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Peer-reviewed Research Articles
Under review / in revision
Puryear, C. , Brady, W.J. & Kteily, N (under review). The dynamics of moralization on social media. [Preprint] [Data + Code]
Brady, W.J., Doyle, M., Jackson, J.C., & Baier, S. (under review). Engagement-based algorithms disrupt human social norm norming. [Preprint] [Data + Code]
Brady, W.J., Doyle, M, Elnakouri, A., Finkel, E., Jackson, J.C., Kteily, N., Parker, V., Puryear, C., Spelman, T. , Teeny, J., & Torres, M. (In Principle Acceptance; registered report). Redesigning algorithms to intervene on social norm misperceptions during a national election. Nature.
Brady, W.J. & Van Bavel, J.J. (R & R - PNAS Nexus). Estimating the effect size of moral contagion in online networks: A pre-registered replication and meta-analysis [Preprint] [Data + Code]
2025
Brady, W.J. & Van Bavel, J.J. (2025). Social identity shapes antecedents and functional outcomes of moral emotion expression in online networks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. [PDF] [Data + Code]
Effron, D.E. & Brady, W.J. (2025). Affective and cognitive underpinnings of moral condemnation when news of transgressions goes viral. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General [Preprint] [Data + Code]
2024
McLoughlin, K.^, Brady, W.J.^, Goolsbee, A., Klonick, K., & Crockett, M.J. (2024). Misinformation exploits outrage to spread online. Science, 386(6725), 991-996. [PDF] [Data + Code]
^Authors contributed equallyBrady, W.J. & Crocket, M.J. (2024). Norm psychology in the digital age: how social media shapes the cultural evolution of normativity. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 19(1), 62-64. [PDF]
McLoughlin, K. & Brady, W.J. (2024). Human-algorithm interactions help explain the spread of misinformation. Current Opinion in Psychology. 56, 101770. [PDF]
Rathje, S., Robertson, C., Brady, W.J., & Van Bavel, J.J. (2024). People think that social media platforms do (but should not) amplify divisive content. Perspectives on Psychological Science. [PDF] [Data + Code]
2023
Brady, W.J., Jackson, J.C., Lindstrom, B. & Crockett, M.J. (2023). Algorithm-mediated social learning in online social networks. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 27(10), 947-960. [PDF]
Brady, W.J., McLoughlin, K., Torres, M., Luo, K. Gendron, M. & Crockett, M.J. (2023). Overperception of moral outrage in line social networks inflates beliefs about intergroup hostility. Nature Human Behaviour. [PDF] [Data + Code]
Dywer, R, Brady, W.J., Anderson, C. & Dunn, E. (2023). Are people generous when the financial stakes are high? Psychological Science, 34(9), 999-1006. [PDF] [Data + Code].
Hackenburg, K., Brady, W.J., Tsakiris, M. (2023). Mapping moral language on US presidential primary campaigns reveals rhetorical networks of political division and unity. PNAS Nexus, 2, 1-9. [PDF] [Data + Code]
Pretus, C., Servin-Barthet, C., Harris, E., Brady, W.J., Vilarroya, O., Van Bavel, J. (2023). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 152 (11), 3116–3134. The role of political devotion in sharing partisan misinformation. [PDF] {Data + Code]
2022
Simchon, A., Brady, W.J., & Van Bavel J.J. (2022). Troll and divide: The language of online polarization. PNAS Nexus, 1(1), pgac019. [PDF] [Data + Code]
Brady, W. J., & McLoughlin, K. L. (2022). How social media contexts affect the expression of moral emotions. In S. C. Matz (Ed.), The psychology of technology: Social science research in the age of Big Data (pp. 239–265). American Psychological Association. [PDF]
Brady, W.J., McLoughlin, K., & Crockett, M.J. (2022). Theory-driven Measurement of Emotion (Expressions) in Social Media Text. The Atlas of Language Analysis in Psychology. Guilford Press. [PDF]
Harris, E., Parnamets, P., Brady, W.J., Robertson, C., & Van Bavel, J.J. (2022). The role of generalizability in moral and political psychology. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 45, e19. [PDF]
2021
Brady, W.J., McLoughlin, K., Doan, T., & Crockett, M.J. (2021). How social learning amplifies moral outrage in online social networks. Science Advances, 7(33), eabe5641 . [PDF] [Data + Code]
Everett, J.A.C., Colombatto, C., Brady, W.J.,…Crockett, M.J. (2021). Moral dilemmas and trust in leaders during a global health crisis. Nature Human Behaviour, 5, 1074-1088. [PDF] {Data + Code]
Carpenter, J. Brady, W.J., Crockett, M.J., Weber, R. & Sinnott-Armstrong, W. (2021). Political Polarization and Moral Outrage on Social Media. Connecticut Law Review. 454. 1107-1120. [PDF]
2020
Brady, W.J., M.J. Crockett & Van Bavel, J.J. (2020). The MAD Model of Moral Contagion: The role of motivation, attention and design in the spread of moralized content online. Perspectives on Psychological Science. 15(4), 978-1010. [PDF]
Brady, W.J., Gantman, A., & Van Bavel J.J. (2020). Attentional capture helps explain why moral and emotional content go viral online. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149 (4), 746–756. [PDF] [Data + Code]
Gollwitzer, A., Martel, C., Brady, W.J., Parnamets, P., Knowles, E.D. & Van Bavel, J.J. (2020). Partisan Differences in Physical Distancing Predict Infections and Mortality During the Coronavirus Pandemic. Nature Human Behaviour. 4, 1186–1197. [PDF] [Data + Code]
Landy, J.F., Jia, M., Ding, L., Viganola, D. Tierney, W, Brady, W.J., . . . Uhlmann, E.L. (2020). Crowdsourcing hypothesis tests: Making transparent how design choices shape research results. Psychological Bulletin. [PDF] [Data + Code]
Reinero, D., Wills, J.A., Brady, W.J., Mende-Siedlecki, P., & Van Bavel, J.J. (2020). Is the ideological slant of psychological research related to scientific reproducibility? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(6), 1310-1328 [PDF] [Data + Code]
2019
Brady, W.J. & Crockett, M.J. (2019). How effective is online outrage? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 23(2), 79-80. [PDF]
Brady, W.J., Wills, J.A., Burkart, D., Jost, J.T. & Van Bavel, J.J. (2019). An Ideological asymmetry in the diffusion of moralized content among political leaders. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 148(10), 1802-1813.
[PDF] [Data + Code]
2017
Brady, W. J., Wills, J. A., Jost, J. T., Tucker, J. A. & Van Bavel, J. J. (2017). Emotion shapes the diffusion of moralized content in social networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(28), 7313-7318. [PDF] [Data + Code]
2016 and prior
Van Bavel, J. J., Mende-Siedlecki, P., Brady, W. J., & Reinero, D. A. (2016). Reply to Inbar: Contextual sensitivity helps explain the reproducibility gap between social and cognitive psychology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(34), E4935. [PDF] [Data + Code]
Van Bavel, J.J., Mende-Sedlecki, P., Brady, W.J., & Reinero, D. (2016). Contextual sensitivity in scientific reproducibility. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113(23), 6454-6459. [PDF] [Data + Code]
Sheppes, G, Brady, W.J., & Samson, A. (2014). In (visual) Search for a New Distraction: The Efficiency of a Novel Attentional Deployment Versus Semantic Meaning Regulation Strategies. Frontiers in Psychology (5)346. [PDF]
De Brigard, F. & Brady, W.J. (2013). The effect of what we think may happen on our judgments of responsibility. Review of Philosophy and Psychology. 1-11. [PDF] [Data]