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Jay Van Bavel, PhD
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Jay Van Bavel, PhD
@jayvanbavel
Psychology Prof @NYUPsych | Author of @PowerOfUsBook (powerofus.substack.com) | Director of NYU Center for Conflict & Cooper | Keynote Speaker @TheLavinAgency
New York, NY
jayvanbavel.com
Joined April 2011
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    Jay Van Bavel, PhD
    @jayvanbavel
    Apr 20
    A small fraction of online actors now exerts outsized influence over what the public sees, believes, and argues about. In a new short review paper, we trace how social media influencers can turn fringe claims into viral narratives—often by exploiting a feedback loop between
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    121K
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    Jay Van Bavel, PhD
    @jayvanbavel
    Aug 28, 2020
    Explaining genetics through gummybears
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    Jay Van Bavel, PhD
    @jayvanbavel
    Jul 15, 2022
    Van Gogh's starry night with the first image taken from the James Webb Telescope
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    Jay Van Bavel, PhD
    @jayvanbavel
    Sep 24, 2020
    I had to teach my Introduction to Psychology class today to 300+ students from my cell phone while I was trapped in my apartment building elevator with my two young kids. This has to go down as my most surreal and stressful teaching experience.
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    Jay Van Bavel, PhD
    @jayvanbavel
    May 2, 2020
    We are living through an unprecedented use of the term “unprecedented”
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    Jay Van Bavel, PhD
    @jayvanbavel
    Mar 31, 2022
    Academic twitter illustrated:
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    Jay Van Bavel, PhD
    @jayvanbavel
    Jun 15, 2024
    Questions at academic conferences:
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    999K
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    Jay Van Bavel, PhD
    @jayvanbavel
    Jul 7, 2024
    “My desire to be well-informed is currently at odds with my desire to remain sane.”
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    648K
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    Jay Van Bavel, PhD
    @jayvanbavel
    Jun 29, 2023
    43% of White students at Harvard are legacy, athletes, related to donors or staff. All the universities making social media statements today should end legacy admissions tomorrow.
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    Study finds 43 percent of Harvard's white students are legacy, athletes, related to donors or staff
    From nbcnews.com
    557K
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    Jay Van Bavel, PhD
    @jayvanbavel
    Sep 24, 2020
    Replying to @jayvanbavel
    Postscript: Why didn't I cancel my class? I don't know. It all seemed weirdly normal in the moment. Each step just seemed to logically follow the prior step. As I type it all out, I am now deeply aware of how absurd this was. I will not be teaching in elevators in the future.
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    Jay Van Bavel, PhD
    @jayvanbavel
    Sep 23, 2025
    One of my favorite lessons from neuroscience: When you start something new, it feels like a struggle and requires your entire focus to figure out. But as you get better, it gets easier and you need far less brain power. Things become automatic and you can dedicate your brain to
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    230K
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    Jay Van Bavel, PhD
    @jayvanbavel
    Jun 18, 2023
    We recently studied social media & COVID vaccine hesitancy. Joe Rogan's Twitter followers were extremely distrustful of vaccines: only 27% of his followers planned to get vaccinated. Amplifying conspiracies on podcasts & social media has consequences. academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/arti…
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    Jay Van Bavel, PhD
    @jayvanbavel
    May 29, 2023
    New research finds that Twitter’s recommendation algorithm amplifies anger, outgroup hostility, and affective polarization arxiv.org/abs/2305.16941 This is a good reason to ignore the recommended Tweets.
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    616K
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    Jay Van Bavel, PhD
    @jayvanbavel
    Sep 11, 2021
    I like to call this "the new idea problem":
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