Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response
- J. V. Bavel, Katherine Baicker, Robb Willer
- Psychology, MedicineNature Human Behaviour
- 24 March 2020
Evidence from a selection of research topics relevant to pandemics is discussed, including work on navigating threats, social and cultural influences on behaviour, science communication, moral decision-making, leadership, and stress and coping.
Groups Reward Individual Sacrifice: The Status Solution to the Collective Action Problem
- Robb Willer
- Psychology
- 1 February 2009
One of sociology's classic puzzles is how groups motivate their members to set aside self-interest and contribute to collective action. This article presents a solution to the problem based on status…
The Moral Roots of Environmental Attitudes
- M. Feinberg, Robb Willer
- SociologyPsychology Science
- 1 January 2013
The results establish the importance of moralization as a cause of polarization on environmental attitudes and suggest that reframing environmental discourse in different moral terms can reduce the gap between liberals and conservatives in environmental concern.
Overdoing Gender: A Test of the Masculine Overcompensation Thesis1
- Robb Willer, Christabel L. Rogalin, Bridget Conlon, M. Wojnowicz
- PsychologyAmerican Journal of Sociology
- 1 January 2013
The masculine overcompensation thesis asserts that men react to masculinity threats with extreme demonstrations of masculinity, a proposition tested here across four studies. In study 1, men and…
Partner choice creates competitive altruism in humans
- Pat Barclay, Robb Willer
- EconomicsProceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological…
- 7 March 2007
This work shows that people actively compete to be more generous than others when they can benefit from being chosen for cooperative partnerships, and the most generous people are correspondingly chosen more often as cooperative partners.
The Emperor’s Dilemma: A Computational Model of Self‐Enforcing Norms1
- Damon Centola, Robb Willer, M. Macy
- EconomicsAmerican Journal of Sociology
- 1 January 2005
The authors demonstrate the uses of agent‐based computational models in an application to a social enigma they call the “emperor’s dilemma,” based on the Hans Christian Andersen fable. In this model,…
From Gulf to Bridge
- M. Feinberg, Robb Willer
- Political SciencePersonality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- 7 October 2015
It is hypothesized that political advocates spontaneously make arguments grounded in their own moral values, not the values of those targeted for persuasion, and political arguments reframed to appeal to the moral values ofThose holding the opposing political position are typically more effective.
Apocalypse Soon?
- M. Feinberg, Robb Willer
- Political SciencePsychology Science
- 1 January 2011
Two experiments provide support for this explanation of the dynamics of belief in global warming, suggesting that less dire messaging could be more effective for promoting public understanding of climate-change research.
Altruism and Indirect Reciprocity: The Interaction of Person and Situation in Prosocial Behavior
- Brent Simpson, Robb Willer
- Psychology
- 1 March 2008
A persistent puzzle in the social and biological sciences is the existence of prosocial behavior, actions that benefit others, often at a cost to oneself. Recent theoretical models and empirical…
The Social Structure of Political Echo Chambers: Variation in Ideological Homophily in Online Networks
- Andrei Boutyline, Robb Willer
- Sociology
- 1 June 2017
We predict that people with different political orientations will exhibit systematically different levels of political homophily, the tendency to associate with others similar to oneself in political…
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