Q. McLamore
@ghawinriver.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Social Psychology (They/Them). Views expressed are strictly my own and not those of my employer.
It's the same panic and relies upon the same inability to understand how diagnostics work that governs all of this. The panic, ultimately, is a bug-eyed fear of the future and the need to adjust one's own beliefs and behaviors to suit it. No more, no less.
The story told here--one where anecdata suggests agency and autonomy have run amok and nameless activists are to blame--certainly rhymes with the NYT's disastrous panic about trans kids. Then you realize it's literally being written by the same author.
Autism rates have increased in recent decades, but the reasons are more complicated than what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has presented. Hear more on today's episode of "The Daily." nyti.ms/480eqtm
November 25, 2025 at 12:08 AM
It's the same panic and relies upon the same inability to understand how diagnostics work that governs all of this. The panic, ultimately, is a bug-eyed fear of the future and the need to adjust one's own beliefs and behaviors to suit it. No more, no less.
I would also put this forward as an explanation for why women--actual women--don't like tech-obsessed dudes all that much. If AI *can* replace women in their lives, as far as they're concerned, then it shows exactly what they thought of women in the first place.
to my new followers and not, see this if you want to understand why and how much the AI bros hate women and people generally (by @spookyachu.bsky.social, Annelies K, and me):
Pygmalion Displacement: When Humanising AI Dehumanises Women. SocArXiv. doi.org/10.31235/osf...
Pygmalion Displacement: When Humanising AI Dehumanises Women. SocArXiv. doi.org/10.31235/osf...
yes, and the history so SO BAD, see: Erscoi, L., Kleinherenbrink, A., & Guest, O. (2023). Pygmalion Displacement: When Humanising AI Dehumanises Women. SocArXiv. doi.org/10.31235/osf...
November 25, 2025 at 12:04 AM
I would also put this forward as an explanation for why women--actual women--don't like tech-obsessed dudes all that much. If AI *can* replace women in their lives, as far as they're concerned, then it shows exactly what they thought of women in the first place.
Reposted by Q. McLamore
Once more for those in back: What people think about Democrats isn't made out of what Democrats say. This (among so many things) is why winning a vote choice trial heat in a survey doesn't equate to winning an election.
www.weekendreading.net/p/bringing-a...
www.weekendreading.net/p/bringing-a...
November 24, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Once more for those in back: What people think about Democrats isn't made out of what Democrats say. This (among so many things) is why winning a vote choice trial heat in a survey doesn't equate to winning an election.
www.weekendreading.net/p/bringing-a...
www.weekendreading.net/p/bringing-a...
Reposted by Q. McLamore
With its hateful rhetoric, the right seeks to cast gender identity not as something you are, but as something dangerous that you believe. We aren’t against trans people, just their ideology.
Yet the end goal is the same: to wipe out transness itself. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Yet the end goal is the same: to wipe out transness itself. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
How the right uses "gender ideology" to blame trans people for everything
MAGA learned from global autocrats the language needed to push fear.
www.motherjones.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:00 AM
With its hateful rhetoric, the right seeks to cast gender identity not as something you are, but as something dangerous that you believe. We aren’t against trans people, just their ideology.
Yet the end goal is the same: to wipe out transness itself. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Yet the end goal is the same: to wipe out transness itself. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Q. McLamore
Read all of this. This is everything and everybody we were trying to warn about.
NEW: When RFK Jr. first told Trump that Tylenol might cause autism, the president wanted to tweet out a warning. Kennedy told him not to do that. There was nuance, and the drug companies would push back. “I don’t give a shit about that,” Trump responded. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
The Most Powerful Man in Science
Why is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. so convinced he’s right?
www.theatlantic.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Read all of this. This is everything and everybody we were trying to warn about.
We really need to stop getting obsessed with these "make humanity good with one weird trick" findings. It's rarely if ever a good idea.
My new piece is on the idea that Batman can make us more ethical and why it is very unlikely to be true.
gidmk.substack.com/p/does-batma...
gidmk.substack.com/p/does-batma...
Does Batman Make Us More Ethical?
The story of a very unlikely finding.
gidmk.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:08 AM
We really need to stop getting obsessed with these "make humanity good with one weird trick" findings. It's rarely if ever a good idea.
Reposted by Q. McLamore
In a new paper we present a framework for thinking about online radicalization where some people acquire extremist beliefs on social media (path A) whereas for others SM simply reinforces existing extremist beliefs (path B). Both can lead to support for violence.
www.frontiersin.org/journals/soc...
www.frontiersin.org/journals/soc...
November 23, 2025 at 8:49 PM
In a new paper we present a framework for thinking about online radicalization where some people acquire extremist beliefs on social media (path A) whereas for others SM simply reinforces existing extremist beliefs (path B). Both can lead to support for violence.
www.frontiersin.org/journals/soc...
www.frontiersin.org/journals/soc...
So, I'm seeing a lot of posts discussing historical decency norms for male clothing as a rebuttal to pastors insisting on "making sin shameful again" because sports gear. What I don't see enough of being pointed out is that staring at women's breasts and rears while being a pastor is a sin.
November 24, 2025 at 1:15 AM
So, I'm seeing a lot of posts discussing historical decency norms for male clothing as a rebuttal to pastors insisting on "making sin shameful again" because sports gear. What I don't see enough of being pointed out is that staring at women's breasts and rears while being a pastor is a sin.
Reposted by Q. McLamore
Meta halted internal research that purportedly showed (young) people who stopped using Facebook became less depressed and anxious, according to an unredacted legal filing released on Friday. www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/m...
Meta halted internal research suggesting social media harm, court filing alleges
Meta is alleged to have halted internal research suggesting social media harm, according to court documents.
www.cnbc.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Meta halted internal research that purportedly showed (young) people who stopped using Facebook became less depressed and anxious, according to an unredacted legal filing released on Friday. www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/m...
Reposted by Q. McLamore
Social media could work differently. We teach digital literacy, but ppl often can’t apply those lessons w/in systems that obscure where info comes from & how it gets to them. What might social media look like if users had better signals of information provenance? www.rawstory.com/maga-foreign...
Internet erupts as MAGA influencers exposed for being based in other countries
A large number of MAGA social media influencers were exposed over the weekend as being being based in other countries.Podcaster Matt Binder posted screenshots showing that Charlie’s Voice Rising, a po...
www.rawstory.com
November 23, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Social media could work differently. We teach digital literacy, but ppl often can’t apply those lessons w/in systems that obscure where info comes from & how it gets to them. What might social media look like if users had better signals of information provenance? www.rawstory.com/maga-foreign...
Reposted by Q. McLamore
Really important to stress that the Crown Jewels of the US higher education system were never the Ivies or elite SLACs (other countries have equivalents of these) but the well-funded, large, cheap, and excellently staffed public state university systems bringing high quality education to the masses.
One of the bragging rights that the US ed system had in the 20th century is that we didn't have education tracks. Essentially, any kid could go to a CC or state school & major in whatever they wanted to (obviously an oversimplification). I fear this aspect of the American dream is dying.
November 23, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Really important to stress that the Crown Jewels of the US higher education system were never the Ivies or elite SLACs (other countries have equivalents of these) but the well-funded, large, cheap, and excellently staffed public state university systems bringing high quality education to the masses.
Reposted by Q. McLamore
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
November 23, 2025 at 7:13 PM
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
Reposted by Q. McLamore
I feel for the hardworking public health professionals of the CDC
Betrayed by leadership.
Shot at by right-wing terrorist.
Targeted by DOGE.
Watching their career’s work be destroyed.
Those that stay in the hope of rebuilding have my respect. Those that can’t stay like this have my understanding 😢
Betrayed by leadership.
Shot at by right-wing terrorist.
Targeted by DOGE.
Watching their career’s work be destroyed.
Those that stay in the hope of rebuilding have my respect. Those that can’t stay like this have my understanding 😢
“The best way I can put it is it feels like we’re on a hijacked airplane.”
The CDC’s new autism page reads like an anti-vax blog, and the agency's employees are not happy about it.
The CDC’s new autism page reads like an anti-vax blog, and the agency's employees are not happy about it.
“Embarrassing” and “horrifying”: CDC workers describe the new vaccines and autism page
"The best way I can put it is it feels like we're on a hijacked airplane."
www.motherjones.com
November 23, 2025 at 11:31 PM
I feel for the hardworking public health professionals of the CDC
Betrayed by leadership.
Shot at by right-wing terrorist.
Targeted by DOGE.
Watching their career’s work be destroyed.
Those that stay in the hope of rebuilding have my respect. Those that can’t stay like this have my understanding 😢
Betrayed by leadership.
Shot at by right-wing terrorist.
Targeted by DOGE.
Watching their career’s work be destroyed.
Those that stay in the hope of rebuilding have my respect. Those that can’t stay like this have my understanding 😢
Reposted by Q. McLamore
Join us for the EASP 2026 Preconference:
"Social Psychological Processes of Collective Memory"
@easp2026.bsky.social ✨
With @olivierklein.bsky.social @jrvollhardt.bsky.social @michelletwali.bsky.social @elifsandal.bsky.social @laurentlicata.bsky.social
Submit here: www.easp.eu/news/itm/cal...
"Social Psychological Processes of Collective Memory"
@easp2026.bsky.social ✨
With @olivierklein.bsky.social @jrvollhardt.bsky.social @michelletwali.bsky.social @elifsandal.bsky.social @laurentlicata.bsky.social
Submit here: www.easp.eu/news/itm/cal...
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS – EASP 2026 PRECONFERENCES
Social Psychology News Articles
www.easp.eu
November 20, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Join us for the EASP 2026 Preconference:
"Social Psychological Processes of Collective Memory"
@easp2026.bsky.social ✨
With @olivierklein.bsky.social @jrvollhardt.bsky.social @michelletwali.bsky.social @elifsandal.bsky.social @laurentlicata.bsky.social
Submit here: www.easp.eu/news/itm/cal...
"Social Psychological Processes of Collective Memory"
@easp2026.bsky.social ✨
With @olivierklein.bsky.social @jrvollhardt.bsky.social @michelletwali.bsky.social @elifsandal.bsky.social @laurentlicata.bsky.social
Submit here: www.easp.eu/news/itm/cal...
Reposted by Q. McLamore
In light of the assault on American science by its own government that launched in January this year, we published the Anti-Autocracy Handbook in June to provide some guidance to scholars about how to respond to an emerging autocracy. The handbook is available at: sks.to/autocracy. 1/n
1/4
1/4
November 17, 2025 at 8:37 PM
In light of the assault on American science by its own government that launched in January this year, we published the Anti-Autocracy Handbook in June to provide some guidance to scholars about how to respond to an emerging autocracy. The handbook is available at: sks.to/autocracy. 1/n
1/4
1/4
Reposted by Q. McLamore
Just in case anyone is wondering how to be prepared for living in a country sliding into authoritarianism.
bsky.app/profile/lewa...
bsky.app/profile/lewa...
In light of the assault on American science by its own government that launched in January this year, we published the Anti-Autocracy Handbook in June to provide some guidance to scholars about how to respond to an emerging autocracy. The handbook is available at: sks.to/autocracy. 1/n
1/4
1/4
November 20, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Just in case anyone is wondering how to be prepared for living in a country sliding into authoritarianism.
bsky.app/profile/lewa...
bsky.app/profile/lewa...
Reposted by Q. McLamore
Good article here trying to make sense of the senseless (the Epstein emails).
So much about our current timeline makes sense when you realise that vastly more of the people with power are vastly more idiotic and more venal and more immoral than we thought.
So much about our current timeline makes sense when you realise that vastly more of the people with power are vastly more idiotic and more venal and more immoral than we thought.
November 14, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Good article here trying to make sense of the senseless (the Epstein emails).
So much about our current timeline makes sense when you realise that vastly more of the people with power are vastly more idiotic and more venal and more immoral than we thought.
So much about our current timeline makes sense when you realise that vastly more of the people with power are vastly more idiotic and more venal and more immoral than we thought.
Reposted by Q. McLamore
In sorting my own thoughts about the moment, I began writing about the way science is being used by bad actors under the guise of "evidence-based medicine". I also talk about the limits of our ability to fully boil down evidence into axioms that make subjectivity irrelevant.
The myth of an apolitical science — Jessica Kant
What we might call the modern anti-science movement, starting with efforts to hide the obvious linkage between tobacco and cancer, and the rise of “climate skepticism”, has grown in scale enormously i...
jessk.org
November 18, 2025 at 1:02 PM
In sorting my own thoughts about the moment, I began writing about the way science is being used by bad actors under the guise of "evidence-based medicine". I also talk about the limits of our ability to fully boil down evidence into axioms that make subjectivity irrelevant.
She did far worse than downplay it; she justified it using the same reheated 4Chan sexology that tries to spin preying on teenagers as normal and okay because teenagers bone each other. Like it's not even subtle; it just *is* the same arguments verbatim coming out of her mouth.
After commentator Megyn Kelly seemed to downplay the youth of Jeffrey Epstein's victims, former child actresses and current teenagers took to social media to express outrage. n.pr/4o6Vfmi
What does 15 look like? Teens and former child actors weigh in online after Megyn Kelly comments
After commentator Megyn Kelly seemed to downplay the youth of Jeffrey Epstein's victims, former child actresses and current teenagers took to social media to express outrage.
n.pr
November 18, 2025 at 11:59 PM
She did far worse than downplay it; she justified it using the same reheated 4Chan sexology that tries to spin preying on teenagers as normal and okay because teenagers bone each other. Like it's not even subtle; it just *is* the same arguments verbatim coming out of her mouth.
Reposted by Q. McLamore
Starting the week strong with a newly accepted paper in Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, co-authored with postdoc @lizsnoland.bsky.social and Sohad Murrar! We merged two largely independent research lines to call for data disaggregation of Asian Americans and MENA Americans
Unpacking Broad Racial Labels: The Disaggregation of Data on Race and Ethnicity: https://osf.io/eyv7b
November 17, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Starting the week strong with a newly accepted paper in Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, co-authored with postdoc @lizsnoland.bsky.social and Sohad Murrar! We merged two largely independent research lines to call for data disaggregation of Asian Americans and MENA Americans
Reposted by Q. McLamore
🎉 Excited to share that Content Confusion publishes today! It dives into how news orgs & advertisers—including fossil fuels—blur journalism & ads, fueling disinfo & distrust. Available now! Use code MITP30 today for 30% off at MIT Press. Thanks for the support! 🙏
mitpress.mit.edu/978026255360...
mitpress.mit.edu/978026255360...
Content Confusion
We often blame social media for the rampant problem of disinformation, but mainstream news media is also at fault. Not only do news outlets disguise paid con...
mitpress.mit.edu
November 18, 2025 at 12:51 PM
🎉 Excited to share that Content Confusion publishes today! It dives into how news orgs & advertisers—including fossil fuels—blur journalism & ads, fueling disinfo & distrust. Available now! Use code MITP30 today for 30% off at MIT Press. Thanks for the support! 🙏
mitpress.mit.edu/978026255360...
mitpress.mit.edu/978026255360...
Reposted by Q. McLamore
Just casually reading in the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer that nearly a quarter (28-country average) seem to think that intentionally spreading disinformation (!) or committing violence (!!) is OK as a means to bring about societal change.
www.edelman.com/sites/g/file...
www.edelman.com/sites/g/file...
November 18, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Just casually reading in the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer that nearly a quarter (28-country average) seem to think that intentionally spreading disinformation (!) or committing violence (!!) is OK as a means to bring about societal change.
www.edelman.com/sites/g/file...
www.edelman.com/sites/g/file...
Reposted by Q. McLamore
This is could well be a historic midterm for Democrats.
Don’t waste it on centrists who won’t come through when it matters. Run vocal progressives.
You won’t end Trumpism without anti-corruption crusaders and warriors for social and economic justice who believe in taxes & big, universal programs.
Don’t waste it on centrists who won’t come through when it matters. Run vocal progressives.
You won’t end Trumpism without anti-corruption crusaders and warriors for social and economic justice who believe in taxes & big, universal programs.
Those claiming Dems should retreat on racial justice aren't hard-headed realists, they're pushing against the electoral tide rather than leaning into it. The story of Gen Z isn't about racist backlash or red-pilled young men. It's the most racially progressive generation in American history. 🧵
November 15, 2025 at 4:40 AM
This is could well be a historic midterm for Democrats.
Don’t waste it on centrists who won’t come through when it matters. Run vocal progressives.
You won’t end Trumpism without anti-corruption crusaders and warriors for social and economic justice who believe in taxes & big, universal programs.
Don’t waste it on centrists who won’t come through when it matters. Run vocal progressives.
You won’t end Trumpism without anti-corruption crusaders and warriors for social and economic justice who believe in taxes & big, universal programs.
Also, just bluntly, I'm going to say it, because someone should:
It should not MATTER if it will "win elections" or not; what matters is that obstructing information regarding Epstein's political entanglements and uncountable crimes is wrong. Morally. Y'all "strategists" remember what morals are?
It should not MATTER if it will "win elections" or not; what matters is that obstructing information regarding Epstein's political entanglements and uncountable crimes is wrong. Morally. Y'all "strategists" remember what morals are?
The usual suspects are telling Dems that Epstein won’t win elections, get back to “affordability” and I think my head might explode. www.offmessage.net/p/force-a-re...
Force A Referendum On The Epstein Coverup
It divides Republicans much more than "affordability" or any other economic issue.
www.offmessage.net
November 15, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Also, just bluntly, I'm going to say it, because someone should:
It should not MATTER if it will "win elections" or not; what matters is that obstructing information regarding Epstein's political entanglements and uncountable crimes is wrong. Morally. Y'all "strategists" remember what morals are?
It should not MATTER if it will "win elections" or not; what matters is that obstructing information regarding Epstein's political entanglements and uncountable crimes is wrong. Morally. Y'all "strategists" remember what morals are?
Reposted by Q. McLamore
This is *depraved* -- glamor shots & an exculpatory feature for a woman who shit on the key central tenets of journalism, repeatedly.
NYT is celebrating elite freedom from accountability. Actively celebrating it. You wouldn't put this in a satire, it's too ham-handed!
NYT is celebrating elite freedom from accountability. Actively celebrating it. You wouldn't put this in a satire, it's too ham-handed!
November 14, 2025 at 6:25 PM
This is *depraved* -- glamor shots & an exculpatory feature for a woman who shit on the key central tenets of journalism, repeatedly.
NYT is celebrating elite freedom from accountability. Actively celebrating it. You wouldn't put this in a satire, it's too ham-handed!
NYT is celebrating elite freedom from accountability. Actively celebrating it. You wouldn't put this in a satire, it's too ham-handed!