The more ambivalent a person is about a political issue, the more likely they are to support violence and other extreme actions relating to that issue.
The so-called Qanon shaman, Jacob Chansley, at the Capitol riot.
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Randy Stein, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Alexander Swan, Eureka College, and Michelle Sarraf, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
How much weight would you put on a scientist’s expertise versus the opinion of a random stranger? People on either end of the political spectrum decide differently what seems true.
History is replete with examples of what happens when the idea of a nation being humiliated is allowed to fester.
Will talk of adapting to climate change be less polarizing politically? Faced with rising seas, Miami is adapting by raising its roads.
AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
Elizabeth Suhay, American University School of Public Affairs
Scientists are concerned that politics will trump evidence in the new administration. A researcher of political psychology explains why these worries matter far beyond questions of science.
Individuals from both sides of politics will refuse to accept evidence that contradicts their beliefs.
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We like to think that our political views are well reasoned and backed by evidence. But research shows how easily we all succumb to cognitive biases to justify our own deeply held views.
Who are you really talking to in your virtual chat?
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Pets inspire powerful emotions and strong attachments. They comfort the sick, console the lonely and entertain the children. We invite them into our families, pay their human-sized medical expenses and…
Many Australians feel the government should maintain a tough policy on asylum seekers who arrive by boat.
Hadi Zader/Flickr
According to a poll taken last December, 60% of those surveyed think the Australian government should “increase the severity of the treatment of asylum seekers”. What’s behind this negative sentiment (otherwise…
Power, especially absolute and unchecked power, is intoxicating. Its effects occur at the cellular and neurochemical level. They are manifested behaviourally in a variety of ways, ranging from heightened…
We like to think that we reach conclusions by reviewing facts, weighing evidence and analysing arguments. But this is not how humans usually operate, particularly when decisions are important or need to…
When you’re smiling: research has previously shown the more politically conservative you are, the happier you tend to be. But how true is it?
AAP/Alan Porritt
Although Labor supporters may find it easier to smile since the impending election became something of a contest in June, Coalition voters may always have more to smile about. It has nothing to do with…