Maddy Jalbert
@maddyjalbert.bsky.social
Research Scientist at the Center for an Informed Public at the University of Washington. Social Psych PhD at USC. I study misinformation correction and how people make judgments of truth. Otherwise probably in the mountains. She/her
Reposted by Maddy Jalbert
Check out "The persuasive potential of AI-paraphrased information at scale," an open-access article exploring "AIPasta," written by a team of @cip.uw.edu researchers led by @dashsaloni.bsky.social with co-authors @yiweixu.bsky.social, @maddyjalbert.bsky.social and @emmaspiro.bsky.social ⤵️
Repeating duplicated messages—known as CopyPasta—over and over online is a common misinformation strategy. Using AI to paraphrase the message, what the authors call “AIPasta,” could be even more effective at creating a false consensus. In PNAS Nexus: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
August 11, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Check out "The persuasive potential of AI-paraphrased information at scale," an open-access article exploring "AIPasta," written by a team of @cip.uw.edu researchers led by @dashsaloni.bsky.social with co-authors @yiweixu.bsky.social, @maddyjalbert.bsky.social and @emmaspiro.bsky.social ⤵️
Reposted by Maddy Jalbert
Excited to announce that my paper "The persuasive potential of AI-paraphrased information at scale" with my wonderful collaborators @yiweixu.bsky.social, @maddyjalbert.bsky.social, and @emmaspiro.bsky.social has been published at PNAS Nexus!
Link: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Link: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
The persuasive potential of AI-paraphrased information at scale
Abstract. In this article, we study how AI-paraphrased messages have the potential to amplify the persuasive impact and scale of information campaigns. Bui
academic.oup.com
July 24, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Excited to announce that my paper "The persuasive potential of AI-paraphrased information at scale" with my wonderful collaborators @yiweixu.bsky.social, @maddyjalbert.bsky.social, and @emmaspiro.bsky.social has been published at PNAS Nexus!
Link: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Link: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Reposted by Maddy Jalbert
Hi friends, the Spark Society's NSF funding has been terminated. We are dedicated to continuing our work and hope we can rely on you for support.
If you want to help support our mission, you can donate here buy.stripe.com/3cs03h1be38D...
Stripe Checkout
buy.stripe.com
April 21, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Hi friends, the Spark Society's NSF funding has been terminated. We are dedicated to continuing our work and hope we can rely on you for support.
I got an email yesterday afternoon that my NSF SPRF Postdoctoral Fellowship was terminated. My grant focused on testing interventions to address online misinformation and I was 8 months into a two year appointment.
Friday Night Massacre of accurate information.
A devastating day for the USA as tens of millions of dollars of grants seeking to combat the spread of false information were terminated. We have a federal govenrment that does not consider the verifiable truth a priority. www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p...
A devastating day for the USA as tens of millions of dollars of grants seeking to combat the spread of false information were terminated. We have a federal govenrment that does not consider the verifiable truth a priority. www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p...
Updates on NSF Priorities
www.nsf.gov
April 19, 2025 at 4:43 PM
I got an email yesterday afternoon that my NSF SPRF Postdoctoral Fellowship was terminated. My grant focused on testing interventions to address online misinformation and I was 8 months into a two year appointment.
Reposted by Maddy Jalbert
NEW: We obtained the directions NSF program officers are following to review all grants for compliance with the Trump EOs and the turmoil it has created in an agency mandated to broaden STEM participation. Our story: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: how NSF is scouring research grants for violations of Trump’s orders
The US National Science Foundation has unfrozen grant funding, but it continues to scrutinize research projects, sowing turmoil.
www.nature.com
February 3, 2025 at 11:05 PM
NEW: We obtained the directions NSF program officers are following to review all grants for compliance with the Trump EOs and the turmoil it has created in an agency mandated to broaden STEM participation. Our story: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Maddy Jalbert
NSF froze payments to researchers.
State AGs said it was unconstitutional for exec branch to pause congressionally mandated funds.
Judge issued restraining order.
Payments resumed.
But some inconsistencies in what the NSF has said (thread):
www.statnews.com/2025/02/02/n...
State AGs said it was unconstitutional for exec branch to pause congressionally mandated funds.
Judge issued restraining order.
Payments resumed.
But some inconsistencies in what the NSF has said (thread):
www.statnews.com/2025/02/02/n...
National Science Foundation restores payments after five-day pause, but worries over science funding persist
The NSF said on Sunday that its payment system was back on line, after it froze out researchers and sparked financial worries.
www.statnews.com
February 2, 2025 at 10:06 PM
NSF froze payments to researchers.
State AGs said it was unconstitutional for exec branch to pause congressionally mandated funds.
Judge issued restraining order.
Payments resumed.
But some inconsistencies in what the NSF has said (thread):
www.statnews.com/2025/02/02/n...
State AGs said it was unconstitutional for exec branch to pause congressionally mandated funds.
Judge issued restraining order.
Payments resumed.
But some inconsistencies in what the NSF has said (thread):
www.statnews.com/2025/02/02/n...
I am one of these NSF postdocs. NSF has frozen everyone’s access to their salaries and research stipends (that were already awarded) with no information about when they might be expected to be unfrozen. It still appears like we are expected to continue doing our work though.
Apparently all the PhD researchers holding prestigious NSF-funded research fellowships are having their salaries withheld until some unspecified time when the leadership figures out how to eliminate any grant funding that doesn’t align with the president’s political ideology.
It’s official: all funding requests made on Tuesday by postdocs for their salaries have been unilaterally rejected by NSF.
January 31, 2025 at 12:43 AM
I am one of these NSF postdocs. NSF has frozen everyone’s access to their salaries and research stipends (that were already awarded) with no information about when they might be expected to be unfrozen. It still appears like we are expected to continue doing our work though.
Reposted by Maddy Jalbert
Apparently all the PhD researchers holding prestigious NSF-funded research fellowships are having their salaries withheld until some unspecified time when the leadership figures out how to eliminate any grant funding that doesn’t align with the president’s political ideology.
It’s official: all funding requests made on Tuesday by postdocs for their salaries have been unilaterally rejected by NSF.
January 30, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Apparently all the PhD researchers holding prestigious NSF-funded research fellowships are having their salaries withheld until some unspecified time when the leadership figures out how to eliminate any grant funding that doesn’t align with the president’s political ideology.
Reposted by Maddy Jalbert
Join us in congratulating HCDE Professor Kate Starbird on receiving the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). This prestigious honor recognizes her groundbreaking research on the dynamics of misinformation and disinformation online.
HCDE Professor Kate Starbird awarded Presidential Early Career Award
HCDE Professor Kate Starbird is among a distinguished group of scientists and engineers across the country honored with a 2025 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) fro...
www.hcde.washington.edu
January 16, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Join us in congratulating HCDE Professor Kate Starbird on receiving the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). This prestigious honor recognizes her groundbreaking research on the dynamics of misinformation and disinformation online.
Excited this piece with @malar0ne.bsky.social and Luke Williams is now out!
In this work, we find that the presence of biomedical credentials (e.g. Dr., MD., scientist, nurse) in a user's social media profile increases perceptions that the user has expertise on the topic of COVID-19 vaccination.
In this work, we find that the presence of biomedical credentials (e.g. Dr., MD., scientist, nurse) in a user's social media profile increases perceptions that the user has expertise on the topic of COVID-19 vaccination.
#OutNow in #iCS
Madeline Jalbert, Mallory Harris, and Luke Williams examine how biomedical credentials in social media profiles influence perceptions of expertise on COVID-19 vaccination.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Madeline Jalbert, Mallory Harris, and Luke Williams examine how biomedical credentials in social media profiles influence perceptions of expertise on COVID-19 vaccination.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Who is perceived to be an expert on COVID-19 vaccines on social media? Biomedical credentials confer expertise, even among vaccine-hesitant and conservative observers
Who is perceived to be an expert on COVID-19 vaccination on social media? We conducted four experimental studies investigating how the presence of biomedical credentials in social media profiles im...
www.tandfonline.com
December 18, 2024 at 6:35 PM
Excited this piece with @malar0ne.bsky.social and Luke Williams is now out!
In this work, we find that the presence of biomedical credentials (e.g. Dr., MD., scientist, nurse) in a user's social media profile increases perceptions that the user has expertise on the topic of COVID-19 vaccination.
In this work, we find that the presence of biomedical credentials (e.g. Dr., MD., scientist, nurse) in a user's social media profile increases perceptions that the user has expertise on the topic of COVID-19 vaccination.
Reposted by Maddy Jalbert
A Just Asking Questions Effect for spreading false information.
This thread is an overview of my lab’s research that I presented at Psychonomics this morning. #psynow24
TLDR: Getting people to generate their own false answers leads them to believe that info. 1/
This thread is an overview of my lab’s research that I presented at Psychonomics this morning. #psynow24
TLDR: Getting people to generate their own false answers leads them to believe that info. 1/
November 23, 2024 at 5:17 PM
A Just Asking Questions Effect for spreading false information.
This thread is an overview of my lab’s research that I presented at Psychonomics this morning. #psynow24
TLDR: Getting people to generate their own false answers leads them to believe that info. 1/
This thread is an overview of my lab’s research that I presented at Psychonomics this morning. #psynow24
TLDR: Getting people to generate their own false answers leads them to believe that info. 1/
Reposted by Maddy Jalbert
Just published a Nature comment highlighting a few of the rumors our UW team expects to see going into the Nov 5 election — from rumors that falsely frame election errors as impactful and intentional to rumors about "non citizen voters" and "suspicious behaviors". www.nature.com/articles/d41...
I’ve been studying misinformation for a decade — here are the rumours to watch out for on US election day
We can anticipate many false claims, including alleged mass voting by non-citizens or ‘suspicious vans’ outside polling booths. We should quickly counter them.
www.nature.com
October 22, 2024 at 4:14 PM
Just published a Nature comment highlighting a few of the rumors our UW team expects to see going into the Nov 5 election — from rumors that falsely frame election errors as impactful and intentional to rumors about "non citizen voters" and "suspicious behaviors". www.nature.com/articles/d41...
In a new article now out in Collabora: Psychology, @rmpillai.bsky.social and I find that the mere repetition of information increases estimates of its consensus, a finding we refer to as an “illusory consensus effect.”
An Illusory Consensus Effect: The Mere Repetition of Information Increases Estimates That Others Would Believe or Already Know It
How do people estimate the prevalence of beliefs and knowledge among others? Here, we examine the hypothesis that mere repetition of information increases such perceptions of consensus — an “illusory ...
online.ucpress.edu
October 19, 2024 at 4:43 PM
In a new article now out in Collabora: Psychology, @rmpillai.bsky.social and I find that the mere repetition of information increases estimates of its consensus, a finding we refer to as an “illusory consensus effect.”
Reposted by Maddy Jalbert
TODAY at 3PM ET! Join @lkfazio.bsky.social, Mubashir Sultan, and @maddyjalbert.bsky.social as they discuss the latest research on #misinformation during our Science for Society webinar.
Register: member.psychologicalscience.org/events/event...
Register: member.psychologicalscience.org/events/event...
Join us on October 16 for our Science for Society webinar! A panel featuring @lkfazio.bsky.social, Mubashir Sultan, and @maddyjalbert.bsky.social will discuss the latest research on #misinformation —how it spreads and ways to combat its impact.
member.psychologicalscience.org/events/event...
member.psychologicalscience.org/events/event...
October 16, 2024 at 1:45 PM
TODAY at 3PM ET! Join @lkfazio.bsky.social, Mubashir Sultan, and @maddyjalbert.bsky.social as they discuss the latest research on #misinformation during our Science for Society webinar.
Register: member.psychologicalscience.org/events/event...
Register: member.psychologicalscience.org/events/event...
Reposted by Maddy Jalbert
NEW Science for Society on October 16! Lisa Fazio @lkfazio.bsky.social, Mubashir Sultan, and Maddy Jalbert @maddyjalbert.bsky.social will review the current research on #misinformation, how it is spread, and how to reduce its impact.
member.psychologicalscience.org/events/event...
member.psychologicalscience.org/events/event...
September 26, 2024 at 3:10 PM
NEW Science for Society on October 16! Lisa Fazio @lkfazio.bsky.social, Mubashir Sultan, and Maddy Jalbert @maddyjalbert.bsky.social will review the current research on #misinformation, how it is spread, and how to reduce its impact.
member.psychologicalscience.org/events/event...
member.psychologicalscience.org/events/event...
Reposted by Maddy Jalbert
If you’re interested in why weird works, but would rather listen than read? Well, @maddyjalbert.bsky.social and I were interviewed for the Sound Politics podcast.
www.npr.org/podcasts/125...
www.npr.org/podcasts/125...
August 30, 2024 at 2:49 AM
If you’re interested in why weird works, but would rather listen than read? Well, @maddyjalbert.bsky.social and I were interviewed for the Sound Politics podcast.
www.npr.org/podcasts/125...
www.npr.org/podcasts/125...
Reposted by Maddy Jalbert
A special collection of Perspectives on Psychological Science, addressing lessons from the covid pandemic. It was a pleasure to co-edit this with Dolores Albarracin.
In a special Perspectives collection, researchers discuss how #psychologicalscience can help policymakers and the public understand and address the spread of infectious disease while preserving constructive social interactions and learning. @nschwarz.bsky.social #PublicHealth
Journal Collection Examines Psychological Science in Pandemics
In a special Perspectives on Psychological Science collection, researchers discuss how psychological science can help policymakers and the public understand and address the spread of infectious diseas...
www.psychologicalscience.org
August 15, 2024 at 3:59 PM
A special collection of Perspectives on Psychological Science, addressing lessons from the covid pandemic. It was a pleasure to co-edit this with Dolores Albarracin.
I have a new post out with @irahyman.bsky.social discussing the connection between the new political “weird” discourse (which we’re referring to as “weird-checking”, aka fact-checking but for weirdness instead of truth) and social psychology principles of social norms and consensus.
UW CIP postdoc Maddy Jalbert and Ira Hyman (@irahyman.bsky.social) explain how the recent Democrat strategy of what they call "weird-checking" works by countering a false sense of social consensus of what "normal" is (re: beliefs, behavior, etc.): www.cip.uw.edu/2024/08/12/w...
Is ‘weird-checking’ the new fact-checking?
Examining social psychological principles that explain why Democrats’ strategy of calling ideas “weird” works
www.cip.uw.edu
August 13, 2024 at 4:42 PM
I have a new post out with @irahyman.bsky.social discussing the connection between the new political “weird” discourse (which we’re referring to as “weird-checking”, aka fact-checking but for weirdness instead of truth) and social psychology principles of social norms and consensus.
Reposted by Maddy Jalbert
Behavioral science policy recommendations early in the pandemic were *largely correct*. Our global collaboration of 80+ experts covers 747 studies (average sample size over 16,000!) & supports 16 of 19 claims. Many lessons for science & policy.
Out today in Nature:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Out today in Nature:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
December 13, 2023 at 4:13 PM
Behavioral science policy recommendations early in the pandemic were *largely correct*. Our global collaboration of 80+ experts covers 747 studies (average sample size over 16,000!) & supports 16 of 19 claims. Many lessons for science & policy.
Out today in Nature:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Out today in Nature:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...