Christopher Petsko

Over 400 faculty and staff from the #uva College of Arts and Sciences convened for an emergency vote. 97% of eligible voters endorsed a resolution demanding President Mahoney refuse to consider the Trump admin's Compact for Academic Freedom!!

In a new paper, we find that sycophantic #AI chatbots make people more extreme--operating like an echo chamber

Yet, people prefer sycophantic chatbots and see them as less biased

Only open-minded people prefer disagreeable chatbots: osf.io/preprints/ps...

Led by @steverathje.bsky.social

Letters on Wednesday were going out to solicit agreement and feedback from Vanderbilt University, Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Texas, the University of Arizona, Brown University and the University of Virginia, according to an administration official.

The government is officially shut down, but the Trump administration is trying to get nine selective colleges to agree to major controls on their operations in order to get a leg up on federal funding.

www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

Happy birthday and congratulations, Erin!!

2020: Biden, 51.3% popular vote, 306 EV; Trump, 46.8%, 232 EV
2024: Trump, 49.7% popular vote, 312 EV; Harris, 48.2%, 226 EV

🚨We're hiring!🚨 The Dept of Psychology at Rutgers is hiring an Assistant Professor in Social Psychology. Review of applications begin on Oct 18. Details here: jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/259...

I'm chairing the search committee and am happy to field questions about the position. 🧵

The psych job market may not be dead... but it is gravely injured 😬 So far it's looking like the Trump administration's attacks on higher ed/research are going to have more than 2x the impact on the job market as the covid-19 pandemic. #psychjobs #neurojobs #academicjobs

Self-care is overrated—helping others has the biggest benefits for everyone involved

A new 2-week intervention finds that helping others improves well-being more than "self-kindness", with benefits for depressed mood, anxiety, and loneliness due to social connection psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...

After a brief, injury-induced hiatus from libraries, I’m pleased to report that I am BACK IN THE MIX.

Hello from the reading room of DuPont Circle’s Masonic Temple! 👋

Corporation for Public Broadcasting says it's shutting down The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funnels federal money to public media stations, says it's winding down operations after President Trump signed a law rescinding all funding.

"CPB informed employees that the majority of staff positions will be eliminated with the close of the fiscal year on September 30, 2025."

www.npr.org/2025/08/01/n...

Trump removes official overseeing jobs data after dismal employment report President Donald Trump on Friday had his team remove the head of the agency that produces the monthly jobs figures, after a weak report showed hiring slowed and was much weaker in April and May than p...

Look, it's like I always tell my students. If you don't like the data, just fire the person who told you about them!

Bada bing, bada boom.

apnews.com/article/trum...

A D.O.J. Whistleblower Speaks Out The Daily · Episode

I can’t imagine the courage it takes to be whistleblower, but I’m so grateful for those working to shed light on government corruption.

If you want a credible snapshot of what’s happening in the DOJ right now, I highly recommend listening to this interview.

open.spotify.com/episode/3eO0...

UNC Board of Governors Demands New DEI Compliance Committees The campus-level committees will scrutinize whether schools have complied with policies targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

Oh goodness.

The UNC Board of Governors is now requiring every campus to form “compliance committees” to audit whether hiring, training, and departmental practices are sufficiently ideologically neutral.

www.theassemblync.com/education/hi...

On Data and Democracy (Mid-Year Roundup): Charting the Assault on American Democracy and A Path Forward A narrative of a democracy in the balance, told through 29 data visualizations.

Been a busy year in the data mines.📊 Just published my mid-year roundup: 29 data visualizations on the state of US democracy, tracking everything from judicial resistance to billionaire influence to why Dems have a mobilization crisis, not a moderation problem.

All charts free to use:

I’m so grateful for this life. ❤️

❤️❤️❤️

It’s official!

Thanks to my lovely colleagues, I now hold an adjunct faculty appointment in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience on top of my primary academic appointment in the Kenan-Flagler Business School.

It feels good to get to be a bridge between departments. 🩵

Day 136 request(s):

Please (1) oppose the nomination of Emile Bove, who openly encouraged members of the justice department to break the law, and (2) stop the Trump admin from engaging in unlawful deportation practices.

Day 135 request(s):

Please (1) oppose the nomination of Emile Bove, and (2) demand that the government bring back (and provide a real day in court) to anyone deported without due process.

Day 134 request(s):

Please (1) oppose the nomination of Emile Bove as a federal judge; (2) restore funding for weather forecasting; and (3) demand that the government return anyone who’s been unlawfully deported.

Day 133 request(s):

Please call upon the Trump administration to facilitate the return of anyone who’s been unlawfully deported to El Salvador.

Day 132 request:

Please oppose the nomination of Emile Bove as a federal judge.

DOJ Records Back Claim That Trump Judicial Nominee Urged Court Defiance Read more here.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee released a trove of documents Thursday that back up a whistleblower’s claim that Emil Bove, a senior Department of Justice (DOJ) official, crudely told subordinates to defy court orders. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Elizabeth Page-Gould recognized with Career Trajectory Award from the Society for Experimental Social Psychology The Society for Experimental Social Psychology has recognized Elizabeth Page-Gould with a Career Trajectory Award in recognition of uniquely creative and influential scholarly productivity.

She is far too un-self-promoting to do this herself, so I'm shouting out *THE* Elizabeth Page-Gould (@page-gould.bsky.social) for winning the SESP Career Trajectory Award!

Liz is the reason they had to invent the high-warmth/high competence quadrant. She is such a gem and so damn deserving of this.

Day 131 request(s):

Please (1) demand that the government afford due process to anyone who’s been unlawfully deported, (2) oppose the nomination of Emile Bove as a federal judge, and (3) restore funding for weather forecasting.

Day 130 request(s):

Please (1) oppose the nomination of Emile Bove as a federal judge, and (2) call upon the government to facilitate the return of anyone who’s been unlawfully deported from the United States.

Day 129 request:

Please oppose the nomination of Emil Bove as a federal judge.

The people who lost children and other loved ones in the Texas floods are owed honest answers from officials. They should be told why flash flood warnings issued hours earlier were not conveyed to people in the path of the water. They don’t need more prayers from politicians. They need answers.

Day 128 request:

Please vote against the spending bill in its current form. We shouldn’t be cutting services for the poorest Americans all so we can afford extended tax cuts to the exorbitantly wealthy.

Also, raising the debt limit by 5 trillion is insane.

Day 127 request:

Please vote against the One Big Beautiful Bill.