37 - Molly Crockett: Moral Outrage, Trust During Covid, And Incentives in Academia

 Eric chats with Molly Crockett, Associate Professor of Psychology at Yale University. Molly studies how people make moral decisions, both in the lab and in everyday life. Their lab’s research has won numerous awards around the world, and Molly will be moving their lab to Princeton University in summer 2022.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Molly first chats about their recent work on social media. Are online platforms making us more outraged? How should we reshape social media for a more civil society? Then, Molly discusses another line of work on trust in leaders around the globe during Covid. Do people like or dislike utilitarian leaders? What was Molly's rather adventurous experience running a registered report proposing data collection across six continents? Finally, Molly chats about academic life more broadly. Should we favor slow over fast science? Are current academic incentives damaging to our mental health?

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Links:

Paper on social media and outrage
Paper on trust in leaders during Covid
Molly's Twitter @mollycrockett

Eric's website
Eric's Twitter @EricNeumannPsy

Podcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPod

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