Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Kent, interested in cultural evolution, cooperation, and moral psychology with a focus on artificial intelligence.https://bsky.app/profile/scottclaessens.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/scottclaessens.bsky.social/post/3lo4wjkpqlc2cCheck out our new pre-print on negative perceptions of outsourcing to AI! [contains quote post or other embedded content]01 May 2025 18:22 +0000at://did:plc:caorl7h4k6x2coju5tk3zble/app.bsky.feed.post/3lo4wjkpqlc2chttps://bsky.app/profile/scottclaessens.bsky.social/post/3lo4w3k2zk22cCausal inference question! We want to know whether there is a causal path from X --> Y. However, both variables likely share unobserved confounds (U). We have developed an experimental manipulation that directly influences X (Z --> X) but not Y (Z ⫫ Y). Can we use Z as an instrumental variable?01 May 2025 18:14 +0000at://did:plc:caorl7h4k6x2coju5tk3zble/app.bsky.feed.post/3lo4w3k2zk22chttps://bsky.app/profile/scottclaessens.bsky.social/post/3l6rn23xcba2fHi new friends! It's great to see the wave of people moving over from the Other Place. I recently started a postdoc at the University of Kent looking at the moral psychology of AI. I'm also interested in cultural evolution, politics, and cooperation. Hoping to share some cool research soon!18 Oct 2024 09:16 +0000at://did:plc:caorl7h4k6x2coju5tk3zble/app.bsky.feed.post/3l6rn23xcba2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/scottclaessens.bsky.social/post/3kiirbofkqk2kExcited to share this new preprint, a collaboration with Nichola Raihani and Quentin Atkinson. What motivates people to punish others? We find that while many people choose not to punish, those who do punish are motivated by egalitarianism rather than deterrence or norm-enforcement. https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/ys6rm08 Jan 2024 21:23 +0000at://did:plc:caorl7h4k6x2coju5tk3zble/app.bsky.feed.post/3kiirbofkqk2khttps://bsky.app/profile/scottclaessens.bsky.social/post/3kiiqn4esdo2gI can confirm that these guys are doing awesome work here in Auckland! [contains quote post or other embedded content]08 Jan 2024 21:12 +0000at://did:plc:caorl7h4k6x2coju5tk3zble/app.bsky.feed.post/3kiiqn4esdo2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/scottclaessens.bsky.social/post/3k7wqsoqwuy2sNow I'm here, I may as well plug our new paper on the non-independence of nations! 🌏 So happy for this to finally be published open-access at Nature Communications. Worth a read if you're thinking of including any cross-national analyses in your next project! https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-41486-121 Sep 2023 22:05 +0000at://did:plc:caorl7h4k6x2coju5tk3zble/app.bsky.feed.post/3k7wqsoqwuy2shttps://bsky.app/profile/scottclaessens.bsky.social/post/3k7wqk5bc4k2mMy first post on Bluesky! Happy to have finally moved here from the other place. Let's hope this is more successful than the Mastodon migration.21 Sep 2023 22:00 +0000at://did:plc:caorl7h4k6x2coju5tk3zble/app.bsky.feed.post/3k7wqk5bc4k2m