The evidence registry

Every claim we make, and where the evidence runs out

48 papers stand behind 116 of our 180 exercises. This page is the whole registry — what each study found, what it does not show, and everywhere we lean on it. No account, no paywall, and no claim that is not attached to the thing it came from.

The number nobody else prints

64 of our 180 exercises rest on judgement rather than evidence — and every one of them says so, on the card, before you pay anything.

Most of what works in a conversation has never been tested and never will be, which is true of everyone teaching this subject. We are the only ones who count it. A curriculum that blurs judgement into evidence is asking you to take its weakest claims on the credit of its strongest, and we would rather hand you the ledger.

Research

A real study. We tell you what it found, how many people were in it, and what it can't prove.

Clinical practice

A standard method therapists use for fear. Not therapy — the same tools, pointed at everyday shyness.

From the canon

A true story from history. Interesting, but a story is not proof.

Our reading

Our own opinion. We think it works. We can't prove it, so we say so instead of pretending.

And the limits

All 24 of the 24 papers we lean on more than twice state what they cannot show — the sample, the design, the population they were written about — on every card that cites them, not only here. That is enforced by a test rather than by good intentions: a paper that crosses three citations without stating its limits fails the build.

Where the advice and the literature disagree

6 findings

The studies this subject quotes most confidently, and what happened when somebody checked them. We still cite several — with the failure attached, because a contested result used honestly is worth more than a clean one used carelessly.

Contested

The Effect of a Pratfall on Increasing Interpersonal Attractiveness

Aronson, Willerman & Floyd (1966)

The pratfall effect is quoted as though a blunder makes anyone more likeable. In the original it helped a competent performer and actively harmed a mediocre one, the experiment was small and used male participants only, and the replication record since has been uneven.

Contested

“Playing Hard to Get”: Understanding an Elusive Phenomenon

Walster, Walster, Piliavin & Schmidt (1973)

Playing hard to get is folk wisdom with an unusually clear paper trail: the authors ran five experiments that found nothing before a sixth found the effect, and only for a specific version of it. The popular claim is far broader than what held.

Contested

A Multi-Lab Test of the Facial Feedback Hypothesis; Registered Replication Report: Strack, Martin & Stepper (1988)

Coles et al., Many Smiles Collaboration (2022); Wagenmakers et al. (2016)

“Arrange your face and your mood follows” is the single most repeated claim in popular charm advice. A 17-lab registered replication failed to reproduce the classic pen-in-mouth result in 2016; the 26-lab study in 2022 found only small effects, and weakest of all with the unobtrusive pen task.

Contested

Political Extremism Is Supported by an Illusion of Understanding

Fernbach, Rogers, Fox & Sloman (2013)

Asking somebody to explain a policy mechanistically was reported to moderate their position. Later work — sloman2022, by one of the original authors — found the effect smaller and less consistent than the first paper suggested.

Corrects a popular claim

Is Political Extremism Supported by an Illusion of Understanding?

Sloman & Vives (2022)

A re-examination of the illusion of explanatory depth as a way to reduce political extremism, by one of the authors of the 2013 paper. Cited here beside it rather than instead of it.

Corrects a popular claim

The Elusive Backfire Effect: Mass Attitudes' Steadfast Factual Adherence

Wood & Porter (2019)

This one corrects a popular claim rather than making one: the backfire effect — the idea that correcting somebody hardens their belief — proved elusive across thirty thousand participants. People mostly updated toward the facts.

Every source, most-relied-on first

48 papers

Ordered by how much of the curriculum would have to change if the paper turned out to be wrong.

Clinical practice

A Cognitive Model of Social Phobia

Clark & Wells (1995)

Relied on in 21 places

Every claim we make, and where the evidence runs out

Where the advice and the literature disagree

The Effect of a Pratfall on Increasing Interpersonal Attractiveness

“Playing Hard to Get”: Understanding an Elusive Phenomenon

A Multi-Lab Test of the Facial Feedback Hypothesis; Registered Replication Report: Strack, Martin & Stepper (1988)

Political Extremism Is Supported by an Illusion of Understanding

Is Political Extremism Supported by an Illusion of Understanding?

The Elusive Backfire Effect: Mass Attitudes' Steadfast Factual Adherence

Every source, most-relied-on first

A Cognitive Model of Social Phobia

It Doesn't Hurt to Ask: Question-Asking Increases Liking

Beautiful Mess Effect: Self–Other Differences in Evaluation of Showing Vulnerability

Maximizing Exposure Therapy: An Inhibitory Learning Approach

If You Need Help, Just Ask: Underestimating Compliance With Direct Requests for Help

Duration Neglect in Retrospective Evaluations of Affective Episodes; When More Pain Is Preferred to Less

Post-Event Processing in Social Anxiety

The Spotlight Effect in Social Judgment

The Liking Gap in Conversations: Do People Like Us More Than We Think?

Perceived Partner Responsiveness as an Organizing Construct in the Study of Intimacy and Closeness

Mistakenly Seeking Solitude

Overly Shallow?: Miscalibrated Expectations Create a Barrier to Deeper Conversation

Couples' Shared Participation in Novel and Arousing Activities and Experienced Relationship Quality

The Effect of a Pratfall on Increasing Interpersonal Attractiveness

Pupil Dilation as an Index of Preferred Mutual Gaze Duration

Daily Marital Interactions and Positive Affect During Marital Conflict Among Newlywed Couples

Just Teasing: A Conceptual Analysis and Empirical Review

The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness

(Mis)Understanding Our Influence Over Others: A Review of the Underestimated-Compliance Effect

Perspective Mistaking: Accurately Understanding the Mind of Another Requires Getting Perspective, Not Taking Perspective

The Humanizing Voice: Speech Reveals, and Text Conceals, a More Thoughtful Mind in the Midst of Disagreement

Disclosing Information About the Self Is Intrinsically Rewarding

Fast Response Times Signal Social Connection in Conversation

Conversational Receptiveness: Improving Engagement with Opposing Views

A Little Thanks Goes a Long Way: Explaining Why Gratitude Expressions Motivate Prosocial Behavior

Egocentrism Over E-Mail: Can We Communicate as Well as We Think?

Undervaluing Gratitude: Expressers Misunderstand the Consequences of Showing Appreciation

The Sound of Intellect: Speech Reveals a Thoughtful Mind, Increasing a Job Candidate's Appeal

“Playing Hard to Get”: Understanding an Elusive Phenomenon

Durably Reducing Transphobia: A Field Experiment on Door-to-Door Canvassing

Get Excited: Reappraising Pre-Performance Anxiety as Excitement

History of My Life

A Multi-Lab Test of the Facial Feedback Hypothesis; Registered Replication Report: Strack, Martin & Stepper (1988)

Political Extremism Is Supported by an Illusion of Understanding

Online Pauses and Silence: Chronemic Expectancy Violations in Written Computer-Mediated Communication

Anticipation and the Valuation of Delayed Consumption

The Psychology of Curiosity: A Review and Reinterpretation

Eavesdropping on Happiness: Well-Being Is Related to Having Less Small Talk and More Substantive Conversations

The iPhone Effect: The Quality of In-Person Social Interactions in the Presence of Mobile Devices

Exposure Effects in the Classroom: The Development of Affinity Among Students

Familiarity Does Indeed Promote Attraction in Live Interaction

Social Interactions and Well-Being: The Surprising Power of Weak Ties

Talking to Strangers: A Week-Long Intervention Reduces Psychological Barriers to Social Connection

Is Efficiency Overrated? Minimal Social Interactions Lead to Belonging and Positive Affect

Is Political Extremism Supported by an Illusion of Understanding?

Alcohol Myopia: Its Prized and Dangerous Effects

The Elusive Backfire Effect: Mass Attitudes' Steadfast Factual Adherence

Attitudinal Effects of Mere Exposure; Exposure and Affect: Overview and Meta-Analysis of Research, 1968–1987