Joel Le Forestier

A graphic showing four speakers and their talk titles: Katie Kroeper presenting "Who Gets to Belong? Belonging Opportunities in College Vary by Race and First-Gen Status," Carlton Fong presenting "Exploring College Students' Costs to Belong," Joel Le Forestier presenting "Belonging According to Whom? The Effects of Distancing from a Stigmatized Identity on Felt and Perceived Belonging," and Kevin Binning presenting "Transforming Social Contexts with Ecological Belonging Interventions."

Going to #spsp2026? Interested in belonging, diversity, or stigma? Come to our symposium, "The Journey to Belonging: Challenges, Costs, and Ways Forward" on Friday at 9:30AM CST. Featuring @katiekroe.bsky.social, @carltonfong.bsky.social, Kevin Binning, and myself.

A graphic showing four speakers and their talk titles: Katie Kroeper presenting "Who Gets to Belong? Belonging Opportunities in College Vary by Race and First-Gen Status," Carlton Fong presenting "Exploring College Students' Costs to Belong," Joel Le Forestier presenting "Belonging According to Whom? The Effects of Distancing from a Stigmatized Identity on Felt and Perceived Belonging," and Kevin Binning presenting "Transforming Social Contexts with Ecological Belonging Interventions."

Going to #spsp2026? Interested in belonging, diversity, or stigma? Come to our symposium, "The Journey to Belonging: Challenges, Costs, and Ways Forward" on Friday at 9:30AM CST. Featuring @katiekroe.bsky.social, @carltonfong.bsky.social, Kevin Binning, and myself.

Know a promising undergrad who wants more time before applying to grad school? Pitt has a funded postbac program for students from underrepresented groups.

This year, my lab will consider applications for solo supervision or to be co-supervised by @mehrgol.bsky.social!

App deadline is March 15!

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

It’s been a big night for the vindication of gut feelings, unfortunately :/

I'm in the midst of the busiest semester of my life but I have two free hours to analyze data right now. I could cry. Nobody email me.

Research Associate in Psychology Dr. Eric Shuman at the University of Virginia invites applications for a post-doctoral research associate with expertise in the social psychology of social protest, social change, and/or in big data, ...

I am looking to recruit a postdoc to join my lab next fall, & work on projects focused on online mobilization with social media datasets - see more details here: bit.ly/4r49x9b . If anyone knows of someone with relevant skills who is looking for a postdoc- please pass this on!

Hockey player Jesse Kortuem comes out as gay crediting Heated Rivalry The former hockey player, Jesse Korteum has come out as gay and credited Heated Rivalry for helping him do so.

Example of the broader impact of media representation:

"Kortuem said Heated Rivalry had 'sparked' something in him and inspired him to come out publicly. 'I realised it is finally time to share a journey I have kept close to the vest for a long time,' he said."
www.thepinknews.com/2026/01/15/h...

Congratulations!!!

With @paolopalma.bsky.social!!! Excited to get down to work.

Excited to get down to work with co-PI (and fabulous department-mate at Pitt Psychology) @drgabyalvarez.bsky.social! 🎉

I can’t believe you never told Alex about your iconic rebrand!!!

You’d like that, wouldn’t you?

@bigh8er.bsky.social more evidence that your 2017 rebrand was a total failure

4. Positive Interactions on Social Media Might Help Reduce Prejudice

Finding ways to make people's online experience more diverse interactive could help social media bring people together instead of pushing them apart.

Read more: spsp.org/news/charact...

We love to see it!!!!!! Congratulations!!! 🍾 🍾 🍾

FABBS(Federation of Assoc in Behavior&Brain Sciences) is pleased to honor Calvin Lai, recipient of the Kellina Craig-Henderson Early to Mid-Career Award AND Early Career Impact Award! Dr. Lai’s pioneering work examines implicit bias& applications to policing&hiring. Congrats @calvinklai.bsky.social

Nothing but respect for A03 on Al Gore’s internet

Two per... year?

We need more work figuring out how to meet people in their real-life intergroup contexts. That way, we can try to figure out how to make those contexts less fraught and more constructive for building a cohesive and just world.

Blog: tinyurl.com/28hyccs7
Paper: tinyurl.com/mpkhsjay

7/7

Another interpretation is that it doesn't work, and the correlational findings from the earlier studies are artifacts of other explanations. That would be less great news (both for the intergroup contact hypothesis and for society).

Blog: tinyurl.com/28hyccs7
Paper: tinyurl.com/mpkhsjay

6/7

One interpretation of those null results is that intergroup contact on social media has the capacity to work, but that we just haven't figured out how to take full advantage of it yet. That would be great news!

Blog: tinyurl.com/28hyccs7
Paper: tinyurl.com/mpkhsjay

5/7

But in a field intervention where we programmed bots on social media to experimentally increase the representation of content from outgroup members on users' feeds, we found null results.

Blog: tinyurl.com/28hyccs7
Paper: tinyurl.com/mpkhsjay

4/7

In a series of self-report and behavioral online and field studies, we find promising evidence that intergroup interactions on social media are associated with less prejudice and more positive intergroup behaviors.

Blog: tinyurl.com/28hyccs7
Paper: tinyurl.com/mpkhsjay

3/7

We wanted to know if we could deliver intergroup contact through social media (a location where people are increasingly having their social interactions) to reduce prejudice in a potentially scalable way.

The answer? Maybe.

Blog: tinyurl.com/28hyccs7
Paper: tinyurl.com/mpkhsjay

2/7

New post with grad student @ugurozkusen.bsky.social out in @spspnews.bsky.social's Character & Context on a new JEP:G paper using intergroup contact on social media to reduce prejudice.

Read the Character & Context post: tinyurl.com/28hyccs7
Read the full paper in JEP:G: tinyurl.com/mpkhsjay

1/n

"The high-income admissions advantage at Ivy-Plus colleges is driven by three factors: (1) preferences for children of alumni, (2) weight placed on non-academic credentials, and (3) athletic recruitment...The three factors...are uncorrelated or negatively correlated with post-college outcomes..."

2025 being almost over is absolutely the only thing holding me together right now. We're almost there. 2026 is a whole new year.

And congrats on submitting TWO whole papers in one day. I'm in awe.

Oxford University Has Failed Women Over Harassment Concerns, Staff Say The university has repeatedly been slow to act against male academics accused of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior, a Bloomberg investigation found.

This—on my former university, department, and advisor—is harrowing but required reading for all social psychologists. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

iconic scene from Grey's Anatomy. Meredith Grey in scrub telling Derek "so pick me, choose me, love me"

On election day, I wanna announce that I am recruiting social psych PhD students for my lab at UIC. My lab focuses on racial identities (esp Asian, Latino, MENA Americans) and intra-minority conflict/ coalition. So please tell your students to pick me! All details on my website: www.pbandjlab.com