine Molho: catherinemolho.github.io
Daniel Redhead: www.rug.nl/staff/d.j.re...
Julia Stern: www.uni-bremen.de/en/pppd/team...
2

Reposted by: Mohammad Atari, Martin Lang

humbehevosoc.bsky.social
HBES is happy to recognize the following Rising Stars (<8 years post-PhD) for their research contributions:
Mohammad Atari: mohammadatari.com
Catherine Molho: catherinemolho.github.io
Daniel Redhead: www.rug.nl/staff/d.j.re...
Julia Stern: www.uni-bremen.de/en/pppd/team...
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Reposted by: Mohammad Atari, Linda J. Skitka, Melissa J. Williams

stephanoplis.bsky.social
I’m looking for a postdoctoral scholar to join me in the Self & Society Laboratory at UC Riverside! Sharing would be much appreciated! aprecruit.ucr.edu/JPF02104
Postdoctoral Scholar in Social/Personality Psychology
University of California, Riverside is hiring. Apply now!
aprecruit.ucr.edu
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by Mohammad Atari

mohammadatari.bsky.social
New preprint! 🔔

We apply computational text analysis to over 2000 years of historical corpora in Classical Chinese. Beyond descriptives, we test the hypothesis that kin-based institutions shape important aspects of socio-cooperative psychology.
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Reposted by: Mohammad Atari, David G. Rand, Gordon Pennycook , and 2 more

gordpennycook.bsky.social
Psychological inoculation is a very popular intervention against online misinfo, but it hasn't been tested using real-world outcomes in realistic scenarios.

In a new paper just published in PNAS Nexus, this is what we did: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

Short version: It didn't really work.
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by Mohammad Atari

mohammadatari.bsky.social
Thanks, Lisa!
1

Reposted by: Mohammad Atari

nathumbehav.nature.com
This Perspective by Atari et al argues for psychology to become a historical and geographical science, a transformation they term the chronospatial revolution.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The chronospatial revolution in psychology - Nature Human Behaviour
Psychology’s definition and scope have shifted over the discipline’s short history, yet it has largely remained ahistorical and geographically narrow. This Perspective argues for psychology to become ...
www.nature.com
3 8

by Mohammad Atari

mohammadatari.bsky.social
Our new paper is now out in Nature Human Behaviour:

The chronospatial revolution in psychology.

With Joe Henrich & Jonathan Schulz.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Reposted by: Mohammad Atari, Andrew Livingstone, Jeremy Ginges

reimtime.bsky.social
With everything that's going on, I haven't been sharing much about our research. But, today, I'm happy to share that @jennrichler.bsky.social wrote about our papers on "Double Standards in Judging Collective Action" for @natrevpsychol.nature.com! rdcu.be/enhkl
Ideological alignment determines whether protest action is considered acceptable
Nature Reviews Psychology - Ideological alignment determines whether protest action is considered acceptable
urldefense.com
3 16 42

by Mohammad Atari

mohammadatari.bsky.social
Our new paper, with my amazing PhD student, Aliah Zewail, is published in the European Review of Social Psychology.

We review (and encourage) historical and geographical research on morality from a pluralistic perspective.

Link:

doi.org/10.1080/1046...
2 4 18

Reposted by: Mohammad Atari

jbakcoleman.bsky.social
Borrowing data from @mohammadatari.bsky.social; we show that AI reflects very high-HDI nation's culture and values. These gaps are certainly more important that relative performance on coding assays and bar exams.

Digitial divides of decades past embodied in training data and design.
2 4 11

Reposted by: Mohammad Atari, Arvind Narayanan

jbakcoleman.bsky.social
I'm excited that I can finally share what I've been working on for the past 9 months:

The United Nations 2025 Human Development Report: "A matter of choice: People and possibilities in the age of AI" 🧵

hdr.undp.org/content/huma...
6 28 110

Reposted by: Mohammad Atari, Nathan Nunn

kyliefalcione.bsky.social
@mohammadatari.bsky.social and @markthornton.bsky.social channel their dark sides to battle it out in a debate on AI in research:
Dr. Atari makes the case for “less is more,” while Dr. Thornton champions the potential of neural networks in tackling complex analyses. #SANS2025
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