Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 1d

The findings reveal big differences among platforms in the reliability of circulated news, and the ideological diversity of their users, highlighting a clear divide between mainstream vs alt-tech. The latter feature unreliable content + ideological uniformity
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

Ideological fragmentation of the social media ecosystem: From echo chambers to echo platforms

Abstract. The entertainment-driven nature of social media encourages users to engage with like-minded individuals and consume content aligned with their be

academic.oup.com

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 1d

We have gone from "echo chambers" to "echo platforms"
Users migrate between platforms in search of environments aligned with their preferences

A new paper analyzes 117 million posts from the 2020 US elections from 9 social media platforms and finds big differences
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 1d

This paper was led by @jareef.bsky.social, Helge Thorbjørnsen, and @hallgeirsjastad.bsky.social

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 1d

People try to be a "good" in-group member by putting social identity over the principle of telling the truth

Additionally, people also overestimated the dishonesty of out-group vs in-group members (8-9%), despite dishonesty being similar among Republicans & Democratics
osf.io/preprints/ps...

OSF

osf.io

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 1d

Do people lie to benefit the in-group and harm the out-group?

In a new paper, we found that people lied 9% more to help in-group members than out-group members! This is evidence of coalitional dishonesty

Democrats & Republicans both lied anonymously to double in-group members earnings (N=5,230)

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 1d

I don't think university administrators always make decisions based on the scientific literature--nor do they always consult with their own faculty who are experts on these topics 🙃

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 1d

Yep. They know that every single other part of the admission process is very easy to game. I see this *all
the time* in New York— Can’t tell you how many parents I’ve seen try to game this system in insane ways.

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 1d

Yep. Every fancy school that tried this eventually analyzed their data and realized they’d done something very dumb.

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 2d

I'm a huge fan of standardized tests because they help match students who are more likely to succeed, increase social mobility, and diversify societies leaders.

See this fantastic analysis from Raj Chetty to learn more: opportunityinsights.org/wp-content/u...

https://opportunityinsights.org/wp-co…

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 2d

Princeton is requiring #SAT scores again for admission because test scores predict student success
But using SAT scores also increases social mobility!
Rich students (top 1%) benefit immensely when there are no test scores because they have legacy & non-academic points (which don't predict success)

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 2d

Politically Extreme Individuals Exhibit Similar Neural
Processing Despite Ideological Differences

www.apa.org/pubs/journal...

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 2d

New research finds that conservatives tended to endorse moral absolutism, whereas liberals tend to endorse moral relativism.

Moral absolutists are more likely to support banning practices they deem immoral psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 2d

Possibly. At a minimum, it just suggests that AI isn’t associated with lower impact journals.

My guess is that the work is now acceptable for higher impact journals for early career and non English speakers. Or at least that’s what the data in the paper suggests.

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

-Researchers using AI published 36% more papers
-There is also rise in the journal impact factor of adopters’ publications
-GenAI also helps level the playing field in academia. The strongest productivity gains appear among: Early-career researchers + Authors from non-English-speaking countries

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

Does AI improve or undercut academic scholarship?

A new study finds that academics who use AI increased both the quantity & quality of their academic scholarship and it appears to reduces inequality (helping junior and non-english speaking scholars the most).
arxiv.org/pdf/2510.02408

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Reposted by Jay Van Bavel, PhD

makena kelly @makenakelly.bsky.social · 4d

NEW: Trump Wants to Take Over Cities. Influencers Are Giving Him the Fuel to Do It

Wrote a bit about the content mill for consensus the Trump administration has created to justify its law-and-order immigration agenda.

More here:
www.wired.com/story/trump-...

Trump Wants to Take Over Cities. Influencers Are Giving Him the Fuel to Do It

The Trump administration has built its own content mill to justify its law-and-order immigration agenda.

www.wired.com

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Reposted by Jay Van Bavel, PhD

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

In a new podcast, I discuss the dangers of rising political polarization, how social media incentives contribute to polarization, and why we should consider polarization a social determinant of health with @ryanlinnbrown.bsky.social

You can listen here: www.powerofusnewsletter.com/p/political-...

Political Polarization and Health: Navigating the social media divide

Issue 182: Why political polarization affects both individual and societal health

www.powerofusnewsletter.com

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Reposted by Jay Van Bavel, PhD

Mirya R. Holman @mirya.bsky.social · 6d

Yes indeed. Code is from @nicduquette.bsky.social! (there are three books on there, FYI)

Average time from project start to publication: 3.69 years
Median time: 2.84
Minimum: 3 months
Max: 11 years

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

In a new podcast, I discuss the dangers of rising political polarization, how social media incentives contribute to polarization, and why we should consider polarization a social determinant of health with @ryanlinnbrown.bsky.social

You can listen here: www.powerofusnewsletter.com/p/political-...

Political Polarization and Health: Navigating the social media divide

Issue 182: Why political polarization affects both individual and societal health

www.powerofusnewsletter.com

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Reposted by Jay Van Bavel, PhD

SCAN Unit @scanunit.bsky.social · 6d

Congratulations to @madalina.bsky.social, our former member @kimdoell.bsky.social and all of the 256(!) other collaborators for winning SPSP's Robert Cialdini prize for their manylabs project on how behavioral interventions can help address climate change 🎉

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

I'm excited to share the news that our climate change project won the @spspnews.bsky.social Robert Cialdini Prize for a "paper that uses field methods and demonstrates the relevance of social psychology to outside groups and communities"!

You can read it here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Reposted by Jay Van Bavel, PhD

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

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

Our new review paper on the PSYCHOLOGY OF VIRALITY is now out in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social (it was led by @steverathje.bsky.social)

Read the full paper here: www.cell.com/trends/cogni...

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Reposted by Jay Van Bavel, PhD

Eliana Hadjiandreou @elianahadtime.bsky.social · 6d

Why do we derogate effective altruists, activists, & other radically prosocial individuals? In new work, we discuss how doing good that deviates from social norms gets stigmatized. New preprint w/ @dcameron.bsky.social @tlau.bsky.social @desmond-ong.bsky.social: osf.io/preprints/ps...

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Reposted by Jay Van Bavel, PhD

Ryan L. Brown @ryanlinnbrown.bsky.social · 6d

Interested in what goes viral online and how social media intersects with rising political polarization?

Check out the latest episode of the Stress Puzzle where @jayvanbavel.bsky.social walks us through the implications of this research: www.stressmeasurement.org/podcast/epis...

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

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

Our new review paper on the PSYCHOLOGY OF VIRALITY is now out in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social (it was led by @steverathje.bsky.social)

Read the full paper here: www.cell.com/trends/cogni...

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

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

Our new review paper on the PSYCHOLOGY OF VIRALITY is now out in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social (it was led by @steverathje.bsky.social)

Read the full paper here: www.cell.com/trends/cogni...

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

The paper was led by @madalina.bsky.social & @kimdoell.bsky.social and included 256 authors who all deserve to share in this prize.

Thanks to everyone who contributed!

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