Catherine Bain, M.S.

🔊 New study dives deep into the Duke Misophonia Questionnaire (DMQ) using advanced psychometric methods. A refined 5-factor model improves how we measure misophonia severity—bringing clarity to the science of sound sensitivity. researchgate.net/publication/39…

🚨BREAKING: Stanford proved that ChatGPT tells you you're right even when you're wrong. Even when you're hurting someone. And it's making you a worse person because of it. Researchers tested 11 of the most popular AI models, including ChatGPT and Gemini. They analyzed over 11,500 real advice-seeking conversations. The finding was universal. Every single model agreed with users 50% more than a human would. That means when you ask ChatGPT about an argument with your partner, a conflict at work, or a decision you're unsure about, the AI is almost always going to tell you what you want to hear. Not what you need to hear. It gets darker. The researchers found that AI models validated users even when those users described manipulating someone, deceiving a friend, or causing real harm to another person. The AI didn't push back. It didn't challenge them. It cheered them on. Then they ran the experiment that changes everything. 1,604 people discussed real personal conflicts with AI. One group got a sycophantic AI. The other got a neutral one. The sycophantic group became measurably less willing to apologize. Less willing to compromise. Less willing to see the other person's side. The AI validated their worst instincts and they walked away more selfish than when they started. Here's the trap. Participants rated the sycophantic AI as higher quality. They trusted it more. They wanted to use it again. The AI that made them worse people felt like the better product. This creates a cycle nobody is talking about. Users prefer AI that tells them they're right. Companies train AI to keep users happy. The AI gets better at flattering. Users get worse at self-reflection. And the loop tightens. Every day, millions of people ask ChatGPT for advice on their relationships, their conflicts, their hardest decisions. And every day, it tells almost all of them the same thing. You're right. They're wrong. Even when the opposite is true.

Want to participate in a clinical trial for #misophonia? A new study, led by PhD Candidate Emily Bowers on Dr. Twohig’s team, is testing a digital, online ACT program designed to improve access and scalability. Interested in participating? Learn more: buff.ly/bN21ckh

@jayvanbavel @TessaWestNYU this sounds like an incredibly cool class! Cannot wait for the run down on how it went at the end of the semester!

I'm teaching a career development class for PhD students and postdocs in psychology with @TessaWestNYU We are going to have each student develop their own customized career plan over the course of the semester, network with people in their field, and develop skills to help them along the way. I'd love to hear of additional articles we should assign to help students identify and pursue their career goals. Here is our syllabus if you want to check it out. #heading=h.gjdgxs" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">docs.google.com/document/d/1Cz… Please share any thoughts or suggestions in the comments!

279 postdoctoral fellowships! Download freely our database of postdoctoral fellowships and grants. For each entry, we provide eligibility criteria, $ amount, deadline, etc. We also provide separate databases for oncology and neuroX. Good luck! Here: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-op…

McGill University (@mcgillu) has many open faculty and postdoctoral positions with generous funding packages, thanks to Impact+ grants, which are investing $2 billion to attract global talent to Canada 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦. Associate/Full Professor: $8 million startup package Assistant Professor: $600K startup package Postdoc: $70K (starting salary) If you are interested and work in the space of AI/ML/NLP/LLMs, please reach out to me. #AI #NLProc #ML

@GMignemi_ They are not because of HIPAA

@CatherineBain16 It is very interesting! Are data open access?

🔊 New study dives deep into the Duke Misophonia Questionnaire (DMQ) using advanced psychometric methods. A refined 5-factor model improves how we measure misophonia severity—bringing clarity to the science of sound sensitivity. researchgate.net/publication/39…

The OU Graduate Student Senate formally condemned the university Thursday for placing a graduate instructor on leave after a student publicly contested receiving a failing grade on an essay that cited the Bible. oudaily.com/news/ou-gradua…

friendly reminder that administrative leave is not always punitive or retaliatory. sometimes it's done to protect the employee from any more undue accusations being made against them.

This is one of the best review papers I've read in a while. Looking at cognition through the lens of metabolic costs is incredibly fascinating, especially in the context of neural efficiency. Individuals with higher intelligence generally show lower glucose metabolism during task performance, suggesting they require less energy to achieve the same or better results, and their neuronal computation is more efficient. After practice or learning, metabolic demand decreases more sharply for higher-IQ folks (indicating faster neural adaptation, quicker optimization of circuitry, less redundant processing). In straightforward metabolic terms: higher intelligence = lower energy cost for the same cognitive computation. Physiologically, that means fewer neurons firing to handle the info, less excitatory synaptic activity, lower ATP and glucose consumption, more optimal recruitment of hub regions and network cores, etc.

Johns Hopkins University will no longer charge tuition to undergraduate students from families making under $200,000 a year, the school announced Thursday. The university will also cover the room and board and other living expenses for students whose families make under $100,000. thebanner.com/education/high…

I am recruiting PhD students at @NYU_Courant to conduct research in learning theory, algorithmic statistics, and trustworthy machine learning, starting Fall 2026. Please share widely! Deadline to apply is December 12, 2025.

✨ Very overdue update: I'll be starting as an Assistant Professor in CS at University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Fall 2026. I will be recruiting PhD students!! Please help me spread the word! [Thread] 1/n

@laerdonkim congratulations!!

excited to announce i have a non-zero h-index

I’m recruiting PhD and Masters students at the University of British Columbia! Looking to work with students interested in LLM interpretability, and intersections with cog ling. The UBC NLP group is growing and awesome, and Vancouver is great. Come to 🇨🇦! #joininglab" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">isabelpapad.com/#joininglab

New evidence on the effect of cell phone bans in schools just dropped. "Enforcement of cellphone bans in schools led to a significant increase in student suspensions in the short-term ... but disciplinary actions began to dissipate after the first year, potentially suggesting a new steady state after an initial adjustment period." "We find significant improvements in student test scores in the second year of the ban after that initial adjustment period."

Opportunities for Computer Science undergrad at Max Planck Institutes in Summer 2026: 1. Paid internship: - Apply here: cis.mpg.de/internships/ - Deadline: November 1 (!) 2. ADFOCS summer school (mpii.de/D1/adfocs). Topic: TBA 3. CMMRS Pre-doctoral Research ... (1/2)

Please retweet for PhD applicants: Duke University's Department of Psychology and Neuroscience is hosting their 6th Annual virtual office hours. Those interested will receive free, individualized feedback on CVs & statements between Nov 6th - 17th: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…

I created a psych post-bac list. Would a post-doc listserv be helpful? I'm already sending them to my own students, so if you'd like emails from me about post-doc opportunities I see, please put your email in this google sheet and I'll add you to it! forms.gle/d5tzw8ftZtp9Et…