Online toxicity silences the majority and fuels power users In online political discussions, a small fraction of highly active users typically generates the vast majority of content while most people silently observe. This vocal minority dominates the conversation, creating a distorted picture of public opinion that looks far more polarized than it actually is. In the modern attention economy of social media, extreme or hostile content often gains the most visibility. This creates a spiral of silence among most users A new experiment reveals that polite and constructive environments encourage silent readers to post their first comment, but the most active users are driven to post more when discussions become toxic. So being polite and constructive is the way to create a better environment. psypost.org/how-online-toxic…,

Listening is associated with and a likely cause of better job performance, leadership, quality of relationships, trust, job knowledge, job attitudes, and well-being. Listening is a dyadic phenomenon that benefits both the listener and the speaker, including supervisor-subordinate and salesperson-customer dyads. A new review of the research finds that this process yields clarity, facilitates the generation of novel plans, increases well-being, and strengthens attachment to the conversation partner. annualreviews.org/content/jo…

Relationship advice on Reddit is increasingly focused on telling people to break up or divorce and ignoring the need to compromise and communicate. Is it just me or does this seem like a recipe for lonliness.

A fantastic new paper in Nature finds that engagement-based algorithms on social media amplifies intergroup, moralized and emotional (IME) information + toxic content relative to reverse-chronological feeds, with the largest increases in moral outrage and political content. Much of this hostile content is driven by extreme users who relentlessly post. When the researched created a ‘diversified’ algorithm to reduce the influence of extreme users it improved the accuracy of social norm perceptions and reduce perceptions of partisan animosity. Extreme users are ruining these platforms for everyone else. The authors (led by @william__brady ) concluded that "reducing the influence of extreme users can curb algorithmic distortions without diminishing user experience." nature.com/articles/s41586-0… This is more evidence for the column I wrote for the Guardian last year arguing that a few extreme people were ruining the internet for the rest of us: theguardian.com/books/2025/j…

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 can feel deeply personal—sometimes leading to escalation rather than dialogue. I discussed these issues in a BBC radio special on political violence that aired today. I also explained how leaders and regular citizens can defuse violence and intergroup conflict. Understanding these dynamics is essential for anyone working in leadership, media, policy, and conflict resolution. You can listen to the full interview here with @aligoldsworthy : open.spotify.com/episode/7uW…