Joseph E Uscinski
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 1534472 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Joseph E Uscinski |
| NOMBRES | Joseph E |
| APELLIDO | Uscinski |
| FIRMA | USCINSKI J E |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Miami |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2179-6952 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 57 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 1154 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 56 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 1 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2007 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 15 |
The Dynamics of Anti-Establishment Politics
Recent work theorizes that the American mass opinion space is organized along two broad, uncorrelated dimensions––a left–right one and an “anti-establishment” one––that jointly explain recent events in American politics, such as the election of Donald Trump and belief in conspiracy theories. In this paper, we test several previously untested predictions of this theory, including those involving temporal dynamics. Utilizing a time series of cross-…
Who believes Trump conspired with Russia to steal the 2016 election? Evidence from a survey experiment
Belief in Science‐Related Conspiracy Theories
Conspiracy theories attempt to explain events and circumstances by attributing them to the supposed secret actions of powerful, malevolent groups. Due to their associations with potentially harmful non‐normative behaviors at both the individual and collective levels, researchers have expressed particular concern over conspiracy theories that malign science. To better understand such beliefs, we conducted a national US survey to gauge respondents’…
Left–right political orientations are not systematically related to conspiracism
Researchers have long sought to make generalizable conclusions about the relationship between conspiracism and political identities. However, this literature remains deeply conflicted. The “extremity hypothesis” argues that, due to the psychology of extremism, individuals who identify as extremely left or right wing should display higher levels of conspiracism than centrists. But the “asymmetry hypothesis” argues that, due to the psychology of co…
Does Rhetoric Drive Conspiracy Theory Beliefs
What leads people to believe in conspiracy theories? While scholars have learned much about both the psychological, social, and political factors associated with individuals’ receptivity to conspiracy theories, and the rhetoric with which these ideas are communicated, these two lines of research have often proceeded in isolation, leaving scholars not fully understanding if rhetoric persuades audiences of conspiracy theories. Employing two U.S. na…
Belief in White Replacement
The "White Replacement" conspiracy theory, that government and corporate leaders are "replacing" white people, is linked to several mass shootings. Given its recent ubiquity in mainstream elite rhetoric, concerns have arisen about how widespread beliefs in the "White Replacement" conspiracy theory are in the United States. However, political scientists have yet to understand why people believe or act upon this idea, or what the political and psyc…
The New Satanic Panic
A moral panic animated by conspiracy theories alleging ritual sex abuse swept through the United States in the 1980s. During that “Satanic Panic,” as it came to be known, people expressed fears of social change regarding gender and sexuality. Beginning in 2022, conservative politicians, pundits, and pastors in the United States levied similar accusations of child grooming, sex trafficking, and satanic sex abuse at the LGBTQ + community, teachers,…
The Social Science of QAnon
QAnon has emerged as the defining conspiracy group of our times, and its far-right conspiracies are extraordinary for their breadth and extremity. Bringing together scholars from psychology, sociology, communications, and political science, this cutting-edge volume uses social science theory to investigate aspects of QAnon. Following an introduction to the 'who, what, and why' of QAnon, Part I focuses on the psychological characteristics of QAnon…
Expert opinions and negative externalities do not decrease support for anti-price gouging policies
During disasters, citizens call for “anti-price gouging” policies. However, majorities of economists oppose such policies. For democracy to function, citizens should be responsive to policy-relevant information—especially from experts. What impact does exposure to the potential negative externalities have on public support for anti-price gouging policies? We hypothesize that if the public were exposed to such information, they would be less suppo…
The impact of social desirability bias on conspiracy belief measurement across cultures
Polls asking respondents about their beliefs in conspiracy theories have become increasingly commonplace. However, researchers have expressed concern about the willingness of respondents to divulge beliefs in conspiracy theories due to the stigmatization of those ideas. We use an experimental design similar to a list experiment to decipher the effect of social desirability bias on survey responses to eight conspiratorial statements. Our study inc…
Are Republicans and Conservatives More Likely to Believe Conspiracy Theories
The Relationship Between Social Media Use and Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories and Misinformation
What Is a Conspiracy Theory and Why Does It Matter
Growing concern has been expressed that we have entered a “post-truth” era in which each of us willfully believes whatever we choose, aided and abetted by alternative and social media that spin alternative realities for boutique consumption. A prime example of the belief in alternative realities is said to be acceptance of “conspiracy theories”—a term that is often used as a pejorative to indict claims of conspiracy that are so obviously absurd t…
How Anti-Social Personality Traits and Anti-Establishment Views Promote Beliefs in Election Fraud, QAnon, and Covid-19 Conspiracy Theories and Misinformation
Conspiracy theories and misinformation (CTM) became a salient feature of the Trump era. However, traditional explanations of political attitudes and behaviors inadequately account for beliefs in CTM or the deleterious behaviors they are associated with. Here, we integrate disparate literatures to explain beliefs in CTM regarding COVID-19, QAnon, and voter fraud. We aim to provide a more holistic accounting, and to determine which political, psych…
Have beliefs in conspiracy theories increased over time?
The public is convinced that beliefs in conspiracy theories are increasing, and many scholars, journalists, and policymakers agree. Given the associations between conspiracy theories and many non-normative tendencies, lawmakers have called for policies to address these increases. However, little evidence has been provided to demonstrate that beliefs in conspiracy theories have, in fact, increased over time. We address this evidentiary gap. Study …
Who Supports QAnon? A Case Study in Political Extremism
The QAnon conspiracy theory has garnered increasing attention as more than 80 pro-QAnon congressional candidates vied for nominations in 2020 primary races. The QAnon movement is widely characterized as "far right" and "growing," but such claims rest on flimsy evidence. Using six public opinion polls from 2018 to 2020, we find that support for QAnon is both meager and stable across time. QAnon also appears to find support among both the political…
Sociopolitical and psychological correlates of Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy in the United States during summer 2021
Getting QAnon Wrong and Right
Getting QAnon Wrong and Right Joseph E. Uscinski (bio) the group known as qanon attracted significant media attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the lead-up to the 2020 US presidential election (Ingram 2020). This attention was partially due to the group's characteristics: it was new, associated with President Donald Trump, and linked to violent actions. QAnon also attracted attention because many news outlets had multiple jour…
Down with Theory and Evidence
Book Review| December 01 2021 Down with Theory and Evidence? A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy, By Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenbaum. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2019. 211 pp. Hardcover, $26.95.. Joseph M. Parent; Joseph M. Parent Department of Political Science, University of Notre Dame, 2081 Jenkins Nanovic Halls, Notre Dame, IN 46556, Email: [email protected] Search for other works …
Do conspiracy beliefs form a belief system? Examining the structure and organization of conspiracy beliefs
Despite regular reference to conspiracy theories as a “belief system,” few studies have attempted to explore the structure and organization of conspiracy beliefs beyond an examination of correlations between those beliefs. Employing unique data from two national surveys that includes respondent beliefs in 27 conspiracy theories, we decipher the substantive dimensions along which conspiracy beliefs are organized, as well as subgroupings within tho…
The Role of Anti-Establishment Orientations During the Trump Presidency
Growing levels of polarization and out-group hostility have become fashionable explanations for the caustic politics of the Trump presidency. However, partisan and ideological identities cannot explain popular attraction to Trump’s anti-elite and populist rhetoric, nor can polarization and sorting account for rising levels of mass identification as political independents. In light of these discrepancies, we offer an explanation for the Trump era …
Are misinformation, antiscientific claims, and conspiracy theories for political extremists
Extremist political groups, especially “extreme” Republicans and conservatives, are increasingly charged with believing misinformation, antiscientific claims, and conspiracy theories to a greater extent than moderates and those on the political left by both a burgeoning scholarly literature and popular press accounts. However, previous investigations of the relationship between political orientations and alternative beliefs have been limited in t…
American Politics in Two Dimensions
Contemporary political ills at the mass behavior level (e.g., outgroup aggression, conspiracy theories) are often attributed to increasing polarization and partisan tribalism. We theorize that many such problems are less the product of left‐right orientations than an orthogonal “anti‐establishment” dimension of opinion dominated by conspiracy, populist, and Manichean orientations. Using two national surveys from 2019 and 2020, we find that this d…
On Modeling the Social-Psychological Foundations of Support for Donald Trump
Scholars have identified many social-psychological factors correlated with support for Donald Trump; however, attempts at modeling these factors tend to suffer from omitted variable bias on the one hand, or multicollinearity on the other. Both issues obscure inferences. Using two nationally representative surveys, we demonstrate the perils of including or failing to include many of these factors in models of Trump support. We then reconceptualize…
The 2020 presidential election and beliefs about fraud
Understanding Conspiracy Theories
Scholarly efforts to understand conspiracy theories have grown significantly in recent years, and there is now a broad and interdisciplinary literature. In reviewing this body of work, we ask three specific questions. First, what factors are associated with conspiracy beliefs? Our review of the literature shows that conspiracy beliefs result from a range of psychological, political, and social factors. Next, how are conspiracy theories communicat…
What Drives Conspiratorial Beliefs? The Role of Informational Cues and Predispositions
Why do people believe in conspiracy theories? This study breaks from much previous research and attempts to explain conspiratorial beliefs with traditional theories of opinion formation. Specifically, we focus on the reception of informational cues given a set of predispositions (political and conspiratorial). We begin with observational survey data to show that there exists a unique predisposition that drives individuals to one degree or another…
American Politics in Two Dimensions
Contemporary political ills at the mass behavior level (e.g., outgroup aggression, conspiracy theories) are often attributed to increasing polarization and partisan tribalism. We theorize that many such problems are less the product of left‐right orientations than an orthogonal “anti‐establishment” dimension of opinion dominated by conspiracy, populist, and Manichean orientations. Using two national surveys from 2019 and 2020, we find that this d…
The Effect of Conspiratorial Thinking and Motivated Reasoning on Belief in Election Fraud
Belief in electoral fraud has received heightened attention due to elite rhetoric and controversial voter identification (ID) laws. Using a two-wave national survey administered before and after the 2012 election, we examine the individual-level correlates of belief in a range of election-related conspiracy theories. Our data show that partisanship affects the timing and content of belief in election-related conspiracy theories, but a general dis…
The Epistemology of Fact Checking
Fact checking has become a prominent facet of political news coverage, but it employs a variety of objectionable methodological practices, such as treating a statement containing multiple facts as if it were a single fact and categorizing as accurate or inaccurate predictions of events yet to occur. These practices share the tacit presupposition that there cannot be genuine political debate about facts, because facts are unambiguous and not subje…
The Relationship Between Social Media Use and Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories and Misinformation
Are Republicans and Conservatives More Likely to Believe Conspiracy Theories
The partisan contours of conspiracy theory beliefs
The “conspiracy theories are for losers” argument suggests that out-of-power groups use conspiracy theories to sensitize minds, close ranks, and encourage collective action. Two necessary conditions of this argument are that (1) group members subscribe mostly to conspiracy theories that malign out-groups or bolster their in-group, and (2) group members must recognize whether conspiracy theories emanate from their own group, an opposing group, or …
The 2020 presidential election and beliefs about fraud
Do conspiracy beliefs form a belief system? Examining the structure and organization of conspiracy beliefs
Despite regular reference to conspiracy theories as a “belief system,” few studies have attempted to explore the structure and organization of conspiracy beliefs beyond an examination of correlations between those beliefs. Employing unique data from two national surveys that includes respondent beliefs in 27 conspiracy theories, we decipher the substantive dimensions along which conspiracy beliefs are organized, as well as subgroupings within tho…
The Epistemology of Fact Checking (Is Still Naìve)
Michelle Amazeen's rebuttal of Uscinski and Butler 2013 is unsuccessful. Amazeen's attempt to infer the accuracy of fact checks from their agreement with each other fails on its own terms and, in any event, could as easily be explained by fact checkers’ political biases as their common access to the objective truth. She also ignores the distinction between verifiable facts and unverifiable claims about the future, as well as contestable claims ab…
What’s in a Name? Coverage of Senator Hillary Clinton during the 2008 Democratic Primary
Throughout the 2008 Democratic primary, Senator Hillary Clinton, her supporters and advocates, feminist groups, and commentators accused the media of sexist coverage. Was Hillary Clinton treated differently in the media because of her gender? The authors attempt to answer this question by examining the forms of address that television newspeople use to refer to the Democratic primary candidates. The authors find that newspeople referred to Clinto…
Who Supports QAnon? A Case Study in Political Extremism
The QAnon conspiracy theory has garnered increasing attention as more than 80 pro-QAnon congressional candidates vied for nominations in 2020 primary races. The QAnon movement is widely characterized as "far right" and "growing," but such claims rest on flimsy evidence. Using six public opinion polls from 2018 to 2020, we find that support for QAnon is both meager and stable across time. QAnon also appears to find support among both the political…
Are misinformation, antiscientific claims, and conspiracy theories for political extremists
Extremist political groups, especially “extreme” Republicans and conservatives, are increasingly charged with believing misinformation, antiscientific claims, and conspiracy theories to a greater extent than moderates and those on the political left by both a burgeoning scholarly literature and popular press accounts. However, previous investigations of the relationship between political orientations and alternative beliefs have been limited in t…
Sociopolitical and psychological correlates of Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy in the United States during summer 2021
What Is a Conspiracy Theory and Why Does It Matter
Growing concern has been expressed that we have entered a “post-truth” era in which each of us willfully believes whatever we choose, aided and abetted by alternative and social media that spin alternative realities for boutique consumption. A prime example of the belief in alternative realities is said to be acceptance of “conspiracy theories”—a term that is often used as a pejorative to indict claims of conspiracy that are so obviously absurd t…
The conditional effect of conspiracy thinking on attitudes toward climate change
Even though climate scientists are nearly unanimous that climate change is real and manmade, about 40% of Americans reject the scientific consensus. Why? The largest contributing factor is partisanship; however, recent studies argue that underlying conspiracy thinking exerts a positive, linear effect on climate change denial. In this article, we reexamine the effect of conspiracy thinking on climate change attitudes by accounting for the various …
Personal Attributes and Latino Voting Behavior in Congress
Objective. Researchers have long examined the nature of representation, paying particular attention to the dynamics of descriptive and substantive representation in racial and ethnic communities. The objective of this article is to determine the extent to which personal attributes influence the voting behavior of Latino members of Congress. Methods. We test the relationship between legislator's personal attributes and Poole and Rosenthal's DW‐NOM…
The impact of social desirability bias on conspiracy belief measurement across cultures
Polls asking respondents about their beliefs in conspiracy theories have become increasingly commonplace. However, researchers have expressed concern about the willingness of respondents to divulge beliefs in conspiracy theories due to the stigmatization of those ideas. We use an experimental design similar to a list experiment to decipher the effect of social desirability bias on survey responses to eight conspiratorial statements. Our study inc…
When Does the Public's Issue Agenda Affect the Media's Issue Agenda (and Vice‐Versa)? Developing a Framework for Media‐Public Influence
Objective. The agenda‐setting literature has demonstrated the media's ability to set the issue agenda for the public. One byproduct of this work is that researchers have produced some evidence suggesting that the audience will, on occasion, set the issue agenda for the media. Given disparate sets of findings, researchers do not have a framework to better understand on which issues the media will set the agenda for the public and on which issues t…
Public preferences for Zika policy and responsibility in the absence of partisan cues
In the absence of partisan ownership of an issue, what factors shape public preferences for federal, state and local policy action? The Zika virus provides a unique context in which to examine this question, as it is a new threat to public health in the United States and lacks clear partisan ownership. We examine (1) which Zika policies do citizens support, (2) at which level(s) of government and (3) what factors explain citizen assignment of pol…
Left–right political orientations are not systematically related to conspiracism
Researchers have long sought to make generalizable conclusions about the relationship between conspiracism and political identities. However, this literature remains deeply conflicted. The “extremity hypothesis” argues that, due to the psychology of extremism, individuals who identify as extremely left or right wing should display higher levels of conspiracism than centrists. But the “asymmetry hypothesis” argues that, due to the psychology of co…
Citizen Support for Domestic Drone Use and Regulation
Recently, governments, commercial firms, and individuals have increased their use of unmanned aerial vehicles (i.e., “drones”). As with many new technologies, drone use has outpaced government oversight. Attempts to regulate the technology have been met with intense public backlash. Therefore, governments need to understand the public’s preferences for a regulatory regime. Analyzing national survey data, we address two questions: (a) What policie…
Prior Experience Predicts Presidential Performance
While many assume that “experienced” presidents perform better, citizens do not know which prior experiences help presidents perform successfully, or in what ways. Drawing upon the organizational sciences literature, we argue that prior experiences similar to the presidency will positively predict performance in general; prior experiences similar to an aspect of the presidency will positively predict performance in that particular aspect; and exp…
Getting QAnon Wrong and Right
Getting QAnon Wrong and Right Joseph E. Uscinski (bio) the group known as qanon attracted significant media attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the lead-up to the 2020 US presidential election (Ingram 2020). This attention was partially due to the group's characteristics: it was new, associated with President Donald Trump, and linked to violent actions. QAnon also attracted attention because many news outlets had multiple jour…
Too Close to Call? Uncertainty and Bias in Election‐Night Reporting
Objective. Previous research has found that early election‐night projections can have a depressing effect on turnout in presidential elections. Although this effect has been found to be small in the past, it may be enough to sway state outcomes and, potentially, the final outcomes of close presidential and other elections. Therefore, this article analyzes the election‐night presidential projections of the three major cable news networks in 2000 a…
Personal Attributes and Latino Voting Behavior in Congress
Objective. Researchers have long examined the nature of representation, paying particular attention to the dynamics of descriptive and substantive representation in racial and ethnic communities. The objective of this article is to determine the extent to which personal attributes influence the voting behavior of Latino members of Congress. Methods. We test the relationship between legislator's personal attributes and Poole and Rosenthal's DW‐NOM…
When Does the Public's Issue Agenda Affect the Media's Issue Agenda (and Vice‐Versa)? Developing a Framework for Media‐Public Influence
Objective. The agenda‐setting literature has demonstrated the media's ability to set the issue agenda for the public. One byproduct of this work is that researchers have produced some evidence suggesting that the audience will, on occasion, set the issue agenda for the media. Given disparate sets of findings, researchers do not have a framework to better understand on which issues the media will set the agenda for the public and on which issues t…
The Timing of Presidential Cinema
Objective. Researchers have examined the social meaning of political cinema; however, little research places film into its contemporary political and economic context. Therefore, I examine the timing of the production and release of presidential cinema. Methods. The data are comprised of major motion picture releases from the years 1953–2004 that include a U.S. president as a character. Regression analysis is used to determine how the temporal re…
Congress and Foreign Policy
As of January 2008, more than 400,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million people have been displaced in the regions of Darfur and Chad. This event has not gone unnoticed in the United States, as the 109th United States Congress (2005–2006) considered several measures in the House of Representatives to provide funding and peacekeeping forces to quell the violence in Darfur. The goal of this article is to explain individual members' o…
Who Likes Political Science
In October 2009, political scientists learned of a Senate amendment sponsored by Tom Coburn (R-OK) that would eliminate political science funding from the National Science Foundation budget. The American Political Science Association condemned the proposed amendment, and concerned political scientists contacted their senators to urge the amendment's defeat. On November 5, 2009, the amendment was defeated 36-62 after little debate. This article ex…
What’s in a Name? Coverage of Senator Hillary Clinton during the 2008 Democratic Primary
Throughout the 2008 Democratic primary, Senator Hillary Clinton, her supporters and advocates, feminist groups, and commentators accused the media of sexist coverage. Was Hillary Clinton treated differently in the media because of her gender? The authors attempt to answer this question by examining the forms of address that television newspeople use to refer to the Democratic primary candidates. The authors find that newspeople referred to Clinto…
Prior Experience Predicts Presidential Performance
While many assume that “experienced” presidents perform better, citizens do not know which prior experiences help presidents perform successfully, or in what ways. Drawing upon the organizational sciences literature, we argue that prior experiences similar to the presidency will positively predict performance in general; prior experiences similar to an aspect of the presidency will positively predict performance in that particular aspect; and exp…
Smith (and Jones) Go to Washington
The American vice president's most notable constitutional function is that of succession: if the president unexpectedly leaves office, the vice president becomes president. The process of selecting vice-presidential running mates has fallen into fewer hands over time, moving from the electorate, to party bosses and delegates, to a single person: the presidential candidate. The selection process presents challenges for democratic governance: elect…
Determinants of Representatives' Votes on the Flake Amendment to End National Science Foundation Funding of Political Science Research
In May 2012, political scientists learned of efforts by representative Jeff Flake (R-AZ) to eliminate political science funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) budget. The American Political Science Association (APSA) was caught off-guard, and concerned political scientists scrambled to contact their representatives and urge the amendment's defeat. Flake's initial effort to cut funds overall from the NSF was defeated, but a second meas…
The Epistemology of Fact Checking
Fact checking has become a prominent facet of political news coverage, but it employs a variety of objectionable methodological practices, such as treating a statement containing multiple facts as if it were a single fact and categorizing as accurate or inaccurate predictions of events yet to occur. These practices share the tacit presupposition that there cannot be genuine political debate about facts, because facts are unambiguous and not subje…
American Conspiracy Theories
Conspiracies theories are some of the most striking features in the American political landscape: the Kennedy assassination, aliens at Roswell, subversion by Masons, Jews, Catholics, or communists, and modern movements like Birtherism and Trutherism. But what do we really know about conspiracy theories? Do they share general causes? Are they becoming more common? More dangerous? Who is targeted and why? Who are the conspiracy theorists? How has t…
Placing Conspiratorial Motives in Context
The People's News
(Where) Do Campaigns Matter? The Impact of National Party Convention Location
The quadrennial presidential nominating conventions are the biggest campaign events of the election cycle. Previous studies find that conventions significantly impact national-level candidate preferences; however, scholars have not yet specified the effects that such large campaign events have on residents of the host areas. As fairly uniform and one-sided interventions across years and parties, the conventions offer an opportunity for a cross ti…
What’s a Dog Story Worth
Journalists consider the importance of events and the audience’s interest in them when deciding on which events to report. Events most likely to be reported are those that are both important and can capture the audience’s interest. In turn, the public is most likely to become aware of important news when some aspect of the story piques their interest. We suggest an efficacious means of drawing public attention to important news stories: dogs. Exa…
The Epistemology of Fact Checking (Is Still Naìve)
Michelle Amazeen's rebuttal of Uscinski and Butler 2013 is unsuccessful. Amazeen's attempt to infer the accuracy of fact checks from their agreement with each other fails on its own terms and, in any event, could as easily be explained by fact checkers’ political biases as their common access to the objective truth. She also ignores the distinction between verifiable facts and unverifiable claims about the future, as well as contestable claims ab…
What Drives Conspiratorial Beliefs? The Role of Informational Cues and Predispositions
Why do people believe in conspiracy theories? This study breaks from much previous research and attempts to explain conspiratorial beliefs with traditional theories of opinion formation. Specifically, we focus on the reception of informational cues given a set of predispositions (political and conspiratorial). We begin with observational survey data to show that there exists a unique predisposition that drives individuals to one degree or another…
The partisan contours of conspiracy theory beliefs
The “conspiracy theories are for losers” argument suggests that out-of-power groups use conspiracy theories to sensitize minds, close ranks, and encourage collective action. Two necessary conditions of this argument are that (1) group members subscribe mostly to conspiracy theories that malign out-groups or bolster their in-group, and (2) group members must recognize whether conspiracy theories emanate from their own group, an opposing group, or …
The conditional effect of conspiracy thinking on attitudes toward climate change
Even though climate scientists are nearly unanimous that climate change is real and manmade, about 40% of Americans reject the scientific consensus. Why? The largest contributing factor is partisanship; however, recent studies argue that underlying conspiracy thinking exerts a positive, linear effect on climate change denial. In this article, we reexamine the effect of conspiracy thinking on climate change attitudes by accounting for the various …
The Effect of Conspiratorial Thinking and Motivated Reasoning on Belief in Election Fraud
Belief in electoral fraud has received heightened attention due to elite rhetoric and controversial voter identification (ID) laws. Using a two-wave national survey administered before and after the 2012 election, we examine the individual-level correlates of belief in a range of election-related conspiracy theories. Our data show that partisanship affects the timing and content of belief in election-related conspiracy theories, but a general dis…
Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them
Conspiracy theories are not fringe ideas, tucked away in society’s dark corners. Conspiracy theories are everywhere, and like other ideas they have consequences. When people believe conspiracy theories they may act on them. In democracies, conspiracy theories can drive majorities to make horrible decisions. Conspiracy beliefs can conversely encourage political abstention: if one believes the system is rigged, they will be less willing to take par…
Conspiracy Theories
Conspiracy theories are a part of the human condition. Everyone believes at least one, but given the number of conspiracy theories, it is more likely that everyone believes a few. Some people have a worldview defined by them. Conspiracy theories are just another reminder that people disagree about many things, including truth. These disagreements have always existed and always will. We have to live with conspiracy theories and with the people who…
Citizen Support for Domestic Drone Use and Regulation
Recently, governments, commercial firms, and individuals have increased their use of unmanned aerial vehicles (i.e., “drones”). As with many new technologies, drone use has outpaced government oversight. Attempts to regulate the technology have been met with intense public backlash. Therefore, governments need to understand the public’s preferences for a regulatory regime. Analyzing national survey data, we address two questions: (a) What policie…
Communicating to the Public in the Era of Conspiracy Theory
During the last decade, social scientists have taken a strong interest in both the veracity of citizens beliefs and the quality of information on which those beliefs are based. In particular, social scientists have focused much of this work on conspiracy theories given how such theories can undermine government initiatives. The extant literature shows: (1) that the current information environment allows conspiracy theories to spread among citizen…
Political science (48 obras) · Law (40 obras) · Politics (37 obras) · Psychology (35 obras) · Misinformation and Its Impacts (31 obras) · Social Psychology (27 obras) · Sociology (27 obras) · Law (23 obras) · Social Psychology (18 obras) · Media Influence and Politics (16 obras)