Full preprint: doi.org/10.31234/osf...

Great project to work on w/ @danicajdillion.bsky.social & @kurtjgray.bsky.social !

(with all of that being said... this is my [s̶o̶u̶l̶m̶a̶t̶e̶] dog Finn. 😆)

Study 3: Surprisingly, even some non-dog owners chose dogs > people in our moral dilemmas.

Valuing and treating dogs as soulmates may be an element of our culture: whether you own a dog or not.💡

Study 2: About 3 out of 4 dog owners we surveyed (73%) viewed their dog as a primary emotional soulmate.

When presented with a moral dilemma, more than one in five owners (21%) chose to save a puppy's life over a human stranger. 😳

Study 1: National spending on pets is strongly negatively correlated with the birth rate (r = -.93; controlling for GDP). This replicated at the county level.

Less babies born = more 💸 spent on pets, which may suggest a caregiving trade-off.

This week's Science to Impact symposium at Ohio State hosted experts in all kinds of science communication!

Grateful to have helped organize this event and heard from these minds in one room. 🧠 🧪

Smile if you’re moving to Columbus!!

It was a great year at UNC. This summer, @mshastry.bsky.social and I are moving with @kurtjgray.bsky.social ’s Deepest Beliefs Lab to Ohio State! Excited to join.

(forever Go Blue, though 🤗〽️)

New post: What do a physicist in a strip club, a pop star in a church, and government officials making war plans in a group chat have in common? 🔬🎤💣

The setting is all wrong—so wrong that their decisions start to feel immoral.

(🔗 in thread)

Last month, I attended @aplssc.bsky.social in sunny San Juan! 🌤️ #APLS2025

I presented work showing that humans are worse at judging guilt based on walking style than a computer algorithm trained on the same dataset.

w/ @kurtjgray.bsky.social

Poster: tinyurl.com/devineposter...

2) We find evidence that people who worry more about crime 😨 are more likely to blame victims. 🫵 This may be a self-protective strategy to gain control over potential victimhood.

Poster: tinyurl.com/devineposter...

w/ @kurtjgray

I had a great time at #SPSP25 in Denver this weekend! 🏔️🧸
I presented research on 1) how social influences change consent requests and 2) how fear of crime may explain increased victim blaming rhetoric.

More on both in this thread!
🧵(1/3)

Looking forward to presenting at @SPSPnews next week! Come find me 😊

⚖️ Flash talk at legal precon: Keep your friends close, but your rights closer: Social support and compliance with consent requests (Thurs 9a)
📢 Poster on how fear of crime shapes victim blaming (Thurs 6-7p)

Well. What's next?

This platform is full of frustration. Animosity will likely rise. It's easy to hate everything. And yet...

with @kurtjgray @sampratt99

New @DeepBeliefsLab substack: Why do some of us get so enraged by minor social norm violations? Turns out anger over slow walkers and double parkers can be adaptive—and in some cases, actually improve— our society. 🤯

w/ @kurtjgray & @sampratt99

www.moralunderstandingnewsletter.com/p/the-psycho...