Do people lie to benefit the in-group and harm the out-group? In a new paper, we found that people lied 9% more to help in-group members than out-group members! This is evidence of coalitional dishonesty Democrats & Republicans both lied anonymously to double in-group members earnings (N=5,230)

Our new research finds that people are willing to cheat if it benefits their group — even when they gain nothing themselves. "the risk of dishonesty in organizations is not limited to selfish acts...employees might bend rules to benefit their team or in-group members." www.nhh.no/en/nhh-bulle...

Can the psychology of time help us understand climate change? In collaboration with my excellent PhD student Simen Bø, we have a new pre-print exploring the temporal psychology of climate hesitancy, and whether it is possible to increase actual climate support by varying the *timing* of incentives.

Can the psychology of time help us understand climate change? In collaboration with my excellent PhD student Simen Bø, we have a new pre-print exploring the temporal psychology of climate hesitancy, and whether it is possible to increase actual climate support by varying the *timing* of incentives.

We have a new working paper, studying planning choices in the United States and Tanzania: "Just perfect days ahead?" Documenting a robust best-case planning tendency, see below for details! Joint work with my last-year PhD student Simen Bø and Vincent Somville.

A *null* result I'm very proud of! Led by Rustam Romaniuc, 35 coauthors from all over France tested nudge interventions to boost voter turnout. None worked, and we are possibly not surprised -- but a well-powered null result *is* a result! Paper: kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...

The Washington Post has written a new article about the modern underground waste system in Bergen (Norway), featuring our research on the effect of incentives vs. norm-nudges on actual recycling behavior. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solu...

Trash sucks: A Norwegian city uses vacuum tubes to whisk waste away

Bergen, Norway, has been building one of the world’s most advanced trash systems in its 955-year-old city center.

washingtonpost.com

To me, a thing that never gets old: The feeling you get when launching a top-priority large-scale data collection, designed to test ideas and hypotheses you have spent months and even years developing. 20% anxiety, 80% curiosity!

Today we had the great pleasure of welcoming back @jayvanbavel.bsky.social to NHH, who gave a seminar on social media and human morality! Packed with interesting research questions, integrative ideas, the MAD model of moral contagion, and large-scale data from observational & experimental studies.

Incorrigible optimists, that’s what we are. Research by @hallgeirsjastad.bsky.social et al finds that—even when we reflect on our past wellbeing levels and notice they’ve been steady—we believe in a brighter future for ourselves and our friends (but not for our enemies): buff.ly/hSZBrxL

Happy to share that we have a new paper on the causal effect of promises, just published in JEBO. "Making a promise increases the moral cost of lying: Evidence from Norway and the United States." Joint work w/ Mathias Eström, Kjetil Bjorvatn & Pablo Soto Mota. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

By focusing on substantive strategies and actionable guidance, rather than the flashiest new phrase, climate communicators may see greater success mobilizing the public. It’s not about what we call it, but likely how we encourage people to tackle it. jayvanbavellab.substack.com/p/climate-te...

Climate Terminology Does Not Matter

Our new paper finds that swapping out one climate term for another does not meaningfully change people’s stated commitment to fight climate change

jayvanbavellab.substack.com

Our paper suggesting that people are "selective optimists" when predicting the future has now been published (EJSP). Self-serving optimism in well-being prediction: People believe in a bright future for themselves and their friends, but not for their enemies. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Here is my best guidance for action, rendered beautifully by the great John Lithgow. I first published these lessons more than eight years ago, in late 2016. They open the twenty chapters of "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century." snyder.substack.com/p/twenty-les...

Twenty Lessons, read by John Lithgow

Key selections from On Tyranny, for viewing and sharing

snyder.substack.com

I mostly post about research here, but since researchers also (can?) have a life outside work: Here is a glimpse from last night. Attending Motorpsycho live in Bergen! One of my all-time favorite rock bands (experimental/prog/psychedelic).

We are hiring in Marketing! Two positions available: One tenured and one tenure-track. See job ad links in the reply below.

In my experience, this approach generally works well in teaching too: Think about the research question for a couple of seconds and make your prediction, before learning the results.

I will never understand how you can write a full paper about how you can best measure some construct with a certain scale, *without* including a complete list of specific items and instructions easily available in the paper.

A long-time favorite paper was accepted for publication today in EJSP: "Self-serving optimism in well-being prediction: People believe in a bright future for themselves and their friends, but not for their enemies." Some good news in difficult times. I will share a longer post when published.

Defunding the world’s leading scientific community is akin to a performing a prefrontal lobotomy on the nation—you are effectively severing the connections between the most innovative ideas and its citizens. Cutting support for science harms everyone! www.powerofusnewsletter.com/p/a-national...

A National Prefrontal Lobotomy: The Costs of Cutting the Social Sciences

Issue 158: The long-term impacts of funding cuts threaten "social science for a safer world"

powerofusnewsletter.com

"Authoritarian leaders who restricted the press were more popular than those who permitted greater freedom. Where Internet access was narrower, and where Internet content was censored, support was also higher." "But ratings fall when citizens recognize censorship." www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

American science is under attack. This includes everything from cuts to censorship. This will likely have damaging consequences for fields ranging from medical science to agricultral from national defense to economics. See this letter from the Director of the NIH: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/o...

The last 4 weeks has already felt like 4 long years, and the 4 years ahead feels like an eternity -- currently heading in a very dangerous direction. Even for those of us who often lean in an optimistic direction, that is the assessment. The US, and the World, is now changing fast. Backwards.

I thought reviewers directly recommending "accept as is" was a myth, but now I have experienced it myself -- for the first time in my life. (We had to do a full revision and collect more data to address R2, but still!) The job is now done and the paper accepted. Looking forward to share it soon.

In a world that suddenly has become more unstable and uncertain, it can be tempting to give in to hopelessness and cynicism. But perhaps there is still something to be learned, from the psychology of hope? The world doesn't *have to be* a zero-sum game, although it is fully possible to make it so.

It seems like every society needs to painfully re-learn, every 50-100 years or so, that good things are fragile and easily taken for granted and a fun dip into smashing stuff to shake up the system can turn out to be truly terrible, unlocking all kinds of barely hidden demons.

New data available! Relational mobility across hundreds of prefectures in China using nationally representative survey data. psycnet.apa.org/record/2025-...

1/3 We are hiring in AI! 🔥 Tenured position as Professor in Information Technology and AI, in Bergen at NHH - Norwegian School of Economics, Dep. of Strategy and Management. A rare combination: Job safety; academic freedom; high living standards; and a supportive & ambitious research environment.

Really cool work on sustainable consumer behavior from behavioral economics, by Thomas de Haan & Magnus Knutsen, focusing on how we can incentivize *firms* to reduce negative externalities. Forthcoming in Management Science. Check it out 👇

Thomas de Haan@thomasdehaan.bsky.social · 2y ago

I am happy to announce the paper "Product Ratings and Externalities" written together with Magnus Knutsen has been accepted for publication at Management Science. See the latest working paper version here: drive.google.com/file/d/1fA2n...

Help needed: After the recent criticism that the Dunning-Kruger effect is "mostly a statistical artifact", I have a vague memory of a well-informed response, arguing (and showing with data) how the effect is still meaningful even when taking method limitations into account. Which paper/blog?