Alexander C Walker
Biographic Data
| ID | 4469715 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alexander C Walker |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alexander C |
| FAMILY NAME | Walker |
| SIGNATURE | WALKER A C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Waterloo |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1431-6770 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 23 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1877 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Between law and conscience: Act legality shapes moral evaluation
Can legality shape moral judgment? Across four experiments (N = 1,559), participants judged identical actions as more morally wrong when they were described as illegal rather than “not illegal.” This effect extended to judgments of moral character: individuals who performed illegal actions were evaluated more negatively than those who performed otherwise identical legal actions. The influence of legality was robust across several contexts, emergi…
Everyone I Don’t Like Is Biased: Affective Evaluations and the Bias Blind Spot
People commonly exhibit a bias blind spot (BBS), judging themselves as less susceptible to bias than the “average other.” However, less is known about how people attribute bias to familiar others who evoke strong affect. We examined whether attributions of bias are sensitive to affective impressions of others. In Experiment 1, participants viewed themselves as considerably less biased than the average survey respondent and a personally-known disl…
The emotional cost of political engagement
Political polarization is increasingly recognized as a critical threat to individual and collective well-being. Prevailing frameworks suggest that political engagement diminishes well-being by evoking negative emotions, which act as chronic stressors. However, the relationship between politics and emotion has largely been investigated by relying on static snapshots of emotional reactions to political events, overlooking how well-being is impacted…
Disclosing sample bias fails to fully correct judgments of partisan extremity
How do we infer the beliefs of an entire group (e.g., Democrats) after being exposed to the beliefs of only a handful of group members? What if we know that the beliefs we encountered were selected in a biased manner? Across two experiments, we recruited 640 U.S. residents and assessed whether they could recognize and correct for such sample bias. Some participants viewed biased samples that exclusively featured the political opinions of extreme …
Partisan language in a polarized world: In-group language provides reputational benefits to speakers while polarizing audiences
National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic
Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during …
Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to Covid-19 pandemic using machine learning
At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions. In this study, we applied machine learning on the multi-national data collected by the International Collaboration on the Social…
Controlling the narrative: Euphemistic language affects judgments of actions while avoiding perceptions of dishonesty
The present work (N = 1906 U.S. residents) investigates the extent to which peoples' evaluations of actions can be biased by the strategic use of euphemistic (agreeable) and dysphemistic (disagreeable) terms. We find that participants' evaluations of actions are made more favorable by replacing a disagreeable term (e.g., torture) with a semantically related agreeable term (e.g., enhanced interrogation) in an act's description. Notably, the influe…
The search for predictable moral partners: Predictability and moral (character) preferences
Better the two devils you know, than the one you don't: Predictability influences moral judgments of immoral actors
The environmental malleability of base-rate neglect
Metropolitan Eco-Regimes and Differing State Policy Environments: Comparing Environmental Governance in the Portland–Vancouver Metropolitan Area
The Portland Metropolitan region, a single economic and ecological region with a bifurcated state and local governance structure, provides an opportunity to compare governance models and state policy environments in a single region. Using stakeholder interviews and secondary sources, we examine the role of state government policy in shaping and supporting different regimes. We find that Portland exhibits a stable, “smart-growth” regime that we ch…
An Account of a Voyage to the North West Coast of America in 1785 and 1786
Stardom: The Hollywood Phenomenon
Notes on a Sculptured Stone Found in the Wall of the South Transept of St Nicholas Church, Aberdeen
The search for predictable moral partners: Predictability and moral (character) preferences
Metropolitan Eco-Regimes and Differing State Policy Environments: Comparing Environmental Governance in the Portland–Vancouver Metropolitan Area
The Portland Metropolitan region, a single economic and ecological region with a bifurcated state and local governance structure, provides an opportunity to compare governance models and state policy environments in a single region. Using stakeholder interviews and secondary sources, we examine the role of state government policy in shaping and supporting different regimes. We find that Portland exhibits a stable, “smart-growth” regime that we ch…
Stardom: The Hollywood Phenomenon
Better the two devils you know, than the one you don't: Predictability influences moral judgments of immoral actors
An Account of a Voyage to the North West Coast of America in 1785 and 1786
Notes on a Sculptured Stone Found in the Wall of the South Transept of St Nicholas Church, Aberdeen
Stardom: The Hollywood Phenomenon
An Account of a Voyage to the North West Coast of America in 1785 and 1786
Metropolitan Eco-Regimes and Differing State Policy Environments: Comparing Environmental Governance in the Portland–Vancouver Metropolitan Area
The Portland Metropolitan region, a single economic and ecological region with a bifurcated state and local governance structure, provides an opportunity to compare governance models and state policy environments in a single region. Using stakeholder interviews and secondary sources, we examine the role of state government policy in shaping and supporting different regimes. We find that Portland exhibits a stable, “smart-growth” regime that we ch…
The environmental malleability of base-rate neglect
Controlling the narrative: Euphemistic language affects judgments of actions while avoiding perceptions of dishonesty
The present work (N = 1906 U.S. residents) investigates the extent to which peoples' evaluations of actions can be biased by the strategic use of euphemistic (agreeable) and dysphemistic (disagreeable) terms. We find that participants' evaluations of actions are made more favorable by replacing a disagreeable term (e.g., torture) with a semantically related agreeable term (e.g., enhanced interrogation) in an act's description. Notably, the influe…
The search for predictable moral partners: Predictability and moral (character) preferences
Better the two devils you know, than the one you don't: Predictability influences moral judgments of immoral actors
National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic
Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during …
Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to Covid-19 pandemic using machine learning
At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions. In this study, we applied machine learning on the multi-national data collected by the International Collaboration on the Social…
Disclosing sample bias fails to fully correct judgments of partisan extremity
How do we infer the beliefs of an entire group (e.g., Democrats) after being exposed to the beliefs of only a handful of group members? What if we know that the beliefs we encountered were selected in a biased manner? Across two experiments, we recruited 640 U.S. residents and assessed whether they could recognize and correct for such sample bias. Some participants viewed biased samples that exclusively featured the political opinions of extreme …
Partisan language in a polarized world: In-group language provides reputational benefits to speakers while polarizing audiences
Between law and conscience: Act legality shapes moral evaluation
Can legality shape moral judgment? Across four experiments (N = 1,559), participants judged identical actions as more morally wrong when they were described as illegal rather than “not illegal.” This effect extended to judgments of moral character: individuals who performed illegal actions were evaluated more negatively than those who performed otherwise identical legal actions. The influence of legality was robust across several contexts, emergi…
Everyone I Don’t Like Is Biased: Affective Evaluations and the Bias Blind Spot
People commonly exhibit a bias blind spot (BBS), judging themselves as less susceptible to bias than the “average other.” However, less is known about how people attribute bias to familiar others who evoke strong affect. We examined whether attributions of bias are sensitive to affective impressions of others. In Experiment 1, participants viewed themselves as considerably less biased than the average survey respondent and a personally-known disl…
The emotional cost of political engagement
Political polarization is increasingly recognized as a critical threat to individual and collective well-being. Prevailing frameworks suggest that political engagement diminishes well-being by evoking negative emotions, which act as chronic stressors. However, the relationship between politics and emotion has largely been investigated by relying on static snapshots of emotional reactions to political events, overlooking how well-being is impacted…
Psychology (8 works) · Cognitive psychology (5 works) · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment (5 works) · Social Psychology (5 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · COVID-19 and Mental Health (3 works) · Geography (3 works) · Moral character (3 works) · Moral disengagement (3 works) · Morality (3 works)