To celebrate the openESM paper release, I wrote a brief blog post summarizing recent developments: openesmdata.org/blog/2026-07... We: 💠added more data 💠provided descriptive visualizations for each item 💠created a semantic similarity mapping for items, making it easier to find related items

Daniel Heck@danielheck.bsky.social · 3w ago

Our article introducing the #openESM database for experience samling data, led by @bsiepe.bsky.social, has now been published 🎉 Paper: link.springer.com/article/10.3... openESM interactive website: openesmdata.org GitHub repository: github.com/openesm-proj...

Today we launch the first stable release of RegCheck: v1.0.0. RegCheck makes it easier and quicker to compare study registrations to published papers for consistency - something we know is important in principle, but rarely done in practice. A 🧵 on what's new: regcheck.app

RegCheck

RegCheck is an AI tool to compare preregistrations with papers instantly.

regcheck.app

🧵 New paper out in JPSP: Morality Cut Both Ways. Can reading facts make you moralize an issue — or lose a moral conviction? We ran 6 studies, 4,464 participants. The results were surprising. 👇 #MoralPsychology #Attitudes. @icedteas.bsky.social 1/8

Reminder: If you have students or colleagues who would benefit from a workshop focused on psychometric scale development, please spread the word: smart-workshops.com/scale-dev-info

We made an open repository of close relationships measures. Our goal is to catalogue all of the published self-report measures in relationship science. You can help us expand the database by suggesting measures you tend to use in your research, or by uploading your own measures! relascale.com

RelaScale - Psychological Measures and Constructs

RelaScale is a searchable database of psychological measures and constructs for relationship researchers.

relascale.com

An outstanding question: does helping really cultivate empathy or is it the other way around?). We will examine this with dyadic daily diaries, and ecological momentary assessments (w @dsbarra.bsky.social Jessica Andrews-Hanna & @gregdepow.bsky.social)

Why is lower wealth often associated with greater empathy? New work at SPPS w @jessicadayers.bsky.social Yul Kwon Peter Todd @athenaaktipis.bsky.social shows lower wealth cultivates empathy via challenges and helping - but only among moderate helpers🧵https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506261449280

Helping People in Times of Need Cultivates Empathy Over Time - Diego Guevara Beltran, Jessica D. Ayers, Jung Yul Kwon, Peter M. Todd, Athena Aktipis, 2026

Why is lower social class often associated with greater empathy? We test whether less wealthy people experience more challenges, thereby motivating them to help...

doi.org

@ucsdcompassion.bsky.social -funded researchers – @gregdepow.bsky.social & @chrisoveis.bsky.social – were recently published for their new #research on positive empathy and perceived responses to #capitalization attempts. Read the article ➡️ osf.io/preprints/ps...

What does the new OMB proposal mean for science? How can we STOP VOUGHT and SAVE SCIENCE together? All of these questions and more to be discussed at the Emergency Science Meeting on June 2nd, 4PM ET, hosted by Stand Up for Science! Register at the link in our bio, or go here: zurl.co/g3vTZ

Excited for the 1st day of APS today in Barcelona @psychscience.bsky.social! I'll be attending the empathy pre-conference organized by The Love Consortium @theloveconsortium.bsky.social where I'll be talking about positive empathy and capitalization. If you're around, feel free to say hello!

✨New paper out @nature.com ✨ For 8 weeks around the 2024 US election, we randomly assigned 2,000 people to use social media algos we built ourselves. Do engagement-based algorithms amplify intergroup, moral & emotional (IME) content—and does that distort how we see political norms? 🧵🔗 👇

What is a psychological theory? Here's our take on this tricky and controversial question in this week's Experimentology chapter summary. Many things called "theories" in psychology aren't actually theories — they're frameworks. 🧵 experimentology.io

When people attempt to capitalize by sharing the good news with others, what dimensions of empathy in the responder predict perceived responses to capitalization attempts from the capitalizer perspective? I address this question in a new paper now In Press at Emotion osf.io/preprints/ps...

💡Policy Update: The Trump Administration has dismissed all 24 members of the National Science Board which oversees NSF. SPSP stands with @cossa.bsky.social in calling on Congress to exercise its oversight authority to investigate this action. Learn more: ow.ly/JaF250YQMeB

This finding (10% of participants thought CAF was probably training a raccoon army) reminds me of the anecdote from David Wilk who wrote questions for the game show The Power of 10. When they polled Americans if they ever had been decapitated, 4% responded that they had. www.npr.org/transcripts/...

Episode 714: Can A Game Show Lose?

Crafting a TV game show is a balancing act. Producers have to carefully calibrate the rules, the drama and the prizes just right. Sometimes they get it way wrong.

npr.org

Robert Ross@robert-m-ross.bsky.social · 4mo ago

In a new study my collaborators and I focus on this alternative hypothesis. We asked participants if this statement is true or false: “The Canadian Armed Forces have been secretly developing an elite army of genetically engineered, super intelligent, giant raccoons to invade nearby countries”.

HAPPENING NOW: The AFT and @aaup.org are in Texas launching our new Nnational Higher Education platform ahead of the 2026 midterms. Read more in the release here, and follow along in the thread below. @afthighered.bsky.social

AAUP and AFT Launch National Higher Education Platform Ahead of 2026 Midterms

AUSTIN, Texas—Today, the American Association of University Professors and the AFT jointly launched a new comprehensive national policy platform ahead of the 2026 midterms to counter the Trump adminis...

aft.org

Today, the AAUP & @aft.org launched our national policy platform to win back an American higher education system that protects the freedom to teach & learn & strengthens our democracy. Read it in full here: www.aaup.org/blueprint-st... 🧵

A Blueprint for Strengthening and Transforming Higher Education

The AAUP and AFT jointly launched a new comprehensive policy platform ahead of the 2026 midterms aimed to counter the Trump administration’s far right extremist attacks on American higher education an...

aaup.org

New paper, out this week in PLOS One, suggests that most close relationship self-report measures are primarily capturing relationship quality 🧵 journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Predicting relationship quality with itself? A single general factor captures most of the variance across 34 common relationship measures

In relationship science, researchers have generated a wide array of constructs and corresponding self-report measures to characterize, explain, and predict relationship quality – the foremost studied ...

journals.plos.org

Thanks to @gregdepow.bsky.social & Leif Anderson for organizing a great session yesterday on receiving empathy! Along with @anatperry.bsky.social, they are excellent colleagues to chat with and then consider true meanings of the constructs "empathy" and "brunch" @affectscience.bsky.social #SAS2026

Come check out the fun Friday morning AI empathy symposium led by @gregdepow.bsky.social & Leif Anderson @affectscience.bsky.social #SAS2026. I'll be talking about empathy choice for AI empathy work with @jdweng.bsky.social @minzlicht.bsky.social, and why recipient experiences matter for this debate

Looking forward to @affectscience.bsky.social #SAS2026 in Pittsburgh this week, where I will speak on AI empathy in a session by @gregdepow.bsky.social & Leif Anderson, along with @anatperry.bsky.social. Ontology of empathy, and pierogies, a balanced meal. I may arrange an AI #empathy popup coffee ☕

1/ New paper in Communications Psychology: Against Frictionless AI. Led by my student Emily Zohar and @paulbloomatyale.bsky.social. The argument: AI's greatest selling point is also its problem. www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Against frictionless AI - Communications Psychology

AI’s greatest strength—removing friction from work and relationships—is also a liability. Prioritizing outcome over process, it eliminates desirable difficulties that drive growth. By subtracting effo...

nature.com

Are you a junior faculty member interested in spending 2-4 weeks at Princeton Psych? Consider applying for our Microsabbatical program! It’s a fully funded visit for professional development and creating long-term collaborations. psych.princeton.edu/diversity/mi...

Preprint of "Wise Empathy Improves Well-being on Instagram" is now available: osf.io/preprints/ps... Effects of social media on well-being vary, and depend greatly on online experiences. Here, we present a wise empathy intervention to change digital experiences and improve well-being. #empathy 1/4

As we head toward #SAS2026 we are excited to partner with @inclivio.com to support EMA research in affective science. If you’re attending the conference, like (1 entry) and repost (3 entries) this post to enter a drawing for 1 of 3 licenses to run your study on Inclivio for *free*. inclivio.com

Interested in doing a postdoc on misinfo/belief change with me and @gordpennycook.bsky.social? We are looking for candidates to apply for a Connected Minds Postdoctoral Fellowship, based at York University. Contact me for more details! #PsychJobs

We are excited to announce our partnership with @inclivio.com's software for #SAS2026. We’re counting down to the conference with a series of posts. Enter a drawing for 3 EMA study licenses by liking (1 point) and reposting (3 points)! #SAS #AffectiveScience #EMA #EmotionDynamics

Excited to share: This summer I'm starting as an Assistant Professor at @lakeheaduniversity.bsky.social! 🥳 I'll be continuing my research on empathy, teaching, and mentoring students. Prospective students interested in empathy are welcome to reach out. Grateful to my family, colleagues, and mentors!

Excited to see this out in print in Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences. It's the first publication with @amormino.bsky.social in the EMP Lab, along with Joel Segel from Health Policy and Administration. At a pivotal moment for empathy, we consider its role for policymaking 1/n

Motivating Empathy and Moral Pluralism in Health Policy - C. Daryl Cameron, Paige Amormino, Joel E. Segel, 2026

Health policy is motivated by a variety of factors including moral concerns, values and convictions. Policymakers are motivated to consider how constituents and...

journals.sagepub.com

I wrote a piece with Nick Hobson in Harvard Business Review (@hbr.org) on how leaders can use empathy wisely to help their employees feel supported while benefitting their own well-being. Check it out and share let me know what you think. hbr.org/2026/01/five... #empathy #leadership

How Leaders Can Practice Wise Empathy

Empathy has become a baseline expectation of modern leadership, but practiced without judgment it can backfire, leaving leaders depleted and employees feeling misunderstood. Effective leadership requi...

hbr.org