Postdoctoral Fellow @csmapnyu.org. Identities, political behavior, social media 👩🏻💻
melinamuch.com
Melina Much
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New in Nature: LLMs give "the party line" in the languages of authoritarian regimes. This works when they control the media, which feeds pretraining data. We show more state control over the media means less critical LLMs. 6 studies spanning 38 languages & 13 models. Details ↓
I was interviewed for some statements about narrative/discourse co-optation by the right, linked below. If you’re interested in this stuff, I’ll be presenting on how this happens on social media at APSA 👩🏻💻
A breath of fresh air today at the New School ☀️
ICYMI my solo article on MENA identity.
When MENA Americans aren’t given a “MENA” option on forms, they answer identity-related questions on politics more strongly (eg higher end of the scale) than if“MENA” had been added.
Having the group label or not changes the average response!
"the decline in [academic freedom in] the United States has been more rapid and pronounced, particularly in the last year. It has deteriorated by 50% from 2015 to 2025 and is now evaluated as moderate autonomy by country experts" academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...
great stuff by @davekarpf.bsky.social
"Journal articles aren’t social science. They’re just a unit of measurement. They’re how we keep score. Producing journal articles isn’t what we are actually meant to be doing — we’re supposed to be learning meaningful things about people, power, and society."
Are you a social scientist who has been hearing about Claude Code but hasn't checked it out yet? Or are you a social scientist who has been playing with Claude Code and has been wondering what it means for the future of social science research?
www.brookings.edu/articles/the...
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🧵on my new paper "Synthetic personas distort the structure of human belief systems" w Roberto Cerina I'm v excited about...
🚨 Do synthetic samples look like human samples?
We compare 28 LLMs to the 2024 General Social Survey (GSS) to find out + develop host of diagnostics...
I will continue to shout it from the rooftops that part of his success with young men in 2024 came from connecting with them via masculinity, and what’s more masculine than hating on women?
The way those men HOLLERED when he said it too in the video, so gross. #everyonewatcheswomenssports
A new era of agentic AI agents has begun. What does it mean for social scientists? Solomon Messing and Joshua Tucker discuss.
www.brookings.edu
From our FirstView article: What Happens When You Can’t Check the Box? Categorization Threat and Public Opinion among Middle Eastern and North African Americans by @asdurso.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1017/S000...
