Pierce Ekstrom
@pierceekstrom.bsky.social
Asst prof at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Former postdoc at Wash U and UMN grad student. Political Psychologist. Studies morality, group ID, conflict, polarization.
http://pierceekstrom.com
http://pierceekstrom.com
New write-up of our political scandal experiments for SPSP's (@spspnews.bsky.social) blog. We find that partisan voters allow politicians to get away with hostile, defensive "explanations" for scandal, esp when the politician is high-status and when party goals are at stake
spsp.org/news/charact...
spsp.org/news/charact...
Do Voters Punish Politicians Who Apologize? | SPSP
Politicians may deny scandals not just for themselves but because voters let them.
spsp.org
November 13, 2025 at 4:50 PM
New write-up of our political scandal experiments for SPSP's (@spspnews.bsky.social) blog. We find that partisan voters allow politicians to get away with hostile, defensive "explanations" for scandal, esp when the politician is high-status and when party goals are at stake
spsp.org/news/charact...
spsp.org/news/charact...
We're recruiting PhD students to join us at Nebraska! Spreading word:
Whether you (or your student's) current home is in Psych or PoliSci, if you're interested in political psych, you could be a great fit.
I run a joint lab (www.pierceekstrom.com/ekstromlab) with Ingrid Haas (paclab.unl.edu). 1/3
Whether you (or your student's) current home is in Psych or PoliSci, if you're interested in political psych, you could be a great fit.
I run a joint lab (www.pierceekstrom.com/ekstromlab) with Ingrid Haas (paclab.unl.edu). 1/3
October 7, 2025 at 9:06 PM
We're recruiting PhD students to join us at Nebraska! Spreading word:
Whether you (or your student's) current home is in Psych or PoliSci, if you're interested in political psych, you could be a great fit.
I run a joint lab (www.pierceekstrom.com/ekstromlab) with Ingrid Haas (paclab.unl.edu). 1/3
Whether you (or your student's) current home is in Psych or PoliSci, if you're interested in political psych, you could be a great fit.
I run a joint lab (www.pierceekstrom.com/ekstromlab) with Ingrid Haas (paclab.unl.edu). 1/3
Reposted by Pierce Ekstrom
Why most polls overstate support for political violence
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/most-polls...
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/most-polls...
Why most polls overstate support for political violence
Misperceptions about the popularity of violence increase public support for it — but you can help change that.
www.gelliottmorris.com
October 7, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Why most polls overstate support for political violence
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/most-polls...
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/most-polls...
Reposted by Pierce Ekstrom
ISPP Small Grants are back for 2026! 💡 $50k total available; request up to $5k for research or network/workshop projects. Open to current ISPP members. Proposals due Dec 1, 2025. Selection uses a lottery among proposals that meet all criteria. Apply: ispp.org/funding/smal...
October 1, 2025 at 7:39 PM
ISPP Small Grants are back for 2026! 💡 $50k total available; request up to $5k for research or network/workshop projects. Open to current ISPP members. Proposals due Dec 1, 2025. Selection uses a lottery among proposals that meet all criteria. Apply: ispp.org/funding/smal...
Reposted by Pierce Ekstrom
We argue that moral expressions—that signal one’s sense of right and wrong—are highly sensitive to social norms. These norms can amplify moral expressions (eg social media) or restrain them (eg work settings)
See our new paper on How Social Influence Shapes Moral Expression:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
See our new paper on How Social Influence Shapes Moral Expression:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
September 24, 2025 at 2:03 PM
We argue that moral expressions—that signal one’s sense of right and wrong—are highly sensitive to social norms. These norms can amplify moral expressions (eg social media) or restrain them (eg work settings)
See our new paper on How Social Influence Shapes Moral Expression:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
See our new paper on How Social Influence Shapes Moral Expression:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Our paper on partisan reactions to political scandal is officially published in PSPB: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Partisans were more receptive to defensive, hostile "explanations" for misconduct from in-(vs out-)party politicians. Seems driven by desire to win > identity-protective motive
Partisans were more receptive to defensive, hostile "explanations" for misconduct from in-(vs out-)party politicians. Seems driven by desire to win > identity-protective motive
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
September 22, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Our paper on partisan reactions to political scandal is officially published in PSPB: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Partisans were more receptive to defensive, hostile "explanations" for misconduct from in-(vs out-)party politicians. Seems driven by desire to win > identity-protective motive
Partisans were more receptive to defensive, hostile "explanations" for misconduct from in-(vs out-)party politicians. Seems driven by desire to win > identity-protective motive
Reposted by Pierce Ekstrom
🌟 Excited to share that I'm recruiting PhD students in Psychology for my new lab at Rice University this cycle (Signal boost appreciated!)
To learn more, check out the Learning & Behavior Change Lab website:
www.sinclairlab-rice.com
Applications are due Dec 1st: psychology.rice.edu/graduate/pro...
To learn more, check out the Learning & Behavior Change Lab website:
www.sinclairlab-rice.com
Applications are due Dec 1st: psychology.rice.edu/graduate/pro...
Sinclair Lab
The Learning & Behavior Change Lab at Rice University, directed by Dr. Sinclair
www.sinclairlab-rice.com
September 8, 2025 at 3:45 PM
🌟 Excited to share that I'm recruiting PhD students in Psychology for my new lab at Rice University this cycle (Signal boost appreciated!)
To learn more, check out the Learning & Behavior Change Lab website:
www.sinclairlab-rice.com
Applications are due Dec 1st: psychology.rice.edu/graduate/pro...
To learn more, check out the Learning & Behavior Change Lab website:
www.sinclairlab-rice.com
Applications are due Dec 1st: psychology.rice.edu/graduate/pro...
Reposted by Pierce Ekstrom
CYFS research affiliate Jenna Finch, asst professor of psychology, is exploring the factors that shape students’ transitions from second to third grade.
▶️ Watch news story via KMTV 3 News Now: www.3newsnow.com/lincoln/unl-...
#EdResearch #STEM #EarlyMath #NUforNE #GoBigResearch #NSFfunded
▶️ Watch news story via KMTV 3 News Now: www.3newsnow.com/lincoln/unl-...
#EdResearch #STEM #EarlyMath #NUforNE #GoBigResearch #NSFfunded
August 21, 2025 at 7:53 PM
CYFS research affiliate Jenna Finch, asst professor of psychology, is exploring the factors that shape students’ transitions from second to third grade.
▶️ Watch news story via KMTV 3 News Now: www.3newsnow.com/lincoln/unl-...
#EdResearch #STEM #EarlyMath #NUforNE #GoBigResearch #NSFfunded
▶️ Watch news story via KMTV 3 News Now: www.3newsnow.com/lincoln/unl-...
#EdResearch #STEM #EarlyMath #NUforNE #GoBigResearch #NSFfunded
Reposted by Pierce Ekstrom
Here's a treat for state politics and policy researchers: Ethan Dee and I published a dataset in Nature: Scientific Data with the universe of state legislative bills since ~2009 coded by 28 policy areas. We used a machine learning model built off open source components.
Policy agendas of the American state legislatures - Scientific Data
Scientific Data - Policy agendas of the American state legislatures
www.nature.com
July 22, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Here's a treat for state politics and policy researchers: Ethan Dee and I published a dataset in Nature: Scientific Data with the universe of state legislative bills since ~2009 coded by 28 policy areas. We used a machine learning model built off open source components.
Reposted by Pierce Ekstrom
The political slant of psych research (e.g., left vs. right) is not related to replicability, although more slant (in any direction) may be associated with less replicability
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
May 30, 2025 at 8:26 PM
The political slant of psych research (e.g., left vs. right) is not related to replicability, although more slant (in any direction) may be associated with less replicability
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
New preprint with my grad advisee, Zeenat Ahmed. When and why do Americans prioritize party wins over democracy? Not because they don’t know what democracy is. Maybe, sometimes bc they don’t notice that in-partisans are violating democratic principles. There are some caveats. osf.io/preprints/os....
OSF
osf.io
May 20, 2025 at 3:02 PM
New preprint with my grad advisee, Zeenat Ahmed. When and why do Americans prioritize party wins over democracy? Not because they don’t know what democracy is. Maybe, sometimes bc they don’t notice that in-partisans are violating democratic principles. There are some caveats. osf.io/preprints/os....
Reposted by Pierce Ekstrom
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!
Last call for ISPP 2025 Awards Nominations! (@polpsyispp.bsky.social) I'm helping review for two early-career paper awards.
-"Early career"=within 8 yrs of PhD.
-Awards are for papers presented this past year at ISPP (in Santiago).
-Nominees must be current ISPP members.
ispp.org/awards/sigel/
-"Early career"=within 8 yrs of PhD.
-Awards are for papers presented this past year at ISPP (in Santiago).
-Nominees must be current ISPP members.
ispp.org/awards/sigel/
January 13, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Last call for ISPP 2025 Awards Nominations! (@polpsyispp.bsky.social) I'm helping review for two early-career paper awards.
-"Early career"=within 8 yrs of PhD.
-Awards are for papers presented this past year at ISPP (in Santiago).
-Nominees must be current ISPP members.
ispp.org/awards/sigel/
-"Early career"=within 8 yrs of PhD.
-Awards are for papers presented this past year at ISPP (in Santiago).
-Nominees must be current ISPP members.
ispp.org/awards/sigel/
Reposted by Pierce Ekstrom
New JPSP article is out, with @jordanaxt.bsky.social, @calvinklai.bsky.social, and many collaborators! We organised a contest study with an open call for interested researchers to submit their discrimination-reduction intervention ideas. doi.org/10.1037/pspa...
December 5, 2024 at 3:56 PM
New JPSP article is out, with @jordanaxt.bsky.social, @calvinklai.bsky.social, and many collaborators! We organised a contest study with an open call for interested researchers to submit their discrimination-reduction intervention ideas. doi.org/10.1037/pspa...
Reposted by Pierce Ekstrom
Want to learn more about machine learning with a healthy dose of memes and jokes? Check out this new beginners guide, written by our very own, very talented London Wolff: londonwolff.github.io/machine_lear...
No background in ML needed (although some familiarity with R is helpful).
No background in ML needed (although some familiarity with R is helpful).
Beginners Guide to Machine Learning Binary Classification Problems in R
londonwolff.github.io
November 21, 2024 at 7:32 PM
Want to learn more about machine learning with a healthy dose of memes and jokes? Check out this new beginners guide, written by our very own, very talented London Wolff: londonwolff.github.io/machine_lear...
No background in ML needed (although some familiarity with R is helpful).
No background in ML needed (although some familiarity with R is helpful).
Reposted by Pierce Ekstrom
Curtis Phills and I are hiring a full-time lab manager here at the University of Oregon, where we are co-leading the C-squared Lab. If you are interested in stereotypes, prejudice, diversity, and social cognition, please apply!
Job ad here: tinyurl.com/c2labmanager
Job ad here: tinyurl.com/c2labmanager
Lab Manager Position at University of Oregon
tinyurl.com
September 2, 2024 at 8:36 PM
Curtis Phills and I are hiring a full-time lab manager here at the University of Oregon, where we are co-leading the C-squared Lab. If you are interested in stereotypes, prejudice, diversity, and social cognition, please apply!
Job ad here: tinyurl.com/c2labmanager
Job ad here: tinyurl.com/c2labmanager
UNL Poli Sci is hiring an assistant prof in Race & Ethnic Politics! employment.unl.edu/postings/92973
"The position is open with respect to particular subfields, though candidates with an interest in or research focus in public policy are especially encouraged to apply."
"The position is open with respect to particular subfields, though candidates with an interest in or research focus in public policy are especially encouraged to apply."
Assistant Professor
The Department of Political Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln seeks a tenure-track assistant professor in the area of Race and Ethnic Politics. The position is open with respect to particu...
employment.unl.edu
August 12, 2024 at 7:44 PM
UNL Poli Sci is hiring an assistant prof in Race & Ethnic Politics! employment.unl.edu/postings/92973
"The position is open with respect to particular subfields, though candidates with an interest in or research focus in public policy are especially encouraged to apply."
"The position is open with respect to particular subfields, though candidates with an interest in or research focus in public policy are especially encouraged to apply."
Reposted by Pierce Ekstrom
Come join us at Nebraska! My department is searching in REP with a policy emphasis. Not on committee but happy to answer questions. Job ad here: employment.unl.edu/postings/92973
Assistant Professor
The Department of Political Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln seeks a tenure-track assistant professor in the area of Race and Ethnic Politics. The position is open with respect to particu...
employment.unl.edu
August 8, 2024 at 5:40 PM
Come join us at Nebraska! My department is searching in REP with a policy emphasis. Not on committee but happy to answer questions. Job ad here: employment.unl.edu/postings/92973
Reposted by Pierce Ekstrom
🌟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
New paper in PSPB on partisan reactions to political scandal: journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Partisans were more receptive to defensive, hostile "explanations" for misbehavior from in-(vs out-)party politicians. Seems to be driven by desire to win > identity-protective motives but both matter
Partisans were more receptive to defensive, hostile "explanations" for misbehavior from in-(vs out-)party politicians. Seems to be driven by desire to win > identity-protective motives but both matter
Sage Journals: Your gateway to world-class research journals
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
May 16, 2024 at 1:53 PM
New paper in PSPB on partisan reactions to political scandal: journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Partisans were more receptive to defensive, hostile "explanations" for misbehavior from in-(vs out-)party politicians. Seems to be driven by desire to win > identity-protective motives but both matter
Partisans were more receptive to defensive, hostile "explanations" for misbehavior from in-(vs out-)party politicians. Seems to be driven by desire to win > identity-protective motives but both matter
Reposted by Pierce Ekstrom
Hi political science/ psych friends, what are some good and crucial research that I should know about the influence of local vs federal governments on influencing/ predicting/ shaping people's beliefs and attitudes (broadly defined)??
May 6, 2024 at 5:56 PM
Hi political science/ psych friends, what are some good and crucial research that I should know about the influence of local vs federal governments on influencing/ predicting/ shaping people's beliefs and attitudes (broadly defined)??
My colleagues are hiring an RA!
Looking for recent college grads: employment.unl.edu/postings/90660
Job is to support a grant-funded project on foreign-policy decision-making in Congress, including some neuro stuff.
30 hrs with benefits, about $17/hr, in-person
Please share w/ anyone interested
Looking for recent college grads: employment.unl.edu/postings/90660
Job is to support a grant-funded project on foreign-policy decision-making in Congress, including some neuro stuff.
30 hrs with benefits, about $17/hr, in-person
Please share w/ anyone interested
March 25, 2024 at 8:24 PM
My colleagues are hiring an RA!
Looking for recent college grads: employment.unl.edu/postings/90660
Job is to support a grant-funded project on foreign-policy decision-making in Congress, including some neuro stuff.
30 hrs with benefits, about $17/hr, in-person
Please share w/ anyone interested
Looking for recent college grads: employment.unl.edu/postings/90660
Job is to support a grant-funded project on foreign-policy decision-making in Congress, including some neuro stuff.
30 hrs with benefits, about $17/hr, in-person
Please share w/ anyone interested
It's my 1st grad student's 1st SPSP! Come see Zeenat Ahmed present her poster: Party over democracy: When do Americans stand by democratic principles? For once, the news is not all bad.
Friday morning session, 8 AM.
@spspnews.bsky.social
Friday morning session, 8 AM.
@spspnews.bsky.social
February 7, 2024 at 5:42 PM
It's my 1st grad student's 1st SPSP! Come see Zeenat Ahmed present her poster: Party over democracy: When do Americans stand by democratic principles? For once, the news is not all bad.
Friday morning session, 8 AM.
@spspnews.bsky.social
Friday morning session, 8 AM.
@spspnews.bsky.social
Reposted by Pierce Ekstrom
New working paper: "Blatantly false news increases belief in news that is merely implausible"
osf.io/preprints/ps...
There's growing concern that AI like GPT-4 is making it easy to create sudden "cascades" of fake news online. But what impact could those cascades have? (1/9)
osf.io/preprints/ps...
There's growing concern that AI like GPT-4 is making it easy to create sudden "cascades" of fake news online. But what impact could those cascades have? (1/9)
February 2, 2024 at 3:53 PM
New working paper: "Blatantly false news increases belief in news that is merely implausible"
osf.io/preprints/ps...
There's growing concern that AI like GPT-4 is making it easy to create sudden "cascades" of fake news online. But what impact could those cascades have? (1/9)
osf.io/preprints/ps...
There's growing concern that AI like GPT-4 is making it easy to create sudden "cascades" of fake news online. But what impact could those cascades have? (1/9)
Reposted by Pierce Ekstrom
Two new papers out now in Psych Science (@psychscience.bsky.social) and Social Science & Medicine look at why people who conceal their stigmatized identities often experience worse health.
SocSci&Med paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.so...
PsychSci paper: doi.org/10.1177/0956...
SocSci&Med paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.so...
PsychSci paper: doi.org/10.1177/0956...
January 15, 2024 at 6:59 PM
Two new papers out now in Psych Science (@psychscience.bsky.social) and Social Science & Medicine look at why people who conceal their stigmatized identities often experience worse health.
SocSci&Med paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.so...
PsychSci paper: doi.org/10.1177/0956...
SocSci&Med paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.so...
PsychSci paper: doi.org/10.1177/0956...