The potency of right-wing populism was visible again last week in the success of right-wing parties in the Austrian election. Conventional wisdom has a ready explanation for populism’s success: the declining economic fortunes of the working class. As the story goes, people who are frustrated with modern economies that require […] Read more »
Beyond Misinformation: Understanding and coping with the post-truth era
The terms “post-truth” and “fake news” have become increasingly prevalent in public discourse over the last year. This article explores the growing abundance of misinformation, how it influences people, and how to counter it. We examine the ways in which misinformation can have an adverse impact on society. We summarize […] Read more »
Trump is a real-world political science experiment
President Donald Trump is a Republican. But often, and more so than any president in memory, he lacks a consistent political ideology. … “We’ve never had a federal elected official, let alone the leader of a party or the president of the United States, who is so easily moved from […] Read more »
Why Republicans Rely More Than Democrats On Ideological Sources of Information
During the 2016 presidential election, supporters of Donald Trump commonly read and shared news stories favorable to their candidate and opposed to Hillary Clinton. In contrast, Clinton supporters relied more on mainstream news sources rather than turning to openly ideological alternatives. Similarly, Trump’s campaign rarely used academic experts to craft […] Read more »
Democrats Are Playing Checkers While Trump Is Playing Chess
For Democrats, the warning shots are coming thick and fast. “More than half of Americans don’t think Donald Trump is fit to serve as president, yet he has a clear path to winning reelection,” Doug Sosnik, who served as President Bill Clinton’s political director, wrote in the Washington Post last […] Read more »
How Norms Change
… Understanding the psychology of changing norms starts from a simple insight: although we may wish to be perfectly rational and impartial, bias is an inescapable part of what it means to be human. … The question, therefore, isn’t “Do biases exist?” but, rather, “How much do we let them […] Read more »