Home | Robb Willer

Robb Willer is a Professor of Sociology at Stanford University, with courtesy appointments in Psychology and Organizational Behavior. He directs the AI for Public Benefit Lab, which tests how AI can be used to benefit people and civic life and studies its risks, and the Politics and Social Change Lab, which studies democracy and political change.

Popular Writing

This Is What Makes Protests Successful

Here’s what persuades Americans to support democracy over party

Why Progressive Candidates Should Invoke Conservative Values

How can the U.S. help prevent more political violence?

Opinion: Why the January 6 hearings could be a game changer

The Key to Political Persuasion

Featured Videos

Weiss, C. M., Green, D. P., & Willer, R. Forthcoming. Can Politicians Bridge Partisan Divides? A Field Experiment with the U.S. National Governors Association. American Journal of Political Science.

Speech at National Governor's Association Meetings (08/2024)
Media Coverage: New York Times (10/2025), Washington Post (12/2025)
Received 2025 Expy “Bridge Builder” Award from the Analyst Institute

Ashokkumar, A.*, Hewitt, L.*, Ghezae, I., & Willer, R. 2026. Large Language Models Can Predict the Results of Social Science Experiments. Nature.

Supplementary Materials.
Web demo, X Thread (07/2026), X Thread (08/2024), Talk at Stanford Tech Impact and Policy Center (02/2025), Talk at HAI (09/2023)
Media Coverage: HAI (07/2025)

Willer, R. 2026. Every Social Science Should Improve Replicability. Nature.

X Thread (04/2026)

Broska, D., Kamphorst, J., Willer, R. 2026. Americans Favor Predistributive Over Redistributive Economic Policies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Voelkel, J. G., Ashokkumar, A., Abeles, A. T... [18 Authors] ... Willenbring, J. K., Malhotra, N., & Willer, R. 2026. A Registered Report Megastudy on the Persuasiveness of the Most-Cited Climate Messages. Nature Climate Change.