David Gordon
@davidsgordon.bsky.social
Senior lecturer in psychology (research method and statistics). Research interests include evolution of human cooperation, psychology of conspiracy theories, life-history theory and risk. Views expressed here are entirely my own.
Interesting piece in @uk.theconversation.com, my colleague and I just published experimental evidence for the same effect! 👇
"fairness is what you can get away with" doi.org/10.32872/spb...
Strengthening collective labor rights can help reduce economic inequality
theconversation.com/strengthenin...
"fairness is what you can get away with" doi.org/10.32872/spb...
Strengthening collective labor rights can help reduce economic inequality
theconversation.com/strengthenin...
Strengthening collective labor rights can help reduce economic inequality
A research team’s findings suggest that when workers are free to advocate for better wages and benefits for themselves, it also benefits society as a whole.
theconversation.com
August 4, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Interesting piece in @uk.theconversation.com, my colleague and I just published experimental evidence for the same effect! 👇
"fairness is what you can get away with" doi.org/10.32872/spb...
Strengthening collective labor rights can help reduce economic inequality
theconversation.com/strengthenin...
"fairness is what you can get away with" doi.org/10.32872/spb...
Strengthening collective labor rights can help reduce economic inequality
theconversation.com/strengthenin...
Great night on Tuesday presenting my work on power and collective action @pintofscience.uk #pint25. some great questions from the audience 🙂
May 22, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Great night on Tuesday presenting my work on power and collective action @pintofscience.uk #pint25. some great questions from the audience 🙂
I made a silly meme about conferences for my private FB account and it was flagged as false information... about billionaires paying tax? Two questions.
1) didn't Facebook stop fact-checking?
2) given the c**p in my newsfeed, why is the algorithm so sensitive to info about billionaires?
🤔
1) didn't Facebook stop fact-checking?
2) given the c**p in my newsfeed, why is the algorithm so sensitive to info about billionaires?
🤔
March 6, 2025 at 5:00 PM
I made a silly meme about conferences for my private FB account and it was flagged as false information... about billionaires paying tax? Two questions.
1) didn't Facebook stop fact-checking?
2) given the c**p in my newsfeed, why is the algorithm so sensitive to info about billionaires?
🤔
1) didn't Facebook stop fact-checking?
2) given the c**p in my newsfeed, why is the algorithm so sensitive to info about billionaires?
🤔
With Google pretending it has invented an AI scientist, how long before 'prompt biochemist' starts appearing in LinkedIn profiles?
February 22, 2025 at 7:22 PM
With Google pretending it has invented an AI scientist, how long before 'prompt biochemist' starts appearing in LinkedIn profiles?
Hear a lot about the academic migration to bluesky, but why are there still so few journal accounts here? Maybe we should start making peer review contingent on that? 🤷
February 21, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Hear a lot about the academic migration to bluesky, but why are there still so few journal accounts here? Maybe we should start making peer review contingent on that? 🤷
Collaborator and I have a paper in the SPSSI special issue on #science denial.
"Spite and Science-Denial: Exploring the Role of Spitefulness
in #conspiracy Ideation and COVID-19 Conspiracy Beliefs" @bpsofficial.bsky.social
Open access @ doi.org/10.1111/josi...
"Spite and Science-Denial: Exploring the Role of Spitefulness
in #conspiracy Ideation and COVID-19 Conspiracy Beliefs" @bpsofficial.bsky.social
Open access @ doi.org/10.1111/josi...
SPSSI Journals
Science denialism is at the heart of many conspiracy theory beliefs. We propose that such beliefs are manifestations of a distal social process: spite. In three pre-registered studies, we test the hy...
doi.org
February 20, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Collaborator and I have a paper in the SPSSI special issue on #science denial.
"Spite and Science-Denial: Exploring the Role of Spitefulness
in #conspiracy Ideation and COVID-19 Conspiracy Beliefs" @bpsofficial.bsky.social
Open access @ doi.org/10.1111/josi...
"Spite and Science-Denial: Exploring the Role of Spitefulness
in #conspiracy Ideation and COVID-19 Conspiracy Beliefs" @bpsofficial.bsky.social
Open access @ doi.org/10.1111/josi...
Reposted by David Gordon
If only the evolutionary social sciences had more Margo Wilsons. Lovely piece from Daniel Nettle on how her work is "a particularly successful example of how you can bring evolutionary understanding to social science topics and be genuinely constructive; rather than just irritating people"
Margo Wilson, and how to do evolutionary human science
In October 2024, I had the great honour of travelling to Hamilton to give the Margo Wilson Memorial Lecture. It was fifteen years since Margo’s death. Preparing the lecture gave me the oppo…
www.danielnettle.eu
January 26, 2025 at 3:21 PM
If only the evolutionary social sciences had more Margo Wilsons. Lovely piece from Daniel Nettle on how her work is "a particularly successful example of how you can bring evolutionary understanding to social science topics and be genuinely constructive; rather than just irritating people"
Reposted by David Gordon
i sent an email to DOGE and suggested replacing the entire Department of Defense with Warhammer 40,000 miniatures but they actually did the math and it turns out that would be much more expensive
January 23, 2025 at 8:10 AM
i sent an email to DOGE and suggested replacing the entire Department of Defense with Warhammer 40,000 miniatures but they actually did the math and it turns out that would be much more expensive
My “social brain” solution to the #Fermi Paradox 👽 [short 🧵]
1) Only an evolutionary history of high sociality / cooperativeness can create organisms that have the individual metacognitive problem-solving intelligence necessary to produce a technological society
1) Only an evolutionary history of high sociality / cooperativeness can create organisms that have the individual metacognitive problem-solving intelligence necessary to produce a technological society
January 21, 2025 at 9:14 AM
My “social brain” solution to the #Fermi Paradox 👽 [short 🧵]
1) Only an evolutionary history of high sociality / cooperativeness can create organisms that have the individual metacognitive problem-solving intelligence necessary to produce a technological society
1) Only an evolutionary history of high sociality / cooperativeness can create organisms that have the individual metacognitive problem-solving intelligence necessary to produce a technological society
Reposted by David Gordon
It's often claimed that tax cuts will "pay for themselves".
A thread on when this is and isn't true, the real constraints on tax cuts and tax rises, and the live experiment being conducted by Scotland.
A thread on when this is and isn't true, the real constraints on tax cuts and tax rises, and the live experiment being conducted by Scotland.
December 20, 2024 at 9:22 AM
It's often claimed that tax cuts will "pay for themselves".
A thread on when this is and isn't true, the real constraints on tax cuts and tax rises, and the live experiment being conducted by Scotland.
A thread on when this is and isn't true, the real constraints on tax cuts and tax rises, and the live experiment being conducted by Scotland.
Reposted by David Gordon
“Charcoal doodling appears 14,000 years ago, as adults drew more proficiently nearby” www.science.org/content/arti...
‘Enigmatic’ cave art was made by ice age children
Charcoal doodling appears 14,000 years ago, as adults drew more proficiently nearby
www.science.org
December 14, 2024 at 8:49 AM
“Charcoal doodling appears 14,000 years ago, as adults drew more proficiently nearby” www.science.org/content/arti...
Came across this video by physicist and YouTuber @acollierastro.bsky.social. I honestly think 'playdough facts' or 'playdough reality' should become a recognised term in conspiracy theory research (skip to 18.00 to see what I mean). Works perfectly. youtu.be/11lPhMSulSU?...
physics crackpots: a 'theory'
YouTube video by Angela Collier
youtu.be
December 13, 2024 at 11:45 AM
Came across this video by physicist and YouTuber @acollierastro.bsky.social. I honestly think 'playdough facts' or 'playdough reality' should become a recognised term in conspiracy theory research (skip to 18.00 to see what I mean). Works perfectly. youtu.be/11lPhMSulSU?...
The University of Silent Hill bids you welcome
December 4, 2024 at 8:04 AM
The University of Silent Hill bids you welcome
Driving to/from work with Christmas songs playing, I am worryingly aware I'm in the prologue re-enactment to the festive special of shows called "missing person" or "unsolved murders". 🧑🎄☃️💀
December 2, 2024 at 11:32 AM
Driving to/from work with Christmas songs playing, I am worryingly aware I'm in the prologue re-enactment to the festive special of shows called "missing person" or "unsolved murders". 🧑🎄☃️💀
Reposted by David Gordon
NEW: Why do we always think crime is rising, even when it isn’t?
This week I looked at one of the big data mysteries. Britain is 2/3 less violent than the 1990s; thefts were higher pre-lockdown
Why, then, doesn’t it feel like it?
1/8
@thetimes.com
🔗 www.thetimes.com/article/b63d...
This week I looked at one of the big data mysteries. Britain is 2/3 less violent than the 1990s; thefts were higher pre-lockdown
Why, then, doesn’t it feel like it?
1/8
@thetimes.com
🔗 www.thetimes.com/article/b63d...
December 1, 2024 at 9:26 AM
NEW: Why do we always think crime is rising, even when it isn’t?
This week I looked at one of the big data mysteries. Britain is 2/3 less violent than the 1990s; thefts were higher pre-lockdown
Why, then, doesn’t it feel like it?
1/8
@thetimes.com
🔗 www.thetimes.com/article/b63d...
This week I looked at one of the big data mysteries. Britain is 2/3 less violent than the 1990s; thefts were higher pre-lockdown
Why, then, doesn’t it feel like it?
1/8
@thetimes.com
🔗 www.thetimes.com/article/b63d...
I'm always left with the feeling that the current system the least worst option. 3 concerns on the 👇:
#1 Increase in the workload on researchers
#2 Amplify the voices of the already influential
#3 Provides the perfect ecosystem for alternative facts
A 🧵:
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
#1 Increase in the workload on researchers
#2 Amplify the voices of the already influential
#3 Provides the perfect ecosystem for alternative facts
A 🧵:
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
A proposal for the future of scientific publishing in the life sciences
This Perspective article proposes new practices for scientific publishing that align better with today's digital environment than do legacy practices.
journals.plos.org
November 30, 2024 at 10:10 AM
I'm always left with the feeling that the current system the least worst option. 3 concerns on the 👇:
#1 Increase in the workload on researchers
#2 Amplify the voices of the already influential
#3 Provides the perfect ecosystem for alternative facts
A 🧵:
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
#1 Increase in the workload on researchers
#2 Amplify the voices of the already influential
#3 Provides the perfect ecosystem for alternative facts
A 🧵:
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Reposted by David Gordon
"All three types of flexible working arrangements—reducing hours, increasing work-schedule flexibility, and increasing workplace flexibility— improve fertility intentions. The effects are especially substantial for women, for whom anticipated work–family conflict is an important mediator"
Flexible Working Arrangements and Fertility Intentions: A Survey Experiment in Singapore - European Journal of Population
This study examines how young, unmarried, working people’s fertility intention is shaped by future scenarios where flexible working arrangements (FWAs) are the default. The unmarried population remain...
link.springer.com
November 28, 2024 at 8:42 AM
"All three types of flexible working arrangements—reducing hours, increasing work-schedule flexibility, and increasing workplace flexibility— improve fertility intentions. The effects are especially substantial for women, for whom anticipated work–family conflict is an important mediator"
Lovely frosty morning on campus, perfect weather to introduce chi-squares 😅
November 28, 2024 at 8:08 AM
Lovely frosty morning on campus, perfect weather to introduce chi-squares 😅
Reposted by David Gordon
Great to see this piece of research looking at what actually works for homelessness. We need more evidence-based policy-making. Gut instincts are not good enough.
www.theguardian.com/society/2024...
www.theguardian.com/society/2024...
Homeless people to be given cash in first major UK trial to reduce poverty
Led by King’s College London, study will recruit 360 people in England and Wales to explore benefits of scheme
www.theguardian.com
November 28, 2024 at 1:21 AM
Great to see this piece of research looking at what actually works for homelessness. We need more evidence-based policy-making. Gut instincts are not good enough.
www.theguardian.com/society/2024...
www.theguardian.com/society/2024...
Very pleased to announce my paper "Self-Reported Spite Predicts Spiteful Behavior in an Online Crowd-Sourced Sample" was recently published. Nice way to kick of a new social media platform!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Self-Reported Spite Predicts Spiteful Behavior in an Online Crowd-Sourced Sample
Spiteful behavior, where one is willing to harm oneself to harm another, is a common social behavior that is associated with social competition. However, there is currently only one well-used psych...
www.tandfonline.com
November 24, 2024 at 10:02 AM
Very pleased to announce my paper "Self-Reported Spite Predicts Spiteful Behavior in an Online Crowd-Sourced Sample" was recently published. Nice way to kick of a new social media platform!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....