Calvin Lai

Is SPSP a Healthy Organization?

Yes

Trump has offered effectively zero rationale to the public and the result is confusion and diffidence - 68% say not justified or not sure; only 62% of Rs say justified

Nice!! I had my hand raised too but didn't get called on. Alas.

Let's say I'm a researcher in a politically controversial topic: flu and hepatitis vaccines for children. I study interventions to increase vaccine uptake.

Would I be doing "activist science" given the anti-vaxx political movement & anti-vaxx govt actions here in the US?

(Inspired by #SPSP2026)

Lawrence Summers Will Resign From Harvard After Epstein Revelations

I'm glad to see accountability for academia's bad apples. But I also hope that resignations like this one won't be the end of the story. Because we still need to reckon with how the structures and cultures in "elite" academia have created ripe conditions for rot. 1/🧵

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/u...

Proud to be member of an exclusive club 😎 🌊 #SPSP2026

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.

YouTube video by JohnnyCashVEVO Johnny Cash - Hurt

Johnny Cash - Hurt youtu.be/8AHCfZTRGiI?...

and that, my fellow academics, is one reason not to hire war criminals: so they can't show up years post (their) war arguing in favor of the scaffolding behind their own atrocities with the imprimatur and status of your university

SPSSI Journals Traffic stops are common and consequential for citizens’ legal socialization and for racial gaps in police-community trust. Efforts to change the tenor of police interactions, however, may discount t...

New in JSI (OA): Reckless speeding or tinted windows? We look at racial disparities in reasons why drivers are stopped, their disparate impacts on community trust, and how police departments exacerbate —or mitigate— their impacts through policy. (1/7)
spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Izilda Pereira-Jorge, Sandra Manfreda, Brianna Lopez, Selin Toprakkiran

Heading to Chicago for #SPSP2026? Come check out work from our lab! 🙂

We’re presenting 2 talks & 2 posters on interventions to promote confrontations of sexism, identity safety cues, multiracial identity, and stereotyping about nationality.

I listened to a panel of election officials last week talk about what they are doing to try to restore trust in elections; but it is hard to reverse a dynamic where Trump is calling you crooked. As a result, more are simply leaving the profession. About 40% of 2020 officials were gone by 2024.

🚨 New paper! Think of a place you feel deeply attached to. When you're in that place, do you feel like your life is more meaningful? New work from @ashleykrause.bsky.social suggests you probably do!

Just accepted at Journal of Environmental Psychology, we find places can give our life meaning 🧵

People form beliefs not only as individual agents, but as members of social groups.

Children (4-6 years old) who belonged to a group were more convinced by evidence that supported their ingroup’s belief (and were less convinced by evidence that opposed their ingroup): www.nature.com/articles/s41...

There's a @adambonica.bsky.social blog post for everything

data4democracy.substack.com/p/how-regula...

If you're attending #SPSP, come check out the museum our department started! You can play around with behavioral science demos; eat free food; and maybe leave with some free swag. Register here: forms.gle/pTqBu5Pvaayn... @spspnews.bsky.social

👀👀👀

Alt text: Illustration of a blue envelope opening to reveal a white card reading “$10,000 Donated” with the message “Thank you to our individual donors and matching donor!” The Project Implicit logo appears on the card, with a bright orange background and celebratory burst pattern behind the envelope.

Incredibly grateful to the folks who have committed $5,000 to Project Implicit since our announcement of matching funds last week!

A generous donor is currently offering an additional $1,000 for any individual or group donation of $1,000 or more. Group gifts can be coordinated with our team.

Asian Americans have long histories of violence, discrimination, & exclusion.

Much of this behavior is poorly understood. The literature on discrimination against other racial groups is much larger than the literature on anti-Asian animus.

A group of my coauthors and I are trying to fill that gap.

Opinion | Affordability and the ‘Epstein Class’ Will Define American Politics

“When Citizens United was decided in 2010, billionaires had spent $18 million on the 2000 election, $13M 2004 and $16M in 2008. Then came the deluge. In 2012 it was $231M, and nearly doubled again in next three election cycles —to $682M in 2016, $1.2 billion in 2020 and $2.6 billion in 2024.” Gift:

A meta-analysis on reducing discrimination finds:
1) passive interventions, such as short-term education or bias reminders, are ineffective
2) targeting behavior directly to inhibit bias (eg making individuals accountable or changing social norms) is helpful
psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?d...

The Board of Governors decided, unilaterally, that no published textbook in the field of sociology could be used in compliance with the law for an Intro to Sociology class. None. Victor: There's not a single existing textbook on the market that could be used that would qualify under state law? Zachary: Correct. Victor: I'm sorry, that's kind of funny. Like, the absurdity of not a single sociology textbook getting past the censors. I mean, it makes me kind of proud of our colleagues, but...

I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors.

Great work everyone.

When are Explicit Racial Appeals Accepted? Examining the Role of Racial Status Threat - Political Behavior Evidence has emerged demonstrating that whites no longer reject negative, explicit racial appeals as they had in the past. This seeming reversal of the traditional logic of the powerlessness of explic...

Today seems like a nice day to re-up @leahchristiani.bsky.social 's excellent research on when white people approve of blatantly racist political messages. Not sure what made me think of it today, but anyway.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

the Epstein files are really devastating because they remind me of how many girls and women miss out on professional opportunities, mentorship and careers because of how many powerful, rich and influential men only view girls and women — and interactions with them — through the lens of sex

Epstein doc saying paid Pinker

Epstein doc saying Pinker assisted

Pinker statement re Epstein

New Epstein files say that Steven Pinker was paid $10,000 to help Epstein’s defense (even though Pinker previously said he wasn't paid).

Why do otherwise rational people disagree about the same evidence? Our new paper finds that group membership is a deeply rooted influence on how we form beliefs, leading even preschoolers to bias their evidential standards and form inaccurate beliefs.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A generous donor has offered to match $1,000 for any individual or coordinated group donation of $1,000 or more, up to 50 matches total.

Group gifts must be coordinated with the Project Implicit team.

To participate, contact our team: www.projectimplicit.net/contact-us/

YouTube video by FABBS FABBS 2025 Kellina Craig-Henderson IDEA Award Winner: Calvin Lai, PhD

I'm honored to be the recipient of the 2026 Kellina Craig-Henderson Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, & Accessibility Award from FABBS!🏆

Here's a chat w/ past FABBS president Jeff Zacks about implicit bias, reducing discrimination, & translating research into practice.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbNK...