Randy Stein
Biographic Data
| ID | 212039 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Randy Stein |
| GIVEN NAMES | Randy |
| FAMILY NAME | Stein |
| SIGNATURE | STEIN R |
| AFFILIATIONS | California State Polytechnic University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9228-7197 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 35 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 8 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1979 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Symbolic show of strength: A predictor of risk perception and belief in misinformation
To some, measures to curb COVID-19 were reasonable and prudent; to others, they were unacceptable signs of losing a more symbolic battle. We propose that such symbolic thinking is key to how people perceive reality. We report three studies (total N = 5535 across eight countries, conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic) linking what we term Symbolic Show of Strength (SSS) in the context of COVID (SSS-COVID) with several important outcomes. Across c…
Whose Pants Are on Fire? Journalists Correcting False Claims are Distrusted More Than Journalists Confirming Claims
Do people trust journalists who provide fact-checks? Building upon research on negativity bias, two studies support the hypothesis that people generally trust journalists when they confirm claims as true, but are relatively distrusting of journalists when they correct false claims. In Study 1, participants read a real fact-check that corrected or confirmed a claim about politics or economics. In Study 2, participants read a real report that corre…
Hearing From Both Sides: Differences Between Liberal and Conservative Attitudes Toward Scientific and Experiential Evidence
Two studies examined how political ideology relates to attitudes towards opposing scientific and nonscientific perspectives on apolitical topics. Participants read an article excerpt containing quotes from a researcher debunking a common misconception, such as the existence of lucky streaks in games of chance. They also read the perspective of someone who rejected the researcher in favor of personal experience, either in the form of a quote in th…
Deeply Confusing: Conflating Difficulty With Deep Revelation on Personality Assessment
The factors that contribute to lay expectations of personality assessments are not well understood. Five studies demonstrate that people conflate difficulty of personality assessment items with revelations of deep insights. As a result, popular yet invalid assessments of personality can be seen as “deeper” than assessments from social and personality psychology. In Study 1, participants evaluated items from a popular personality “type” assessment…
Trumping” conformity: Urges towards conformity to ingroups and nonconformity to morally opposed outgroups
The Distinct Affective Consequences of Psychological Distance and Construal Level
Much of the existing literature on psychological distance has focused on cognitive outcomes, such as changes in construal level, largely framing affective processes out of the discussion. The current research examines the distinct influences of psychological distance and construal level on affect-based evaluation. In a first set of experiments, psychological distance (vs. closeness) reduces the intensity of felt affect, while abstract (vs. concre…
The pull of the group: Conscious conflict and the involuntary tendency towards conformity
An empirical analysis of the correlations between leadership status and participation rates reported in the literature
The Distinct Affective Consequences of Psychological Distance and Construal Level
Much of the existing literature on psychological distance has focused on cognitive outcomes, such as changes in construal level, largely framing affective processes out of the discussion. The current research examines the distinct influences of psychological distance and construal level on affect-based evaluation. In a first set of experiments, psychological distance (vs. closeness) reduces the intensity of felt affect, while abstract (vs. concre…
An empirical analysis of the correlations between leadership status and participation rates reported in the literature
Hearing From Both Sides: Differences Between Liberal and Conservative Attitudes Toward Scientific and Experiential Evidence
Two studies examined how political ideology relates to attitudes towards opposing scientific and nonscientific perspectives on apolitical topics. Participants read an article excerpt containing quotes from a researcher debunking a common misconception, such as the existence of lucky streaks in games of chance. They also read the perspective of someone who rejected the researcher in favor of personal experience, either in the form of a quote in th…
Trumping” conformity: Urges towards conformity to ingroups and nonconformity to morally opposed outgroups
An empirical analysis of the correlations between leadership status and participation rates reported in the literature
The pull of the group: Conscious conflict and the involuntary tendency towards conformity
The Distinct Affective Consequences of Psychological Distance and Construal Level
Much of the existing literature on psychological distance has focused on cognitive outcomes, such as changes in construal level, largely framing affective processes out of the discussion. The current research examines the distinct influences of psychological distance and construal level on affect-based evaluation. In a first set of experiments, psychological distance (vs. closeness) reduces the intensity of felt affect, while abstract (vs. concre…
Trumping” conformity: Urges towards conformity to ingroups and nonconformity to morally opposed outgroups
Deeply Confusing: Conflating Difficulty With Deep Revelation on Personality Assessment
The factors that contribute to lay expectations of personality assessments are not well understood. Five studies demonstrate that people conflate difficulty of personality assessment items with revelations of deep insights. As a result, popular yet invalid assessments of personality can be seen as “deeper” than assessments from social and personality psychology. In Study 1, participants evaluated items from a popular personality “type” assessment…
Hearing From Both Sides: Differences Between Liberal and Conservative Attitudes Toward Scientific and Experiential Evidence
Two studies examined how political ideology relates to attitudes towards opposing scientific and nonscientific perspectives on apolitical topics. Participants read an article excerpt containing quotes from a researcher debunking a common misconception, such as the existence of lucky streaks in games of chance. They also read the perspective of someone who rejected the researcher in favor of personal experience, either in the form of a quote in th…
Whose Pants Are on Fire? Journalists Correcting False Claims are Distrusted More Than Journalists Confirming Claims
Do people trust journalists who provide fact-checks? Building upon research on negativity bias, two studies support the hypothesis that people generally trust journalists when they confirm claims as true, but are relatively distrusting of journalists when they correct false claims. In Study 1, participants read a real fact-check that corrected or confirmed a claim about politics or economics. In Study 2, participants read a real report that corre…
Symbolic show of strength: A predictor of risk perception and belief in misinformation
To some, measures to curb COVID-19 were reasonable and prudent; to others, they were unacceptable signs of losing a more symbolic battle. We propose that such symbolic thinking is key to how people perceive reality. We report three studies (total N = 5535 across eight countries, conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic) linking what we term Symbolic Show of Strength (SSS) in the context of COVID (SSS-COVID) with several important outcomes. Across c…
Psychology (8 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (5 works) · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment (4 works) · Cultural Differences and Values (3 works) · Law (3 works) · Misinformation and Its Impacts (3 works) · Political science (3 works) · Social Psychology (3 works) · Cognitive psychology (2 works)