Dustin Carnahan
Biographic Data
| ID | 3770412 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Dustin Carnahan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Dustin |
| FAMILY NAME | Carnahan |
| SIGNATURE | CARNAHAN D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Michigan State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4358-8081 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 164 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 21 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Fueling the fire
The 2024 US presidential election unfolded in an environment of heightened polarization, widespread distrust, and unprecedented public anger. Drawing on the Anger Activism Model (AAM), we examined this period of history to assess how anger interacts with external political efficacy to shape opposition toward democratic behaviors and support for partisan and political violence. Using data from a rolling cross‐sectional national survey of US adults…
How Does Emphasizing Bipartisan Agreement Reduce Affective Polarization? Examining Three Dimensions of Perceived Similarity as Mediators
Drawing on intergroup attitude theories, this study examines whether reading a message emphasizing bipartisan agreement reduces animosity toward members of the opposing party by enhancing perceived similarity. We investigate three dimensions of perceived similarity: how individuals believe that Republicans and Democrats share opinions on policies, align on political values, and find common ground in nonpolitical domains. In an online experiment (…
Are Policymakers Persuaded in Parallel
Policymakers are highly involved with political issues, politically polarized, and knowledgeable about politics, all traits that could contribute to biased reasoning about policy evidence. In this paper, we explore whether policymakers are influenced by compelling policy evidence from ideologically disparate viewpoints, or whether they respond to evidence in an ideologically biased fashion. We conduct an experiment in which we randomly assign a s…
The partisan pandemic
It is well‐established that news outlets cater to audiences with particular political leanings and present news about important events, such as disease outbreaks, differently. However, the mechanisms through which selected media exposure influences behavior are not well established. Two surveys examined the roles of attitudes and social norms as pathways through which political predispositions (political ideology, partisanship) and news media cho…
The madness of misperceptions
Drawing from established theoretical traditions in cognitive consistency, motivated reasoning, heuristic–systematic processing, and the anger-activism model, we extend existing work linking anger with misperceptions by specifying three distinct ways anger might contribute to the formation of misperceptions: Increasing reliance on partisan heuristics, influencing political information-seeking behavior, and moderating the influence of partisan medi…
Political expertise, ecological rationality and party cues
Political scientists have proposed that party cues can be used to compensate for the public's well-documented lack of substantive political knowledge, but some critics have argued that applying party cues is more difficult than assumed. We argue that this debate has proven intractable in part because scholars have used ambiguous normative criteria to evaluate judgments. We use a unique task and clear normative criteria to evaluate the use of part…
Discounting constituent attitudes
In experimental work, researchers have found that policymakers discount the opinions of constituents with whom they disagree. We build on these results with a national sample of local policymakers in the United States, exploring whether communicators can prevent policymakers from discounting their opinions by providing evidence of their own knowledge about a topic. We find that policymakers discount the opinions of hypothetical constituents with …
Fact-checking as a deterrent? A conceptual replication of the influence of fact-checking on the sharing of misinformation by political elites
In a field experiment conducted during the 2012 general elections in the U.S., Nyhan and Reifler found that the threat of fact-checking deterred state legislators from making false or misleading statements. The current study presents a conceptual replication and extension of this influential study by utilizing a similar treatment that leverages a recent partnership between local media outlets and fact-checking organizations, assessing the effects…
What should I believe? A conjoint analysis of the influence of message characteristics on belief in, perceived credibility of, and intent to share political posts
Research on misinformation and misperceptions often investigates claims that have already reached a critical mass, resulting in little understanding of why certain claims gain widespread belief while others fall into obscurity. Here we consider how various message features factor into why certain claims are more likely to be believed, perceived as credible, and shared with others. Using a conjoint experiment, we randomly assigned participants (N …
Assessing the Potential of Partisan Group Cues in Promoting Accurate Beliefs
Recent work on misinformation has indicated a role for social and group-based factors in shaping people’s beliefs on factual matters, suggesting that communicators might be able to leverage social cues in messages aimed at promoting more accurate beliefs. To test this possibility, we conducted an online experiment (N = 605) to assess whether partisan in-group cues across several factual claims are effective in either promoting more accurate belie…
Correcting the Misinformed
While research consistently shows that fact-checking improves belief accuracy, debates persist about how to best measure and interpret expressions of factual beliefs. We argue that this has led to ambiguity in interpreting the results of studies on fact-checking, including whether fact-checking effects in fact decrease confidently held false beliefs. In a two-wave, nationally representative online experiment on beliefs about immigration, we use a…
Promoting the Youth Vote
Out-Party Cues and Factual Beliefs in an Era of Negative Partisanship
The rise of negative partisanship raises the possibility that perceptions of what the partisan out-group believes on a factual matter could serve as a cue for one’s own factual beliefs. In the current paper, we present the results of an online experiment using a sample of self-identified conservatives and liberals on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform. Across several statements on various political issues, participants were randomly assigned to re…
Reinforcement in the Aggregate
While generally understood as an individual-level effect, we argue that reinforcement effects—or the strengthening of existing party loyalties through media exposure—might also play a role in shaping aggregate-level outcomes. Looking across eight presidential elections from 1900 to 1928, this study provides evidence that partisan newspaper circulation was significantly linked to two-party vote share at the county level. Counties with higher circu…
Flooding the Zone
Much scholarly attention has been paid to the effects of misinformation on beliefs and attitudes, but rarely have studies investigated potential downstream effects of misinformation exposure on belief judgments involving subsequent factual statements. Drawing from work on anchoring-and-adjustment and defensive reasoning, this study examines how exposure to initial falsehoods that vary in terms of their plausibility shapes subsequent belief judgme…
Do Corrective Effects Last? Results from a Longitudinal Experiment on Beliefs Toward Immigration in the U.S
Processing Style and Responsiveness to Corrective Information
The limited influence of corrective messages is one of the most striking observations in the misperceptions literature. We elaborate on this well-known outcome, showing that correction effectiveness varies according to recipients’ judgment strategy. Using data from two online experiments, we demonstrate that individuals’ responses to corrective messages are less biased by prior attitudes when they engage in on-line rather than memory-based proces…
Feeling Fine about Being Wrong
Research suggests a limited influence for corrective information in promoting more accurate beliefs, a phenomenon attributed to directional-motivated reasoning. We consider whether an act of self-affirmation—providing people with an alternative source of self-worth—reduces directional-motivated reasoning, thereby improving the effectiveness of corrective information. Across two experiments, self-affirmation was found to mitigate the influence of …
Candidate Vulnerability and Exposure to Counterattitudinal Information
Politically motivated selective exposure has traditionally been understood through the lens of long-standing attitudes and beliefs, but the role of environment in shaping information exposure practices merits further consideration. Citizens might respond to the political environment in their information-seeking behavior for numerous reasons. Citizens who believe their position is politically vulnerable have specific cognitive and affective needs …
Should Science Class Be Fair? Frames and Values in the Evolution Debate
Communicators try to shape public opinion to their advantage by invoking social values. We examine a vivid example of this value framing in the debate over teaching evolution in the public schools. Supporters of intelligent design (ID) theory have pressed for greater acceptance in public schools by framing the issue as a question of fairness. A survey experiment revealed overwhelming agreement that including ID in science class is fairer than exc…
A Turn Toward Avoidance? Selective Exposure to Online Political Information, 2004–2008
A Turn Toward Avoidance? Selective Exposure to Online Political Information, 2004–2008
Do Corrective Effects Last? Results from a Longitudinal Experiment on Beliefs Toward Immigration in the U.S
Correcting the Misinformed
While research consistently shows that fact-checking improves belief accuracy, debates persist about how to best measure and interpret expressions of factual beliefs. We argue that this has led to ambiguity in interpreting the results of studies on fact-checking, including whether fact-checking effects in fact decrease confidently held false beliefs. In a two-wave, nationally representative online experiment on beliefs about immigration, we use a…
Promoting the Youth Vote
Feeling Fine about Being Wrong
Research suggests a limited influence for corrective information in promoting more accurate beliefs, a phenomenon attributed to directional-motivated reasoning. We consider whether an act of self-affirmation—providing people with an alternative source of self-worth—reduces directional-motivated reasoning, thereby improving the effectiveness of corrective information. Across two experiments, self-affirmation was found to mitigate the influence of …
Processing Style and Responsiveness to Corrective Information
The limited influence of corrective messages is one of the most striking observations in the misperceptions literature. We elaborate on this well-known outcome, showing that correction effectiveness varies according to recipients’ judgment strategy. Using data from two online experiments, we demonstrate that individuals’ responses to corrective messages are less biased by prior attitudes when they engage in on-line rather than memory-based proces…
Discounting constituent attitudes
In experimental work, researchers have found that policymakers discount the opinions of constituents with whom they disagree. We build on these results with a national sample of local policymakers in the United States, exploring whether communicators can prevent policymakers from discounting their opinions by providing evidence of their own knowledge about a topic. We find that policymakers discount the opinions of hypothetical constituents with …
Flooding the Zone
Much scholarly attention has been paid to the effects of misinformation on beliefs and attitudes, but rarely have studies investigated potential downstream effects of misinformation exposure on belief judgments involving subsequent factual statements. Drawing from work on anchoring-and-adjustment and defensive reasoning, this study examines how exposure to initial falsehoods that vary in terms of their plausibility shapes subsequent belief judgme…
Candidate Vulnerability and Exposure to Counterattitudinal Information
Politically motivated selective exposure has traditionally been understood through the lens of long-standing attitudes and beliefs, but the role of environment in shaping information exposure practices merits further consideration. Citizens might respond to the political environment in their information-seeking behavior for numerous reasons. Citizens who believe their position is politically vulnerable have specific cognitive and affective needs …
Fact-checking as a deterrent? A conceptual replication of the influence of fact-checking on the sharing of misinformation by political elites
In a field experiment conducted during the 2012 general elections in the U.S., Nyhan and Reifler found that the threat of fact-checking deterred state legislators from making false or misleading statements. The current study presents a conceptual replication and extension of this influential study by utilizing a similar treatment that leverages a recent partnership between local media outlets and fact-checking organizations, assessing the effects…
Out-Party Cues and Factual Beliefs in an Era of Negative Partisanship
The rise of negative partisanship raises the possibility that perceptions of what the partisan out-group believes on a factual matter could serve as a cue for one’s own factual beliefs. In the current paper, we present the results of an online experiment using a sample of self-identified conservatives and liberals on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform. Across several statements on various political issues, participants were randomly assigned to re…
Should Science Class Be Fair? Frames and Values in the Evolution Debate
Communicators try to shape public opinion to their advantage by invoking social values. We examine a vivid example of this value framing in the debate over teaching evolution in the public schools. Supporters of intelligent design (ID) theory have pressed for greater acceptance in public schools by framing the issue as a question of fairness. A survey experiment revealed overwhelming agreement that including ID in science class is fairer than exc…
A Turn Toward Avoidance? Selective Exposure to Online Political Information, 2004–2008
Should Science Class Be Fair? Frames and Values in the Evolution Debate
Communicators try to shape public opinion to their advantage by invoking social values. We examine a vivid example of this value framing in the debate over teaching evolution in the public schools. Supporters of intelligent design (ID) theory have pressed for greater acceptance in public schools by framing the issue as a question of fairness. A survey experiment revealed overwhelming agreement that including ID in science class is fairer than exc…
Candidate Vulnerability and Exposure to Counterattitudinal Information
Politically motivated selective exposure has traditionally been understood through the lens of long-standing attitudes and beliefs, but the role of environment in shaping information exposure practices merits further consideration. Citizens might respond to the political environment in their information-seeking behavior for numerous reasons. Citizens who believe their position is politically vulnerable have specific cognitive and affective needs …
Feeling Fine about Being Wrong
Research suggests a limited influence for corrective information in promoting more accurate beliefs, a phenomenon attributed to directional-motivated reasoning. We consider whether an act of self-affirmation—providing people with an alternative source of self-worth—reduces directional-motivated reasoning, thereby improving the effectiveness of corrective information. Across two experiments, self-affirmation was found to mitigate the influence of …
Processing Style and Responsiveness to Corrective Information
The limited influence of corrective messages is one of the most striking observations in the misperceptions literature. We elaborate on this well-known outcome, showing that correction effectiveness varies according to recipients’ judgment strategy. Using data from two online experiments, we demonstrate that individuals’ responses to corrective messages are less biased by prior attitudes when they engage in on-line rather than memory-based proces…
Do Corrective Effects Last? Results from a Longitudinal Experiment on Beliefs Toward Immigration in the U.S
Out-Party Cues and Factual Beliefs in an Era of Negative Partisanship
The rise of negative partisanship raises the possibility that perceptions of what the partisan out-group believes on a factual matter could serve as a cue for one’s own factual beliefs. In the current paper, we present the results of an online experiment using a sample of self-identified conservatives and liberals on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform. Across several statements on various political issues, participants were randomly assigned to re…
Reinforcement in the Aggregate
While generally understood as an individual-level effect, we argue that reinforcement effects—or the strengthening of existing party loyalties through media exposure—might also play a role in shaping aggregate-level outcomes. Looking across eight presidential elections from 1900 to 1928, this study provides evidence that partisan newspaper circulation was significantly linked to two-party vote share at the county level. Counties with higher circu…
Flooding the Zone
Much scholarly attention has been paid to the effects of misinformation on beliefs and attitudes, but rarely have studies investigated potential downstream effects of misinformation exposure on belief judgments involving subsequent factual statements. Drawing from work on anchoring-and-adjustment and defensive reasoning, this study examines how exposure to initial falsehoods that vary in terms of their plausibility shapes subsequent belief judgme…
What should I believe? A conjoint analysis of the influence of message characteristics on belief in, perceived credibility of, and intent to share political posts
Research on misinformation and misperceptions often investigates claims that have already reached a critical mass, resulting in little understanding of why certain claims gain widespread belief while others fall into obscurity. Here we consider how various message features factor into why certain claims are more likely to be believed, perceived as credible, and shared with others. Using a conjoint experiment, we randomly assigned participants (N …
Assessing the Potential of Partisan Group Cues in Promoting Accurate Beliefs
Recent work on misinformation has indicated a role for social and group-based factors in shaping people’s beliefs on factual matters, suggesting that communicators might be able to leverage social cues in messages aimed at promoting more accurate beliefs. To test this possibility, we conducted an online experiment (N = 605) to assess whether partisan in-group cues across several factual claims are effective in either promoting more accurate belie…
Correcting the Misinformed
While research consistently shows that fact-checking improves belief accuracy, debates persist about how to best measure and interpret expressions of factual beliefs. We argue that this has led to ambiguity in interpreting the results of studies on fact-checking, including whether fact-checking effects in fact decrease confidently held false beliefs. In a two-wave, nationally representative online experiment on beliefs about immigration, we use a…
Promoting the Youth Vote
The madness of misperceptions
Drawing from established theoretical traditions in cognitive consistency, motivated reasoning, heuristic–systematic processing, and the anger-activism model, we extend existing work linking anger with misperceptions by specifying three distinct ways anger might contribute to the formation of misperceptions: Increasing reliance on partisan heuristics, influencing political information-seeking behavior, and moderating the influence of partisan medi…
Political expertise, ecological rationality and party cues
Political scientists have proposed that party cues can be used to compensate for the public's well-documented lack of substantive political knowledge, but some critics have argued that applying party cues is more difficult than assumed. We argue that this debate has proven intractable in part because scholars have used ambiguous normative criteria to evaluate judgments. We use a unique task and clear normative criteria to evaluate the use of part…
Discounting constituent attitudes
In experimental work, researchers have found that policymakers discount the opinions of constituents with whom they disagree. We build on these results with a national sample of local policymakers in the United States, exploring whether communicators can prevent policymakers from discounting their opinions by providing evidence of their own knowledge about a topic. We find that policymakers discount the opinions of hypothetical constituents with …
Fact-checking as a deterrent? A conceptual replication of the influence of fact-checking on the sharing of misinformation by political elites
In a field experiment conducted during the 2012 general elections in the U.S., Nyhan and Reifler found that the threat of fact-checking deterred state legislators from making false or misleading statements. The current study presents a conceptual replication and extension of this influential study by utilizing a similar treatment that leverages a recent partnership between local media outlets and fact-checking organizations, assessing the effects…
The partisan pandemic
It is well‐established that news outlets cater to audiences with particular political leanings and present news about important events, such as disease outbreaks, differently. However, the mechanisms through which selected media exposure influences behavior are not well established. Two surveys examined the roles of attitudes and social norms as pathways through which political predispositions (political ideology, partisanship) and news media cho…
How Does Emphasizing Bipartisan Agreement Reduce Affective Polarization? Examining Three Dimensions of Perceived Similarity as Mediators
Drawing on intergroup attitude theories, this study examines whether reading a message emphasizing bipartisan agreement reduces animosity toward members of the opposing party by enhancing perceived similarity. We investigate three dimensions of perceived similarity: how individuals believe that Republicans and Democrats share opinions on policies, align on political values, and find common ground in nonpolitical domains. In an online experiment (…
Are Policymakers Persuaded in Parallel
Policymakers are highly involved with political issues, politically polarized, and knowledgeable about politics, all traits that could contribute to biased reasoning about policy evidence. In this paper, we explore whether policymakers are influenced by compelling policy evidence from ideologically disparate viewpoints, or whether they respond to evidence in an ideologically biased fashion. We conduct an experiment in which we randomly assign a s…
Fueling the fire
The 2024 US presidential election unfolded in an environment of heightened polarization, widespread distrust, and unprecedented public anger. Drawing on the Anger Activism Model (AAM), we examined this period of history to assess how anger interacts with external political efficacy to shape opposition toward democratic behaviors and support for partisan and political violence. Using data from a rolling cross‐sectional national survey of US adults…
Psychology (17 works) · Political science (15 works) · Politics (13 works) · Social Psychology (13 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Social Media and Politics (10 works) · Misinformation and Its Impacts (9 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (8 works) · Law (8 works)