Presidential preference polls provide a clear indication of how American conservatives are reacting to the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California. They’ve basically doubled down on their America-first mindset, with large numbers endorsing candidates who express hostility toward outsiders such as immigrants and Muslims. OK, but what about […] Read more »
Cruz campaign credits psychological data and analytics for its rising success
As Cecil Stinemetz walked up to a gray clapboard house in suburban Des Moines last week wearing his “Cruz 2016” cap, a program on his iPhone was determining what kind of person would answer the door. … It turned out that Birdie Harms, a 64-year-old grandmother, part-time real-estate agent and […] Read more »
Donald Trump’s Appeal
… Trump himself is not much of a mystery (he’s the opposite of a mystery, in fact), but the depth and power of his support, of the emotional connection that his supporters feel with him, of his seeming indestructibility as a candidate — that’s the mystery. Equally mysterious is the […] Read more »
Personality and politics
… Building on work done to measure the effectiveness of Air Force officers during the Cold War, psychologists have largely settled on five traits that collectively paint a comprehensive picture of individual personalities. One key dimension of the so-called Big Five is dubbed “openness to experience.” Those who exhibit this […] Read more »
Improving Public Engagement With Climate Change
Despite being one of the most important societal challenges of the 21st century, public engagement with climate change currently remains low in the United States. Mounting evidence from across the behavioral sciences has found that most people regard climate change as a nonurgent and psychologically distant risk—spatially, temporally, and socially—which […] Read more »
Why the massacre in Paris might not help Europe’s far right
… Psychologists and political scientists have documented a link between terrorist attacks and public antipathy toward immigrants and minorities, but the nature of the connection depends on economic, demographic and political factors — which vary from country to country and from tragedy to tragedy. It is difficult to generalize, said […] Read more »