… Some people might argue that sentiment and emotions are “soft data,” and only hard data such as GDP and unemployment really matter to a country’s future. The results from Gallup’s 2017 Global Emotions Report serve as a caution against this thinking because of two words: behavioral economics. This field […] Read more »
What makes populist leaders tick? Here are 3 things we’ve learned.
… For decades, most political theories tended to assume that people were rational, which suggested that it didn’t much matter exactly who held power. Of course, psychologists have known for a long time that this assumption wasn’t always true, but it was difficult to study top decision-makers to draw general […] Read more »
10,000 New Yorkers. 2 Decades. A Data Trove About ‘Everything.’
Your phone, in all likelihood, knows more about you than your doctor. Your credit card company knows your likes and dislikes better than your closest friend. Google knows your thoughts, and even completes your sentences. Your telephone service provider knows where you are at all times. Facebook, for many, knows […] Read more »
Lessons for Trump Detractors From a Loyalty Expert
You’ve probably never heard of James Kane, but elected officials, party strategists, and even some reporters could learn from his perspective as a behavioral scientist (instead of a partisan hack) about how to fracture President Donald Trump’s base and the future of the two parties. … According to Kane, people […] Read more »
Ordering Vindaloo or Hunting for Venison? How You Vote
… As a political scientist, I’ve been asking people about their experiences with people who are different from them. In 2008, I wrote a series of questions to measure cosmopolitanism. I asked seven questions about travel, sports and food to tap into behaviors that expose people to varying levels of […] Read more »
The Theory That Explains The Anger Of Our Political Moment
Suddenly, people are more in favor of the Affordable Care Act than are against it. For the first time, more people believe Obamacare is a good idea than think it is a bad idea, as a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed. … There are a few reasons the […] Read more »