Calvin Lai
@calvinklai.bsky.social
Social psychologist & professor at Rutgers University.
Studying how to reduce prejudice and discrimination.
Opinions are my own. he/him
calvinklai.com
Studying how to reduce prejudice and discrimination.
Opinions are my own. he/him
calvinklai.com
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 😂
October 31, 2025 at 3:53 PM
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 😂
We’re also an hour from NYC 🏙️, Philly 🌆, and the Jersey Shore 🏖️. We're close enough for big city energy, but with space to breathe and enjoy nature.
September 9, 2025 at 7:23 PM
We’re also an hour from NYC 🏙️, Philly 🌆, and the Jersey Shore 🏖️. We're close enough for big city energy, but with space to breathe and enjoy nature.
Living in New Jersey is wonderful. There's so much to explore, plus we've the best diner food and delis in the country (🥯☕).
September 9, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Living in New Jersey is wonderful. There's so much to explore, plus we've the best diner food and delis in the country (🥯☕).
🌍 Rutgers is also incredibly diverse—racially, socioeconomically, and culturally. Teaching here is a joy: every class is energized by the perspectives students bring.
September 9, 2025 at 7:23 PM
🌍 Rutgers is also incredibly diverse—racially, socioeconomically, and culturally. Teaching here is a joy: every class is energized by the perspectives students bring.
I want to share a few things I love about Rutgers. Rutgers is one of the first universities in the U.S., founded in 1766. 🏛️ Walking across campus, you feel the weight of that history.
September 9, 2025 at 7:23 PM
I want to share a few things I love about Rutgers. Rutgers is one of the first universities in the U.S., founded in 1766. 🏛️ Walking across campus, you feel the weight of that history.
Using latent trait-state models, we found that states explain 42% of variance in IATs & traits explain 62% of variance in those states. This finding shows the IAT is capturing traits AND states, but there’s a lot of measurement error.
June 4, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Using latent trait-state models, we found that states explain 42% of variance in IATs & traits explain 62% of variance in those states. This finding shows the IAT is capturing traits AND states, but there’s a lot of measurement error.
Paper w/ @tcarpenter.bsky.social & @alexgoedderz.bsky.social at PSPB!🚨 The standard IAT is only 5 min long. We found that making the IAT longer by taking it multiple times greatly improves predictive validity. 🧵below, with practical advice about how to run IATs!
LINK: osf.io/preprints/ps...
LINK: osf.io/preprints/ps...
June 4, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Paper w/ @tcarpenter.bsky.social & @alexgoedderz.bsky.social at PSPB!🚨 The standard IAT is only 5 min long. We found that making the IAT longer by taking it multiple times greatly improves predictive validity. 🧵below, with practical advice about how to run IATs!
LINK: osf.io/preprints/ps...
LINK: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Come join us! I have startup funds to hire a postdoc for Fall 2025 at Rutgers to study intergroup relations. The job ad is at jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/249... & evaluations begin in 1 wk (5/16) w rolling evaluation. See 🧵below for a write-up on what I'm looking for in a postdoc. Please share widely!
May 9, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Come join us! I have startup funds to hire a postdoc for Fall 2025 at Rutgers to study intergroup relations. The job ad is at jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/249... & evaluations begin in 1 wk (5/16) w rolling evaluation. See 🧵below for a write-up on what I'm looking for in a postdoc. Please share widely!
We were also reassured to find that change was mostly generalizable across implicit measures. That was the common assumption in the literature. The main exception was the Evaluative Priming Task, which had subpar psychometrics & almost never saw changes from our interventions.
April 9, 2025 at 2:32 PM
We were also reassured to find that change was mostly generalizable across implicit measures. That was the common assumption in the literature. The main exception was the Evaluative Priming Task, which had subpar psychometrics & almost never saw changes from our interventions.
3/5 interventions worked, with the best one cutting bias by half on the IAT. The best interventions involved practicing an explicit rule linking fat people + good things & thin people + bad things. Less effective Interventions were more indirect or relied on associative learning.
April 9, 2025 at 2:32 PM
3/5 interventions worked, with the best one cutting bias by half on the IAT. The best interventions involved practicing an explicit rule linking fat people + good things & thin people + bad things. Less effective Interventions were more indirect or relied on associative learning.
At the same time, we sought to answer a foundational question: does implicit bias change generalize across implicit measures? To that end, we tested the efficacy of each intervention across 5 popular implicit measures.
April 9, 2025 at 2:32 PM
At the same time, we sought to answer a foundational question: does implicit bias change generalize across implicit measures? To that end, we tested the efficacy of each intervention across 5 popular implicit measures.
🚨New Paper w/ @joelleforestier.bsky.social at JEP: General!🚨 We conducted 2 mega-experiments totaling over 28,000 participants and 50 conditions. We wanted to find the most effective interventions to reduce implicit weight prejudice across 5 implicit measures. 🧵
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
April 9, 2025 at 2:32 PM
🚨New Paper w/ @joelleforestier.bsky.social at JEP: General!🚨 We conducted 2 mega-experiments totaling over 28,000 participants and 50 conditions. We wanted to find the most effective interventions to reduce implicit weight prejudice across 5 implicit measures. 🧵
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
🌟Come check out our stellar line-up at #SPSP2025! 🌟 We'll be presenting topics such as confronting sexism, police bias training, and instability in U.S. immigration policy 💫
February 18, 2025 at 3:03 PM
🌟Come check out our stellar line-up at #SPSP2025! 🌟 We'll be presenting topics such as confronting sexism, police bias training, and instability in U.S. immigration policy 💫
Just got back from an incredible trip to Colombia hosted by the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) & the Colombian National Police, advising on how to build stronger community bonds through fair and equitable policing.
November 26, 2024 at 6:52 PM
Just got back from an incredible trip to Colombia hosted by the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) & the Colombian National Police, advising on how to build stronger community bonds through fair and equitable policing.
Who's the next mayor of NYC? Wrong answers only.
September 27, 2024 at 5:01 AM
Who's the next mayor of NYC? Wrong answers only.
A personal null paper I find interesting is Lai, Haidt, & Nosek, 2014 (osf.io/preprints/ps...). The tally was: S1 pos, S2 null, S3 mixed, S4 null.
In 2013, we trusted the internal meta-analysis over the nulls and concluded it was weak & positive. Today, I trust the nulls (see Vosgerau et al., 2019)
In 2013, we trusted the internal meta-analysis over the nulls and concluded it was weak & positive. Today, I trust the nulls (see Vosgerau et al., 2019)
September 10, 2024 at 6:41 PM
A personal null paper I find interesting is Lai, Haidt, & Nosek, 2014 (osf.io/preprints/ps...). The tally was: S1 pos, S2 null, S3 mixed, S4 null.
In 2013, we trusted the internal meta-analysis over the nulls and concluded it was weak & positive. Today, I trust the nulls (see Vosgerau et al., 2019)
In 2013, we trusted the internal meta-analysis over the nulls and concluded it was weak & positive. Today, I trust the nulls (see Vosgerau et al., 2019)
Come join us! I will be recruiting a PhD student and have flex to hire a postdoc for Fall 2025 at Rutgers.
If you or someone you know is potentially interested in joining the Diversity Science Lab, please check out calvinklai.com/join-the-lab!
If you or someone you know is potentially interested in joining the Diversity Science Lab, please check out calvinklai.com/join-the-lab!
September 10, 2024 at 1:48 PM
Come join us! I will be recruiting a PhD student and have flex to hire a postdoc for Fall 2025 at Rutgers.
If you or someone you know is potentially interested in joining the Diversity Science Lab, please check out calvinklai.com/join-the-lab!
If you or someone you know is potentially interested in joining the Diversity Science Lab, please check out calvinklai.com/join-the-lab!
🌟New paper! Grace Drake, Jenn Beatty, & I argue that diversity training (DT) is best understood as teaching. Seeing DT as just teaching illuminates many ways we could make trainings so much more effective than they are currently!
Link: osf.io/preprints/ps... 1/6
Link: osf.io/preprints/ps... 1/6
July 1, 2024 at 7:51 PM
🌟New paper! Grace Drake, Jenn Beatty, & I argue that diversity training (DT) is best understood as teaching. Seeing DT as just teaching illuminates many ways we could make trainings so much more effective than they are currently!
Link: osf.io/preprints/ps... 1/6
Link: osf.io/preprints/ps... 1/6
I'm thrilled to announce my next chapter. 🎉 I'm returning home to my undergrad alma mater Rutgers University as an Associate Professor of Psychology & Criminal Justice this Fall! #Rutgers
March 6, 2024 at 2:15 PM
I'm thrilled to announce my next chapter. 🎉 I'm returning home to my undergrad alma mater Rutgers University as an Associate Professor of Psychology & Criminal Justice this Fall! #Rutgers
Lab alum Kimi Saadatian presenting on our work examining the racial ideologies of over 20k law enforcement professionals. She finds that law enforcement were MUCH more prejudiced than the general population across 19 prejudice measures (mean d = .79). #SPSP2024
February 9, 2024 at 11:45 PM
Lab alum Kimi Saadatian presenting on our work examining the racial ideologies of over 20k law enforcement professionals. She finds that law enforcement were MUCH more prejudiced than the general population across 19 prejudice measures (mean d = .79). #SPSP2024
Jenn Beatty presenting our new theory of bias regulation that shows how people regulate their intergroup biases across TIME and SOCIAL CONTEXT! #SPSP2024
February 9, 2024 at 10:35 PM
Jenn Beatty presenting our new theory of bias regulation that shows how people regulate their intergroup biases across TIME and SOCIAL CONTEXT! #SPSP2024
BIRGing for Diversity Science Lab member Messi Lee winning SPSP's Outstanding Research Award for his rigorous and transparent work on outgroup homogeneity-like effects in ChatGPT!! (Photo via Grace Drake)
February 9, 2024 at 2:06 AM
BIRGing for Diversity Science Lab member Messi Lee winning SPSP's Outstanding Research Award for his rigorous and transparent work on outgroup homogeneity-like effects in ChatGPT!! (Photo via Grace Drake)
💥Come check out our lab's action-packed line-up at #SPSP2024 this week!!! 💥2 talks, 4 posters, 1 early-career award, and a panel with yours truly about how to get that foundation grant $$$!
February 5, 2024 at 8:32 PM
💥Come check out our lab's action-packed line-up at #SPSP2024 this week!!! 💥2 talks, 4 posters, 1 early-career award, and a panel with yours truly about how to get that foundation grant $$$!