Check out the attached infographic for a quick summary of our work.
with @kurtjgray.bsky.social @emilykubin.bsky.social βοΈ
π doi.org/10.1177/2372...
Cover page of a journal article titled "The Psychology of Victimhood in the Law"
βοΈ New paper in Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences!
Legal decisions hinge on who counts as a victim β but our judgments are biased & hard to change. We propose solutions: victim impact statements, funding restorative justice, & acknowledgments for exonerees.
βοΈ New Preprint:
"Sticks and stones may break my bones..." but can words really harm?
We created the Words Can Harm Scale (WCHS) to measure the belief that speech can cause lasting psychological harm.
You can take the online assessment here: sampratt99.github.io/Words-Can-Ha...
Full preprint: doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Great project to work on w/ @danicajdillion.bsky.social & @kurtjgray.bsky.social !
(with all of that being said... this is my [sΜΆoΜΆuΜΆlΜΆmΜΆaΜΆtΜΆeΜΆ] dog Finn. π)
Study 3: Surprisingly, even some non-dog owners chose dogs > people in our moral dilemmas.
Valuing and treating dogs as soulmates may be an element of our culture: whether you own a dog or not.π‘
(cont.) Those who saw their dog as a soulmate were more likely to choose dogs > people in every moral dilemma we presented--giving dogs food, money, and saving their life over humans. βοΈ
This effect was stronger for childfree dog owners. π«πΆ
Study 2: About 3 out of 4 dog owners we surveyed (73%) viewed their dog as a primary emotional soulmate.
When presented with a moral dilemma, more than one in five owners (21%) chose to save a puppy's life over a human stranger. π³
Study 1: National spending on pets is strongly negatively correlated with the birth rate (r = -.93; controlling for GDP). This replicated at the county level.
Less babies born = more πΈ spent on pets, which may suggest a caregiving trade-off.
New preprint: Do people care more about their pet dog than about other people? πΆ > π«
Our findings suggest that increases in "soulmate" emotional reliance on dogs is associated with reduced moral concern for people. π§΅
@kurtjgray.bsky.social @daviddesteno.bsky.social @jayvanbavel.bsky.social @josephfridman.bsky.social @marycmurphy.bsky.social @andyluttrell.bsky.social
This week's Science to Impact symposium at Ohio State hosted experts in all kinds of science communication!
Grateful to have helped organize this event and heard from these minds in one room. π§ π§ͺ
Smile if youβre moving to Columbus!!
It was a great year at UNC. This summer, @mshastry.bsky.social and I are moving with @kurtjgray.bsky.social βs Deepest Beliefs Lab to Ohio State! Excited to join.
(forever Go Blue, though π€γ½οΈ)
βοΈ with @kurtjgray.bsky.social and @sampratt99.bsky.social
moralunderstanding.substack.com/p/strip-club...
New post: What do a physicist in a strip club, a pop star in a church, and government officials making war plans in a group chat have in common? π¬π€π£
The setting is all wrongβso wrong that their decisions start to feel immoral.
(π in thread)
Last month, I attended @aplssc.bsky.social in sunny San Juan! π€οΈ #APLS2025
I presented work showing that humans are worse at judging guilt based on walking style than a computer algorithm trained on the same dataset.
w/ @kurtjgray.bsky.social
Poster: tinyurl.com/devineposter...
Woohoo!!
1) When facing intrusive consent requests: people think they'd be MORE LIKELY to comply with a friend (and they'd say no π
ββοΈ when alone), but almost EVERYONE COMPLIES (in our study: 100% alone, 97% with a friend).
Full talk: tinyurl.com/devinetalksp...
w/ Amie Gordon & @margem_
I had a great time at #SPSP25 in Denver this weekend! ποΈπ§Έ
I presented research on 1) how social influences change consent requests and 2) how fear of crime may explain increased victim blaming rhetoric.
More on both in this thread!
π§΅(1/3)
2) We find evidence that people who worry more about crime π¨ are more likely to blame victims. π«΅ This may be a self-protective strategy to gain control over potential victimhood.
Poster: tinyurl.com/devineposter...
w/ @kurtjgray
Looking forward to presenting at @SPSPnews next week! Come find me π
βοΈ Flash talk at legal precon: Keep your friends close, but your rights closer: Social support and compliance with consent requests (Thurs 9a)
π’ Poster on how fear of crime shapes victim blaming (Thurs 6-7p)
@sampratt99 's previous thread does a great job summarizing our newest Substack on this story:
www.moralunderstandingnewsletter.com/p/the-assass...
Why are so many people celebrating the recent assassination of UnitedHealthcare's CEO?
Insights from psychology can help explain why the perpetrator has become a 'Robin Hood'-like vigilante. πΉ
Read more here: www.moralunderstandingnewsletter.com/p/moving-for...
Well. What's next?
This platform is full of frustration. Animosity will likely rise. It's easy to hate everything. And yet...
with @kurtjgray @sampratt99
Very excited to share this as my first newsletter I've worked on in the lab. More to come! βΊοΈ
We unpack the "tightness-looseness" of different cultures and people (work led by @MicheleJGelfand).
Understanding differences on this trait can assuage moral dividesβone sees someone cutting in line as no biggie, while another sees it as the beginning of a social breakdown.
New @DeepBeliefsLab substack: Why do some of us get so enraged by minor social norm violations? Turns out anger over slow walkers and double parkers can be adaptiveβand in some cases, actually improveβ our society. π€―
w/ @kurtjgray & @sampratt99
www.moralunderstandingnewsletter.com/p/the-psycho...
Please don't kick me out of the lab for this pun. It's my first day.
So excited to be joining @UNCPsych as a lab manager working in @kurtjgray 's Deepest Beliefs lab!! I *deeply believe* it's going to be a great time. π
