Professor of Cognitive Science, University of Bristol. Homepage: https://www.lewan.uk
Folks - it's an honor to host @vkempe.bsky.social and @lewan.uk for Part 2 of our convo re: #censorship and #scholarship admist #DemocraticBackSliding. Join us Aug 12, 11 am ET and share widely! #AcademicSky #Academia #higherEd #DefendResearch More @ DefendResearch.org @defendresearch.bsky.social
HomeSign the Declaration to #DefendResearch.defendresearch.orgLisa SchiffRegister for our 8/12 #DefendResearch webinar with @vkempe.bsky.social in conversation with @rouhiroo.bsky.social discussing “What Can I Really Do? Behavioural Choices for Scholars in Past and Emerging Autocracies” us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Do you research misinformation? @bojanaveckalov.bsky.social @sandrajgeiger.bsky.social @profsanderlinden.bsky.social @lewan.uk, Matthew Hornsey and I have a new piece out in NHB on lessons learned from climate psychology that can catalyze misinformation research. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Insights from climate psychology for misinformation researchNature Human Behaviour - Climate change and misinformation are interconnected global crises shaped by tensions between individual, collective and vested interests. Drawing on climate psychology, we...www.nature.com
Power, Opportunism, and Ideology in Republican Politics About cowardice and conviction, the complicity of conservative elites, and the permission structure that governs the Right. My new piece:
Power, Opportunism, and Ideology in Republican PoliticsAbout cowardice and conviction, the complicity of conservative elites, and the permission structure that governs the Right By Thomas Zimmer, July 26, 2026 A note before…steady.page
Psychology Prof @lewan.uk demonstrates that online rhetoric predicts violent outcomes. youtu.be/xz2zMQLqFOY?...
Prof Stephan Lewandowsky research presentation on how social media rhetoric predicts real violenceYouTube video by Cambridge Disinformation Summityoutu.beemptywheelMusk has been socializing violence since long before that. Any analysis of Xitter as a tool of violence has to draw the continuity of Jan6 through to today.
I co-sign this great summary from @dereklowe.bsky.social . The goal is to destroy academic science, and these are the reasons. And all the “gold standard” and “needs reform” and “not high risk” stuff is transparent bullshit to hide the ball on what they are doing.
Derek LoweThoughts on the various Trump administration proposals to revamp US science funding - and what they all have in common:
I've said it before: ignore the haters. Met data shows there were 35,000 fewer neighbourhood crimes last year than the year before. While some spread myths online, the Met is cutting crime and making our streets safer for everyone, with record funding from City Hall.
If you’ve heard online that London is dystopian and dangerous – read this. It just isn’t | Sadiq KhanBritain’s capital has faced social media, press and political attacks designed to make residents and tourists feel unsafe. Ignore that: we have the facts, says London mayor Sadiq Khanwww.theguardian.com
The key question is whether Ukrainian strikes can reduce Russia’s combat power faster than Moscow can adapt to the innovation cycle. With Dr. Lesia Bidochko for "The National Interest" @epik-ukraine.bsky.social @sceeus-ui.bsky.social @uisweden.bsky.social @nordicukraine.bsky.social
How Ukraine’s Deep Strikes Are Reshaping Russia’s Strategic ChoicesRussia has three possible options to respond to Ukraine’s strategically successful mid- and long-range strikes into its territory.nationalinterest.orgFor details see the paper in Trends in Cognitive Sciences here doi.org/10.1016/j.ti... 10/10
Misinformation as strategy: Epistemic consequences and the undermining of shared truthMisinformation influences cognition—shaping memory, beliefs, attitudes, reasoning, and decision-making. While intentionally disseminated misinformatio…doi.orgThe recent major report for European Commission expands on the possible solutions: sks.to/fractured. 9/10
Fractured realityThe report examines the evolving impact of digital technologies on European democracy. In an era of a global struggle to control the information space, this report offers critical insights into the fracturing of perceived realities, the rise of the ”fantasy-industrial complex,” and the systemic risks posed by the attention economy. It exposes how platforms algorithmically prioritise engagement over accuracy, reinforcing ideological echo chambers and amplifying mis- and disinformation that erode democratic resilience. The report highlights how structural incentives and foreign control of
the most important players in the information space undermine information integrity, collective knowledge and civic discourse. In response, the report presents a number of recommendations from fostering alternative public spaces and crowd-sourced knowledge systems to reforming business models, restoring user agency, and advancing EU digital sovereignty through decentralised infrastructure.sks.toThis matters because democracy depends on shared ground truths. Abandoning evidence as the basis for debate doesn't just distort individual issues — it corrodes the infrastructure of collective decision-making. And even science is not immune, as we argued here: doi.org/10.1016/j.co... 7/10
The role of epistemic drift in online civic discourse about scienceOur societies are experiencing an epistemic drift, that is a changing understanding of what it means to be “honest” and how to arrive at “truth”. This…doi.orgWe're also seeing elites shift from evidence-based "fact speaking" to sincerity-based "belief speaking" — a rhetorical move that's spreading and normalizing epistemic relativism in public discourse. For example, here: doi.org/10.1038/s415... 6/10
Computational analysis of US congressional speeches reveals a shift from evidence to intuitionNature Human Behaviour - This research explores the linguistic traces of evidence-based reasoning and intuitive decision-making in congressional speeches from 1879 to 2022. The analysis suggests...doi.orgGenerative AI adds a new layer: models fabricate content confidently, can be fine-tuned to push narratives, and personalize persuasion to individual biases — all while people struggle to resist AI-generated misinformation even when warned, as we showed here: doi.org/10.1038/s442... 4/10
The continued influence of AI-generated deepfake videos despite transparency warningsCommunications Psychology - Three experiments show that people continue to rely on the content of deepfake videos when making moral judgements, despite prior warnings that the videos were fake,...doi.org