Research
My research examines the psychological and social forces that contribute to political extremism, authoritarianism, prejudice, and threats to democratic norms. A major focus of my work is the conceptualization and measurement of authoritarianism. At the center of my research is a fundamental question: What underlying psychological mechanisms lead people to embrace authoritarian beliefs and behaviors, regardless of whether those commitments originate on the political left or right?
My broader research also investigates religious prejudice, including antisemitism and Hinduphobia, as well as the relationship between social media use, political radicalization, and support for extremist ideas.
I am committed to scientific integrity, open inquiry, and viewpoint diversity. I am particularly interested in how political bias and weak research practices can distort the questions scholars ask, the data they interpret, and the conclusions they draw. Ultimately, my work seeks to produce more rigorous and ideologically balanced psychological science while contributing to a clearer understanding of the attitudes and social processes that threaten pluralism, free inquiry, and democratic society.
Publications
Peer-reviewed publications
2026Hartz, A., & Yanovsky, S. (2026). Psychotherapy populations that are overlooked due to sociopolitical bias. Current Opinion in Psychology, 71.2025Finkelstein, D., Yanovsky, S., Zucker, J., Jagdeep, A., Vasko, C., Jagdeep, A., Jussim, L., & Finkelstein, J. (2025). Information manipulation on TikTok and its relation to American users’ beliefs about China. Frontiers in Social Psychology, 2.2025Yanovsky, S. (2025). The (de)merits of radical progressivism: Commentary on Negy & Ferguson (2025). Journal of Open Inquiry in the Behavioral Sciences, 4(2).2024Bass, M., Ross, A. R., Wolfson, B., Finkelstein, J., Yanovsky, S., Finkelstein, D., Stevens, S. T., Honeycutt, N., Paresky, P., Feinberg, A., Small, C. A., & Jussim, L. (2024). Foreign funding of U.S. higher education relates to sanctioning of scholars and antisemitism. Frontiers in Social Psychology, 2.
2024Rubinstein, R. S., Jussim, L., Mangracina, B., Shaw, K. M., Yanovsky, S., & Bennett, S. (2024). Perceived controllability of group membership does not moderate individuating information effects in implicit person perception. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 969382.
Manuscripts under review
Under reviewBork, N., Jussim, L., Finkelstein, D., Finkelstein, J., & Yanovsky, S. A theory of the social and political psychology of reciprocal radicalization. Theory & Society.
Manuscripts in preparation
In preparationYanovsky, S., Finkelstein, D., Honeycutt, N., Careem, A., Jussim, L., Finkelstein, J., Stevens, S., Bork, N., & Tabarovsky, I. Left-wing authoritarianism predicts endorsement of Soviet anti-American and antisemitic propaganda.
In preparationFinkelstein, D., Yanovsky, S., Jussim, L., & Finkelstein, J. DEI pedagogy and the hostile attribution bias.
Book chapters
In pressJussim, L., Yanovsky, S., Finkelstein, D., Fedida, O., Fihrer, G., Bork, N., McCaffree, K., Saide, A., & Finkelstein, J. (In press). Anti-prejudice extremism. In J. Forgas (Ed.), The psychology of extremism.
2026Finkelstein, D., Yanovsky, S., Dulburg, Z., Fihrer, G., Finkelstein, J., & Jussim, L. (2026). Disrupted trust: The digital erosion of civic norms. In J. Forgas (Ed.), The tribal mind: The psychology of trust. Routledge.
2025Jussim, L., Yanovsky, S., Honeycutt, N., Finkelstein, D., & Finkelstein, J. (2025). Academic misinformation and false beliefs. In J. Forgas (Ed.), The psychology of false beliefs: Collective delusions and conspiracy theories (pp. 171–187). Routledge.2024Jussim, L., Yanovsky, S., Careem, A., Honeycutt, N., & Finkelstein, D. (2024). Limitations, contestations, failures, and falsification of dramatic claims in intergroup relations. In T. Nelson (Ed.), Handbook of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination. Taylor & Francis.2023Jussim, L., Honeycutt, N., Careem, A., Bork, N., Finkelstein, D., Yanovsky, S., & Finkelstein, J. (2023). The new book burners: Academic tribalism. In J. Forgas (Ed.), The tribal mind: The psychology of collectivism.Public reports
2026Dulberg, Z., Yanovsky, S., Tabarovsky, I., Paresky, P., Finkelstein, D., Jussim, L., Nderitu, A., Moore, J., Finkelstein, J., Pearl, J., & Louis-Klein, A. (2026, April 10). Moral inversion and the rise of authoritarian sympathy. Network Contagion Research Institute.2025Jussim, L., Peterson, J. B., Moore, J., Finkelstein, J., Zucker, J., Finkelstein, D., Yanovsky, S., Goldenberg, A., Fedida, O., Firher, G., Lazarus, S., Jagdeep, A., & Jagdeep, A. (2025, March 13). Thy name in vain: How online extremists hijacked ‘Christ is King’. Network Contagion Research Institute.2024Finkelstein, J., Jussim, L., Farmer, J., Goldenberg, A., Zucker, J., Finkelstein, D., Yanovsky, S., Jagdeep, A., Jagdeep, A., Vasko, C., & Sohn, M. (2024). The CCP’s digital charm offensive. Network Contagion Research Institute.2024Jagdeep, A., Jagdeep, A., Lazarus, S., Zecher, M., Fedida, O., Fihrer, G., Vasko, C., Finkelstein, J., Finkelstein, D., Yanovsky, S., Jussim, L., Paresky, P., & Viswanathan, I. (2024, November 13). Instructing animosity: How DEI pedagogy produces the hostile attribution bias. Network Contagion Research Institute.2024Jussim, L., Finkelstein, D., Yanovsky, S., Goldenberg, A., Finkelstein, J., Selby, E., Benson, R., Patel, S., Glover, T., Vasko, C., Jagdeep, A., Abdallah, L., Harley, S., Ibrahim, C., Kalisch-Cellai, C., Karra, P., Mehta, A., & Rajpal, R. (2024). One click away: A study on the prevalence of non-suicidal self injury, suicide, and eating disorder content accessible by search engines.2023Small, C. A., Kolberner, W., Patterson, D., Reid-Ross, A., Yanovsky, S., Finkelstein, D., Sudhakar, P., Stevens, S. T., Honeycutt, N., Paresky, P., Bass, M., Goldenberg, A., Finkelstein, J., & Jussim, L. (2023). The corruption of the American mind. ISGAP & Network Contagion Research Institute.