Alberto López Ortega
Biographic Data
| ID | 918137 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alberto López Ortega |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alberto López |
| FAMILY NAME | Ortega |
| SIGNATURE | ORTEGA A L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2765-7232 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 73 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2021 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Still Instrumentally Inclusive
Do individuals in Western democracies shift their views on LGBT+ inclusion when exposed to opposition from Muslim out-groups? And is this “homonationalist” responsiveness stronger among anti-immigration individuals? Our article “Instrumentally inclusive [...]” addressed these questions using representative data from Britain (Study 1) and crowd-sourced data from Spain (Study 2). We revisit Study 2 in response to concerns about post-stratification …
Ethnic bias from within: Catalan preferences for Catalan‐sounding names in adoption decisions
Although name‐based differential treatment has been widely studied in societies with a dominant language, less is known about how such preferences function within multilingual societies where regional and national hierarchies intersect. In Catalonia, where Spanish–Catalan linguistic boundaries overlap with contested political identities, we investigate whether name‐based preferences shape evaluations in adoption decisions. Using a conjoint experi…
Citizens’ Trust in the European Union During Crisis and Conflicts Across 10 Countries
The increasing support for populism is indicative of a profound crisis in European societies. The prevailing cultural narrative posits that support for populist parties, particularly those of a right-wing orientation, is predominantly a reaction to the erosion of nationalistic and religious identities. A growing critique of supranational institutions became visible in some countries. In Europe, populist parties are growing, but Euroscepticism see…
A Populist Axis? Analyzing Connections Between Populist, Economic, and Cultural Dimensions of Political Space
What makes populist parties successful? What is the contribution of populist ideas to their appeal? How do they affect a voter’s choice? In this article, we treat populist orientation as just another dimension of spatial competition alongside economic and cultural dimensions, and assess its influence on vote choice. Using survey data from nine countries, we place voters and parties along the populist, economic, and cultural dimensions and estimat…
Visual Conjoint vs. Text Conjoint and the Differential Discriminatory Effect of (Visible) Social Categories
Does learning political candidates’ social categories through visual cues affect voter preferences? This paper explores this question by conducting a visual conjoint survey experiment with 2324 German voters, varying whether respondents received information on candidates through explicit labels or pretested AI-generated candidate pictures. The results confirm our expectations that the way in which social categories are perceived affects preferenc…
One model to rule them all? Choosing two-dimensional spaces for European political landscapes with VAA data
This article investigates the effectiveness of three different two-dimensional models in representing political competition using user data from the EU and I Voting Advice Application for the EU elections from 2009 to 2019. We test different ways of aggregating economic, cultural, and European integration issues to determine which configuration best captures voter preferences across all member states. Our findings show that combining economic and…
Public Communication about Science in 68 Countries: Global Evidence on How People Encounter and Engage with Information about Science
This 68-country survey ( n = 71,922) examines science information diets and communication behavior, identifies cross-country differences, and tests how such differences are associated with sociopolitical and economic conditions. We find that social media are the most used sources of science information in most countries, except those with democratic-corporatist media systems where news media tend to be used more widely. People in collectivist soc…
Not So Sexually Modern After All: Homonegativity and Prejudice Against Open and Age-Gap Relationships
How widespread is sexual liberalism in tolerant societies? Theoretical and descriptive evidence suggests an overall liberalization in societal views on topics such as women’s rights and homosexuality. Yet, relying on sexual norms theory, this study unveils persistent sexual prejudice. We differentiate between “normalized” sexual issues, like same-gender marriage, which have gained mainstream acceptance, and “nonnormalized” issues, such as nontrad…
Selectively (il)liberal: Theory and evidence on nativist disidentification
Does group-based tribal thinking against ethnic out-groups condition support for both liberal and illiberal policies? Our thesis is that, irrespective of the direction of the policy (progressive or conservative), nativists express selective support for policies based on different signals of group-identity: descriptive markers, group-based substantive representation, in- and out-group norms, and group-based reasoning. We test this theoretical expe…
How congruent are populist parties with their constituencies? Evidence from the 2019 European Parliament Elections in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden
When the party is over: Explaining the rise of the Spanish far-right Salf
Can a second far-right party succeed in a country where the radical right was, until recently, absent? Spain’s 2024 European Parliament elections provided a striking answer with the emergence of SALF (“Let the Party Be Over”), a far-right anti-politics platform that captured 4.6% of the vote in its electoral debut, outperforming Podemos and the major regional parties. Through a comprehensive analysis of individual-level data from approximately 38…
Far Right Normalization & Centrifugal Affect. Evidence from the Dating Market
Are radical right supporters penalized by a social norm against the radical right on the dating market? This paper investigates this question by leveraging diverse empirical sources, including a unique and behavioral visual conjoint experiment conducted in Britain and Spain. Theoretically, we argue that the radical right is accommodated within the dating market as a result of the affective spillovers among those on the center-right who view datin…
Populism and Polarization: A Nostalgic Narrative of ‘Us’ and ‘Them
The vast presence of populism in contemporary political discourse has introduced a narrative steeped in nostalgia, evoking images of a revered national past and delineating a stark division between the ‘authentic us’ and the ‘alien them’. While these messages resonate with a substantial portion of citizens, they concurrently foster identity-driven animosity and derogation. In a pre-registered experiment in the Netherlands (with data collected bet…
Do Citizens Stereotype Muslims as an Illiberal Bogeyman? Evidence from a Double-List Experiment
Illiberal actors in Western democracies increasingly exploit the superficial defence of liberal values like gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights to demonize ethnic out-groups, portraying Muslims as inherently opposed to Western values. This paper investigates whether this stereotype reflects widespread public beliefs and asks: is the stereotypical view of the Muslim community as an illiberal ‘bogeyman’ endorsed by citizens? Leveraging an original do…
Do Citizens Stereotype Muslims as an Illiberal Bogeyman? Evidence from a Double-List Experiment – Erratum
Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries
Science is crucial for evidence-based decision-making. Public trust in scientists can help decision makers act on the basis of the best available evidence, especially during crises. However, in recent years the epistemic authority of science has been challenged, causing concerns about low public trust in scientists. We interrogated these concerns with a preregistered 68-country survey of 71,922 respondents and found that in most countries, most p…
Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries
Effectively reducing climate change requires marked, global behavior change. However, it is unclear which strategies are most likely to motivate people to change their climate beliefs and behaviors. Here, we tested 11 expert-crowdsourced interventions on four climate mitigation outcomes: beliefs, policy support, information sharing intention, and an effortful tree-planting behavioral task. Across 59,440 participants from 63 countries, the interve…
The war on flags: The opposition to state-sponsored LGBTQ+ symbols
Negativity against LGBTQ+ and gender equality symbols is escalating across Western European countries, including those at the forefront of sexual modernism. Drawing on data from Spain, this paper theorizes and finds that state-sponsored LGBTQ+ symbols receive significantly more negativity than other aspects of LGBTQ+ issues related to general and specific attitudes toward formal rights. The negativity is primarily explained by support for Vox, a …
Bisexual erasure and homophobia: Attitudinal Patterns Under Consideration of Sexual Identity
With the increasing visibility of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer and other (LGBTQ+) individuals, sociological debates about attitudes towards the group and their intergroup dynamics have intensified. This article investigates the link between factors explaining homophobia and negative attitudes towards bisexuals, often referred to as ‘biphobia’ or ‘bisexual erasure’, using original data collected in August 2021 from Germany ( N = 1,342). Th…
Do political duos diminish discriminatory voter preferences? Evidence from a combined conjoint experiment
In Europe, more and more parties and governments are led by a pair of leaders. What consequences does the presence of duos have on voter preferences? I argue that voters have less discriminatory preferences against untraditional candidates when they choose two leaders instead of only one. However, discriminatory preferences do not entirely vanish; rather, traditionally excluded candidates are often relegated to secondary positions, and there exis…
Actitudes públicas sobre la (in)seguridad energética evidencia de España
Este estudio investiga cómo perciben los ciudadanos los retos de la seguridad energética, analizando los datos originales de una encuesta realizada en una muestra de cuota de ciudadanos españoles (n=339). Los resultados demuestran que la seguridad energética en general y la asequibilidad de los precios de la electricidad en los hogares en particular son motivo de gran preocupación para los ciudadanos. Los ciudadanos mayores de nuestra muestra par…
Instrumentally Inclusive: The Political Psychology of Homonationalism
Can nativist attitudes condition support for LGBT+ rights? The sustained advance in pro-LGBT+ attitudes in the West often contrasts with the greening of anti-immigrant sentiment propagated by nativist supply-side actors. We argue that these parallel trends are causally connected, theorizing that exposure to sexually conservative ethnic out-groups can provoke an instrumental increase in LGBT+ inclusion, particularly among those hostile toward immi…
Do all voters appreciate rebels? Ideology moderates valence benefits from factional dissent
Various studies show that voters appreciate individual legislators who dissent against their party as it increases their valence appeal. Simultaneously, political psychology research shows that right voters consider loyalty substantially more important than left voters. However, whether ideology moderates voter reactions to legislator dissent is so far unexplored, similarly to the question of whether voters also appreciate factional dissent of a …
Insights into the accuracy of social scientists' forecasts of societal change
Are microtargeted campaign messages more negative and diverse? An analysis of Facebook Ads in European election campaigns
Concerns about the use of online political microtargeting (OPM) by campaigners have arisen since the Cambridge Analytica scandal hit the international political arena. In addition to providing conceptual clarity on OPM and explore the use of such techniques in Europe, this paper seeks to empirically disentangle the differing behaviours of campaigners when they message citizens through microtargeted rather than non-targeted campaigning. More preci…
Instrumentally Inclusive: The Political Psychology of Homonationalism
Can nativist attitudes condition support for LGBT+ rights? The sustained advance in pro-LGBT+ attitudes in the West often contrasts with the greening of anti-immigrant sentiment propagated by nativist supply-side actors. We argue that these parallel trends are causally connected, theorizing that exposure to sexually conservative ethnic out-groups can provoke an instrumental increase in LGBT+ inclusion, particularly among those hostile toward immi…
Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries
Science is crucial for evidence-based decision-making. Public trust in scientists can help decision makers act on the basis of the best available evidence, especially during crises. However, in recent years the epistemic authority of science has been challenged, causing concerns about low public trust in scientists. We interrogated these concerns with a preregistered 68-country survey of 71,922 respondents and found that in most countries, most p…
Are microtargeted campaign messages more negative and diverse? An analysis of Facebook Ads in European election campaigns
Concerns about the use of online political microtargeting (OPM) by campaigners have arisen since the Cambridge Analytica scandal hit the international political arena. In addition to providing conceptual clarity on OPM and explore the use of such techniques in Europe, this paper seeks to empirically disentangle the differing behaviours of campaigners when they message citizens through microtargeted rather than non-targeted campaigning. More preci…
How congruent are populist parties with their constituencies? Evidence from the 2019 European Parliament Elections in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden
Do Citizens Stereotype Muslims as an Illiberal Bogeyman? Evidence from a Double-List Experiment
Illiberal actors in Western democracies increasingly exploit the superficial defence of liberal values like gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights to demonize ethnic out-groups, portraying Muslims as inherently opposed to Western values. This paper investigates whether this stereotype reflects widespread public beliefs and asks: is the stereotypical view of the Muslim community as an illiberal ‘bogeyman’ endorsed by citizens? Leveraging an original do…
Bisexual erasure and homophobia: Attitudinal Patterns Under Consideration of Sexual Identity
With the increasing visibility of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer and other (LGBTQ+) individuals, sociological debates about attitudes towards the group and their intergroup dynamics have intensified. This article investigates the link between factors explaining homophobia and negative attitudes towards bisexuals, often referred to as ‘biphobia’ or ‘bisexual erasure’, using original data collected in August 2021 from Germany ( N = 1,342). Th…
The war on flags: The opposition to state-sponsored LGBTQ+ symbols
Negativity against LGBTQ+ and gender equality symbols is escalating across Western European countries, including those at the forefront of sexual modernism. Drawing on data from Spain, this paper theorizes and finds that state-sponsored LGBTQ+ symbols receive significantly more negativity than other aspects of LGBTQ+ issues related to general and specific attitudes toward formal rights. The negativity is primarily explained by support for Vox, a …
Insights into the accuracy of social scientists' forecasts of societal change
Far Right Normalization & Centrifugal Affect. Evidence from the Dating Market
Are radical right supporters penalized by a social norm against the radical right on the dating market? This paper investigates this question by leveraging diverse empirical sources, including a unique and behavioral visual conjoint experiment conducted in Britain and Spain. Theoretically, we argue that the radical right is accommodated within the dating market as a result of the affective spillovers among those on the center-right who view datin…
Do political duos diminish discriminatory voter preferences? Evidence from a combined conjoint experiment
In Europe, more and more parties and governments are led by a pair of leaders. What consequences does the presence of duos have on voter preferences? I argue that voters have less discriminatory preferences against untraditional candidates when they choose two leaders instead of only one. However, discriminatory preferences do not entirely vanish; rather, traditionally excluded candidates are often relegated to secondary positions, and there exis…
Do all voters appreciate rebels? Ideology moderates valence benefits from factional dissent
Various studies show that voters appreciate individual legislators who dissent against their party as it increases their valence appeal. Simultaneously, political psychology research shows that right voters consider loyalty substantially more important than left voters. However, whether ideology moderates voter reactions to legislator dissent is so far unexplored, similarly to the question of whether voters also appreciate factional dissent of a …
One model to rule them all? Choosing two-dimensional spaces for European political landscapes with VAA data
This article investigates the effectiveness of three different two-dimensional models in representing political competition using user data from the EU and I Voting Advice Application for the EU elections from 2009 to 2019. We test different ways of aggregating economic, cultural, and European integration issues to determine which configuration best captures voter preferences across all member states. Our findings show that combining economic and…
When the party is over: Explaining the rise of the Spanish far-right Salf
Can a second far-right party succeed in a country where the radical right was, until recently, absent? Spain’s 2024 European Parliament elections provided a striking answer with the emergence of SALF (“Let the Party Be Over”), a far-right anti-politics platform that captured 4.6% of the vote in its electoral debut, outperforming Podemos and the major regional parties. Through a comprehensive analysis of individual-level data from approximately 38…
Are microtargeted campaign messages more negative and diverse? An analysis of Facebook Ads in European election campaigns
Concerns about the use of online political microtargeting (OPM) by campaigners have arisen since the Cambridge Analytica scandal hit the international political arena. In addition to providing conceptual clarity on OPM and explore the use of such techniques in Europe, this paper seeks to empirically disentangle the differing behaviours of campaigners when they message citizens through microtargeted rather than non-targeted campaigning. More preci…
Do all voters appreciate rebels? Ideology moderates valence benefits from factional dissent
Various studies show that voters appreciate individual legislators who dissent against their party as it increases their valence appeal. Simultaneously, political psychology research shows that right voters consider loyalty substantially more important than left voters. However, whether ideology moderates voter reactions to legislator dissent is so far unexplored, similarly to the question of whether voters also appreciate factional dissent of a …
Insights into the accuracy of social scientists' forecasts of societal change
Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries
Effectively reducing climate change requires marked, global behavior change. However, it is unclear which strategies are most likely to motivate people to change their climate beliefs and behaviors. Here, we tested 11 expert-crowdsourced interventions on four climate mitigation outcomes: beliefs, policy support, information sharing intention, and an effortful tree-planting behavioral task. Across 59,440 participants from 63 countries, the interve…
The war on flags: The opposition to state-sponsored LGBTQ+ symbols
Negativity against LGBTQ+ and gender equality symbols is escalating across Western European countries, including those at the forefront of sexual modernism. Drawing on data from Spain, this paper theorizes and finds that state-sponsored LGBTQ+ symbols receive significantly more negativity than other aspects of LGBTQ+ issues related to general and specific attitudes toward formal rights. The negativity is primarily explained by support for Vox, a …
Bisexual erasure and homophobia: Attitudinal Patterns Under Consideration of Sexual Identity
With the increasing visibility of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer and other (LGBTQ+) individuals, sociological debates about attitudes towards the group and their intergroup dynamics have intensified. This article investigates the link between factors explaining homophobia and negative attitudes towards bisexuals, often referred to as ‘biphobia’ or ‘bisexual erasure’, using original data collected in August 2021 from Germany ( N = 1,342). Th…
Do political duos diminish discriminatory voter preferences? Evidence from a combined conjoint experiment
In Europe, more and more parties and governments are led by a pair of leaders. What consequences does the presence of duos have on voter preferences? I argue that voters have less discriminatory preferences against untraditional candidates when they choose two leaders instead of only one. However, discriminatory preferences do not entirely vanish; rather, traditionally excluded candidates are often relegated to secondary positions, and there exis…
Actitudes públicas sobre la (in)seguridad energética evidencia de España
Este estudio investiga cómo perciben los ciudadanos los retos de la seguridad energética, analizando los datos originales de una encuesta realizada en una muestra de cuota de ciudadanos españoles (n=339). Los resultados demuestran que la seguridad energética en general y la asequibilidad de los precios de la electricidad en los hogares en particular son motivo de gran preocupación para los ciudadanos. Los ciudadanos mayores de nuestra muestra par…
Instrumentally Inclusive: The Political Psychology of Homonationalism
Can nativist attitudes condition support for LGBT+ rights? The sustained advance in pro-LGBT+ attitudes in the West often contrasts with the greening of anti-immigrant sentiment propagated by nativist supply-side actors. We argue that these parallel trends are causally connected, theorizing that exposure to sexually conservative ethnic out-groups can provoke an instrumental increase in LGBT+ inclusion, particularly among those hostile toward immi…
Visual Conjoint vs. Text Conjoint and the Differential Discriminatory Effect of (Visible) Social Categories
Does learning political candidates’ social categories through visual cues affect voter preferences? This paper explores this question by conducting a visual conjoint survey experiment with 2324 German voters, varying whether respondents received information on candidates through explicit labels or pretested AI-generated candidate pictures. The results confirm our expectations that the way in which social categories are perceived affects preferenc…
One model to rule them all? Choosing two-dimensional spaces for European political landscapes with VAA data
This article investigates the effectiveness of three different two-dimensional models in representing political competition using user data from the EU and I Voting Advice Application for the EU elections from 2009 to 2019. We test different ways of aggregating economic, cultural, and European integration issues to determine which configuration best captures voter preferences across all member states. Our findings show that combining economic and…
Public Communication about Science in 68 Countries: Global Evidence on How People Encounter and Engage with Information about Science
This 68-country survey ( n = 71,922) examines science information diets and communication behavior, identifies cross-country differences, and tests how such differences are associated with sociopolitical and economic conditions. We find that social media are the most used sources of science information in most countries, except those with democratic-corporatist media systems where news media tend to be used more widely. People in collectivist soc…
Not So Sexually Modern After All: Homonegativity and Prejudice Against Open and Age-Gap Relationships
How widespread is sexual liberalism in tolerant societies? Theoretical and descriptive evidence suggests an overall liberalization in societal views on topics such as women’s rights and homosexuality. Yet, relying on sexual norms theory, this study unveils persistent sexual prejudice. We differentiate between “normalized” sexual issues, like same-gender marriage, which have gained mainstream acceptance, and “nonnormalized” issues, such as nontrad…
Selectively (il)liberal: Theory and evidence on nativist disidentification
Does group-based tribal thinking against ethnic out-groups condition support for both liberal and illiberal policies? Our thesis is that, irrespective of the direction of the policy (progressive or conservative), nativists express selective support for policies based on different signals of group-identity: descriptive markers, group-based substantive representation, in- and out-group norms, and group-based reasoning. We test this theoretical expe…
How congruent are populist parties with their constituencies? Evidence from the 2019 European Parliament Elections in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden
When the party is over: Explaining the rise of the Spanish far-right Salf
Can a second far-right party succeed in a country where the radical right was, until recently, absent? Spain’s 2024 European Parliament elections provided a striking answer with the emergence of SALF (“Let the Party Be Over”), a far-right anti-politics platform that captured 4.6% of the vote in its electoral debut, outperforming Podemos and the major regional parties. Through a comprehensive analysis of individual-level data from approximately 38…
Far Right Normalization & Centrifugal Affect. Evidence from the Dating Market
Are radical right supporters penalized by a social norm against the radical right on the dating market? This paper investigates this question by leveraging diverse empirical sources, including a unique and behavioral visual conjoint experiment conducted in Britain and Spain. Theoretically, we argue that the radical right is accommodated within the dating market as a result of the affective spillovers among those on the center-right who view datin…
Populism and Polarization: A Nostalgic Narrative of ‘Us’ and ‘Them
The vast presence of populism in contemporary political discourse has introduced a narrative steeped in nostalgia, evoking images of a revered national past and delineating a stark division between the ‘authentic us’ and the ‘alien them’. While these messages resonate with a substantial portion of citizens, they concurrently foster identity-driven animosity and derogation. In a pre-registered experiment in the Netherlands (with data collected bet…
Do Citizens Stereotype Muslims as an Illiberal Bogeyman? Evidence from a Double-List Experiment
Illiberal actors in Western democracies increasingly exploit the superficial defence of liberal values like gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights to demonize ethnic out-groups, portraying Muslims as inherently opposed to Western values. This paper investigates whether this stereotype reflects widespread public beliefs and asks: is the stereotypical view of the Muslim community as an illiberal ‘bogeyman’ endorsed by citizens? Leveraging an original do…
Do Citizens Stereotype Muslims as an Illiberal Bogeyman? Evidence from a Double-List Experiment – Erratum
Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries
Science is crucial for evidence-based decision-making. Public trust in scientists can help decision makers act on the basis of the best available evidence, especially during crises. However, in recent years the epistemic authority of science has been challenged, causing concerns about low public trust in scientists. We interrogated these concerns with a preregistered 68-country survey of 71,922 respondents and found that in most countries, most p…
Still Instrumentally Inclusive
Do individuals in Western democracies shift their views on LGBT+ inclusion when exposed to opposition from Muslim out-groups? And is this “homonationalist” responsiveness stronger among anti-immigration individuals? Our article “Instrumentally inclusive [...]” addressed these questions using representative data from Britain (Study 1) and crowd-sourced data from Spain (Study 2). We revisit Study 2 in response to concerns about post-stratification …
Ethnic bias from within: Catalan preferences for Catalan‐sounding names in adoption decisions
Although name‐based differential treatment has been widely studied in societies with a dominant language, less is known about how such preferences function within multilingual societies where regional and national hierarchies intersect. In Catalonia, where Spanish–Catalan linguistic boundaries overlap with contested political identities, we investigate whether name‐based preferences shape evaluations in adoption decisions. Using a conjoint experi…
Citizens’ Trust in the European Union During Crisis and Conflicts Across 10 Countries
The increasing support for populism is indicative of a profound crisis in European societies. The prevailing cultural narrative posits that support for populist parties, particularly those of a right-wing orientation, is predominantly a reaction to the erosion of nationalistic and religious identities. A growing critique of supranational institutions became visible in some countries. In Europe, populist parties are growing, but Euroscepticism see…
A Populist Axis? Analyzing Connections Between Populist, Economic, and Cultural Dimensions of Political Space
What makes populist parties successful? What is the contribution of populist ideas to their appeal? How do they affect a voter’s choice? In this article, we treat populist orientation as just another dimension of spatial competition alongside economic and cultural dimensions, and assess its influence on vote choice. Using survey data from nine countries, we place voters and parties along the populist, economic, and cultural dimensions and estimat…
Politics (13 works) · Political science (11 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (5 works) · Populism, Right-Wing Movements (5 works) · Social Psychology (5 works) · Computer Science (4 works)