Calvin K. Lai | Lightnews

Calvin Lai

@calvinklai.bsky.social

2.4K followers 440 following 73 posts

Social psychologist & professor at Rutgers University.
Studying how to reduce prejudice and discrimination.
Opinions are my own. he/him
calvinklai.com

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Psychology 28%

Political science 26%

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Calvin Lai @calvinklai.bsky.social · Sep 9

🚨We're hiring!🚨 The Dept of Psychology at Rutgers is hiring an Assistant Professor in Social Psychology. Review of applications begin on Oct 18. Details here: jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/259...

I'm chairing the search committee and am happy to field questions about the position. 🧵

Assistant Professor in Social Psychology, Tenure-Track

The Department of Psychology at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ, plans to hire a tenure-track Assistant Professor in SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, with a start date of September 1, 2026. We seek a candidate...

jobs.rutgers.edu

Reposted by Richard S.J. Tol, Calvin K. Lai, Joshua Goodman , and 8 more Richard S.J. Tol, Calvin K. Lai, Joshua Goodman, Niclas Berggren, Daniel W. Drezner, Aaron Sojourner, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, Amy W. Ando, Roddy Theobald, Judith Scott-Clayton, Peter Bergman

Sarah Cohodes @cohodes.bsky.social · 16h

📣 New NBER Working Paper out today 📣

"The Consequences of Faculty Sexual Misconduct"
Sarah Cohodes & Katherine Leu

Screenshot of working paper: The Consequences of Faculty Sexual Misconduct

Reposted by Stephan Lewandowsky, Mark Rubin, Calvin K. Lai , and 1 more Stephan Lewandowsky, Mark Rubin, Calvin K. Lai, Melanie C. Green

Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 5d

For each additional moral–emotional word in a social media post, the number of shares increases 13%

Our new meta-analysis finds robust evidence of moral contagion (N=4,821,006)

The moral contagion effect is even stronger in larger, pre-registered studies (17%).
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Lisa W. Fazio, Linda J. Skitka , and 3 more Anna O. Law, Lisa W. Fazio, Linda J. Skitka, Efrén O. Pérez, Calvin K. Lai, Mohammad Atari

Jin X. Goh | 吴晋勋 @jinxungoh.bsky.social · 6d

On election day, I wanna announce that I am recruiting social psych PhD students for my lab at UIC. My lab focuses on racial identities (esp Asian, Latino, MENA Americans) and intra-minority conflict/ coalition. So please tell your students to pick me! All details on my website: www.pbandjlab.com

iconic scene from Grey's Anatomy. Meredith Grey in scrub telling Derek "so pick me, choose me, love me"

Calvin Lai @calvinklai.bsky.social · 10d

Our first lab meeting reading this as a preprint is a flashbulb memory. It was such an elegantly argued paper for a phenomenon that was so clearly untrue. Either our methods needed improvement, or we must entertain that psi was true. I wished we had psychic powers! (It would make our jobs so easy)

Reposted by Calvin K. Lai

Brian Nosek @briannosek.bsky.social · 10d

What “error” has had the most positive consequences for your field this century?

I’ll start:

The editorial decision to accept Bem’s precognition paper at JPSP.

Calvin Lai @calvinklai.bsky.social · 10d

We read the (in)famous Bem Feeling the Future JPSP paper for a "spooky" Halloween lab meeting and it was fabulous!! I couldn't get over the wild methodological issue where they type of psychic power he founded depended on what random number generator Bem used 😂

Reposted by Brian A. Nosek

Calvin Lai @calvinklai.bsky.social · 10d

Reposted by Calvin K. Lai

Kevin M. King @kevinmking.bsky.social · 10d

Good threads. We used SESOIs pretty extensively in our recent registered reports (e.g. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...). We found plenty of "significant" effects, but ones that were smaller than our SESOI.

1/4

Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Hugo Mercier, Calvin K. Lai

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 10d

"only about 5% of the variance in personality can be
predicted from digital footprints, and personality‐tailored messages show negligible effects on behavior... When design and evaluation flaws are controlled, the combined end‐to‐end effectiveness of psychological targeting approaches zero."

The (In)Effectiveness of Psychological Targeting: A Meta‐Analytic Review

The use of psychological targeting—employing machine learning to predict consumer personality from digital footprints and subsequently tailoring persuasive messages—has emerged as a controversial yet...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by Calvin K. Lai

Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 13d

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it”

Willful ignorance is also motivated by social identity concerns--it is driven by ingroup favoritism + outgroup derogation and fuels conspiracy belies.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Reposted by Calvin K. Lai

Erin Westgate @erinwestgate.bsky.social · 15d

Why do young kids try to climb into tiny toy cars? Remembering Judy DeLoache’s work on how babies learn to understand symbols and symbolic representation 💙

youtu.be/PK_BQjVHZ00?...

Symbolic Representation - Scale Models

YouTube video by Brooke Miller

youtu.be

Reposted by Calvin K. Lai, Robert C. Richards, Scott A. Imberman , and 1 more Calvin K. Lai, Robert C. Richards, Scott A. Imberman, Alfie Kohn

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 17d

Yikes yikes yikes

Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg 🇵🇸 @elizabethweill.bsky.social · 17d

Breaking: The Department of Justice announced it will "monitor polling sites in six jurisdictions [in New Jersey and California] ahead of the upcoming November 4, 2025, general election to ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law." www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justi...

Justice Department to Monitor Polling Sites in California, New Jersey

WASHINGTON – Today, the Department of Justice announced that it will monitor polling sites in six jurisdictions ahead of the upcoming November 4, 2025, general election to ensure transparency, ballot ...

www.justice.gov

Reposted by Alexander Wuttke, Pierre Bataille, Calvin K. Lai

Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 17d

A massive study on the effects of social class tested 35 hypotheses in 4 countries (N = 33,536)

Only 50% of findings replicated

Hypotheses based on differences between social class contexts in terms of constraints, uncertainty & status were supported:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Reposted by Calvin K. Lai

Meltem Yucel @drmeltemyucel.bsky.social · 17d

Heartbroken to share that Judy DeLoache passed away yesterday. She was a brilliant scientist and a fantastic role model.

I met her 10+ years ago as a grad student @uvapsychology.bsky.social. She believed in me at my lowest and inspired me to persevere through the challenges of grad school + life.

Reposted by Diane Coyle, Lisa W. Fazio, Stephan Lewandowsky , and 4 more Diane Coyle, Lisa W. Fazio, Stephan Lewandowsky, John Horgan, Philippe Dessus, Calvin K. Lai, Juan Ramón

Sander van der Linden @profsanderlinden.bsky.social · 18d

Public health is under attack by a deluge of misinformation. We offer a consensus report from the American Psychological Association summarizing what we know & what interventions are effective in countering it. We provide 8 concrete recommendations. Open-access - awspntest.apa.org/fulltext/202...

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Steven S. Smith, Calvin K. Lai , and 3 more Brendan Nyhan, Steven S. Smith, Calvin K. Lai, David R. Miller, David Darmofal, Ariel White

Jacob Montgomery @jacobmontgomery.bsky.social · 20d

New editorial from me and @keithschnak.bsky.social.

“Why Washington University must not sign Trump's 'compact'”

Opinion: Why Washington University must not sign Trump's 'compact'

Washington University in St. Louis has built its reputation on a simple ideal: excellence wins. For decades, our researchers have competed for and won federal grants based on the quality

www.stltoday.com

Reposted by Edward Witten, Elizabeth Saunders, Nicholas A. Christakis , and 28 more Edward Witten, Elizabeth Saunders, Nicholas A. Christakis, Staffan I. Lindberg, Will Jennings, Gavin A. Schmidt, Tom Clark, Scott L. Greer, Michael A. Clemens, Mary Feeney, Steven S. Smith, Joseph Schafer, Calvin K. Lai, Ryan Enos, Sanford F. Schram, Michael Kevane, James Grimmelmann, David R. Miller, Nazita Lajevardi, Robert B. Reich, James Goodwin, Seth Masket, Greg Linden, Éric Klinenberg, Blair Fix, Christina Pagel, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Timothy D. McBride, James M. Thomas, David Darmofal

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 20d

Breaking News: President Trump wants $230 million from the Justice Department for investigating him, people familiar with the matter say. Any settlement might ultimately be approved by senior department officials who defended him or those in his orbit. nyti.ms/4hmIi5X

Reposted by Efrén O. Pérez, Calvin K. Lai, Michael W. Kraus , and 1 more Efrén O. Pérez, Calvin K. Lai, Michael W. Kraus, Zen Faulkes

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 20d

Looks like an important new working paper. The wave of anti-DEI laws since 2021 has had real effects on hiring at public colleges.

ungated: osf.io/preprints/so...

Reposted by Calvin K. Lai, Matthijs Rooduijn

mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · 24d

This preprint reports on a project with @j-rock.bsky.social.

We merged a light touch intervention (typical of survey experiments) w/ an intensive intervention (more typical of practitioner efforts) for reducing toxic polarization to see if we could cheaply boost 🚀 the more intensive intervention

Reposted by Mark J. Brandt, Kai Sassenberg, Mark Rubin , and 6 more Mark J. Brandt, Kai Sassenberg, Mark Rubin, Laura K. Taylor, Calvin K. Lai, Michael W. Kraus, Andrew Livingstone, Eric Hehman, Sofia Stathi

Gordon Hodson @gordonhodsonphd.bsky.social · 24d

#AcademicSky #PrejudiceResearch #PsychSciSky

Our new paper out in American Psychologist.

Led by Meleady, with @debshulman.bsky.social, Kotzur, & Crisp.

Contact "ruptures" (going to university; studying abroad) ==> changes in outgroup attitudes longitudinally

psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?d...

Calvin Lai @calvinklai.bsky.social · 24d

Current tally of American social psychologists at SESP in Lisbon saying "here" to refer to the USA: 2 😂

Reposted by David Lazer, Will Jennings, Efrén O. Pérez , and 5 more David Lazer, Will Jennings, Efrén O. Pérez, Calvin K. Lai, Ryan Enos, Andrew L. Whitehead, Leticia Bode, Sebastian Stier

Tiago Ventura @tiagoventura.bsky.social · Oct 7

How common are “survey professionals” - people who take dozens of online surveys for pay - across online panels, and do they harm data quality?

Our paper, FirstView at @politicalanalysis.bsky.social, tackles this question using browsing data from three U.S. samples (Facebook, YouGov, and Lucid):

Reposted by Calvin K. Lai, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Neil Lewis, Jr. @neillewisjr.bsky.social · Sep 23

This.

(The entire article is required reading, but I especially appreciate this section)

"Very few of us are moral saints—certainly not me. Unlike everlasting, lofty, abstract principles, we who try feebly to live up to them down in the muck of reality face mucky obstacles: we get tired, impatient, envious, and angry. Our values and principles ask more than most of us are able to give—if they don’t, they are probably too weak to be worth holding. But we don’t have to celebrate our failures or, worse still, confuse them with our successes. This is one valuable function of shame: it reminds us of who we want to be when we fall short, a goalpost that is necessarily anchored to the lofty height that our conduct fell beneath. We also encourage and defend these general social standards when we hold others to them, and not just ourselves."

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · Sep 23

Depolarization is not "a scalable solution for reducing societal-level conflict.... achieving lasting depolarization will likely require....moving beyond individual-level treatments to address the elite behaviors and structural incentives that fuel partisan conflict" www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Reposted by Norbert Schwarz, Jacob Montgomery, Calvin K. Lai , and 1 more Norbert Schwarz, Jacob Montgomery, Calvin K. Lai, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Jeremy C. Young @jeremycyoung.bsky.social · Sep 18

When the Founding Fathers adopted the First Amendment, the censorship that kept them up at night was censorship or private citizens by the government. That's what they made unconstitutional. Not social pressure. Not social media pile-ons. Not hate speech. Censorship by the government.

Reposted by Linda J. Skitka, Jennifer A. Richeson, Calvin K. Lai , and 1 more Linda J. Skitka, Jennifer A. Richeson, Calvin K. Lai, Michael W. Kraus

Joel Le Forestier @joelleforestier.bsky.social · Sep 16

Announcing SPSP's 2026 Self & Identity precon (bit.ly/4mn2WDT), which will have a timely focus on activist and ally identities. We have a phenomenal set of speakers (Linda Tropp! Kim Rios! Lucy De Souza! Teri Kirby! Dan McAdams!) and are accepting data blitz and poster submissions until Oct 23!

The Self & Identity Preconference provides a forum for discussion and investigation of the complexity of the individual and the collective self. This year's preconference introduces a special focus on activism and allyship, highlighting factors facilitating the formation of activist and ally identities and barriers to identifying as activists or allies. This preconference will explore the impact of context in shaping activist identification and consider the role of the current socio-political climate on our ability to advocate for our "selves" and for others. In addition to several speakers, the preconference will also include presentations by scholarly award winners, a poster session, an early-career data blitz, and a mentoring/networking session.

Reposted by Will Jennings, Steve Peers, David Rothschild , and 6 more Will Jennings, Steve Peers, David Rothschild, Jonathan M. Gilligan, Calvin K. Lai, David R. Miller, Mark Rice, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Nathan P. Kalmoe

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Sep 16

this from my piece on charlie kirk is probably the most important takeaway if you want to know why bad faith, right-wing voices in media are treated as just another set of peers

Reposted by Marc Lynch, Lisa W. Fazio, Will Jennings , and 4 more Marc Lynch, Lisa W. Fazio, Will Jennings, Efrén O. Pérez, Calvin K. Lai, Scott A. Imberman, Mark Rice

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · Sep 15

White House Officials Vow Vast Crackdown on Liberal Groups
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09...

Open authoritarianism. Happening right in front of us.

Reposted by Calvin K. Lai, Jeremy Ginges

Niv Reggev ניב רגב نيڤ ريچيڤ @nivreggev.bsky.social · Sep 15

Breaking a hiatus to post this.

A group of Israeli Social Psychologists, myself included, wrote a letter to speak out clearly against the Israeli government’s decisions and the resulting devastation in Gaza.
docs.google.com/document/d/1...

In hopes of peace and safety for all, and soon

A Letter by Israeli Social Psychologists

Dear friends of the Social Psychology community, After October 7, a group of Israeli social psychologists, including many of us, wrote a letter expressing our deep shock at the massacre, abuse, rape,...

docs.google.com

Calvin Lai @calvinklai.bsky.social · Sep 13

I was listening to that playlist while reading your thread and they pair together well 😊

Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Gordon Pennycook, Laura K. Taylor , and 4 more Lisa W. Fazio, Gordon Pennycook, Laura K. Taylor, Efrén O. Pérez, Calvin K. Lai, Melanie C. Green, Jill A. Jacobson

Erin Westgate @erinwestgate.bsky.social · Sep 12

🚨 TT job alert! 🚨 The University of Florida is hiring an Assistant Professor in Social Psychology; open to ALL AREAS within social psych.

Review begins 10/10.

Job ad here: explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/53...

I'm co-chair of the search committee and happy to answer questions! 🧵

Payne's Prairire, where you could watch the sunset every evening if you came to UF

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