Scholar
LightNews

Amy Orben

Videos

Amy Orben is a British experimental psychologist who is a group leader at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit.… more

Amy Orben
H-index: 30
Psychology 23%
Education 21%
more

by Amy Orben

orbenamy.bsky.social
Yes 🙈 didn’t know I am not a proper researcher because of this fml
5

by Amy Orben

orbenamy.bsky.social
So excited this is now out!
bcdavidson.bsky.social
Brandon C Davidson @bcdavidson.bsky.social · Sep 16
🚨 New Preprint 🚨

Prolonged Isolation is associated with an increased behavioural sensitivity to ‘Likes’ on social media.

🧵

Social media rewards are inherently social—but does posting change during social isolation, when in-person social rewards are limited?

It turns out, yes!
10

Reposted by Amy Orben

bcdavidson.bsky.social
In a preregistered study of 535 US Twitter users, we found that people learn more from social rewards during periods of high isolation. That is, when isolated, they weigh 'Likes' more heavily in deciding how often to post.
Figure showing a significant difference between 'habit weight' in high and low social isolation. Habit weight is a component of the RL model that weights a model-free RL posting policy and a habitual posting policy.
1 10

Reposted by Amy Orben

bcdavidson.bsky.social
🚨 New Preprint 🚨

Prolonged Isolation is associated with an increased behavioural sensitivity to ‘Likes’ on social media.

🧵

Social media rewards are inherently social—but does posting change during social isolation, when in-person social rewards are limited?

It turns out, yes!
1 8 30

Reposted by Amy Orben

reproducibilitea.org
Are you a potential, current, or past ReproducibiliTea organizer? ✨

Join our upcoming networking event!

📅 October 2, 2025 (16:00 CEST) on Zoom
👉 Register for the Zoom link: forms.gle/iH6sHt3dB4Wf...

Everyone is welcome!
1 9 5

by Amy Orben

orbenamy.bsky.social
Great time in London watching intern @sineadcleary.bsky.social and research assistant Brandon Davidson give a fantastic presentation to the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology - what superstars I get to work with!
1 9

by Amy Orben

orbenamy.bsky.social
Congratulations!! ❤️❤️❤️
1

Reposted by Amy Orben, John Drury, Tanja Gabriele Baudson , and 3 more

lakens.bsky.social
An abbreviation (ABB) in a journal article (JA) or Grant Application (GA) is rarely worth the words it saves. Every ABB requires cognitive resources (CR) and at my age by the time I'm halfway through a JA or GA I no longer have the CR to remember what your ABB stood for.
11 110 360

by Amy Orben

orbenamy.bsky.social
Oh wow! Well glad to be of help in spotting those students 😅
1

by Amy Orben

orbenamy.bsky.social
I know right 😅😅 full story below
1 2

by Amy Orben

orbenamy.bsky.social
Weather was mixed, but not too bad! But I had a wonderful time. We will need to share stories next time we meet 😊
1

by Amy Orben

orbenamy.bsky.social
Can confirm it was a fantastic 250+km across 10 islands ... when I was not miserable with wet feet, knee deep in bog, or waking up with 50+ seed ticks invading my tent 😅! Disturbed by only one Radio 4 Today interview and a phone call with a senior govt official.
1 26

Reposted by Amy Orben

orbenamy.bsky.social
🚨My team is *HIRING*!🚨

Want to join a collaborative team doing cutting-edge research and gain experience across a range of research skills? This is the job for you ✅

Know someone looking for an opportunity like this? Please let them know! 📣

www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/43918/ (closing: 30.11.2023)
1 27 13

Reposted by Amy Orben

simine.com
I'm thrilled to announce the new Psych Science editor team! We'll start on Jan 1, 2024. Check us out: here: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/publications/psychological_science/2024-editorial-board

We're spread across 15 countries in 5 continents! 🌍🌎🌏

Here’s a thread to introduce the team!
www.psychologicalscience.org
7 83 210

Reposted by Amy Orben, Michael Scharkow

georgiaturner.bsky.social
🚨New preprint 🚨

**A computational model of reward learning and habits on social media**

🧵

We develop a computational reward learning model of real-world social media data, which infers the separate goal-directed and habitual cognitive processes driving posting...
4 28 77

Reposted by Amy Orben

vw1234.bsky.social
An exciting new opportunity at the University of Cambridge, Department of Psychology: The Dawson Professorship of Young People's Mental Health. Deadline for application is March 3, 2025.

www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49974/
The Dawson Professorship of Young People's Mental Health - Job Opportunities - University of Cambridge
The Dawson Professorship of Young People's Mental Health in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge.
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk
3 2

Reposted by Amy Orben

natematias.bsky.social
New: Why does it take so long for science to spot harmful digital tech & support innovation on safer alternatives? And how can we speed it up?

I compare tech safety to green chemistry & link to an open version of @orbenamy.bsky.social & my article in @science.org
citizensandtech.org/2025/04/fixi...
Fixing the Traffic Jam in the Science of Technology Safety
Why does it take so long for science to spot harmful technology products and support the search for safer alternatives? And how can we speed it up?
citizensandtech.org
3 8

Reposted by Amy Orben

amiraskeggs.bsky.social
New Perspective out in @nathumbehav.nature.com today with co-author @orbenamy.bsky.social!

We propose a new framework for designing 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 that support well-being, grounded in self-determination theory 🧵

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Social media interventions to improve well-being - Nature Human Behaviour
In this Perspective, the authors review current interventions on social media use among adolescents and propose a new theoretical model based on self-determination theory to guide the effective design...
www.nature.com
2 6 20

Reposted by Amy Orben

annaalexandrova.bsky.social
Thank you @orbenamy.bsky.social for speaking at Coffee with Scientist in HPS today! We discussed this pathbreaking paper. Also what it's like to be a science advisor grappling with all the right moral n epistemic qs with humility n wisdom, while being doubted from left n right. Stay strong, Amy!
orbenamy.bsky.social
Amy Orben @orbenamy.bsky.social · Apr 11
New Paper! I'm truly excited to share @natematias.bsky.social and my new Policy Forum in Science published yesterday.

We evaluate science's ability to address technological harms, and offer recommendations for what could be done to improve on the status quo: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Fixing the science of digital technology harms
Technology development outpaces scientific assessment of impacts
www.science.org
1 8

by Amy Orben

orbenamy.bsky.social
BRB solo hiking the Outer Hebrides (south ➡️ north) over the next 2 weeks. 👋 No big news when I am away please, thanks.
1 31

by Amy Orben

orbenamy.bsky.social
The rest of 2025 promises to be exceptionally important for advancing social media data access for UK researchers.

📣 UK social media researchers! Join us at the event below to hear directly from Ofcom and UK government on current ideas, next steps, and to also share your own perspectives ⬇️
1 7

by Amy Orben

orbenamy.bsky.social
Job 2+: still being finalised (opening: late summer, closing date: autumn, starting date: ~early 2026). If you have delivered exciting research in relevant areas, and do not fit the role above, please feel free to get in touch directly with your CV and overview of background/interests to discuss.

by Amy Orben

orbenamy.bsky.social
I'm hiring 2+ 2.5-year postdocs over the next few months.

Job 1: looking for someone with deep expertise in computational modelling (reinforcement learning, agent based modelling) on real-world/complex data (closing: 18 August, starting: October-December), www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/52059/
2 38 35

by Amy Orben

orbenamy.bsky.social
Now I’m jealous
1

Reposted by Amy Orben, Jan R. Boehnke

dingdingpeng.the100.ci
Crazy coincidence how often [thing that will fix science of all of its ailments] coincides with [thing the speaker considers themselves an expert in]. Makes you think
11 14 120

Reposted by Amy Orben, George B. Ploubidis, Naomi Priest

tommetherell.com
We have a ✨NEW PREPRINT✨! Using data from the @clscohorts.bsky.social Millennium Cohort Study and linked healthcare records, we tested the association between social media use and psychiatric diagnoses in secondary care in young people in England. This is still a work in progress - feedback welcome!
psyarxivbot.bsky.social
PsyArXivBot @psyarxivbot.bsky.social · Jul 8
Characterising the longitudinal relationship between social media use and psychiatric diagnoses in secondary care in adolescents in England: https://osf.io/87cze
3 11 24

Reposted by Amy Orben

amiraskeggs.bsky.social
🚨New preprint 🚨

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬: 𝐀 𝐋𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞-𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐨-𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲

osf.io/preprints/ps...

🧵

Using a novel micro-narrative method, we collected ~ 900 first-person accounts of social media harms from young people across the UK and US.
1 6 18

by Amy Orben

orbenamy.bsky.social
Thanks for inviting me Anna, and the rest of the History and Philosophy of Science department 🙏
annaalexandrova.bsky.social
Anna Alexandrova @annaalexandrova.bsky.social · Jun 13
Thank you @orbenamy.bsky.social for speaking at Coffee with Scientist in HPS today! We discussed this pathbreaking paper. Also what it's like to be a science advisor grappling with all the right moral n epistemic qs with humility n wisdom, while being doubted from left n right. Stay strong, Amy!
orbenamy.bsky.social
Amy Orben @orbenamy.bsky.social · Apr 11
New Paper! I'm truly excited to share @natematias.bsky.social and my new Policy Forum in Science published yesterday.

We evaluate science's ability to address technological harms, and offer recommendations for what could be done to improve on the status quo: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
10

Reposted by Amy Orben, Andrew K Przybylski

peteetchells.bsky.social
Screen Sense: Parenting in a Digital World, the new podcast from @shuhbillskee.bsky.social and I - first episode is now live. We hope you enjoy it. open.substack.com/pub/screense...
Episode 1: Why does (digital) parenting feel so hard?
Listen now | How should we think about parenting in a digital age?
open.substack.com
2 18 21

Reposted by Amy Orben

natefast.bsky.social
We're excited to announce the 2025 Psychology of Technology Dissertation Award winners! Please join us in congratulating them!
1 1 5

References

Fields & subjects

Updated 1m