Mikaela Spruill
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spruill.bsky.social
Mikaela Spruill
@spruill.bsky.social
5.2K followers 440 following 33 posts
Criminal Justice Postdoc at SPARQ @ Stanford | Cornell Psych Ph.D. | 1913 | Examining how individual judgments & decisions sustain systemic racial inequities | she/hers

mikaelaspruill.com
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Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
mjcrockett.bsky.social
Can AI simulations of human research participants advance cognitive science? In @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social, @lmesseri.bsky.social & I analyze this vision. We show how “AI Surrogates” entrench practices that limit the generalizability of cognitive science while aspiring to do the opposite. 1/
AI Surrogates and illusions of generalizability in cognitive science
Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have generated enthusiasm for using AI simulations of human research participants to generate new know…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 21, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
tayadhenry.bsky.social
Our lab’s first study is published in @pppl-journal.bsky.social! We review definitions used in psych & law to describe those wrongly involved in the legal system. doi.org/10.1037/law0000468

@gblancovelasco.com
@carinacardoso.bsky.social
@karlihamilton.bsky.social
@kimberleyclow.bsky.social
June 17, 2025 at 2:41 PM
spruill.bsky.social
*We are 3 days away from the SPSP Preconference submission deadline!* If your research breaks boundaries in social psychology or you are applying exciting methods to your research, apply today!!

spsp.wufoo.com/forms/2026-p...
Advertisement for the Critical Perspectives in Psychology preconference. Displays the invited speakers names & pictures. Includes a QR code to the submission portal.
October 20, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
doctaphia.bsky.social
We're accepting abstract submissions for the Critical Psychology Preconference until Oct 23rd. Join us! spsp.wufoo.com/forms/2026-p...
spruill.bsky.social Mikaela Spruill @spruill.bsky.social · Sep 29
The Critical Perspectives in Psychology Preconference is back again for year two!! If your research breaks boundaries in mainstream social psych or you are applying exciting methods to your experimental research, our submissions are open! #SPSP2026
September 30, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
keturahragland.bsky.social
Come join us!!
spruill.bsky.social Mikaela Spruill @spruill.bsky.social · Sep 29
The Critical Perspectives in Psychology Preconference is back again for year two!! If your research breaks boundaries in mainstream social psych or you are applying exciting methods to your experimental research, our submissions are open! #SPSP2026
September 29, 2025 at 7:41 PM
spruill.bsky.social
The Critical Perspectives in Psychology Preconference is back again for year two!! If your research breaks boundaries in mainstream social psych or you are applying exciting methods to your experimental research, our submissions are open! #SPSP2026
September 29, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
brennancenter.org
Join us on September 30 at 3 p.m. ET for a virtual discussion with legal experts and longtime Supreme Court watchers. They’ll break down some of the major cases on the Court's upcoming docket and explain what the outcomes could mean for the future of American democracy. RSVP: bit.ly/4nKeDFP
Democracy’s Day in Court
Supreme Court watchers preview pivotal cases on voting rights, fair representation, and presidential power.
www.brennancenter.org
September 26, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
Supreme Court unanimously rejects the "moment-of-threat rule," which required courts to examine only the exact moment in which a police officer alleged that their safety had been threatened in determining whether they acted reasonably.

Kagan's opinion makes clear that this idea is clearly absurd.
Most notable here, the “totality of the circumstances” inquiry has no time limit. While the situation at the precise time of the shooting will often matter most, earlier facts and circumstances may bear on how a reasonable officer would have understood and responded to later ones. Prior events may show why a reasonable officer would perceive otherwise ambiguous conduct as threatening, or instead as innocuous. Plumhoff v. Rickard, 572 U. S. 765, well illustrates this point. There, an officer’s use of deadly force was justified “at the moment” partly because of what had transpired in the preceding period. Id., at 777. The moment-of-threat rule applied below prevents that sort of attention to context, and thus conflicts with this Court’s instruction to analyze the totality of the circumstances. By limiting their view to the two seconds before the shooting, the lower courts could not take into account anything preceding that final moment. So, for example, they could not consider the reasons for the stop or the earlier interactions between the suspect and officer. And because of that limit, they could not address whether the final two seconds of the encounter would look different if set within a longer timeframe. A rule like that, which precludes consideration of prior events in assessing a police shooting, is not reconcilable with the fact-dependent and context-sensitive approach this Court has prescribed. A court deciding a use-of-force case cannot review the totality of the circumstances if it has put on chronological blinders. The Court does not address a separate question about whether or how an officer’s own “creation of a dangerous situation” factors into the reasonableness analysis. The courts below never confronted that issue, and it was not the basis of the petition for certiorari. Pp. 4–9. 91 F. 4th 393, vacated and remanded. KAGAN, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. KAVANAUGH, J., filed a con
May 15, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
mjsdc.bsky.social
The Supreme Court's first and only decision today is Barnes v. Felix. Per Kagan, the court unanimously rejects the 5th Circuit's narrow approach to deadly force claims against police, holding that a proper analysis looks to the "totality of the circumstances." www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
JUSTICE KAGAN delivered the opinion of the Court. A police officer’s use of deadly force violates the Fourth Amendment when it is not “objectively reasonable.” Graham v. Connor, 490 U. S. 386, 397 (1989). And that inquiry into reasonableness, we have held, requires assessing the “totality of the circumstances.” Id., at 396 (quoting Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U. S. 1, 9 (1985)). The question here is whether that framework permits courts, in evaluating a police shooting (or other use of force), to apply the so-called moment-of-threat rule used in the courts below. Under that rule, a court looks only to the circumstances existing at the precise time an officer perceived the threat inducing him to shoot. Today, we reject that approach as improperly narrowing the requisite Fourth Amendment analysis. To assess whether an officer acted reasonably in using force, a court must consider all the relevant circumstances, including facts and events leading up to the climactic moment.
May 15, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
theatlantic.com
The Supreme Court’s emergency ruling blocked the Trump administration from removing supposed Venezuelan gang members without any legal process, @qjurecic.bsky.social writes. But it “also narrowed the path by which those detainees can contest their removal”:
What, Exactly, Is the Supreme Court Thinking?
The justices exhibit a disturbing willingness to ignore the human costs of Trump’s actions, preferring instead to remain within the more comfortable zone of high-minded legal theory.
bit.ly
April 10, 2025 at 9:15 PM
spruill.bsky.social
Thank you all so much for having me!! It was a joy to share more about my research in psychology and law.

If you want to learn more about legal judgment & decision making, intriguing Supreme Court cases and what “objectively reasonable” actually means to people, listen to this episode!
mindsmatter.bsky.social Minds Matter Podcast @mindsmatter.bsky.social · Mar 31
New ep! What comes to mind when you hear the term “objectively reasonable”? @spruill.bsky.social shares her research on how legal standards in criminal justice aren't as neutral as they may seem and how lived experience influence jurors' priors

links in 🧵

@monash-m3cs.bsky.social
March 31, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
natematias.bsky.social
Scholarship is an expression of deep hope in the future — by writing things down, we hope that future generations can make some use of what we do.

Writing today about the science of AI policy, I am citing a 1950s book on the role of scientists in labor unions. Thank you Milton Nadworny <3
March 11, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
neillewisjr.bsky.social
Some good news:

"The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation will increase its giving over the next two years in response to what it calls a 'crisis' prompted by the Trump administration’s freeze..."

www.philanthropy.com/article/maca...
MacArthur Foundation to Increase Giving for Two Years in Response to ‘Crisis’
The move was prompted by the Trump administration’s freeze on federal foreign aid and the now-suspended freeze on federal grants.
www.philanthropy.com
February 27, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
psychscience.bsky.social
Congratulations to the newest class of APS Rising Stars ⭐! www.psychologicalscience.org/members/awar...
February 27, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
mdehghani.bsky.social
At @spspnews.bsky.social, many asked for guidelines on using LLMs in the social sciences. Our new paper in AMPPS addresses exactly that! We provide a primer for evaluating LLMs in social science research, focusing on methodological rigor, replicability, and validity: osf.io/preprints/ps...
February 25, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
ishasr.bsky.social
First @spspnews.bsky.social symposium complete! I presented my work on differing gendered perceptions of East and South Asians. Really excited to continue this line of work as I wrap up my master’s thesis. Thank you to everyone who came to support! #SPSP2025
February 25, 2025 at 6:56 PM
spruill.bsky.social
✨Starting in 30 minutes!✨ See you all there! @jadacopelandhayes.bsky.social @keturahragland.bsky.social
spruill.bsky.social Mikaela Spruill @spruill.bsky.social · Feb 17
Check out the amazing line up of speakers for the inaugural Critical Perspectives in Psychology Preconference! If you are going to #SPSP2025 you don’t want to miss this!!
February 20, 2025 at 7:32 PM
spruill.bsky.social
Happy SPSP Day to those who celebrate! I’m looking forward to starting this conference off sharing new research, “Right, Wrong or Reasonable? Morality in Legal Decision Making” in the Moral Pre conference!! #SPSP2025
February 20, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
eji.org
Where the death penalty remains active, increasing jury diversity can increase reliability and help reduce the risk of wrongful convictions.
Diverse Juries More Reliable, Less Likely in Alabama Death Penalty
Accurate representation among juries can reduce wrongful convictions.
eji.org
February 19, 2025 at 3:42 AM
Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
rondalo.bsky.social
I'll be presenting 3 posters at SPSP2025 this weekend!

‼️Thursday Pre-Conferences:
Social Psychology in Legal Contexts - 12:15-1pm
🚔 Psychology of Police Shows

Advances in Cultural Psychology -3:30-4:45pm
🧬 Gene-Culture Studies

‼️Friday Poster Session B (9-10am)
😷 Asian Health Hazard Stereotype
February 18, 2025 at 9:59 PM
spruill.bsky.social
Check out the amazing line up of speakers for the inaugural Critical Perspectives in Psychology Preconference! If you are going to #SPSP2025 you don’t want to miss this!!
February 17, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
ncamp.bsky.social
Going to #spsp2025? Interested in what psychology can tell us about what works (or doesn't) to change policing? Join me @andreadittmann.bsky.social @calvinklai.bsky.social @spruill.bsky.social & Kyle Dobson very early next Saturday to find out.
February 14, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
pascl-stanford.bsky.social
A huge thank you to @spruill.bsky.social for sharing her research exploring the influence of legal language on Black and White Americans’ perceptions of police officers and police use-of-force. Truly thought-provoking work!
February 13, 2025 at 6:34 PM
spruill.bsky.social
“To treat the symptoms of creative maladjustment would be to dull a necessary and noble pain that is an authentic moral response to injustice. For King, maladjustment to injustice is an illness with only one cure—justice.”

Today’s very timely read.🤔

spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 20, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Reposted by Mikaela Spruill
markanthonyneal.bsky.social
December 10, 2024 at 4:11 AM