Neo Sheeling | 梁诗琳

Our preprint is available here: lnkd.in/eZScnH2D

⚠️ But there is a dark side when AIs are sycophantic:
-People reinforced their pre-existing beliefs.
-Enjoy conversing with sycophantic LLMs more
-View them as credible sources of information!
-They are also more likely to use the LLM in the future and recommend its use to others! 🫨

Our findings reveal that:
👉 AI-driven persuasion can be surprisingly effective! People can be persuaded to view government more positively with didactic and debate style communication, even when presented with evidence that challenged their pre-existing beliefs.

We examined how different argumentative styles (7 to be exact!) shape persuasion and credibility of arguments about U.S. federal agencies performance.

These styles include variations of: didactic 💬 , debates 🗣️ and sycophantic 😈 styles.

🗣️ 🧠 Can a GOOD argument change someone’s mind?

In a new set of three pre-registered experiments, we (John Marvel, Sangwon ­Ju, Rachel Cho and I) explore this question using a generative AI programmed to persuade participants about U.S. federal agencies’ performance.

Thread 👇

Coping with occupational stereotypes: an emotional lens on police officers’ experiences How do public employees cope with negative occupational stereotypes? Limited research examines the psychological processes of how these perceptions shape their behaviour. This study examines how pu...

Does stereotyping stir emotions for public service employees?

Yes!

And coping behavior depends on their emotions. Example: anger is related to confronting citizens.

Read more in our latest article with @neosheeling.bsky.social in @pmreview.bsky.social .

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

@pmreview.bsky.social

Public employees are sometimes deeply affected by negative stereotypes. These emotions are personal, & have predictable effects on their behavior and on the quality of public services.

🥥:Emotions shape the interaction between police and citizens and can affect good governance and public services.

Based on observations and conversations with police officers in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 and the United States🇺🇸,
we found:
📌 Anxiety or emotional fatigue can lead to ignoring citizens.
📌 Anger can increase the tendency to confrontation.
📌 And emotional pain can actually lead to rapprochement.

Coping with occupational stereotypes: an emotional lens on police officers’ experiences How do public employees cope with negative occupational stereotypes? Limited research examines the psychological processes of how these perceptions shape their behaviour. This study examines how pu...

New publication from @overman.bsky.social & me:

💬 What does it do to police officers when they hear over & over again that "all officers are racist"?

Emotions are NOT noise in public services. They guide the actions of professionals towards citizens.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

👇Thread:

Why Clarity Feels Dangerous (Especially If You’re an Academic) The Hardest Work in Writing Is Saying What You Really Mean

George Orwell warned: bad writing leads to bad thinking.

Academia trains us to write for journals, not the public.
Clarity feels risky, because it exposes us.

But clear communication is essential for democracy.
So how do we do it?

🧵

New post 👉 catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/why-clarit...

📣 Calling all students and early-career scholars in public policy and public administration:

Together with Hannah Lebovits, we’ve put together a collaborative, evolving resource list to help you navigate the field, no matter where you're starting from.

🌻 This project is meaningful to me:
I tried to follow ethical experim. practices by avoiding deception & priming while working with a sensitive topic.

Special thanks to @asmusletholsen.bsky.social, @elizabethlinos.bsky.social, @tummers.bsky.social & S. Grimmelikhuijsen for advice and help! 🙇‍♀️

🔑 This suggests two things:
We shouldn’t assume that beliefs automatically translate into intentions and actions.
The personal beliefs that public employees hold matter a great deal.

What I found:
✅The treatment did increase belief in the stereotype itself.
❌It did NOT increase intentions or dishonest behaviors... EXCEPT among a minority of public emp who already believed that petty corruption is acceptable. For this group, intentions to corrupt rose more than 16%.

Capturing corruption intentions and behaviors is hard: they’re clandestine in nature. Manipulating perceptions of corruption in an ethical way? Also very hard!
I drew on stereotyping literature, specifically, the widely held belief that bureaucrats are corrupt to increase perceived corruption.

First single-authored paper finally published in @bppjournal.bsky.social! 🎉

With 3 experiments, I tested whether perceiving corruption leads to corrupt intentions & dishonest behaviors among 1,356 pub employees.
I found: NO overall causal relationship.

Paper➡️ lnkd.in/eJyCyVrC

Find out more! 👇

Super excited to be at PMRC2025! 🇰🇷 Come join us - Sangwon will be sharing our work tomorrow about Public Employee Identity across the US, CAN and NL at 3.40pm at Room L! 👮‍♂️🧑‍🚒👩‍🔧👩‍🏫👨‍⚖️🧑‍✈️

Congratulations! 🎊

(1/2) Our faculty and students are in 🇰🇷 Seoul, South Korea, to present their papers at the Public Management Research Conference 2025 @pmrc.bsky.social!

SPA is proud to see our faculty and students presenting at #PMRC2025 in Seoul. Asst. Prof. David Schwegman's research paper are titled "Tax Salience and Citizen Evaluation of Government", and "The Role of Discounted Price in Public Service Consumption and Trust in Government". #SPAProud #Research

This recognition means a lot. 2025 has indeed been a big year for me - one that reminded me how much I owe to the supportive academic community around me. I am the sum of those I work and grow with. 🌻 🌻 🌻

For those who are curious about the dissertation: dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/...

So honored to be selected as the 2025 @aompnp.bsky.social Best Dissertation Award winner! HUGE thanks to @tummers.bsky.social & Stephan Grimmelikhuijsen, Gabriela Szydlowski, Isa Bertram, Noor de Boer & Robin Bouwman & to the amazing committee chair, @schwoererskayla.bsky.social!

Huge thanks to @twmorrissey.bsky.social from @au-spa.bsky.social for her generous support letter! And the award committee @billresh.bsky.social , @mpteodoro.bsky.social and Randall Davis.

Grateful for the community that makes this work possible!

🎉Feeling honored to receive the Paul Volcker Junior Research Award from @apsa.bsky.social PA Section.
This grant will support my journey with Sangwon ­Ju to explore what public employee identity looks like in
🇺🇸🇨🇦🇳🇱🇰🇷

Did you thank a public servant today?

🚨 Are bureaucrats being judged unfairly?

Today, Isa Bertram will defend her PhD on stereotypes about civil servants.

She shows:
❌ We have negative stereotypes about bureaucrats
❓ Such stereotypes affect our experience with bureaucrats, no matter how good the service is.

📷 Photos Jan Banning.

📢 Promotie "Gezichten van de Bureaucratie"

Maandag verdedigt Isa Bertram haar proefschrift over stereotypen over ambtenaren. 🎓

Iedereen heeft wel een mening over ambtenaren – en vaak geen positieve. Ambtenaren vinden we saai, inflexibel en ze ook nog vroeg naar huis.

📷 Foto's Jan Banning.

Hey folks, I'm chairing this committee, and we have not yet received any applications. This is a great opportunity for junior scholars!! Deadline is April 1, so get your applications in!!!

New 📢
Angela Hall & @overman.bsky.social !

How do public employees FEEL abt public accountability?

:😁😌😡😟😰😁, depending on types of accountability.

These emotional reactions have implications. If account. mechanisms are designed without considering emotions, they may do more harm than good!