Alfie Kohn
@alfiekohn.bsky.social
author and lecturer on topics in education, parenting, and human behavior....
(Personal messages more likely to be read if left on http://alfiekohn.org)
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(Personal messages more likely to be read if left on http://alfiekohn.org)
He/him
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Alfie Kohn
@alfiekohn.bsky.social
· Aug 12
"Podcast" comes from the Latin "paudus" (meaning "to half-listen to") and "casteratum" (meaning "while preparing food"). Mine is called "KOHN'S ZONE: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom About Education & Kids." New episodes are posted on the 1st & 15th of each month: www.alfiekohn.org/podcasts/
Reposted by Alfie Kohn
Classic social psych studies (some of them, involving marshmallows or electric shocks, widely misunderstood) show that the social environment matters more than individual character or personality. I explore the implications for education in a new episode of Kohn's Zone: www.alfiekohn.org/podcasts/
Podcast
The Work Of Alfie Kohn
www.alfiekohn.org
November 15, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Classic social psych studies (some of them, involving marshmallows or electric shocks, widely misunderstood) show that the social environment matters more than individual character or personality. I explore the implications for education in a new episode of Kohn's Zone: www.alfiekohn.org/podcasts/
Any day now we can expect a long, breezy piece by #NYTimes fashion reporter Vanessa Friedman analyzing Epstein and Trump's style choices when they wanted to impress underage girls.
November 15, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Any day now we can expect a long, breezy piece by #NYTimes fashion reporter Vanessa Friedman analyzing Epstein and Trump's style choices when they wanted to impress underage girls.
Classic social psych studies (some of them, involving marshmallows or electric shocks, widely misunderstood) show that the social environment matters more than individual character or personality. I explore the implications for education in a new episode of Kohn's Zone: www.alfiekohn.org/podcasts/
Podcast
The Work Of Alfie Kohn
www.alfiekohn.org
November 15, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Classic social psych studies (some of them, involving marshmallows or electric shocks, widely misunderstood) show that the social environment matters more than individual character or personality. I explore the implications for education in a new episode of Kohn's Zone: www.alfiekohn.org/podcasts/
Reposted by Alfie Kohn
emerging reports about possibly imminent US military attack on venezuela. there can be no doubt about it, certainly not in the coverage: such an attack would be an act of aggression, lacking any basis in international law. we'll get sophistic arguments about self-defense but none will be legit.
October 31, 2025 at 3:02 PM
emerging reports about possibly imminent US military attack on venezuela. there can be no doubt about it, certainly not in the coverage: such an attack would be an act of aggression, lacking any basis in international law. we'll get sophistic arguments about self-defense but none will be legit.
Completely predictable, but still stunning: A key organizing principle of these people - to the point of animating lunatic conspiracy theories - has been their passionate devotion to rooting out pedophiles. Wait, hold on - the leader of our authoritarian cult is deeply involved? Never mind, then...
November 14, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Completely predictable, but still stunning: A key organizing principle of these people - to the point of animating lunatic conspiracy theories - has been their passionate devotion to rooting out pedophiles. Wait, hold on - the leader of our authoritarian cult is deeply involved? Never mind, then...
Krugman tells you everything you need to know about crypto in a couple of sentences
If you need me, tap me on the shoulder. I’ll be happily working all day listening to this on a loop.
November 14, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Krugman tells you everything you need to know about crypto in a couple of sentences
Short excerpts from an Atlantic article subtitled "The False Promise of AI Companionship": www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
November 14, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Short excerpts from an Atlantic article subtitled "The False Promise of AI Companionship": www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
I've noted that we're in thrall to people who don’t understand the difference between utopia & dystopia, or are willing to conflate the two if there’s a fortune to be made by doing so (www.alfiekohn.org/article/ai/), but now they're really viewing Black Mirror as an incubator. Jesus. Watch this:
November 14, 2025 at 12:48 PM
I've noted that we're in thrall to people who don’t understand the difference between utopia & dystopia, or are willing to conflate the two if there’s a fortune to be made by doing so (www.alfiekohn.org/article/ai/), but now they're really viewing Black Mirror as an incubator. Jesus. Watch this:
Similarly frightening efforts by the GOP to control the content of lessons and command ideological conformity in OH, TX, FL, and elsewhere.
Indiana University, which has now been subordinated to the direct control of the Indiana GOP, announces that criticism of the MAGA movement and doctrines of the GOP is forbidden. An instructor is dismissed for speaking critical words about the MAGA movement.
Indiana Professor Removed From Class Over White Supremacy Lesson
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Similarly frightening efforts by the GOP to control the content of lessons and command ideological conformity in OH, TX, FL, and elsewhere.
Reposted by Alfie Kohn
For every surveillance state to function, there must be a critical mass of people who willingly act as snitches to further the regime's ideology.
I lived through this firsthand, money isn't the motivating factor for these people, it's the satisfaction of seeing people they hate suffer
I lived through this firsthand, money isn't the motivating factor for these people, it's the satisfaction of seeing people they hate suffer
RAISE YOUR CHILDREN SO THEY DO NOT DO THINGS LIKE THIS dailyfreepress.com/11/13/10/216...
BU College Republicans president says he called ICE to ‘detain these criminals’ at Allston Car Wash
The president of Boston University College Republicans wrote on X he called the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement requesting it detain employees at Allston Car Wash, the site of a Nov. 4 raid w...
dailyfreepress.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:07 PM
For every surveillance state to function, there must be a critical mass of people who willingly act as snitches to further the regime's ideology.
I lived through this firsthand, money isn't the motivating factor for these people, it's the satisfaction of seeing people they hate suffer
I lived through this firsthand, money isn't the motivating factor for these people, it's the satisfaction of seeing people they hate suffer
Reposted by Alfie Kohn
Normal person in a liberal constitutional democracy: "The state should be judicious in how it uses physical force and these actions seem like overreaches."
MAGA: "Any state actions that constrain MY behavior or the behavior of people like me is tyranny, but it can do whatever it wants to THEM."
MAGA: "Any state actions that constrain MY behavior or the behavior of people like me is tyranny, but it can do whatever it wants to THEM."
November 13, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Normal person in a liberal constitutional democracy: "The state should be judicious in how it uses physical force and these actions seem like overreaches."
MAGA: "Any state actions that constrain MY behavior or the behavior of people like me is tyranny, but it can do whatever it wants to THEM."
MAGA: "Any state actions that constrain MY behavior or the behavior of people like me is tyranny, but it can do whatever it wants to THEM."
What exactly is the appeal of being well known? Why are we thrilled even to bask in the reflected glory of celebrities? From the archives: "Fame Is the Name of the Game: A Meditation on Why So Many People Dream of Being (or Even Just Meeting) Celebrities" - www.alfiekohn.org/blogs/fame/
Fame Is the Name of the Game
October 16, 2020 Fame Is the Name of the Game A Meditation on Why So Many People Dream of Being (or Even Just Meeting) Celebrities By Alfie Kohn “The question I get asked more than…
www.alfiekohn.org
November 13, 2025 at 1:01 PM
What exactly is the appeal of being well known? Why are we thrilled even to bask in the reflected glory of celebrities? From the archives: "Fame Is the Name of the Game: A Meditation on Why So Many People Dream of Being (or Even Just Meeting) Celebrities" - www.alfiekohn.org/blogs/fame/
Just sit with this one for a few minutes
November 13, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Just sit with this one for a few minutes
Reposted by Alfie Kohn
It all would have been much easier if, as would have happened if we were remotely a serious country, it all ended with the Access Hollywood interview.
November 13, 2025 at 3:46 AM
It all would have been much easier if, as would have happened if we were remotely a serious country, it all ended with the Access Hollywood interview.
I'm reminded of a headline in the Harvard Lampoon's parody of USA Today: "Chromium Is Heaviest Metal, Poll Finds"
JD Vance: "Science as practiced in its best form is that if you disagree with it, then you ought to criticize it and you ought to argue against it."
November 12, 2025 at 7:41 PM
I'm reminded of a headline in the Harvard Lampoon's parody of USA Today: "Chromium Is Heaviest Metal, Poll Finds"
This is what Zuckerberg's Meta stands for. If you're still on Facebook (or WhatsApp or Insta), you're standing for it, too.
The most horrifying AI slop of ICE raids you can possibly imagine is wildly viral on Facebook, collectively totaling tens of millions of views from a single account. First spotted by @chadloder.bsky.social
www.404media.co/ai-generated...
www.404media.co/ai-generated...
AI-Generated Videos of ICE Raids Are Wildly Viral on Facebook
An account is spamming horrific, dehumanizing videos of immigration enforcement because the Facebook algorithm is rewarding them for it.
www.404media.co
November 12, 2025 at 6:22 PM
This is what Zuckerberg's Meta stands for. If you're still on Facebook (or WhatsApp or Insta), you're standing for it, too.
Reposted by Alfie Kohn
Odds of Venezuela getting bombed just went up. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
House Democrats release Epstein email that claimed Trump ‘spent hours’ with victim
In the 2011 email, the disgraced financier wrote to Ghislaine Maxwell that Trump had “spent hours at my house” with one of Epstein’s victims and that encounter “has never once been mentioned” by polic...
www.washingtonpost.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Odds of Venezuela getting bombed just went up. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
In case you needed another reason not to: www.pcmag.com/news/ask-cha...
![[PCMag headline]
Asking ChatGPT About Affairs or Abortion? Be Careful, Marketers Are
Peeking at Your Prompts
Browser extensions are potentially funneling your most personal queries to a company selling market insights about chatbot activity.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5lyrol4fdf5k3p4owzb5vfs5/bafkreifw4zwfaeeyhhrzjn6z2d4p52t4yxog2r7bha7cwlaerner3oo7d4@jpeg)
November 12, 2025 at 3:08 PM
In case you needed another reason not to: www.pcmag.com/news/ask-cha...
Terrific piece by M. Gessen on the culpability of those appalled by the unspeakable evil being committed by their country (e.g., Israel) but who continue to live there and indirectly benefit. How can one be "a good citizen of a bad state"? Increasingly relevant to Americans: tinyurl.com/377pt6yv
tinyurl.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Terrific piece by M. Gessen on the culpability of those appalled by the unspeakable evil being committed by their country (e.g., Israel) but who continue to live there and indirectly benefit. How can one be "a good citizen of a bad state"? Increasingly relevant to Americans: tinyurl.com/377pt6yv
I continue to be astounded not only by his desperate neediness but by the fact that he lacks the self-awareness to be embarrassed by it or the regulatory capacity to conceal it. And this unslakeable thirst for flattery (& inability to handle criticism) drives all his decisions - hence, U.S. policy.
Trump to Pat McAfee: "I'm only joining you because I hear you say such nice things about me. When people say nice about me, I join. When they don't say nice about me, I take a pass."
November 11, 2025 at 10:24 PM
I continue to be astounded not only by his desperate neediness but by the fact that he lacks the self-awareness to be embarrassed by it or the regulatory capacity to conceal it. And this unslakeable thirst for flattery (& inability to handle criticism) drives all his decisions - hence, U.S. policy.
New study: "Participants disclosed more and felt more comforted by a chatbot introduced as a human, even though almost everyone knew they were still talking to a chatbot": tinyurl.com/4h3zvb6r
My recent, related essay on anthropomorphism: www.alfiekohn.org/blogs/projec...
My recent, related essay on anthropomorphism: www.alfiekohn.org/blogs/projec...
Study finds users disclose more to AI chatbots introduced as human
A chatbot’s introduction can influence how much users open up. When a chatbot is framed as a human, people tend to disclose more and feel more comforted—even if they suspect it’s not actually a person...
tinyurl.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:48 PM
New study: "Participants disclosed more and felt more comforted by a chatbot introduced as a human, even though almost everyone knew they were still talking to a chatbot": tinyurl.com/4h3zvb6r
My recent, related essay on anthropomorphism: www.alfiekohn.org/blogs/projec...
My recent, related essay on anthropomorphism: www.alfiekohn.org/blogs/projec...
This is what everyone should be talking about
"But the true message—the prospective message—is that pardons will be available to everyone who joins him in election subversion in 2026 and 2028. This wave of preemptive pardons is a permission slip, an encouragement for election subversion in the future."
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
Pardon the Corruption
Trump’s blanket pardons for stop-the-steal illegality aren’t only about settling scores from past elections. They’re about laying the groundwork to subvert future ones.
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:23 PM
This is what everyone should be talking about
Interesting review of research showing that wealthy people are disproportionately likely to be selfish and even psychopathic: theconversation.com/research-sug...
Research suggests rich people tend to be more selfish – but why is that?
Research in psychology has found a link between wealth and selfishness
theconversation.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Interesting review of research showing that wealthy people are disproportionately likely to be selfish and even psychopathic: theconversation.com/research-sug...
What's striking isn't the growing number of studies finding negative effects from using AI - in this case, to have it summarize research for you (vs. searching individual sources yourself) - but the kneejerk tendency of those reporting them to ask how best to use AI (vs. whether we need it at all).
November 10, 2025 at 8:52 PM
What's striking isn't the growing number of studies finding negative effects from using AI - in this case, to have it summarize research for you (vs. searching individual sources yourself) - but the kneejerk tendency of those reporting them to ask how best to use AI (vs. whether we need it at all).