Center for Conflict & Cooperation @ NYU

What has our lab been up to in the past year? You can read our year in review on Substack now! (Link in next tweet -->)

“Their level of polarization dropped by about a quarter after one month.” Listen to @jayvanbavel talk tribalism, AI, politics, and the future of relationships with @allison__hare on the Culture Changers Podcast. ​​youtube.com/watch?v=-upTCa…

A new global study (n = 46,745) shows that open-mindedness, or one's willingness to consider new information, is a powerful predictor of adherence to public health directives, support for public health policies, and lower endorsement of conspiracy theories:cambridge.org/core/journals/…

Excited to be speaking this Saturday, April 25, at @AndrewYang's Hudson Valley Ideas Festival! There's a great lineup of speakers including @JohnHMcWhorter, @yayalexisgay, and @LimotteJoh16686, and the event will be moderated by @MCHoeppner. More info here: hudsonvalleyideas.org

@jayvanbavel discussed these issues in a BBC radio special on political violence called "How Not to Kill a Politician" that aired this week. Listen to the full interview here with Alison (Ali) Goldsworthy: open.spotify.com/episode/7uWbmk… (2/2)

Political violence is often treated as something extreme or exceptional. But much of the underlying psychology is not. It emerges from familiar processes: When people strongly identify with a group, threats to that group feel deeply personal and can escalate to violence. (1/2)

Last week, we curated a diverse audience of over 150 experts—ranging from academics, journalists, and tech—to join us for a special screening of The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist (in theaters now)!. Check out our newsletter reflecting on the doc:

We explain how AI is changing public discourse and what we can do about it. Substack summary: powerofusnewsletter.com/p/when-ai-can-… Original policy forum paper: science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

AI can produce synthetic consensus--the illusion that “everyone is saying this.” This can quietly bend beliefs and norms, posing a danger to democracy.

@steverathje2 talk on how interacting with sycophantic AI chatbots affects us: youtu.be/Z77xCzsfcgE?si…

Dr. Laura Globig's talk on how we can use AI to help us break out of our echo chambers: youtu.be/t1IWjiEMfZ0?si…

Our lab gave several talks about AI at the Psych of Tech Conference this year! Check them out below: Keynote address by @jayvanbavel , explaining how AI can both entrench and overcome intergroup bias: youtu.be/XtIPjSrXAhM?si…

I gave a talk on how AI can entrench (or overcome) intergroup bias at the Psych of Tech conference You can now watch the full talk here: youtu.be/XtIPjSrXAhM

In a recent substack post, we cover why—despite seeing the same video evidence—partisans are disagreeing over the tragic shooting by an ICE agent. Check out the post to learn more: powerofusnewsletter.com/p/why-video-ev…

Most people aren’t toxic online—we’re just letting the loudest ones take over. #misinformation #polarization #psychology #oped

We wrote a consensus report on the science of health misinformation. It includes 8 key recommendations to fight the spread of misinformation (eg avoid repeating misinoramation, debunking, inoculation, leveraging trusted sources, etc) psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2026-…

Really enjoyed talking with @AndrewYang and @jayvanbavel about the science of social media. Thanks for having us on your podcast, @AndrewYang!

Why does misinformation spread? "We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology." -E.O. Wilson #polarization #psychology #fakenews #Evolution

Would you notice if Gemini or ChatGPT was just flattering you? Read @steverathje2's new paper to learn about how people actually feel towards overly agreeable chatbots.

🚨 New Working Paper 🚨 Do people prefer AI sources over ingroup and outgroup sources? 👉Spoiler: Yes, but it's context-dependent. @jayvanbavel @AlshamyHamza 1/n