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POST-DOC
PHILIP PARNAMETS - NYU Social Psychology Postdoctoral Fellow
Philip completed his PhD in cognitive science at Lund University and has spent two years as a postdoc with the Emotion Lab at Karolinska Institutet. His research is grounded in a broad interest in the cognitive and computational mechanisms underlying preference change, decision making and learning, especially in the moral domain. In the Social Identity and Morality lab his work focuses on dynamic models of social learning about moral agents and of moral choices generally. Philip spends his spare time creating, listening or dancing to electronic music.
Misinformation & Education
Polarization, misinformation, and declining trust in institutions threaten human flourishing by blocking collective decision-making, civil dialogue, and innovation precisely when these skills are needed to address pressing challenges. Indeed, a recent survey of nearly 1,500 global leaders from around the world rated polarization and misinformation as two of the top risks facing humanity in the immediate future and long term (World Economic Forum, 2024).
We study the psychological underpinnings and consequences of misinformation and conspiracy theories, and help develop scalable interventions to curb their spread online. One of our studies found that modifying the social media interface by adding a Misleading count next to the Like count significantly reduced users’ likelihood of sharing inaccurate partisan content, even among extreme partisans (Pretus et al., 2024). This intervention was about five times more effective than the widely used accuracy nudge approach. In another study, we examined strategies to protect against anti-science beliefs and disinformation (see “Climate Change” for more details). We also study how changes to people's immediate social media following networks can reduce exposure to misinformation, decrease belief in falsehoods, and enhance trust in science (Rathje et al., forthcoming, Spampatti et al., in progress).
Building on this work, our director, Dr. Jay Van Bavel, co-authored the American Psychological Association’s consensus statement, Using Psychological Science to Understand and Fight Health Misinformation (2023). The report synthesizes research on why misinformation spreads, how it affects behavior, and how we can best counter it, and ultimately delivers eight actionable recommendations for scientists, policymakers, and health professionals.
