Podcasts · Stanford Psychology Podcast
141 - Michael Schwalbe and Geoff Cohen: When Politics Trumps Truths
· 37 min · Explicit
Episode 141 - Michael Schwalbe and Geoff Cohen: When Politics Trumps Truths
Anjie chats with Dr. Michael Schwalbe and Dr. Geoff Cohen. Michael is a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, from which he also received his PhD in social psychology. Geoff is a Professor of Psychology and the James G. March Professor of Organizational Studies in Education and Business at Stanford University. His research examines the processes that shape people’s sense of belonging and self-concept, and the role that these processes play in various social problems. In this episode, Michael and Geoff shared their most recent work on biases we have when consuming political news: people were more likely to believe and share news aligned with their political beliefs, compared to news that was true, even when the headlines were outlandishly fake. They also talked about the implications of these biases for democracy, misinformation, and how we might counteract our own tendencies to favor agreeable but untrue information.
Michael & Geoff’s paper: https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2025-33892-004.html
Stanford Report's coverage on the paper: https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2024/10/new-study-shows-that-partisanship-trumps-truth Michael’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelschwalbe/
Geoff’s lab website: http://cohenlab.stanford.edu
Geoff’s personal website: https://www.geoffreylcohen.com/bio
Anjie’s: website: anjiecao.github.io
Anjie’s Twitter @anjie_cao
Podcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPod
Podcast Substack https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/
Let us know what you thought of this episode, or of the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com
Links in the notes 6
Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them. Explicit shows are for adult profiles only, and children’s profiles hear only children’s shows. More about this list.