On a four-point scale, from one (strongly disagree) to four (strongly agree), please rate the following statements: “The Apollo moon landings never happened and were staged in a Hollywood film studio”; ”Princess Diana’s death was not an accident but rather an organized assassination by members of the British Royal Family […] Read more »
Could Google tilt a close election?
Google’s motto is “Don’t be evil.” But what would it mean for democracy if it was? That’s the question psychologist Robert Epstein has been asking in a series of experiments testing the impact of a fictitious search engine — he called it “Kadoodle” — that manipulated search rankings, giving an […] Read more »
The Destructive Influence of Imaginary Peers
We humans irrationally think we’re rational. We think that we decide how to behave by weighing the pros and cons. In reality, the strongest influence on our decisions is the example of the people around us …. Telling people to go against their peer group never works. A better strategy […] Read more »
Good News Beats Bad on Social Networks
Bad news sells. If it bleeds, it leads. No news is good news, and good news is no news. Those are the classic rules for the evening broadcasts and the morning papers, based partly on data (ratings and circulation) and partly on the gut instincts of producers and editors. Wars, […] Read more »
Stalin, Mother Teresa, and Rob Portman: What do they have in common?
Rob Portman, Republican senator from Ohio and one-time contender for Romney’s would-be VP slot, announced on Friday that he has reversed his very public stance against gay marriage. … According to Portman, it can all be credited to his son, Will — an openly gay 21-year-old man who came out […] Read more »
Hurricane Sandy’s Predictably Small Effect On The Election
In case you hadn’t heard, there was a big storm right before the election. Despite no real evidence, pundits, and even some scholars, have tried to demonstrate an effect of Hurricane Sandy on the election outcome. Is it possible that it had an effect? The likelihood that the hurricane had […] Read more »