Center for Conflict and Cooperation at NYU

08/31/2026

"The Power of Us" is currently #1 Best Seller in Cognitive Neuroscience & Cognitive Neuropsychology on Amazon!

The Power Of Us stems from one basic idea: social identity is one of the most powerful forces in human life. It shapes who we trust, who we help, who we fear, who we follow, what we believe, how we work, and whether we can cooperate across our differences.

Get it on sale as an e-book today for only $2.99 📖

https://www.amazon.com/Power-Harnessing-Identities-Performance-Cooperation-ebook/dp/B08RYQ8881/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0 #

The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony

07/13/2026

What is technology doing to our relationships and mental health? Learn more in this convo between Dr. Jacqueline Nesi & Dr Jay Van Bavel

What the evidence really says about teens, bans, detoxes, and the “scalpel” interventions that actually work (and a video from Jay Van Bavel and Jacqueline Nesi's discussion)

07/12/2026

Check out our recent newsletters! We cover all sorts of topics--from insidious algorithms, to the study of kindness, to national narcissism.

https://www.powerofusnewsletter.com/

07/08/2026

Why do people join (and stay in) cults?

05/27/2026

Social media allows misinformation to cascade through our information environment.

05/26/2026

People prefer chatbots that validate all of their opinions over chatbots that challenge their beliefs. And, they describe these sycophantic chatbots as “unbiased.”

📑 Full updated preprint on sycophantic AI on OSF: "Sycophantic AI increases attitude extremity and overconfidence"

📹 Full interview with on Youtube:
"Tristan Harris On The Dangers of Engagement-Maximizing AI"

04/03/2026

Political violence is often treated as something extreme or exceptional.

But, much of the underlying psychology is not. It emerges from familiar processes: When people strongly identify with a group, threats to that group feel deeply personal and can escalate to violence.

discussed these issues in a BBC radio special on political violence called "How Not to Kill a Politician" that aired this week.

Listen to the full interview here with Alison (Ali) Goldsworthy: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7uWbmkJQC9AJBBAubCOqts?si=NOtRiC8pQVyrLoi1TpPVFw&nd=1&dlsi=e4164136380946bf

04/01/2026

Last week, we curated a diverse audience of over 150 experts—ranging from academics, journalists, and tech—to join us for a special screening of The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, and for a panel discussion with Dr. Jonathan Haidt, Producer Jonathan Wang, Dr. Jay Van Bavel, and Dr. Anni Sternisko.

Check out our newsletter reflecting on the documentary, and see The AI Doc in theaters now!

https://www.powerofusnewsletter.com/p/reflections-on-the-ai-doc-or-how

01/31/2026

Democracy doesn’t require perfect truth—but it does require something more fragile: independent voices. The “wisdom of crowds” depends on independence between judgments. If a single actor can speak through thousands of inauthentic accounts, the apparent consensus of the crowd stops being informative.

The most dangerous outcome is not a single viral lie—it is synthetic consensus: the illusion that “everyone is saying this,” which can quietly bend beliefs and norms.

We explain how AI is changing public discourse and what we can do about it.

Substack summary: https://www.powerofusnewsletter.com/p/when-ai-can-fake-majorities-democracy

Original policy forum paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz1697

The new threat of "malicious AI swarms”—and how to defend the public sphere

01/29/2026

Our lab gave several talks about AI at the Psych of Tech Conference this year! Check them out below:

Keynote address by Dr. Jay Van Bavel, explaining how AI can both entrench and overcome intergroup bias: https://youtu.be/XtIPjSrXAhM?si=Hxh0R2EQgkjnnK5w

Dr. Laura Globig's talk on how we can use AI to help us break out of our echo chambers: https://youtu.be/t1IWjiEMfZ0?si=JZVtpWPohDqxvFEg

Dr. Steve Rathje's talk on how interacting with sycophantic AI chatbots affects us: https://youtu.be/Z77xCzsfcgE?si=rZ50clmOMQJFhO3f

9th annual Psychology of Technology Institute’s “New Directions in Research on the Psychology of Technology” conference, University of Virginia’s Darden Scho...