Robert Böhm
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robertboehm.bsky.social
Robert Böhm
@robertboehm.bsky.social

Behavioral scientist studying judgment and decision making in response to societal challenges; robertboehm.info; Professor @univie.ac.at & @uniinnsbruck.bsky.social; Director https://whocc-sabrar.univie.ac.at; Co-director https://health.univie.ac.at/en/ .. more

Political science 23%
Sociology 23%

Taken together, we present a new toolkit for measuring individual- and group-level social preferences, show that both are shaped by conflict experiences and perceptions, and demonstrate that they predict conflict engagement across diverse samples and group memberships. (6/7)

In a quasi-experimental Study 5 among US participants, we show that parochialism is elevated in high- relative to low-conflict group pairings, whereas altruism appears comparatively less depended on perceived conflict intensity. (5/7)

Study 4 employed a lab-in-the-field approach with members of the Nyangatom, a small-scale society in Ethiopia engaging in cross-border conflicts. We find that higher conflict experience is related to higher levels of altruism, particularly among participants with higher levels of parochialism. (4/7)

In Study 1, we validate our measurement toolkit, showing that altruism and parochialism are separate social preferences. In Studies 2-3, we find that individual-and group-level preferences independently predict participation in real-world conflict (football derby fans and political camps). (3/7)

Classic “parochial altruism” models assume two distinct preferences drive conflict participation:
𝗔𝗹𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗺: helping one’s ingroup at a personal cost,
𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺: favoring ingroups over outgroups.
We develop a toolkit for measuring these individual- and group-level social preferences. (2/7)

Reposted by Hannes Rusch

🚨NEW PUBLICATION🚨 in @cp-iscience.bsky.social l together with @lukeglowacki.bsky.social, @hannesrusch.bsky.social and Isabel Thielmann: “Untangling altruism and parochialism in human intergroup conflict” doi.org/10.1016/j.is... (1/7)

Thank you all for your interest in our research. We hope this week's posts helped to raise some awareness for AMR and what we can do about it using social and behavioral science. #AMR #WorldAMRAwarenessWeek #WAAW2025 Join us in future research efforts: www.a-bc.network
ABC Network: Antimicrobials: Behaviour & Cognition Network
www.a-bc.network

However, when we induced empathy for future generations in the between-generations condition, antibiotic overuse in case of mild infections dropped. This suggests that how we frame the dilemma—and empathy-based interventions—can help promote more responsible antibiotic use. (3)

Santana et al. (2023) ran a preregistered study (N=996) using a behavioral game to test how people use antibiotics when the costs of resistance fall on their own vs. a future generation. Overuse in case of mild infections increased when the consequences were pushed onto future generations. (2)

Antibiotic use is a social and temporal dilemma: the benefits are immediate, but the costs—antibiotic resistance—arrive later. Today’s choices shape the effectiveness of antibiotics for future generations, so we have to use them wisely. (1)

I'm closing this week's joint thread of selected work on #AMR with a summary of a study conducted by my former PhD student Ana Santana.

We investigate how people process information, form expectations, and decide when to use antibiotics. Over the next few days, we’ll post research highlights in the replies. Stay tuned! @abc-network.bsky.social @icarsglobal.bsky.social @theamrnarrative.bsky.social

Reposted by Cornelia Betsch

Tomorrow marks the start of 🌍 World AMR Awareness Week 2025! We’ll be sharing insights from our AMR research as psychologists at @univie.ac.at @ipb.bsky.social @unierfurt.bsky.social and BNITM. Like/share this post for updates throughout the week! #AMR #WorldAMRAwarenessWeek #WAAW2025
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...

The deadline for applications is actually December 10. Sorry!

Join one of Europe’s largest and best psychology departments in one of the world’s most liveable cities. We offer competitive conditions. Further information: jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Tenure-T... (deadline for applications: December 12, 2025)
Tenure-Track Professorship in Psychology of digitalization
Tenure-Track Professorship in Psychology of digitalization
jobs.univie.ac.at

Reposted by Linda J. Skitka

We're hiring! @univie.ac.at is seeking a TT Assistant Professor in the Psychology of Digitalization. If your work is about automation, AI, or immersive technology (e.g., VR) in the context of work and organizations (broadly defined), we’d love to hear from you. 👇
Meilenstein: Die Universität Wien ist erstmals unter den Top 100 im World University Ranking von @timeshighered.bsky.social - auf Platz 95! 🥳 Das stärkt Sichtbarkeit & internationale Vernetzung exzellenter Forschender und Studierender weltweit. #univie #THERanking 👉 www.univie.ac.at/aktuelles/pr...
Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

It was a pleasure to provide a keynote talk at this week‘s #ECTMIH conference in #Hamburg. I learned about great research to improve health and had fun with my friends and colleagues @miroslavsirota.bsky.social and @corneliabetsch.bsky.social & her team.

Reposted by Robert Böhm

🌍 Vom 29.9.–2.10. sind IPB-Mitglieder bei der #ECTMIH2025 in Hamburg mit Forschung zu Impfverhalten, AMR & Risikokommunikation 📊
🎙️ Keynote von IPB-Fellow @robertboehm.bsky.social „Transforming Health and Climate Communication Through Digital Innovation“
@unierfurt.bsky.social @escmid.bsky.social

My PhD student @qinyuxiao.bsky.social has written a wonderful tribute to Gary Bornstein’s influential paper on team games (doi.org/10.1207/S153...) — a paper that remains as relevant today as it was over 20 years ago. You can read Qinyu’s short piece here: doi.org/10.1038/s441...
The multi-level social dilemmas of intergroup interactions - Nature Reviews Psychology
Nature Reviews Psychology - The multi-level social dilemmas of intergroup interactions
doi.org

This rigorous and fully transparent meta-analysis on the impact of herd immunity communication on vaccination intentions and behavior is based on @leonhardreiter.bsky.social's master’s thesis. Couldn’t be prouder of him. ❤️

You both rock!
📢 New SysRev + Meta-Analysis out in Health Psychology Review!
Together with the amazing Martin Voracek, @corneliabetsch.bsky.social & @robertboehm.bsky.social

Do messages about herd immunity increase or decrease vaccination motivation? 🤔
Read more to find out! 🧵
OA: doi.org/10.1080/1743...
Emphasising herd immunity in vaccine advocacy: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Emphasising herd immunity in vaccine communication may affect vaccine uptake by eliciting prosocial or selfish motivations. While experimental evidence has accumulated, quantitative syntheses are l...
doi.org
Can large language models stand in for human participants?
Many social scientists seem to think so, and are already using "silicon samples" in research.

One problem: depending on the analytic decisions made, you can basically get these samples to show any effect you want.

THREAD 🧵
The threat of analytic flexibility in using large language models to simulate human data: A call to attention
Social scientists are now using large language models to create "silicon samples" - synthetic datasets intended to stand in for human respondents, aimed at revolutionising human subjects research. How...
arxiv.org

Reposted by Cornelia Betsch

Exciting and innovative project on an important topic with an outstanding supervisor. Consider applying!
🚨 We’re hiring! 🚨
The Social&Environmental Psychology Group @ruhr-uni-bochum.de is recruiting 2 PhDs and 1 Postdoc
as part of the ERC-funded SUSCON project on sustainable consumption.

Details here:

PhDs:👉 jobs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/jobposting/7...

Postdoc:👉 jobs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/jobposting/e...
Doctoral Researcher (m,f,x)
jobs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de