https://phys.org/science-news/political-science en-us The latest news on political science A popular new strategy for combating misinformation doesn't by itself help people distinguish truth from falsehood but improves when paired with reminders to focus on accuracy, finds new Cornell University-led research supported by Google. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-psychological-inoculation-combining-simple-tools.html Social Sciences Political science Mon, 04 Nov 2024 05:00:01 EST news649685401 Political campaigns spend big bucks hiring consultants to craft persuasive messaging, but a new study coauthored by Yale political scientist Joshua L. Kalla demonstrates that political professionals perform no better than laypeople in predicting which messages will sway voters. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-political-pros-messages.html Political science Fri, 01 Nov 2024 14:16:04 EDT news649689362 For many years, the conventional wisdom was that only highly biased, less educated media consumers would put partisanship over truth—in other words, they would believe news that confirmed their worldview, regardless of whether it was true. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-news-consumers-political-alignment-truth.html Social Sciences Political science Fri, 01 Nov 2024 13:17:04 EDT news649685821 Does a candidate's appearance affect how we vote? There's growing evidence that suggests the answer may be yes. In a recent study published on the preprint server bioRxiv, neuroscientists at the University of Pennsylvania and the Champalimaud Center for the Unknown in Portugal had monkeys look at pictures of political candidates from past U.S. races. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-monkeys-presidential-candidates.html Social Sciences Political science Thu, 31 Oct 2024 12:24:04 EDT news649596241 A new study published today (Oct. 29) details the ways in which the 2020 U.S. election not only incited new hate content in online communities but also how it brought those communities closer together around online hate speech. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-online-speech-surged-election.html Social Sciences Political science Tue, 29 Oct 2024 09:35:13 EDT news649413309 Misinformation, incorrect or false information shared unintentionally, can be extremely damaging. Its climate change-denying sort can make taking much-needed action against global warming more difficult. It can be even deadly, for example, if it encourages refusing vaccines against fatal diseases. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-misinformation-disinformation-prebunking-debunking.html Social Sciences Political science Fri, 25 Oct 2024 10:04:04 EDT news649069441 News coverage of the 2024 election season has often centered on how partisan division has affected our politics. But a new analysis shows that political polarization also poses significant health risks—by obstructing the implementation of legislation and policies aimed at keeping Americans healthy, by discouraging individual action to address health needs, such as getting a flu shot, and by boosting the spread of misinformation that can reduce trust in health professionals. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-political-polarization-poses-health-analysis.html Political science Fri, 25 Oct 2024 05:00:01 EDT news648979615 A team of social scientists at the Social Change Lab, in the U.K., working with a sociologist from the University of South Carolina, has found evidence to support what has come to be known as "the positive radical flank effect"—where protests by radical groups lead to more support for less radical groups. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-disruptive-protests-fringe-groups-moderate.html Social Sciences Political science Thu, 24 Oct 2024 11:09:32 EDT news648986966 When U.S. Supreme Court justices write opinions, they mostly talk about the case in question. But occasionally, they will discuss themselves or the court, using what is called the "monologic voice." https://phys.org/news/2024-10-supreme-court-justices-rhetoric-affirm.html Political science Wed, 23 Oct 2024 16:50:01 EDT news648920615 People's bias toward sacrificing unknown bystanders appears to stem from assuming the unidentified person is an enemy, according to a study published October 23, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Scott Danielson from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-people-assume-unidentified-bystanders-war.html Political science Wed, 23 Oct 2024 14:00:01 EDT news648894728 When X (formerly Twitter) changed its verification system in 2022, many foresaw its potential to impact the spread of political opinions on the platform. In a modeling study published October 22 in iScience, researchers show that having verified users whose posts are prioritized by the platform's algorithms can result in increased polarization and trigger the formation of echo chambers. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-users-social-media-networks-polarization.html Social Sciences Political science Tue, 22 Oct 2024 11:00:02 EDT news648806042 A new study has found that after watching a docudrama about the efforts to free a wrongly convicted prisoner on death row, people were more empathetic toward formerly incarcerated people and supportive of criminal justice reform. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-docudrama-empathy-people-stigmatized-society.html Social Sciences Political science Mon, 21 Oct 2024 15:00:01 EDT news648719426 Showing sympathetic figures with differing beliefs, discussed over a drink. Highlighting a shared identity. Correcting misperceptions about opposing partisans' views on democracy. Those are a few of the most effective strategies for reducing political polarization in the U.S., identified by a "megastudy" that surveyed more than 32,000 Democrats and Republicans to test 25 ideas crowdsourced from social scientists and other experts around the world. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-megastudy-crowdsourced-ideas-political-polarization.html Political science Sat, 19 Oct 2024 07:00:01 EDT news648467618 Dr. Mo Abolkheir, a philosopher specializing in inventions and patents, has identified a logical fallacy—a flawed argument that may appear valid but is based on faulty reasoning—within the law. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-philosopher-glitch-worldwide-patent-laws.html Economics & Business Political science Thu, 17 Oct 2024 14:49:04 EDT news648395334 Most people in most countries state that they wish to have a democratic government. But the definition of democracy has been constantly contested. Without understanding what people really mean by democracy, the concept is vulnerable to being exploited by dictators and anti-democratic politicians for their own ends. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-reveals-global-consensus-democracy.html Political science Thu, 17 Oct 2024 14:00:02 EDT news648375475 There is strong disagreement in the United States as to whether, when and how much hate speech should be censored when posted on social media platforms. Democrats and Republicans, in particular, often argue about this question, especially in light of the Israel-Hamas war sparking further consternation over antisemitic and anti-Palestinian hate speech. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-democrats-republicans-censoring-speech.html Political science Thu, 17 Oct 2024 11:40:04 EDT news648384001 When an election result is disputed, people who are skeptical about the outcome may be swayed by figures of authority who come down on one side or the other. Those figures can be independent monitors, political figures, or news organizations. However, these "debunking" efforts don't always have the desired effect, and in some cases, they can lead people to cling more tightly to their original position. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-reveals-debunking-election-misinformation-doesnt.html Political science Tue, 15 Oct 2024 14:53:04 EDT news648222781 Soccer may help incarcerated people to improve their in-prison behavior and reintegration into society after release, by fostering connections to positive group identities through learning coaching and transferrable skills from professional soccer staff. The findings, published in Nature Human Behaviour, shed light on how social bonding could be used to help to reduce reoffending rates. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-soccer-prison.html Social Sciences Political science Tue, 15 Oct 2024 09:53:02 EDT news648204781 A pre-registered survey of nearly 10,000 Americans shows that delays in declaring the winners of elections cause distrust in the electoral process, but that reassuring voters before polls close that delays are normal can prevent this distrust from taking root. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-election-delays-impact-voter-messages.html Political science Tue, 15 Oct 2024 09:02:03 EDT news648201722 Amid widely shared concerns that social media makes people unhappy, spreads misinformation, and polarizes societies, researchers paid randomly selected participants to deactivate their Facebook accounts during an election, then compared them to a randomly selected group that continued using Facebook. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-deleting-facebook-political-knowledge.html Social Sciences Political science Thu, 10 Oct 2024 16:00:21 EDT news647794816 Satellite data on the proximity of hundreds of M-84 bomb craters to hospitals in the Gaza Strip suggest that, as of November 2023, hospitals were not being given special protection from indiscriminate bombing, as mandated by international humanitarian law. That is one finding of a study published in PLOS Global Public Health by Dennis Kunichoff of Harvard University, and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-satellite-massive-dangerous-proximity-gaza.html Social Sciences Political science Wed, 09 Oct 2024 14:00:02 EDT news647685446 Countries affected by severe climate change may also have a higher prevalence of violence against women, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-climate-higher-intimate-partner-violence.html Social Sciences Political science Wed, 02 Oct 2024 14:00:02 EDT news647082747 Governments and other policymakers around the world wrestle with how to deal with people who are skeptical of official positions and guidelines, such as climate skeptics and antivaxxers. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-skeptics-affect-policy-climate-vaccination.html Social Sciences Political science Wed, 02 Oct 2024 14:00:02 EDT news647079514 A new paper, "Differences in misinformation sharing can lead to politically asymmetric sanctions," published today in Nature suggests that the higher quantity of social media policy enforcement (such as account suspensions) for conservative users could be explained by the higher quantity of misinformation shared by those conservative users—and so does not constitute evidence of inherent biases in the policies from social media companies or in the definition of what constitutes misinformation. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-users-misinformation-higher-suspension-platform.html Social Sciences Political science Wed, 02 Oct 2024 13:04:19 EDT news647093052 During election season, when campaign ads dominate TV, political billboards dot highways, and canvassers knock on doors, the implication is that political tensions are at their highest and will surely drop once elections are over. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-political-polarization-americans-stays-elections.html Political science Tue, 01 Oct 2024 09:35:03 EDT news646994101 The first major study of social media behavior during wartime has found that posts celebrating national and cultural unity in a country under attack receive significantly more online engagement than derogatory posts about the aggressors. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-solidarity-online-virality-nation-ukrainian.html Social Sciences Political science Tue, 01 Oct 2024 05:00:01 EDT news646905183 Racial discrimination against Black passengers looking to hail rides has been a problem since the taxicab era. A new study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering has aimed to find out whether the rise of ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft has changed that dynamic—for better or worse. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-hailing-apps-racial-discrimination-impact.html Social Sciences Political science Mon, 30 Sep 2024 15:32:52 EDT news646929162 Political observers have been troubled by the rise of online misinformation—a concern that has grown as we approach Election Day. However, while the spread of fake news may pose threats, a new study finds that its influence is not universal. Rather, users with extreme political views are more likely than others are to both encounter and believe false news. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-online-misinformation-believed-ideological-extremists.html Social Sciences Political science Mon, 30 Sep 2024 15:12:03 EDT news646927921 A new multi-institution study found national political candidates miss an opportunity to sway voters by failing to prioritize the health of a key population: children. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-prioritizing-children-health-election-results.html Political science Mon, 30 Sep 2024 10:22:27 EDT news646910535 Flooding, including the devastation caused recently by Hurricane Helene, is responsible for $5 billion in annual damages in the U.S. That's more than any other type of weather-related extreme event. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-policy.html Economics & Business Political science Mon, 30 Sep 2024 09:35:05 EDT news646907702