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How to Persuade Conservatives to Tighten Gun Laws

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Social psychological research suggests three tactics for opening conservative minds to stricter controls on firearms.

Bias in the Financial Services Industry

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Stanford SPARQ: Social Psychological Answers to Real-world Questions and Illumen Capital are conducting original research to address the lack of gender and racial diversity in the financial services industry.

What Social Science Says About Mass Killings

Monday, October 2, 2017

Research on morality, guns, and income inequality may help explain the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Taking a Knee or Not, Here Are 6 Ways to Tackle Prejudice

Thursday, September 28, 2017

As kneeling NFL players inspire conversations about race, SPARQ offers six evidence-based techniques to reduce disparities.

Boost Economic Development with Cultural Insights

Monday, April 24, 2017
Infographic displaying the belief of trusting wisdom and doubting innovation
Many economic development programs fall short because they don’t adequately account for cultural differences. SPARQ Graduate Affiliate Catherine Thomas is trying to improve economic development efforts by leveraging cultural psychology. Here are some cultural psychological insights for economic development...

Echo Chambers? There's an App for That

Friday, February 24, 2017
MIT Logo
To combat echo chambers and isolation, MIT graduate students Mohammad Ghassemi and Tuka Al Hanai founded Connect, a web app that brings students from different backgrounds together over lunch. The founders want to bring their platform to Stanford and partner with social scientists to evaluate its effectiveness...

SPARQShop Builds Tools to Share Social Psych

Monday, December 12, 2016
Student presenting work
SPARQ is pleased to announce we're teaching a course next quarter on building tools to disseminate psychological research.

SPARQLab Teaches Students Psychology for the Real World

Friday, December 9, 2016
SPARQLab students from winter 2018

SPARQ aims to create and share social psychological insights with people working to improve society. Consistent with this mission, SPARQLab teaches new generations of students how psychology can help change the real world.

Director Crum Publishes Intriguing Study on Placebo Effects

Wednesday, November 30, 2016
SPARQ Health Director Alia Crum

A Stanford psychology experiment demonstrates that what a bystander says shapes not only what we think about a product, but also how our bodies respond to it. Healthcare providers and patients may use this finding to enhance the effectiveness of medical treatments, suggest the authors of the study, which was published on Nov. 22 in PLOS ONE.

Eberhardt Finds Places, Not Just People, Are Targets of Bias

Thursday, November 3, 2016
Professor of Psychology and SPARQ Faculty Co-Director Jennifer Eberhardt

New research by SPARQ Faculty Co-director Jennifer Eberhardt shows that people not only hold biases toward people of color, but the spaces they inhabit as well. People rated Black places as more unpleasant, less desirable, and poorer compared to White places, and were more willing to expose residents of Black neighborhoods to pollution by placing chemical plants, freeways, and other undesirable pieces of infrastructure in or near Black spaces.

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