Publications
Voelkel, J. G., Ashokkumar, A., Abeles, A. T., Crawford, J., Fuller, K., Redekopp, C., Bongiorno, R., Campbell, T. H., Ecker, U., Feinberg, M., Hart, P. S., Hornsey, M., Jost, J., Kay, A., Leiserowitz, A., Lewandowsky, S., Maibach, E., Nisbet, E., Pidgeon, N., Spence, A., van der Linden, S., Wolsko, C. V., Willenbring, J. K., Malhotra, N., & Willer, R. 2026. A Registered Report Megastudy on the Persuasiveness of the Most-Cited Climate Messages. Nature Climate Change.
Gallegos, I. O., Shani, C., Shi, W., Bianchi, F., Gainsburg, I., Jurafsky, D., & Willer, R. 2026. Labeling Messages as AI-Generated Does Not Reduce Their Persuasive Effects. PNAS Nexus.
Frederiksen, K., Willer, R., Petersen, M. In Press. The Way Back After Backsliding: Public Opinion and the Restoration of Democracy. Comparative Political Studies.
Hall, M.E. K., Solomon, B. C., Voelkel, J. G., Stagnaro, M. N., Chu, J., & Willer, R. 2025. Durably Reducing Partisan Animosity through Multiple Scalable Treatments. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Bai, H., Voelkel, J. G., Muldowney, S., Eichstaedt, J. C., & Willer, R. 2025. LLM-Generated Messages Can Persuade Humans on Policy Issues. Nature Communications.
Media Coverage: Stanford Report (11/2025)
Grayson, S., Feinberg, M., Willer, R., & Zaki, J. 2025. Ironic Effects of Negative Gossip in Driving Inaccurate Social Perceptions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
Forbes, R., Willer, R., & Stellar, J. E. 2025. Power as a Moral Magnifier: Moral Outrage is Amplified when the Powerful Transgress. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
Chang, H. C. H., Druckman, J. N., Ferrara, E., & Willer, R. 2025. Liberals and Conservatives Share Information Differently on Social Media. PNAS Nexus.
Bluesky Thread (08/2025)
Voelkel, J. G., Stagnaro, M. N., Chu, J. Y... [79 Authors] ... Druckman, J. N., Rand, D. G., & Willer, R. 2024. Megastudy Testing 25 Treatments to Reduce Anti-Democratic Attitudes and Partisan Animosity. Science.
Press Release (10/2024), Stanford Press Release (08/2022), Strengthening Democracy Challenge Website, X Thread (08/2022), Washington Post op-ed (09/2022)
Media Coverage: PBS Newshour (05/2023), New York Times (02/2023), New York Times (04/2024), The Atlantic (10/2022), The Atlantic (08/2024), Washington Post (07/2023), Nature (03/2023), LA Times (11/2022), Wall Street Journal (08/2023), Fast Company (08/2022), Fast Company (09/2022), Fox News Interview (09/2022), Morning Joe Interview (08/2022), C-SPAN Interview (08/2022), NPR Here and Now Interview (09/2022), The Gist Interview (11/2022), Politicology Interview (10/2022)
Named one of the Top 10 Experiments of 2023 (“Expy”), Analyst Institute
Named one of the Top 10 Insights of 2024, Greater Good Magazine
Kamphorst, J., & Willer, R. 2024. Correcting Misperceptions of the Material Benefits Associated with Union Membership Increases Americans’ Interest in Joining Unions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Chu, J., Voelkel, J. G., Stagnaro, M. N., Kang, S., Druckman, J., Rand, D., & Willer, R. 2024. Academics Are More Specific, and Practitioners More Sensitive, in Forecasting Interventions to Strengthen Democratic Attitudes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Voelkel, J. G., Chu, J. Y., Stagnaro, M. N., Druckman, J., & Willer, R. 2024. How to Design and Conduct a Megastudy. Nature Human Behavior.
Ruggeri, K., Stock, F., Haslam, S.A., Capraro, V., Boggio, P., Ellemers, N., Cichocka, A., Douglas, K. M., Rand, D. G., van der Linden, S., Cikara, M., Finkel, E. J., Druckman, J. N., Wohl, M. J. A., Petty, R. E., Tucker, J. A., Shariff, A., Gelfand, M., Packer, D., Jetten, J., Van Lange, P. A. M., Pennycook, G., Peters, E., Baicker, K., Crum, A., Weeden, K. A., Napper, L. E., Tabri, N., Zaki, J., Skitka, L., Kitayama, S., Mobbs, D., Sunstein, C., Ashcroft-Jones, S., Todsen, A. L., Hajian, A., Verra, S. E., Buehler, V., Friedemann, M., Hecht, M., Mobarak, R. S., Karakasheva, R., Tünte, M., T., Yeung, S. K., Rosenbaum, R. S., Lep, Ž., Yamada, Y., Hudson, S. T. J., Macchia, L., Soboleva, I., Dimant, E., Geiger, S. J., Jarke, H., Wingen, T., Berkessel, J. B., Mareva, S., McGill, L., Papa, F., Većkalov, B., Afif, Z., Buabang, E. K., Landman, M., Tavera, F., Andrews, J. L., Bursalıoğlu, A., Zupan, Z., Wagner, L., Navajas, J., Vranka, M., Kasdan, D. O., Chen, P., Hudson, K. R., Novak, L. M., Teas, P. E., Rachev, N. R., Galizzi, M.M., Milkman, K. L., Petrović, M.B., Van Bavel, J. J., & Willer, R. 2024. A Synthesis of Evidence for Policy from Behavioural Science During COVID-19. Nature, 625, 134–147.
Landry, A., Druckman, J., & Willer, R. 2024. Need for Chaos and Dehumanization Are Robustly Associated with Support for Partisan Violence. Political Behavior.
Santos, L., Voelkel, J. G., Willer, R., & Zaki, J. 2024. Positive Beliefs About Cross-Partisan Empathy Can Strengthen Americans’ Support for Democracy. PNAS Nexus.
Zimmerman, F., Bailey, D., Muric, G., Ferrara, E., Schöne, J., Willer, R., Halperin, E., Navajas, J., Gross, J., & Goldenberg, A. 2024. Attraction to Politically Extreme Users on Social Media. PNAS Nexus.
Ghezae, I., Jordan, J., Gainsburg, I., Mosleh, M., Pennycook, G., Willer, R., & Rand, D. G. 2024. Partisans Neither Expect nor Receive Reputational Rewards for Sharing Falsehoods Over Truth Online. PNAS Nexus.
Hasan-Aslih, S., Idan, O., Willer, R., & Halperin, E. 2023. Disadvantaged Group Members are Prouder of Their Group When Using the Language of the Dominant Group Compared to Their Native Language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Druckman, J. N., Kang, S., Chu, J. Y., Stagnaro, M. N., Voelkel, J. G., Mernyk, J., Pink, S., Redekopp, C., Rand, D. G., & Willer, R. 2023. Correcting Misperceptions of Out-Partisans Decreases American Legislators’ Support for Undemocratic Practices. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Goldenberg, A. & Willer, R. 2023. Amplification of emotion on social media. Nature Human Behaviour.
Gainsburg, I., & Lee Cunningham, J. 2023. Compassion Fatigue as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Believing Compassion Is Limited Increases Fatigue and Decreases Compassion. Psychological Science, 34(11), 1206-1219.
Stagnaro, M. N., Pink, S., Rand, D., & Willer, R. 2023. Increasing accuracy motivations using moral reframing does not reduce Republicans’ belief in false news. Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review.
Voelkel, J. G., Mernyk, J. S., & Willer, R. 2023. Moral Reframing Increases Support for Economically Progressive Candidates. PNAS Nexus.
Clayton, K. & Willer, R. 2023. Endorsements from Republican Politicians Can Increase Confidence in U.S. Elections. Research and Politics.
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. 2023. How to Build up Big Team Science: A Practical Guide for Large-Scale Collaborations. Royal Society Open Science.
Lang, D., Esbenshade, L., & Willer, R. 2023. Did Ohio's Vaccine Lottery Increase Vaccination Rates? A Pre-Registered, Synthetic Control Study. Journal of Experimental Political Science.
Media Coverage: Science (08/2021)
Mernyk, J. S., Pink, S. L., Druckman, J. N., & Willer, R. 2022. Correcting Inaccurate Metaperceptions Reduces Americans’ Support for Partisan Violence. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Corbett, C.*, Voelkel, J. G.*, Cooper, M., Willer, R. 2022. Pragmatic Bias Impedes Women's Access to Political Leadership. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Voelkel, J. G., Chu, J. Y., Stagnaro, M. N., Mernyk, J. S., Redekopp, C., Pink, S., Druckman, J. N., Rand, D. G., Willer, R. 2022. Interventions Reducing Affective Polarization Do Not Necessarily Improve Anti-Democratic Attitudes. Nature Human Behaviour.
Media Coverage: New York Times (09/2021), New York Times (05/2023)
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.
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 (04/2022), Video Explainer (08/2022), X Thread (09/2022)
Media Coverage in the New York Times (08/2023), LA Times (04/2022)
Landry, A., Schooler, J., Willer, R., & Seli, P. 2022. Reducing Explicit Blatant Dehumanization by Correcting Exaggerated Meta-Perceptions. Social Psychological and Personality Science.
Simpson, B., Willer, R., & Feinberg, M. 2022. Radical Flanks of Social Movements Can Increase Support for Moderate Factions. PNAS Nexus.
Media Coverage: The Guardian (11/2022)
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. Y., Pink, S., & Willer, R. 2021. Religious Identity Cues Increase Vaccination Intentions and Trust in Medical Experts among American Christians. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Pink, S., Chu, J. Y., Druckman, J. N., Rand, D. G., & Willer, R. 2021. Elite Party Cues Increase Vaccination Intentions Among Republicans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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.
Media Coverage: New York Times (03/2023)
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., & Willer, R. 2020. Using Social and Behavioural Science to Support Covid-19 Pandemic Response. Nature Human Behaviour.
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.
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.
Feinberg, M., & Willer, R. 2019. Moral Reframing: A Technique for Effective and Persuasive Communication Across Political Divides. Social and Personality Psychology Compass.
Media Coverage: The Atlantic (06/2017), The Atlantic (02/2017)
Wetts, R., & Willer, R. 2018. Privilege on the Precipice: Perceived Racial Status Threats Lead White Americans to Oppose Welfare Programs. Social Forces.
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. 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.
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.
Voelkel, J. G., & Feinberg, M. 2018. Morally reframed arguments can affect support for political candidates. Social Psychological & Personality Science, 9 (8), 917-924.