Cat Hicks
@grimalkina.bsky.social
Psychologist for the humans of tech. Author of The Psychology of Software Teams (2026). Founder: Catharsis Consulting (strategy * science). she/her 🏳️🌈 https://www.catharsisinsight.com/
Host at: https://www.changetechnically.fyi/
Host at: https://www.changetechnically.fyi/
I get a lot of eyestrain from tons of screentime which I have to zealously protect for my writing time, so it's just awesome to be able to work and think without everything being mediated by staring at the screen
January 6, 2026 at 7:50 PM
I get a lot of eyestrain from tons of screentime which I have to zealously protect for my writing time, so it's just awesome to be able to work and think without everything being mediated by staring at the screen
I think it's strange when people don't think groups of people have cultures and cultures can vary and change over time. That is how it works. Every culture that's starting to get toxic starts to say all they are doing is reflecting the innate reality of human nature
January 6, 2026 at 6:03 PM
I think it's strange when people don't think groups of people have cultures and cultures can vary and change over time. That is how it works. Every culture that's starting to get toxic starts to say all they are doing is reflecting the innate reality of human nature
Reposted by Cat Hicks
I keep seeing people say "get a thicker skin" but it's a truly awful time, especially if you post under your real name
I think those that haven‘t experienced a large scale dogpile don’t really understand how unpleasant it is tbh.
that's a lot of power users gone because of dogpiling. christ
January 6, 2026 at 4:12 PM
I keep seeing people say "get a thicker skin" but it's a truly awful time, especially if you post under your real name
I think so often of the time I watched Andy in a bar in San Diego and thought, "this guy is one of those guys who really, really likes being the center of attention"
OMG. Of course Huberman doing a collab with Gwyneth!
This is so wellness GRIFTER-O-RAMA that it seems like satire! Gold. 🙏
"The meat-to-bean ratio in chili is crucial." WTF?
Huberman Is Optimizing Turkey Chili www.thecut.com/article/andr... cc @drandrealove.bsky.social @drjengunter.bsky.social
This is so wellness GRIFTER-O-RAMA that it seems like satire! Gold. 🙏
"The meat-to-bean ratio in chili is crucial." WTF?
Huberman Is Optimizing Turkey Chili www.thecut.com/article/andr... cc @drandrealove.bsky.social @drjengunter.bsky.social
Andrew Huberman Is Optimizing Turkey Chili
In collaboration with Goop.
www.thecut.com
January 6, 2026 at 4:23 PM
I think so often of the time I watched Andy in a bar in San Diego and thought, "this guy is one of those guys who really, really likes being the center of attention"
Reposted by Cat Hicks
🧵New preprint: Adults often agree with their ingroup even when evidence says otherwise. Why?
To find out, we studied kids, who show the same tendency but *before* political identities take hold. With developmental data, we can see the basic psychological ingredients.
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
1/11
To find out, we studied kids, who show the same tendency but *before* political identities take hold. With developmental data, we can see the basic psychological ingredients.
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
1/11
OSF
doi.org
January 6, 2026 at 3:03 PM
🧵New preprint: Adults often agree with their ingroup even when evidence says otherwise. Why?
To find out, we studied kids, who show the same tendency but *before* political identities take hold. With developmental data, we can see the basic psychological ingredients.
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
1/11
To find out, we studied kids, who show the same tendency but *before* political identities take hold. With developmental data, we can see the basic psychological ingredients.
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
1/11
Boy until I had severe skin/nerve symptoms I absolutely did not appreciate or understand how mentally devastating this shit can be
Oh this gorgeously distributed thinking and feeling system can change into a full body shock net you can never escape, cool. Cool cool cool
Oh this gorgeously distributed thinking and feeling system can change into a full body shock net you can never escape, cool. Cool cool cool
January 5, 2026 at 6:53 PM
Boy until I had severe skin/nerve symptoms I absolutely did not appreciate or understand how mentally devastating this shit can be
Oh this gorgeously distributed thinking and feeling system can change into a full body shock net you can never escape, cool. Cool cool cool
Oh this gorgeously distributed thinking and feeling system can change into a full body shock net you can never escape, cool. Cool cool cool
As I do final line edits on the chapter on intervention science in my book: if people aren't doing the things you want them to do best to ask "what are they doing with their time instead" before you assert "they are brain dead and no longer thinking"
Goes against basic biology
Goes against basic biology
January 5, 2026 at 5:47 PM
As I do final line edits on the chapter on intervention science in my book: if people aren't doing the things you want them to do best to ask "what are they doing with their time instead" before you assert "they are brain dead and no longer thinking"
Goes against basic biology
Goes against basic biology
Reposted by Cat Hicks
Excited to start the new year with my paper out in Personality and Social Psychology Review with Mike Gill! We conceptualize partisan animosity as a form of blame, a hostile attitude toward the outparty rooted in perceived immorality.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10....
journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10....
January 5, 2026 at 4:43 PM
Excited to start the new year with my paper out in Personality and Social Psychology Review with Mike Gill! We conceptualize partisan animosity as a form of blame, a hostile attitude toward the outparty rooted in perceived immorality.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10....
journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10....
If you've listened to Change, Technically since the beginning you will know that I grew up without grades, which was in some ways very positive and in other ways very negative. Learners deserve feedback, but our feedback has become too much of a status game
www.changetechnically.fyi/2396236/epis...
www.changetechnically.fyi/2396236/epis...
January 5, 2026 at 4:09 PM
If you've listened to Change, Technically since the beginning you will know that I grew up without grades, which was in some ways very positive and in other ways very negative. Learners deserve feedback, but our feedback has become too much of a status game
www.changetechnically.fyi/2396236/epis...
www.changetechnically.fyi/2396236/epis...
I read 500+ research papers for this book about developer problem-solving and learning and all I got was this lousy t-shirt (people on microblogging sites telling me I can't read)
January 5, 2026 at 4:56 AM
I read 500+ research papers for this book about developer problem-solving and learning and all I got was this lousy t-shirt (people on microblogging sites telling me I can't read)
I try hard to not form belief systems based on my own little disappointments. But it's hard to constantly have so many people tell me questions about behavior and learning are so important when I have tried really relentlessly to work on those questions and that work is systematically undervalued
January 4, 2026 at 10:08 PM
I try hard to not form belief systems based on my own little disappointments. But it's hard to constantly have so many people tell me questions about behavior and learning are so important when I have tried really relentlessly to work on those questions and that work is systematically undervalued
The idea that treatment effects should be *expected* to be heterogenous is not new. Unfortunately, it seems pretty new to software.
January 4, 2026 at 6:43 PM
The idea that treatment effects should be *expected* to be heterogenous is not new. Unfortunately, it seems pretty new to software.
Reposted by Cat Hicks
Bob and I were among the hundreds of researchers that were supposed to conduct the 6th U.S. National Climate Assessment. Now it looks like they're gonna produce it with a few people and Grok? Communities need rigorous and accurate information about climate change. This will put communities at risk.
December 22, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Bob and I were among the hundreds of researchers that were supposed to conduct the 6th U.S. National Climate Assessment. Now it looks like they're gonna produce it with a few people and Grok? Communities need rigorous and accurate information about climate change. This will put communities at risk.
Reposted by Cat Hicks
@grimalkina.bsky.social and @analog-ashley.bsky.social healing my journey and showing me the papers I needed !!!!
January 4, 2026 at 2:34 PM
@grimalkina.bsky.social and @analog-ashley.bsky.social healing my journey and showing me the papers I needed !!!!
For the record, active learning strategies help people do most of the things people are fearful developers won't do if they code with AI:
- make plans for testing solutions
- get exposure to diverse examples
- question your own thinking
- deliberate practice within small worked examples
- make plans for testing solutions
- get exposure to diverse examples
- question your own thinking
- deliberate practice within small worked examples
I have a much more optimistic take right now: tech has massive massive cultural problems but it did before AI. An explosion of *active learning* is potentially a really positive thing
We’re creating more code than we can maintain or understand. With an explosion of new code we’ll see a lot of the code go extinct
Even current projects that seemed well supported with company backing are dying without dedicated resources to maintain it
Even current projects that seemed well supported with company backing are dying without dedicated resources to maintain it
January 3, 2026 at 11:08 PM
For the record, active learning strategies help people do most of the things people are fearful developers won't do if they code with AI:
- make plans for testing solutions
- get exposure to diverse examples
- question your own thinking
- deliberate practice within small worked examples
- make plans for testing solutions
- get exposure to diverse examples
- question your own thinking
- deliberate practice within small worked examples
I spent the last three years working directly in a place serving thousands of learners doing technological upskilling and on-the-job reskilling and, yeah. A lot of the commentary on bsky isn't really grappling with the size and scale of this vs pigeonholing on some ideal SWE role
If this technology reduces barriers to coding significantly enough, it will also change the equation for lots of fields that don’t *think* of themselves right now as bottlenecked by coding
The opportunity cost of most of the world *not* learning about technology is huge. Now I have no silver bullet, magical solution fantasy about this, I worked for too long in learning science for that. But tools that propel you into active learning are really possible here, not just offloading
January 3, 2026 at 10:37 PM
I spent the last three years working directly in a place serving thousands of learners doing technological upskilling and on-the-job reskilling and, yeah. A lot of the commentary on bsky isn't really grappling with the size and scale of this vs pigeonholing on some ideal SWE role
Making last minute changes to my book as we tick down to the final turn in deadline like I'm boarding up the house in Signs
January 3, 2026 at 9:54 PM
Making last minute changes to my book as we tick down to the final turn in deadline like I'm boarding up the house in Signs
Gym full of newbies today. This is my favorite 🥰 I hope lots of people are starting a chapter that will be really good to them.
going back to the gym has been such an important part of my recovery journey. the humility of unconditional beginner mindset after serious injury stays with you
going back to the gym has been such an important part of my recovery journey. the humility of unconditional beginner mindset after serious injury stays with you
January 3, 2026 at 8:37 PM
Gym full of newbies today. This is my favorite 🥰 I hope lots of people are starting a chapter that will be really good to them.
going back to the gym has been such an important part of my recovery journey. the humility of unconditional beginner mindset after serious injury stays with you
going back to the gym has been such an important part of my recovery journey. the humility of unconditional beginner mindset after serious injury stays with you
I have a much more optimistic take right now: tech has massive massive cultural problems but it did before AI. An explosion of *active learning* is potentially a really positive thing
We’re creating more code than we can maintain or understand. With an explosion of new code we’ll see a lot of the code go extinct
Even current projects that seemed well supported with company backing are dying without dedicated resources to maintain it
Even current projects that seemed well supported with company backing are dying without dedicated resources to maintain it
January 3, 2026 at 7:43 PM
I have a much more optimistic take right now: tech has massive massive cultural problems but it did before AI. An explosion of *active learning* is potentially a really positive thing
I opened a long-lost file: an 18 page paper draft about a study I did about people's beliefs in free will from grad school I never finished because my PI went off the grid without talking to me or answering emails for months and I lost confidence in it
*thousand yard stare*
*thousand yard stare*
January 2, 2026 at 4:51 PM
I opened a long-lost file: an 18 page paper draft about a study I did about people's beliefs in free will from grad school I never finished because my PI went off the grid without talking to me or answering emails for months and I lost confidence in it
*thousand yard stare*
*thousand yard stare*
Reposted by Cat Hicks
The current situation of NIH science is a tragedy. So much was lost in 2025. Many of us are struggling to keep afloat. I only hope that in 2026 more people wake up to the fact that USA science has been deeply damaged. We are resilient, but we are in grave danger of losing ourselves./end
January 2, 2026 at 3:58 AM
The current situation of NIH science is a tragedy. So much was lost in 2025. Many of us are struggling to keep afloat. I only hope that in 2026 more people wake up to the fact that USA science has been deeply damaged. We are resilient, but we are in grave danger of losing ourselves./end
Reposted by Cat Hicks
I don't think you non-science people realize what it takes to get a grant funded by NIH. Started experiments in Sept 2021 to generate 3 new mouse mutants to model human disease. Prelim dara shows they have relevant disease phenotypes worthy of study. Need a small grant first to characterize /1
January 2, 2026 at 3:19 AM
I don't think you non-science people realize what it takes to get a grant funded by NIH. Started experiments in Sept 2021 to generate 3 new mouse mutants to model human disease. Prelim dara shows they have relevant disease phenotypes worthy of study. Need a small grant first to characterize /1
wtf is wrong with you people
Quant social scientist is so funny. Go back to where you came from with your getSymbols(“DGS10”, src=“FRED”, auto.assign = FALSE) nerd
January 1, 2026 at 9:12 PM
wtf is wrong with you people
I need a deep read about how society faceplanted into as much ableism as they could justify, with individualistic brain rot narratives, IMMEDIATELY after a disabling pandemic, as a just world hypothesis piece of bullshit
January 1, 2026 at 7:39 PM
I need a deep read about how society faceplanted into as much ableism as they could justify, with individualistic brain rot narratives, IMMEDIATELY after a disabling pandemic, as a just world hypothesis piece of bullshit