Thomas Talhelm
@thomastalhelm
I'm an associate professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. I also founded Smart Air, a social enterprise dedicated to making low-cost air purifiers and teaching people how to build their own.
Credit should go to Huarong Liu, Xiaomeng Hu, and the other hard-working authors. 👏
That seems counter-intuitive to me, but China is one of the highest-scoring countries in the world in terms of trust in AI. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
There was also some evidence for empathy. First-person voice increased empathy when it was AI. But for the human, first-person voice decreased empathy.
Why? There was some evidence that people perceived human speakers as more manipulative than AI.
After the conversation, participants could choose to donate a portion of their bonus from the study to charity. For AI, first-person voice was more effective.
The AI bot told the story of a kid who needed help after getting diagnosed with cancer. In one condition, AI told the story in the third person. In the other, AI told it in the first person.
I asked people whether AI fundraising appeals for help for a natural disaster victim would be more effective if voiced as "I" versus "he/she." People had the same intuition as me, and we were wrong! 🧵
My rice theory ended up inspiring an article in the weekly newspaper The Jewish Press! jewishpress.com/rice-wheat-a...
Researchers tracked players' objective rankings over time to see how much they improved. Doing lessons and reviews was more helpful than playing games. www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/psy...
Lessons are more effective than practice, according to a new study of 40,000 chess players on Chess.com. @psychscience.bsky.social
My seed theory research was featured in a French magazine. 🇫🇷 Sacre bleu! How fun! Also, the sketch of me makes my facial hair look far more rugged than I am in real life. 😆 epsiloon.com/tous-les-num... @epsiloon.com @pnasnexus.org
Post-doc opportunity in psychology, sociology, political science, or education in Potsdam. www.uni-potsdam.de/en/socedlico...
Here's a map of where all the students were moving to college from.
Researchers estimated AI use by looking at words that AI tends to use more than humans, like "delve" and "juncture."
These are the countries where AI use in academic papers has increased the most (blue) and least (yellow), according to a new study.
I had a great time at APS! My theme was how we sometimes say one thing and the listener hears something difference, like how “estoy embarazada” sounds like “embarrassed” to Americans but means “pregnant” to Spanish speakers. 🇪🇸 @psychscience.bsky.social #APSBarcelona26
I enjoyed getting the chance to talk about why people in collectivistic cultures agree LESS with survey items about identifying with relationships. Thanks to the hardworking people at @psychscience.bsky.social for putting together the conference! 👏 #APSBarcelona26
What personality do people see in brands? In Spain, people see passion in some brands. In Japan, people see peacefulness, but not in the U.S.
Veronica Benet-Martinez asks about culture and personality: love match or arranged marriage? @psychscience.bsky.social #APSBarcelona26
And they want to work with people who show the emotions they expect. @psychscience.bsky.social #APSBarcelona26
Kunalan Manokara finds that people expect rich people to express self-oriented emotions (like pride) and less wealthy people to express other-oriented emotions (like gratitude).
Gratitude is less tightly linked to people’s wellbeing in collectivistic cultures, such as India, Kenya, and Egypt. 🇪🇬 #APSBarcelona26 @psychscience.bsky.social
Feelings of gratitude are more tightly linked to wellbeing for Latino Americans and Anglo Americans than for Asian Americans. Why?
Rui Sun presenting on gratitude and wellbeing across cultures at APS. Is the link different across cultures, age, social class? #APSBarcelona26 @psychscience.bsky.social
Most people don't know this! 📢 People in collectivistic cultures report LESS overlap in the classic overlapping circles measure. I'll explain why in APS Barcelona, Friday 4-5:20pm. Join me! @psychscience.bsky.social #APS2026 #APSBarcelona26 @chicagoboothreview.bsky.social
I'll talk ~4:40-5pm about this puzzling result. Why do people in collectivistic cultures agree LESS with the idea that relationships are important for their identity? 🧐 @psychscience.bsky.social
Are you going to APS this week in Barcelona? If so, join me on Friday for a symposium on how culture shapes emotion! #APS2026