As world leaders grapple with when and how to safely reopen their countries, many are also facing a political problem: how to maintain support as they oversee tanking economies, stifling restrictions and staggering death tolls. … Whether they realize it or not, such leaders have a powerful force on their […] Read more »
How Social Psychology Influences Political Behavior
Individual reactions to the coronavirus pandemic and the public health restrictions that have accompanied it have underscored how powerful negative partisanship can be in the formation of political opinions. In past crises, national shocks have urged partisans to put aside their personal grievances in pursuit of the greater good, but […] Read more »
Coronavirus, ‘Plandemic’ and the seven traits of conspiratorial thinking
No matter the details of the plot, conspiracy theories follow common patterns of thought. Ranta Images/iStock/Getty Images Plus John Cook, George Mason University; Sander van der Linden, University of Cambridge; Stephan Lewandowsky, University of Bristol, and Ullrich Ecker, University of Western Australia The conspiracy theory video “Plandemic” recently went viral. […] Read more »
In a pandemic, political polarization could kill people
As the coronavirus pandemic circles the world, public health officials and other authorities have implored people to avoid crowds and keep their distance from one another. But viral stories of parties on Bourbon Street, pub crawls at Irish bars and packed beaches in Florida make clear these messages often fall […] Read more »
The Conspiracy Theory Handbook
Conspiracy theories are not harmless fun—they can do much harm to society because they undermine trust in the institutions that matter the most in an emergency, such as public health agencies and local governments. In an emergency—like the current COVID pandemic—what matters is the truth. To combat an acute crisis […] Read more »
Sanders and Trump supporters have this quality in common. So do other populist voters.
… Research finds that populist voters do not have much in common — at least not along traditional political lines. … In a recent study, we found that supporters of populists do have something in common: their personalities. Psychologists distinguish among five general traits that determine our personalities: openness to […] Read more »