Moral Minds Lab

We ❤️ working together!

Dreams do come true! We had a wonderful first shift at the Impression 5 Science Center in Lansing, MI. We’re beyond excited to talk to families and spread the love for science!

We ❤️ working together!

Wishing you a happy #Thanksgiving from the Moral Minds Lab! Grateful today (and every day) for the children and families who support our research.

Big thanks to the MSU Department of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) for hosting Dr. Yucel yesterday! The Moral Minds Lab is thrilled to keep growing our cross-department connections 💚🤍

Missed yesterday's #MPRG2025 talks? No worries. You can watch the recording: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nei1...

Though you should probably hold of on watching us and hop on the Zoom call for Day 2 instead! sites.google.com/view/mprg/on...

Two great scholars doing work on moral (@drmeltemyucel.bsky.social) & personality (@tedmond.bsky.social) development & change are recruiting PhD students this year @msupsychology.bsky.social!

Your grad office could be across the hall from my office!*

*not necessarily a selling point, just a fact

Come work with us @msupsychology.bsky.social!

I promise, we don’t match *all* the time @tedmond.bsky.social

We hosted our first external speaker at our lab meeting! Many thanks to @kaitlynmwerner.bsky.social for telling us about her cool work on emotion regulation!

A dark green background with a cutout photo of Meltem Yucel. The text says “Meet Dr. Meltem Yucel, MSU's New Moral Psychology Researcher"

A dark green graphic introducing Dr. Meltem Yucel's research interests, her Moral Minds Lab, and why she wanted to work at Michigan State.

Three photos of the Moral Minds Lab space. This lab explores morality across different stages of life and in cultures around the world. In the bottom right corner is moralmindslab.com

Meet Dr. Meltem Yucel, our new moral psychologist!

Dr. Yucel has a passion for understanding why people behave the way they do. Her research focuses on how children and adults understand rules, group identity, & moral development.

psychology.msu.edu/news-events/...

@drmeltemyucel.bsky.social

Parents of 0- to 12-year-olds, come do science with us!

👉 Sign up to hear about our upcoming studies: redcap.link/MoralMindsLab

👉 To learn more about us: www.moralmindslab.com/participate-...

👉 Sign up to hear about our upcoming studies: redcap.link/MoralMindsLab

👉 To learn more about us: www.moralmindslab.com/participate-...

#PsychSciSky #socialpsyc #devpsyc #AcademicSky #cogsci

Parents of 0- to 12-year-olds, come do science with us!

We run short, game-like studies with kids. We offer in-person and online options, flexible scheduling (weekdays & weekends), and sessions that are fun for children and easy for caregivers.

Did you hear the news? New interview dropped!

Meet @drmeltemyucel.bsky.social in her interview with @msupsychology.bsky.social!

Learn about her research interests, how to get involved, and the @psychresearchlist.bsky.social website.

psychology.msu.edu/news-events/...

Family friendly waiting room for participants

Family friendly waiting room, picture shows children's play area

Room for Research Assistants

Come join the Moral Minds Lab as a grad student at MSU! Brand-new lab equipped for child & adult testing, with motivated undergrads in a happy department. 🤩

Learn more: www.moralmindslab.com/join-our-tea...

(P.S. @tedmond.bsky.social is also taking a student!) @msupsychology.bsky.social

Thrilled to share that our newest undergraduate research assistant, Avery, has been awarded funding through the 2025 Pathways to Research Program @michiganstateu.bsky.social! 🚀🚀

@msupsychology.bsky.social

Honored to be among a fantastic lineup of moral psychologists!

New pub alert ‼️

We just had our first ever lab meeting!! Excited to meet everyone in person and to kick off a wonderful semester with wonderful scientists!

Big news, Spartans! 💚🤍 The Moral Minds Lab has officially opened its doors @michiganstateu.bsky.social! We can’t wait to kick off our very first semester of research on how we become moral beings. Here’s to new beginnings!

@msupsychology.bsky.social

New preprint out by the wonderful @vbojarskich.bsky.social.

Check it out!

We are hiring research assistants for Fall 2025!

Are you an @msupsychology.bsky.social undergraduate interested in gaining hands-on experience in developmental and social psychology research?

Fill out the interest form and we’ll be in touch soon!

www.moralmindslab.com/join-our-tea...

Moral Minds Lab is at #SRCD25!

Openness to being gossiped about: understanding gossip from the target’s perspective It is often assumed that, if given the choice, people would prefer not to be gossiped about. We address this assumption by investigating reactions to gossip from the perspective of its potential ta...

We also ran confirmatory experiments to see if people correctly estimate others' preferences.

Results? People tend to overestimate how much others enjoy being gossiped about—but only when the gossip is positive.

Check out the full study here:
#PsychSciSky #socialpsyc #devpsyc #AcademicSky

4/4

However, some individuals stand out: A meta-analytic summary revealed that men and those higher in narcissism are more likely to want to be gossiped about, even negatively.

Meanwhile, older adults showed a lower preference for positive gossip about themselves.

3/4

Using two nationally representative samples, we found that, in general, people dislike being talked about—unless the gossip is positive.

2/4

Check out our new paper on gossip!

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

Yes. Women tend to infer gossipiness at higher rates than men, may have their information sharing perceived more as gossip, and may sometimes suffer likability penalities for gossiping. However, context matters. (3/3) @drmeltemyucel.bsky.social #EPatSPSP2025 #SPSP2025

Today's the day! See you all at 4:10 pm MT at the Evolutionary Psychology preconference to hear about our (@erinwestgate.bsky.social) work on gendered lay beliefs of #gossip!

#SPSP2025

Gossip has many useful functions from info spreading to norm enforcement. Men & women tend to info share at similar rates. But are there gendered differences in what we perceive as gossip, & our social perceptions of gossipers? Does context matter? (2/3) @drmeltemyucel.bsky.social #EPatSPSP2025