PANGEA Lab research led by Dr Götz has recently been cited at a U.S. Senate Hearing. The paper, spearheaded by Dr Götz in collaboration with Dr Samuel Gosling (University of Texas at Austin, USA & University of Melbourne, Australia) and Dr Jason Rentfrow (University of Cambridge, UK) discusses the prevalence, significance and impact of small effects on individuals and entire populations. It was first published in Perspectives on Psychological Science in fall 2021.
In the U.S. Senate, the paper was referenced by Dr. Jonathan Haidt, Thomas Cooley Professor Of Ethical Leadership at NYU’s Stern School of Business as part of his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Technology, Privacy, and the Law. When speaking during the session on “Platform Transparency: Understanding the Impact of Social Media”, Dr. Haidt reviewed and contextualised existing evidence on the effects of social media use, particularly on teenagers. In doing so, he built on our work to make the point that even seemingly small negative effects of social media usage may be impactful, when applied to thousands or even millions of people and over many years.
You can find Dr Haidt’s written testimony, as well as a video recording of the whole session here.