Publications

Druckman, J., Kang, S., Chu, J., Stagnaro, M.N., Voelkel, J. G., Mernyk, J., Pink, S., Redekopp, C., Rand, D., & Willer, R. In Press. Correcting Misperceptions of Out-partisans Decreases American Legislators’ Support for Undemocratic Practices. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Voelkel, J. G., Mernyk, J. S., & Willer, R. In Press. Resolving the Progressive Paradox: The Effects of Moral Reframing on Support for Economically Progressive Candidates. PNAS Nexus.

• Op-Ed in the New York Times; Press Release; Coverage in Slate, Salon; Interviewed on Third Way podcast

Clayton, K. & Willer, R. 2023. Endorsements from Republican Politicians Can Increase Confidence in U.S. Elections. Research and Politics.

• Op-Ed at CNN

Goldenberg, A. & Willer, R. 2023. Amplification of emotion on social media. Nature Human Behaviour.

Pink, S. L., Stagnaro, M. N., Chu, J., Mernyk, J. S., Voelkel, J. G., & Willer, R. 2023. The effects of short messages encouraging prevention behaviors early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Plos one, 18(4), e0284354.

Baumgartner, H. A., Alessandroni, N., Byers-Heinlein, K., Frank, M. C., Hamlin, K., Soderstrom, M., Voelkel, J.G., Willer, R., Yuen, F., Coles, N. A. In Press. How to build up big team science: A practical guide for large-scale collaborations. Royal Society Open Science.

Mernyk, J. S., Pink, S. L., Druckman, J., & Willer, R. 2022. Correcting Inaccurate Metaperceptions Reduces Americans’ Support for Partisan Violence. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

• Op-Ed in the Washington Post; Coverage in the Washington Post

Corbett, C.*, Voelkel, J.*, Cooper, M., Willer, R., 2022. Pragmatic Bias Impedes Women's Access to Political Leadership. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

• Press Release; Op-Ed in the LA Times; Coverage in Stanford Social Innovation Review, Greater Good Magazine; Twitter thread

Voelkel, J.G., Chu, J., Stagnaro, M. N., Mernyk, J. S., Redekopp, C., Pink, S., Druckman, J., Rand, D., Willer, R. 2022. Interventions reducing affective polarization do not necessarily improve anti-democratic attitudes. Nature Human Behaviour.

• Coverage in the New York Times

Voelkel, J.G., Chu, J., Stagnaro, M. N., Mernyk, J. S., Redekopp, C., Pink, S., Druckman, J., Rand, D., Willer, R. 2022. Interventions reducing affective polarization do not necessarily improve anti-democratic attitudes. Nature Human Behaviour.

• Coverage in the New York Times

Hartman, R., Blakey, W., Womick, J., Bail, C. A., Finkel, E., Han, H., Sarrouf, J., Schroeder, J., Sheeran, P., Van Bavel, J., Willer, R., Gray, K. 2022. Interventions to Reduce Partisan Animosity. Nature Human Behaviour.

Santos, L. A., Voelkel, J. G., Willer, R., & Zaki, J. 2022. Belief in the Utility of Cross-Partisan Empathy Reduces Partisan Animosity and Facilitates Political Persuasion. Psychological Science.

• Op-Ed in the Washington Post

Frimer, J., Aujla, H., Feinberg, M., Skitka, L., Eichstaedt, J., & Willer, R. 2022. Incivility is rising among American politicians on Twitter. Social Psychological and Personality Science.

• Press Release; Short video explainer; Coverage in LA Times; Twitter thread

Landry, A., Schooler, J., Willer, R., & Seli, P. 2022. Reducing Explicit Blatant Dehumanization by Correcting  Exaggerated Meta-Perceptions. Social Psychological and Personality Science.

• Press Release

Lang, D., Esbenshade, L., Willer, R. 2022. Did Ohio's Vaccine Lottery Increase Vaccination Rates? A Pre-Registerhttps://doi.org/10.1017/XPS.2021.32ed, Synthetic Control Study. Journal of Experimental Political Science.

• Coverage in Science

Simpson, B., Feinberg, M., & Willer, R. 2022. Radical Flanks of Social Movements Can Increase Support for Moderate Factions. PNAS Nexus.

• Coverage in The Guardian

Voelkel, J. G., Malik, M., Redekopp, C., & Willer, R. 2022. Changing Americans’ Attitudes about Immigration: Using Moral Framing to Bolster Factual Arguments. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

Chu, J., Pink, S. L., & Willer, R. 2021. Religious Identity Cues Increase Vaccination Intentions and Trust in Medical Experts among American Christians. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

• Twitter thread

Pink, S., Chu, J., Druckman, J., Rand, D., & Willer, R. 2021. Elite party cues increase vaccination intentions among Republicans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

• Op-Ed in the Washington Post, Op-Ed in the LA Times; Coverage in the New York Times, US News & World Report, Salon; Twitter thread

Stewart, S., & Willer, R. 2021. The Effects of Racial Status Threat on White Americans’ Support for Donald Trump: Results of Five Experimental Tests. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations.

Leong, Y. C., Chen, J., Willer, R., & Zaki, J. 2020. Conservative and liberal attitudes drive polarized neural responses to political content. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(44), 27731-27739.

• Press Release; Coverage in the New York Times

Van Bavel, J. J., Baicker, K., Boggio, P. S., Capraro, V., Cichocka, A., Cikara, M., Crockett, M. J., Crum, A. J., Douglas, K. M.,  Druckman, J. N., Drury, J., Dube, O., Ellemers, N., Finkel, E. J., Fowler, J. H., Gelfand, M., Han, S., Haslam  S. A., Jetten, J.,  Kitayama, S., Mobbs, D.,  Napper, L. E., Packer, D. J., Pennycook, G., Peters, E., Petty, R. E., Rand, D. G., Reicher, S. D., Schnall, S.,  Shariff, A.,  Skitka, L. J., Smith, S. S., Sunstein, C. R.,  Tabri, N., Tucker, J. A., van der Linden, S.,  van Lange, P.,  Weeden , K. A., Wohl, M. J. A., Zaki, J., Zion, S. R.,  and Willer, R. 2020. Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response. Nature Human Behaviour.

• Coverage in Science, Wired; Interviewed on Two Psychologists, Four Beers podcast

Feinberg, M., Willer, R., & Kovacheff, C . 2020. The activist’s dilemma: Extreme protest actions reduce popular support for social movements. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

• Op-Ed in the Washington Post; Coverage in the New York Times, First Coverage in the Washington Post, Second Coverage in the Washington Post, The Atlantic, Hidden Brain

Côté, S., Stellar, J. E., Willer, R., Forbes, R. C., Martin, S. R., & Bianchi, E. C. 2020. The psychology of entrenched privilege: High socioeconomic status individuals from affluent backgrounds are uniquely high in entitlement. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 47(1), 70-88.

• Op-Ed in the Washington Post

Feinberg, M., & Willer, R. 2019. Moral reframing: A technique for effective and persuasive communication across political divides. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 13(12), e12501.

• First Coverage in The Atlantic, Second Coverage in The Atlantic

Voelkel, J. G., & Brandt, M. J. 2019. The effect of ideological identification on the endorsement of moral values depends on the target group. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 45(6), 851-863.

Wetts, R., & Willer, R. 2018. Privilege on the precipice: Perceived racial status threats lead white Americans to oppose welfare programs. Social Forces, 97(2), 793-822.

• Press Release, UC Berkeley Press Release; Op-Ed in the New York Times; First Coverage in the The Atlantic, Second Coverage in The Atlantic, First Coverage in the Washington Post, Second Coverage in the Washington Post, New York Magazine, Salon

Stellar, J. E., & Willer, R. 2018. Unethical and inept? The influence of moral information on perceptions of competence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114(2), 195.

Voelkel, J. G., Brandt, M. J., & Colombo, M. 2018. I know that I know nothing: Can puncturing the illusion of explanatory depth overcome the relationship between attitudinal dissimilarity and prejudice?. Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology, 3(1), 56-78.

Simpson, B., Willer, R., & Feinberg, M. 2018. Does violent protest backfire? Testing a theory of public reactions to activist violence. Socius, 4, 2378023118803189.

• Press Release.

Voelkel, J. G., & Feinberg, M. 2018. Morally reframed arguments can affect support for political candidates. Social Psychological & Personality Science, 9 (8), 917-924.

Boutyline, A., & Willer, R. 2017. The social structure of political echo chambers: Variation in ideological homophily in online networks. Political Psychology, 38(3), 551-569.

Feinberg, M., & Willer, R. 2015. From gulf to bridge: When do moral arguments facilitate political influence? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(12), 1665-1681. Supplementary Material.

• TED Talk; Press Release; Op-Ed in the New York Times; Coverage in the New York Times, First Coverage in The Atlantic, Second Coverage in The Atlantic, Vox, The Gist podcast, The Guardian, First coverage in New York Magazine, Second coverage in New York Magazine, Salon; Interviewed on TED Radio Hour; You are not So Smart podcast

Feinberg, M., Antonenko, O., Willer, R., Horberg, E. J., & John, O. P. 2014. Gut check: Reappraisal of disgust helps explain liberal–conservative differences on issues of purity. Emotion, 14(3), 513.

Willer, R., Rogalin, C. L., Conlon, B., & Wojnowicz, M. T. 2013. Overdoing gender: A test of the masculine overcompensation thesis. American Journal of Sociology, 118(4), 980-1022. Press Release.

• Press Release; Coverage in the New York Times, First Coverage in the Washington Post, Second Coverage in the Washington Post, The Atlantic, Science, LA Times

Feinberg, M., & Willer, R. 2013. The moral roots of environmental attitudes. Psychological Science, 24(1), 56-62. Supplementary Material.

• TED Talk; Press Release; Op-Ed in the New York Times

Côté, S., Piff, P. K., & Willer, R. 2013. For whom do the ends justify the means? Social class and utilitarian moral judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104(3), 490.

• Coverage in the New York Times, New York Magazine

Simpson, B., Harrell, A., & Willer, R. 2013. Hidden paths from morality to cooperation: Moral judgments promote trust and trustworthiness. Social Forces, 91(4), 1529-1548.

Feinberg, M., & Willer, R. 2011. Apocalypse soon? Dire messages reduce belief in global warming by contradicting just-world beliefs. Psychological Science, 22(1), 34-38.

• Press Release; Coverage in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Nature, Salon