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Reposted by Michael Inzlicht

Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 4d

🚨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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Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society @torontosri.bsky.social · 6d

Can AI be a friend?

At the third Technophilosophy Soirée, led by @karinavold.bsky.social, SRI brought together scholars to ask how AI companionship is changing the way we connect, empathize and understand each other.

🎥→ tinyurl.com/ys4wdzeb
#AIethics @minzlicht.bsky.social @uoftethics.bsky.social

AI in the friend zone: Rethinking companionship — Schwartz Reisman Institute

Can we have genuine relationships with AI systems? At the third Technophilosophy Soiree, conceived of and led by SRI Research Lead Karina Vold , leading thinkers from a variety of disciplines explore...

tinyurl.com

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Michael Inzlicht @minzlicht.bsky.social · 11d

53 posts, one sabbatical, and five dead psychological theories later: reflecting on a year of Speak Now Regret Later. Also 40% off annual subs through October because apparently I enjoy controversy.

This Substack Really Tied My Sabbatical Together

Happy birthday to Speak Now Regret Later!

www.speakandregret.michaelinzlicht.com

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Nathan Ormond @nath-ormond.bsky.social · 16d

Thread on a bunch of my issues with "cognition" and "cognitive" talk in the Mind Sciences.

Nathan Ormond @nath-ormond.bsky.social · 16d

IMO the MOST good that can be done here is by DECONSTRUCTING the concepts of "cognition", "computation" and "representation" because they do SO MUCH work to lead people to Hasty Theorising without paying attention to their actual measures! www.speakandregret.michaelinzlicht.com/p/hasty-theo...

Hasty Theories

Why Social Psychology Needs to Stop Rushing to Explain

www.speakandregret.michaelinzlicht.com

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Michael Inzlicht @minzlicht.bsky.social · 18d

New review! We synthesized literature on empathic AI: AI-generated emotional support is rated higher than human responses, but people's knowledge of the source shapes their perceptions. W/ @desmond-ong.bsky.social @amit-goldenberg.bsky.social @anatperry.bsky.social

osf.io/preprints/ps...

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Michael Inzlicht @minzlicht.bsky.social · 18d

What happens when the data say no, but our feelings say yes? From stereotype threat to implicit bias, psychology keeps choosing vibes over evidence. Maybe the data was just decoration?

Does Data Matter in Psychology?

Psychology presents itself as deeply empirical and quantitative.

open.substack.com

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Michael Inzlicht @minzlicht.bsky.social · 24d

Mazel tov, Joel!!!

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Jean-François Bonnefon @jfbonnefon.bsky.social · 25d

It's publication day! Check out this thread for a summary of our new paper

❝Delegation to AI can increase unethical behaviour❞

Lots of love and labor got into this paper and I'm thrilled to see it out in the wild today

Iyad Rahwan | إياد رهوان @iyadrahwan.bsky.social · 25d

Would you let AI cheat for you?

Our new paper in @nature.com, 5 years in the making, is out today.

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

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Jim Coan @jimmycoan.bsky.social · 24d

www.theatlantic.com/press-releas...

The Atlantic Announces Free Digital Subscriptions for All U.S. Public High Schools

None

www.theatlantic.com

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Michael Inzlicht @minzlicht.bsky.social · 24d

This is hilarious! I am going to screenshot this as proof that really, REALLY, I'm pretty quiet!

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Michael Inzlicht @minzlicht.bsky.social · 24d

You and nearly everyone else in my comment section!

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Michael Inzlicht @minzlicht.bsky.social · 25d

Thanks Jonas!

Michael Inzlicht @minzlicht.bsky.social · 25d

Thanks John!

Michael Inzlicht @minzlicht.bsky.social · 25d

I've been shushed my entire life—in Starbucks, by strangers, even by my own wife. But maybe the problem isn't that I'm loud. Maybe it's that we automatically assume quiet is virtuous. Am I the asshole? You tell me.

Am I the Asshole for Taking Work Calls on My Own Balcony?

My neighbour asked me to move indoors last month, and I minded.

open.substack.com

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Michael Inzlicht @minzlicht.bsky.social · 25d

Thanks Norbert!

Michael Inzlicht @minzlicht.bsky.social · 25d

Thanks Jake!

Michael Inzlicht @minzlicht.bsky.social · 26d

Thanks Linda!

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Michael Inzlicht @minzlicht.bsky.social · 26d

Just found out that I am the 2025 recipient of the Diener Award in Social Psychology from SPSP. I couldn’t have done it without my mentors (official and otherwise), students, and collaborators. I'm proud of this, but mostly just grateful I get to do work I love.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · Aug 12

“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back into a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”

It costs a lot less to house people.

Finland ends homelessness and provides shelter for all in need - scoop.me

In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Why? The country applies the "Housing First" concept agains homelessness.

thebetter.news

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Jake Embrey @jakeembrey.bsky.social · Sep 11

New paper! Different to my usual schtick concerning cognitive costs. We analysed differences in learning between depressed and healthy students and whether Pavlovian biases differed between them. We found mixed evidence... have a read!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Michael Inzlicht @minzlicht.bsky.social · Sep 10

Awesome work, Sam!

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Samantha Joel @datingdecisions.bsky.social · Sep 10

In a new paper, my colleagues and I set out to demonstrate how method biases can create spurious findings in relationship science, by using a seemingly meaningless scale (e.g., "My relationship has very good Saturn") to predict relationship outcomes. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Pseudo Effects: How Method Biases Can Produce Spurious Findings About Close Relationships - Samantha Joel, John K. Sakaluk, James J. Kim, Devinder Khera, Helena Yuchen Qin, Sarah C. E. Stanton, 2025

Research on interpersonal relationships frequently relies on accurate self-reporting across various relationship facets (e.g., conflict, trust, appreciation). Y...

journals.sagepub.com

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Michael Inzlicht @minzlicht.bsky.social · Sep 10

The original paper is by Olivier Corneille and Bertram Gawrosnki: www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Self-reports are better measurement instruments than implicit measures - Nature Reviews Psychology

Implicit measures are widely used because they are assumed to be superior to self-reports. In this Perspective, Corneille and Gawronski challenge this view and argue that claims about disadvantages of...

www.nature.com

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Michael Inzlicht @minzlicht.bsky.social · Sep 10

Major new paper by finds implicit measures like the IAT are no better than asking people directly about their biases. After decades of avoiding self-reports, turns out our sophisticated replacement tools work no better than what we abandoned. New post!

The Great Implicit Bias Bamboozle

Where were you when you first learned about implicit bias?

open.substack.com

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Greg Depow @gregdepow.bsky.social · Sep 3

Exciting news! I'll be working with the Center for Digital Thriving @digitalthriving.bsky.social as a fellow to develop an intervention aimed at improving the well-being of youth on social media. The intervention will train youth to engage skilfully with emotions on their feed using wise empathy.

Center for Digital Thriving @digitalthriving.bsky.social · Sep 3

🎉Meet our 2025 Digital Thriving Fellows! From reimagining empathy online to blending Pan-African community concepts with digital life, four bold projects share one goal: helping youth thrive in a tech-filled world. ✨ Learn more 👉 digitalthriving.gse.harvard.edu/fellows/

#DigitalThriving #YouthVoice

TeYRa AnDeRSOn Teyra’s project, MYA: IRL, is a youth-guided mini-series that captures the real complexities of growing up in a hyperconnected world. Co-created with teens, the series explores how digital life intersects with friendship, family, identity, and selfhood.

MiChaEL DaviS Michael’s project brings mindfulness and cyberpsychology into K–5 classrooms, developing tools that help kids build resilience, regulate emotions, and grow into mindful digital citizens.

GReGORY DePOW Greg’s project explores how young people can practice wise empathy to reshape their online experiences — engaging with others’ emotions in ways that foster joy, compassion, and authentic sharing rather than comparing.

ECY FeMi KinG Ecy’s project, Tech for Togetherness, is an interactive comic guide that blends Pan-African concepts with technology to offer youth fresh frameworks for community-centered digital thriving.

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