Our preprint is available here: lnkd.in/eZScnH2D

⚠️ But there is a dark side when AIs are sycophantic:
-People reinforced their pre-existing beliefs.
-Enjoy conversing with sycophantic LLMs more
-View them as credible sources of information!
-They are also more likely to use the LLM in the future and recommend its use to others! 🫨

Our findings reveal that:
👉 AI-driven persuasion can be surprisingly effective! People can be persuaded to view government more positively with didactic and debate style communication, even when presented with evidence that challenged their pre-existing beliefs.

We examined how different argumentative styles (7 to be exact!) shape persuasion and credibility of arguments about U.S. federal agencies performance.

These styles include variations of: didactic 💬 , debates 🗣️ and sycophantic 😈 styles.

@pmreview.bsky.social

Public employees are sometimes deeply affected by negative stereotypes. These emotions are personal, & have predictable effects on their behavior and on the quality of public services.

🥥:Emotions shape the interaction between police and citizens and can affect good governance and public services.

Based on observations and conversations with police officers in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 and the United States🇺🇸,
we found:
📌 Anxiety or emotional fatigue can lead to ignoring citizens.
📌 Anger can increase the tendency to confrontation.
📌 And emotional pain can actually lead to rapprochement.

🌻 This project is meaningful to me:
I tried to follow ethical experim. practices by avoiding deception & priming while working with a sensitive topic.

Special thanks to @asmusletholsen.bsky.social, @elizabethlinos.bsky.social, @tummers.bsky.social & S. Grimmelikhuijsen for advice and help! 🙇‍♀️

🔑 This suggests two things:
We shouldn’t assume that beliefs automatically translate into intentions and actions.
The personal beliefs that public employees hold matter a great deal.

What I found:
✅The treatment did increase belief in the stereotype itself.
❌It did NOT increase intentions or dishonest behaviors... EXCEPT among a minority of public emp who already believed that petty corruption is acceptable. For this group, intentions to corrupt rose more than 16%.

Capturing corruption intentions and behaviors is hard: they’re clandestine in nature. Manipulating perceptions of corruption in an ethical way? Also very hard!
I drew on stereotyping literature, specifically, the widely held belief that bureaucrats are corrupt to increase perceived corruption.

Congratulations! 🎊

This recognition means a lot. 2025 has indeed been a big year for me - one that reminded me how much I owe to the supportive academic community around me. I am the sum of those I work and grow with. 🌻 🌻 🌻

For those who are curious about the dissertation: dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/...

Huge thanks to @twmorrissey.bsky.social from @au-spa.bsky.social for her generous support letter! And the award committee @billresh.bsky.social , @mpteodoro.bsky.social and Randall Davis.

Grateful for the community that makes this work possible!