mat marques, ph.d.
bicycles, coffee, and social psychology.
researches the causes and consequences of #conspiracytheories
he/him. woiworung land.
https://mdmarques.com
- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.Chatbots offer a magnificent bribe - a fast, frictionless route to information that bypasses the discomfort of learning. In this op-ed, we describe this as a Faustian bargain, in which we trade away what it means to be human & universities trade away their value www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
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- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.Excellent research out of Monash, led by @markandrejevic.bsky.social. 79% of adults (n=1,598) surveyed support the government’s under-16 social media ban www.monash.edu/news/article...
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- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.Are female economists treated differently than males in academic seminars? These authors wanted to know whether gender shapes how scholars are treated when presenting research. So they built a massive dataset of 2,000+ economics seminars, job talks, and conference presentations from 2019–2023...
- unbelievable. a superhuman effort with so much riding on the line. I am lost for words. "I was speaking to his father, and I said ‘he must be a strong swimmer’, and he said ‘they just finished the vacational swimming and he failed’, and I said ‘well, make sure you get the teacher to ring me.'"
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- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.Trump is working hard to set/reinforce a frame that connects immigration, financial fraud, & election fraud. He and the right wing propaganda machine will keep producing “evidence” to fit this frame, then use it to justify attempts to suppress voters, kick voters off rolls, and delegitimize results.
- Trump: "Minnesota is a mess. There's something in the water up there. I won the 3 three times but I got no credit for it. It's a rigged state. Really rigged badly w/ the Somalians, and the Somalians & the theft. We gotta get 'em out, most of them. 92% don't work. Many of them drive Mercedes-Benzes."
- my day just got way better as I realised I am working on a manuscript that I might be able to call: "Okay Boomer, there may be secret nefarious plots by a coalition of actors"
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- which rating should I add more weight to? also verified vs all audience has a large divide
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- for those following news about the Nipah virus, this reporting appears to be reasoned and less alarming than quite a few stories out there link here too: archive.is/JgugC
- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.This is so unhinged
- Walz told me that when he spoke to Trump on the phone the president compared the immigration operations in Minneapolis to the military mission he ordered in Venezuela. www.ms.now/news/walz-sa...
- nice to be part of this multidisciplinary and international team led by Justin Phillips (nz), @timgravelle.bsky.social (ca), @acarson.bsky.social & me investigating whether facebook's 3rd party fact-checking increases #conspiracybelief TLDR; it doesn't really. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
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- a long interactive read. excellent journalism putting together the pieces here for the public.
- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.Do you really believe that? Examining the prevalence and predictors of belief in conspiracy theories when accounting for insincerity: osf.io/9ntf2
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- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.We have a new paper in Science today on how malicious AI swarms can threaten democracy. AI systems can already coordinate autonomously, infiltrate communities, and fabricate social consensus. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Led by @kunstjonas.bsky.social & @daniel-thilo.bsky.social!
- Who is positive about precision health technologies? Demographic and psychological factors associated with science opposition Golley, @scicomguy.bsky.social, Walshe, & I examine the psychological / ideological antecedents of attitudes to precision health see here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
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- discovered this tv series by accident today looking up the jon ronson book, them: adventures with extremists, which I thoroughly recommend en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Them:_A... www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0Px...
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- “She did not fashion tools like the cow in Gary Larson’s cartoon, but she selected, adjusted and used one with notable dexterity and flexibility. Perhaps the real absurdity lies not in imagining a tool-using cow, but in assuming such a thing could never exist.” #cowtools
- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.Trump accepting Machado's Nobel Peace Prize is a great insult to the FIFA Peace Prize committee
- tgif! I can visualise the weekend with this (link to new track in the article) themusic.com.au/news/red-hot...
- Manipulating Minds: The Psychological Underpinnings of Misinformation @slvdlv.bsky.social & Wagner-Egger "As Rouquette (2004) illustrates through a metaphor, propaganda is akin to a cake" link.springer.com/content/pdf/...
- on the precarity of the gig economy, the independence of working/riding outdoors, and the random encounters. years ago I worked as a bicycle courier in the Melbourne CBD. in some ways nothing has changed: taking your life into your hands, constant battles with cars/trucks, wet tram tracks
- Does Political Trust Foster or Hinder Volunteering? A Longitudinal Investigation in the United Kingdom @fannylalot.bsky.social & Abrams fascinating results that changes in nat/local trust differentially precede changes in volunteering journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.There’s a big story everyone is missing—but this article hits on it. We aren’t just seeing public health dismantled bc we’ve been taken over by conspiracy theorists and lunatics. What we’re really seeing is the giant, predatory, underegulated wellness industry come to Washington.
- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.Want to get the data out of a PDF figure? As in, the actual data – not a rough trace-along-the-lines version? I made an app you might like: adamkucharski.github.io/pdf2plot/ It all started a few years ago... 🧵
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- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.One of my favorite clips about the Mercator projection: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVX-...
- nice piece on narcissism and conspiracy belief by @tylorcos.bsky.social theconversation.com/why-do-educa...
- unsollicited movie recommendation. if it is still playing in your local area, go and experience this at the movie theatre. I can almost guarantee it will be an amazing 3 hours thescoop.au/film-review-...
- “Cycling is cheap and the bicycle has impeccable environmental credentials. These companies want to associate themselves with cycling because it allows them to associate themselves with the environment, the photography, the imagery, the dream of the wilderness and peak physical human performance.”
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- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.“These findings provide clear evidence that data collected on MTurk simply cannot be trusted.”
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- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.So little was known 18 years ago when I started researching climate comms. I'm blown away by how much we now know. This study, led by the incomparable Jan Voelkel with his all-star band, and released today in @natclimate.nature.com confirms that many distinct message strategies can work...
- exploring rockpools
- often imitated, never surpassed buy the original zapatopi.net/afdb/
- "It enables working while teleporting" what an ingenious way to involve people not able to work in traditional ways to engage with others www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12...
- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.The rumors about daycare centers are extremely "fit" for virality: having both novelty & familiarity (drawing on anti-immigrant tropes of criminality & exploitation); making emotional/identity appeals; are *participatory* in that ppl can create their own “evidence” by investigating local centers.
- Testing the socio-functional model: Does precarity cause conspiracy belief? TLDR; probably not huge thx: Antipodean Misinformation and Conspiracies Club @matthewmatix.bsky.social @lingtax.bsky.social @scicomguy.bsky.social @srhastraea.bsky.social @eddieclarke.bsky.social & students osf.io/nq3y7/
- author's accessible link here onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author...
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This is true and I was the only one on set excited about it (and playing the song on my phone to blank stares) - managed 10,000km for the year on the bike and it was only possible as I was supported by a wonderful family. only fitting most of them joined me for the final few kms to hit the milestone
- thankful to have friends who also enjoy the joys of riding in the hills
- post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, pearl jam, soundgarden, or alice in chains
- wood fired pizza prep for family tonight
- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.Nina Jankowicz: “They’re not doing this because they have any evidence of censorship — they lost a Supreme Court case that made those claims… They’re doing this because the group of researchers and advocates have stood up to liars like Donald Trump and the platforms that enable them.”
- “Chilling and unconstitutional” — @attorneynora.bsky.social @freepress.bsky.social
- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.my festive spirit amidst our grimly stupid reality (2025)
- Belief in science-related conspiracy theories is not just a matter of knowledge: The democratic quality of countries as a protective factor @irelopeznavarro.bsky.social & Santos-Requej journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
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- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.Have you got a PhD in Statistics (or related field) and experience in Statistical Consulting? A continuing position at the Australian National University is now open 🇦🇺🦘🐨. Would love to get an #rstats person if possible ☺️ Apply by 18 Jan 👉 jobs.anu.edu.au/jobs/course-... #statssky #statsky
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- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.if tumblr dies I need this video to make it's seasonal rotation here instead just in case, Happy holidays 🎄
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- good morning. I think our dog is broken.
- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.This was not an easy one to write, but here it is! 🎈🤡 Freshly published in Collabra: Psychology: the life and death of one of the coolest findings in my PhD dissertation. 🎈🤡 With the usual – and wonderful – Karen M. Douglas, @paulbertin.bsky.social, and @olivierklein.bsky.social. 1/11
- Does Being Confronted With Internal Attributions for an Ingroup’s Sufferings Foster the Endorsement of Conspiracy Theories? New in social psychology, from @kenzonera.bsky.social, Karen Douglas, @paulbertin.bsky.social, and @olivierklein.bsky.social doi.org/10.1525/coll...
- Longitudinal analysis shows possible distinct patterns of associations between conspiracy beliefs and either institutional distrust or the sense of precarity findings here suggest b/w person associations over time, rather than w/i changes bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
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- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.Grading and googling hallucinated citations, as one does nowadays, and now that LLMs have been around for a while, I've discovered new horrors: hallucinated journals are now appearing in Google Scholar with dozens of citations bc so many people are citing these fake things
- today's soundtrack after a rough Monday involving two planned medical appointments and a bonus one following a very sharp knife and a mistaken case of thumb for onion incident. all good, just taking it very easy today.
- Does Repetition Increase Perceived Truth Equally for Conspiracy and Trivia Statements? @shaunambowes.bsky.social @lkfazio.bsky.social see osf.io/b2pk4/ implications include for the monological belief theory, hearing/believing in on CT -> belief in others (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....)
- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.This is fucking grim. Somebody invented a white guy, an "IT professional" named Edward Crabtree, who stopped the Bondi shooting and spread it all over the internet, which was picked up by AI agents and slop aggregation sites. The real hero is a fruit stand owner named Ahmed el Ahmed.
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- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.On December 10 at the European Parliament, during a screening of documentary films about Ukrainian children, the interpreter could not hold back tears as 11‑year‑old Roman Oleksiv from Lviv spoke. The boy had survived the missile strike on Vinnytsia on July 14, 2022,
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- good read not only on MAHA links but of the original quackery from Palmer and how it aligns with worlviews against vaccines and allopathic medicine.
- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.Big new blogpost! My guide to data visualization, which includes a very long table of contents, tons of charts, and more. --> Why data visualization matters and how to make charts more effective, clear, transparent, and sometimes, beautiful. www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/salonis-gu...
- Reposted by mat marques, ph.d.Gotta admit "the font is DEI" is a stage of absurdity I could not have predicted
