Robb Willer

  1. Home
  2. Wiki

Robb Willer
NationalityAmerican
Scientific career
FieldsSocial psychology

Organizational behavior Political science Political psychology

Moral psychology
InstitutionsStanford University University of California, Berkeley
Websitewww.robbwiller.org

Robb Willer (born 1977) is an American sociologist[1][2] and social psychologist[3] whose research has examined American politics, political psychology, moral persuasion, and cooperation.[4][5]

Early life and education

[edit]

Robb Willer grew up in Kansas and South Carolina,[6] before earning a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from the University of Iowa and completing an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology at Cornell University.[4][5] While at Cornell, he co-led a United Auto Workers–affiliated drive to unionize graduate teaching and research assistants, but students voted against forming a union, an experience he later cited as formative to his interest in collective action and political psychology.[7]

Academic career

[edit]

Willer began his career as an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2009, he received UC Berkeley’s Golden Apple Teaching Award, the only teaching award given by UC-Berkeley’s student body.[8][9][10] He is currently a Professor of Sociology at Stanford University,[11] with courtesy appointments in Psychology and Organizational Behavior.[5][12]

Research

[edit]

Moral reframing

[edit]

With Matthew Feinberg, Willer has studied a technique of political persuasion called “moral reframing.”[13] They find that environmental and other political messages are more persuasive when framed in terms of an audience’s own moral values rather than the messenger’s.[14][15] In 2017 Willer gave a TED talk outlining moral reframing strategies to facilitate cross-party dialogue.[10][16]

Political polarization and democracy

[edit]

In 2021, Willer co-led the Strengthening Democracy Challenge, a megastudy evaluating 25 interventions to reduce anti-democratic attitudes. The study identified several strategies that showed effectiveness in improving democratic attitudes, including correcting misperceptions about the prevalence of anti-democratic views among opposing partisans, illustrating the consequences of democratic collapse in other nations, and featuring endorsements of democratic engagement from trusted political leaders.[1][2][3][17][18][19][20]

Masculinity threats

[edit]

In earlier work, Willer examined the psychological effects of masculinity threats, demonstrating in a 2005 study that men whose masculinity was challenged expressed greater support for military intervention and more stereotypically masculine behaviors, including a preference for SUVs.[21][22][23][24][25]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Graham, David A. (October 21, 2022). "How to Save Democracy". The Atlantic. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  2. ^ a b PBS News Hour | Understanding America's partisan divide and how to fix it | Season 2023. Retrieved July 7, 2025 – via www.pbs.org.
  3. ^ a b Sidik, Saima May (March 1, 2023). "How to tackle political polarization — the researchers trying to bridge divides". Nature. 615 (7950): 26–28. doi:10.1038/d41586-023-00573-5.
  4. ^ a b "Robb Willer | Sociology". sociology.stanford.edu. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  5. ^ a b c "Robb Willer". TED. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  6. ^ Boyle, Tara (June 23, 2025). "Win Hearts, Then Minds + Your Questions Answered on Identity and "Covering" - Hidden Brain Media". Hidden Brain Media. Archived from the original on July 19, 2025. Retrieved August 7, 2025.
  7. ^ Patel, Vima (October 2, 2016). "NYU's Grad Student Union Succeeded, Cornell's Flopped. Why?". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  8. ^ "The apple of their eye". UC Berkeley News. April 14, 2009. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  9. ^ McFadden, Kristen (March 11, 2013). "The coolest professors at Berkeley, according to the Golden Apple Awards". www.dailycal.org. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  10. ^ a b "Robb Willer: How Do We Bridge The Political Divide?". NPR. October 27, 2017. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  11. ^ TVO Today (November 18, 2019). Why Conservatives and Liberals Think Differently. Retrieved July 7, 2025 – via YouTube.
  12. ^ "Robb Willer". Stanford Graduate School of Business. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
  13. ^ "Stanford sociologist shows how to make effective political arguments". news.stanford.edu. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
  14. ^ Khazan, Olga (February 1, 2017). "The Simple Psychological Trick to Political Persuasion". The Atlantic. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  15. ^ Friedersdorf, Conor (June 27, 2017). "Working Toward the Same Ends for Different Reasons". The Atlantic. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  16. ^ "How to Have Better Political Conversations". TED. September 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2025.
  17. ^ "Opinion | Meet the People Working on Getting Us to Hate One Another Less (Published 2023)". February 8, 2023. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  18. ^ Coppins, McKay (August 19, 2024). "The Last Man in America to Change His Mind About Trump". The Atlantic. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  19. ^ Zitner, Aaron (August 26, 2023). "Why Tribalism Took Over Our Politics" (PDF). Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  20. ^ "How to strengthen democracy". news.stanford.edu. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
  21. ^ Bennett, Jessica (November 1, 2020). "Trump, Biden and the Tough Guy, Nice Guy Politics of 2020". The New York Times. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  22. ^ Scott, Eugene (December 12, 2018). "Pelosi thinks Trump's policy-making is connected to his sense of 'manhood.' She may be right". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  23. ^ Knowles, Eric; DiMuccio, Sarah (November 29, 2018). "How Donald Trump appeals to men secretly insecure about their manhood". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  24. ^ Beckman, Mary (August 4, 2005). "How To Sell Humvees To Men". Science. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  25. ^ "Decoding masculinity: Q+A with Robb Willer, professor of sociology". May 16, 2013. Retrieved July 7, 2025.