Mary Katz

The Paradox of Violence

I didn’t expect my first interview with the @nytimes.com to be from my 4-day old child’s pediatrician’s appointment!

“Singular acts of violence, when they serve a particular narrative, are being spun into a tale of persecution,” Pasek said. “And that is where things feel dangerous to me.”

The @spspnews.bsky.social Religion & Spirituality Preconference is accepting applications for talks, data blitzes, & posters until 10/23! We're excited to hear from Kathleen Corriveau, @alexandraworm.bsky.social, @drmeltemyucel.bsky.social & @joshcjackson.bsky.social. More info: tinyurl.com/33x9za7r

We’re hiring an assistant or associate professor to join our psychology department at the University of Illinois Chicago! We’re a vibrant research-active department in a great city, a diverse institution with a purpose-driven mission, and a fun place to work! #psychjobs

uic.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

thanks marah!!

looking forward to the drama

Couldn’t have done it without the support from my incredible advisor! Thanks, Mikey! :)

Screenshot of title and abstract of paper, "In their God we trust: Religious Cognition increases cooperation across religious divides." Abstract: Belief in moralizing Gods is widely thought to foster cooperation between coreligionists, but there is disagreement regarding whether this effect is limited to the religious ingroup or if it extends to members of religious outgroups. Here we report the results of a cross-cultural research program that demonstrates that people who think about God (a) are more trusted by both coreligionists and members of other religious groups and (b) typically behave in a more trustworthy manner toward both ingroups and outgroups. We ran three preregistered studies (N= 1,784) with Christians and Muslims in the United States, Jews and Muslims in Israel, and Christians and Hindus in Fiji. Our contexts varied in multiple ways, including the level of intergroup conflict. Using two-player trust games involving real money, we varied whether participants interacted with ingroup or outgroup members and whether reciprocators considered God when deciding how much to return to trustors. We nd in each context that making moralizing God beliefs of one player salient enhances both intragroup and intergroup cooperation. Our ndings add to a nascent literature documenting the potential for religious cognition to extend moral norms across intergroup divides. We discuss implications for theories of the emergence of moralizing Gods and implications for public debates about religious pluralism in diverse societies.

Now out in JPSP! Behavioral economic experiments w/ Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and Jews in the U.S., Israel and Fiji show that belief in God can facilitate cooperation, even across religious divides! More about our work (co-led with @jeremyginges.bsky.social) below! psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?d...

Reactions to the new Pope are yet another good example of how our religious evaluations are (now, maybe always) downstream of partisan in-group concerns. Conservatives dismissing him with no other knowledge other than hearing he's like Francis. Progressives celebrating him cuz he criticized Vance.

I am hiring a new Lab Manager to help run the NYU Center for Conflict & Cooperation.

We start reviewing apps on MAY 1st and it pays over $58,000. Please share with anyone who might be interested!

Please apply here: apply.interfolio.com/166620

See more details below:

So honored to have received this award! I couldn’t have done it without the support of the most incredible advisor :)

Proud advisor moment, getting to celebrate @marykatz.bsky.social winning a Graduate Student Paper Award at the Midwestern Psychological Association! Catch her talk (and my other student Zarnab’s talk) tomorrow morning!

Will Americans Vote for an Atheist? Conventional wisdom holds and previous research confirms that for a political candidate, atheism is anathema. But the United States is becoming a more secular nation. Does secularization mean that at...

Will Americans vote for an atheist? Across 4 survey experiments, authors find Democrats favorable, Republicans unfavorable. Importantly, for highly-religious Republicans, even describing the atheist as a patriotic war hero doesn't seem to matter (atheist = 👎).
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

After years of steady decline the share of US population who are Christians is stabilizing and perhaps a slight bounce back.

One wonders what “Christian” means now, however.

Officially a doctor, or PhDONE (I think is what they say). So grateful to @lindaskitka.bsky.social and all the help I've received these past few years!

A screenshot of a multi‐column table listing several U.S. presidential Executive Orders relating to LGBTQ+ rights and antidiscrimination policies. Each row has columns for “Origin” (POTUS), “Number/Identifier” (e.g., EO 13988), “Title” (such as Preventing and Combating Discrimination…), “Action Type” (e.g., Broad Nondiscrimination, Military Nondiscrimination), “Summary” (key points of each order), and “Date Signed.” The listed orders span from early 2021 through early 2025, covering topics like preventing discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation, banning conversion therapy, rescinding prior harmful EOs, and restricting or expanding DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives.

A spreadsheet at the top shows columns tracking anti‐LGBTQ bills by status and year: total bills (334), 2025 bills (327), 2024 rollovers (7), how many passed committees (3), passed one chamber (5), passed both chambers (0), enacted (1), vetoed (0), failed (3), and carried forward (0). Below that, another header row lists different types of anti‐LGBTQ legislation (e.g., gender‐affirming care bans, pronoun bans, “Don’t Say Gay,” drag bans, bathroom bans) with the total count of each category (e.g., 55 for gender‐affirming care bans, 20 for pronoun bans, 14 for “Don’t Say Gay,” etc.). A color‐coded U.S. map spans the lower half, with states shaded from light orange to deep red according to how many anti‐LGBTQ bills they contain. Texas appears in the darkest red (46 bills), with lighter shades indicating fewer bills in other states. A note at the bottom right explains that the map shows total tracked bills per state, which does not necessarily reflect each bill’s likelihood of passage.

We've created a tracker that covers all executive orders affecting LGBTQ folks along with federal and state legislation.

We're at 334 anti-LGBTQ bills.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Credit
@alli.gay
@erininthemorning.com
@evanurquhart.bsky.social
@miralazine.bsky.social
@lizsaila.bsky.social

i love that keith’s version of the “paul hollywood handshake” is just to cry and get emotional about the pottery 🥹

not shitty/trashy but arcane and blue eye samurai are incredible animated series on netflix

the orville for a star trek parody that somehow gets you invested by the end

the great pottery throwdown is very wholesome

love is blind or the ultimatum if you want to go really shitty and trashy

In happy news, our paper, "Thinking about God increases intergroup prosociality even when conflict is salient", is now out in GPIR! Particularly excited that this paper includes two amazing Fijian collaborators who played integral roles in leading fieldwork! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Seems like my old post is getting some traction with new followers. With just 10 days left, here's a reminder that I will be reviewing PhD applications in social-personality psych for my lab at UIC. Details & research priorities are on my lab website. Please let you students/ lab managers know!

Excited to share a new preprint (accepted for publication in Group Processes and Intergroup Relations)! In prior work, we've found that thinking about God increase cross-religious prosociality. Here we ask: But what about when intergroup conflict is salient? osf.io/preprints/ps...

honestly did not realize how much shorter i am compared to the rest of the lab 😂

Had such a fun time last night with our Belief, Identity, and Group Relations lab enjoying the late summer weather in beautiful Chicago! With @ncaluori.bsky.social @marykatz.bsky.social and Zarnab Zahoor.

"Asian-White multiracial people stand in solidarity more strongly with Asian people than White people", but "Asian monoracial people incorrectly believe that physically White-looking Asian-White" people "stand in solidarity more strongly with White people"

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Found some weird/interesting things about how Americans view 40 social movements in a survey I conducted recently with YouGov (1/11)

One of the things we’re very excited for at UIC!!!

I just taught my last class at Colby today. I’m thrilled to announce that this Fall, I’ll be joining the University of Illinois Chicago as an assistant professor of psychology!! Bittersweet to leave Colby after 5 incredible years, but I love Chicago too much after an amazing sabbatical there!

Fun fact: having the most supportive & incredible advisor really helps you have a successful 1st year of grad school! So TY.

But seriously - I’m so grateful I get to do research w/ Mikey and in the social psych area at UIC. This 1st year has been lovely & I’m excited for the years to come :)

I understand the intuitive appeal of attempting to appear 'fair and balanced.' But if the underlying reality is unequal, failing to point that out is just misinforming readers.

American identity is one of the strongest predictors of preferences for curbing the civil liberties of Muslim citizens

by @nazita.bsky.social & co

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

#PsycSciSky #SocialPsych polisky