Thomas Talhelm
@thomastalhelm.bsky.social
I'm an associate professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. I also founded Smart Air, a social enterprise dedicated to making low-cost air purifiers and teaching people how to build their own.
Pinned
Do cities make people think WEIRD? Our answer might surprise you. We tracked 1,400 teenagers as they moved across China—some to giant cities like Shanghai, others to small towns like Zhoukou, Henan. bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
New study finds LLMs can predict how well scale items will correlate with each other in human samples. That's neat! But r = .59 leaves a lot of room for disagreement. That's 35% overlap, 65% disagreement. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... @sagepub.com
January 5, 2026 at 3:46 PM
New study finds LLMs can predict how well scale items will correlate with each other in human samples. That's neat! But r = .59 leaves a lot of room for disagreement. That's 35% overlap, 65% disagreement. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... @sagepub.com
Do cities make people think WEIRD? Our answer might surprise you. We tracked 1,400 teenagers as they moved across China—some to giant cities like Shanghai, others to small towns like Zhoukou, Henan. bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
January 2, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Do cities make people think WEIRD? Our answer might surprise you. We tracked 1,400 teenagers as they moved across China—some to giant cities like Shanghai, others to small towns like Zhoukou, Henan. bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
How clever! 👏
January 1, 2026 at 3:58 PM
How clever! 👏
Are stress dreams actually adaptive? Researchers surveyed medical students around an important exam...
December 30, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Are stress dreams actually adaptive? Researchers surveyed medical students around an important exam...
When governments spend money, it boosts the economy. But why is it less effective in rice cultures?? 🍚 One possibility: more prevention oriented, tend to save, which blunts effect of stimulus.
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
December 30, 2025 at 4:16 PM
When governments spend money, it boosts the economy. But why is it less effective in rice cultures?? 🍚 One possibility: more prevention oriented, tend to save, which blunts effect of stimulus.
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
I do this by NOT keeping cookies or candy at home, knowing I'll eat the whole bag at once. @angeladuckworth.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/o...
December 28, 2025 at 4:24 PM
I do this by NOT keeping cookies or candy at home, knowing I'll eat the whole bag at once. @angeladuckworth.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/o...
Can someone explain the logic of charging $35 for the first bag, $45 for the second bag, then $150? I'm not trying to check three bags, but that's an insane price jump! 🤯 #SouthwestAirlines
December 26, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Can someone explain the logic of charging $35 for the first bag, $45 for the second bag, then $150? I'm not trying to check three bags, but that's an insane price jump! 🤯 #SouthwestAirlines
Merry Christmas from East Lansing, Michigan, where even the porta potties are in the holiday spirit. 🎄
December 24, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Merry Christmas from East Lansing, Michigan, where even the porta potties are in the holiday spirit. 🎄
New paper out today! The most cost-effective nudges in the US and UK are NOT the most cost-effective in China, Mexico, or India. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
@sagepub.com @casbsstanford.bsky.social @chicagoboothreview.bsky.social
@sagepub.com @casbsstanford.bsky.social @chicagoboothreview.bsky.social
December 22, 2025 at 5:54 PM
New paper out today! The most cost-effective nudges in the US and UK are NOT the most cost-effective in China, Mexico, or India. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
@sagepub.com @casbsstanford.bsky.social @chicagoboothreview.bsky.social
@sagepub.com @casbsstanford.bsky.social @chicagoboothreview.bsky.social
This is a wild graphic. 😮 Average income per day around the world in 1975 to 2015. From bimodal to normal! ourworldindata.org/the-history-...
December 20, 2025 at 2:53 PM
This is a wild graphic. 😮 Average income per day around the world in 1975 to 2015. From bimodal to normal! ourworldindata.org/the-history-...
Grad students can apply for $200 to help support travel to the Midwestern Psychological Association conference in Chicago in April. Apply here: pennstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Online Survey Software | Qualtrics Survey Solutions
Qualtrics sophisticated online survey software solutions make creating online surveys easy. Learn more about Research Suite and get a free account today.
pennstate.qualtrics.com
December 16, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Grad students can apply for $200 to help support travel to the Midwestern Psychological Association conference in Chicago in April. Apply here: pennstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Rare sight! Lake Michigan looks like it’s frozen, but it’s actually steaming. 🤩 The water is about 30 degrees warmer than the air today. 🥶
December 14, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Rare sight! Lake Michigan looks like it’s frozen, but it’s actually steaming. 🤩 The water is about 30 degrees warmer than the air today. 🥶
📣 Post-doc opportunity at the University of Toronto in moral and political psychology. Review starts immediately.
jobs.psychologicalscience.org/job/13294/po...
jobs.psychologicalscience.org/job/13294/po...
December 12, 2025 at 3:11 PM
📣 Post-doc opportunity at the University of Toronto in moral and political psychology. Review starts immediately.
jobs.psychologicalscience.org/job/13294/po...
jobs.psychologicalscience.org/job/13294/po...
I ran the California International Marathon! 🏃♂️ 2:42:54 (6:13/mile pace), 516th out of 7,758 runners. Here's how things looked at the halfway mark.
December 9, 2025 at 6:06 PM
I ran the California International Marathon! 🏃♂️ 2:42:54 (6:13/mile pace), 516th out of 7,758 runners. Here's how things looked at the halfway mark.
Watch me run the California International Marathon! 🏃♂️ This Sunday, 7am Pacific. track.rtrt.me/e/CRRM-CIM-2...
California International Marathon Live Results
track.rtrt.me
December 5, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Watch me run the California International Marathon! 🏃♂️ This Sunday, 7am Pacific. track.rtrt.me/e/CRRM-CIM-2...
Calling international grad students! 📣 SPSP's Diversity and Climate Committee (DCC) is looking for international graduate students for an undergraduate mentoring event. Please contact Niv Reggev if you're interested in participating: @nivreggev.bsky.social
December 4, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Calling international grad students! 📣 SPSP's Diversity and Climate Committee (DCC) is looking for international graduate students for an undergraduate mentoring event. Please contact Niv Reggev if you're interested in participating: @nivreggev.bsky.social
📣 Just a few days left to submit nominations for Outstanding Contribution to Cultural Psychology Award. Here's how to submit.
November 28, 2025 at 4:17 PM
📣 Just a few days left to submit nominations for Outstanding Contribution to Cultural Psychology Award. Here's how to submit.
Proud of PhD student Nicholas DiMaggio presenting our joint project on whether talking to random strangers makes people happy in China! 🇨🇳 At the Society for Judgement and Decision-Making Conference in Denver. SJDM @sjdm-tweets.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Proud of PhD student Nicholas DiMaggio presenting our joint project on whether talking to random strangers makes people happy in China! 🇨🇳 At the Society for Judgement and Decision-Making Conference in Denver. SJDM @sjdm-tweets.bsky.social
Helpful thing to know if you have an air purifier! Don't change the HEPA unless it's very black.
They should be pretty dark before you replace them. In our tests, even when the filters looked black, the CADR stayed high for quite a while. So if yours aren’t black yet, that’s actually good news. More: www.quora.com/How-long-doe...
November 24, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Helpful thing to know if you have an air purifier! Don't change the HEPA unless it's very black.
📢 Post-doc opportunity in language and brain development at the University of Michigan/University of Texas Dallas. 📢 @utdallas.bsky.social @umich.edu
November 20, 2025 at 2:34 PM
📢 Post-doc opportunity in language and brain development at the University of Michigan/University of Texas Dallas. 📢 @utdallas.bsky.social @umich.edu
U Chicago Booth is hiring two post-docs! 📢 Apply by January 5th. uchicago.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...
November 19, 2025 at 4:12 PM
U Chicago Booth is hiring two post-docs! 📢 Apply by January 5th. uchicago.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...
< 2 weeks left to submit nominations for Outstanding Contributions to Cultural Psychology. ⏳ sites.google.com/view/culture...
November 18, 2025 at 3:06 PM
< 2 weeks left to submit nominations for Outstanding Contributions to Cultural Psychology. ⏳ sites.google.com/view/culture...
Any enterprising young researchers in Texas? Here's a project idea! Apparently the green and brown parts of Texas here were settled by people from Appalachia. That should lead to a different psychology from eastern Texas, which is more of a deep south culture. It'd be neat to test this!
November 15, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Any enterprising young researchers in Texas? Here's a project idea! Apparently the green and brown parts of Texas here were settled by people from Appalachia. That should lead to a different psychology from eastern Texas, which is more of a deep south culture. It'd be neat to test this!
Fascinating graphic on the causes of death across the lifespan.
November 13, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Fascinating graphic on the causes of death across the lifespan.
Chicago sunset 🌇
November 9, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Chicago sunset 🌇