Category Archives: My Updates

Conservatives value personal stories more than liberals do when evaluating scientific evidence

Randy Stein, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Alexander Swan, Eureka College, and Michelle Sarraf, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

Conservatives tend to see expert evidence and personal experience as more equally legitimate than liberals, who put a lot more weight on the scientific perspective, according to our new study published in the journal Political Psychology.

Our findings add nuance to a common claim that conservatives want to hear “both sides” of arguments, even for settled science that’s not really up for debate.

We asked 913 American adults to read an excerpt from an article debunking a common misconception, such as the existence of “lucky streaks” in games of chance. The article quoted a scientist explaining why people hold the misconception – for instance, people tend to see patterns in random data. The article also included a dissenting voice that drew from personal experience – such as someone claiming to have seen lucky streaks firsthand.

Our participants read one of two versions of the article. One version presented the dissenting voice as a quote from someone with relevant professional experience but no scientific expertise, such as a casino manager. In the other version, the dissenting opinion was a comment at the bottom from a random previous participant in our study who also disagreed with the scientist but had no clearly relevant expertise – analogous to a random poster in the comment section of an online article.

Though both liberals and conservatives tended to see the researcher as more legitimate overall, conservatives see less of a difference in legitimacy between the expert and the dissenter.

Why it matters

Looking at both our studies together, while about three-quarters of liberals rated the researcher as more legitimate, just over half of conservatives did. Additionally, about two-thirds of those who favored the anecdotal voice were conservative. Our data also showed that conservatives’ tendency to trust their intuitions accounted for the ideological split.

Other studies of a scientific ideological divide have focused on politicized issues like climate change, where conservatives, who are more likely to oppose regulation, may believe they have something to lose if policies to curb climate change are implemented. By using apolitical topics in our studies, we’ve shown that science denial isn’t just a matter of self-interest.

In stripping away political interest, we have revealed something more basic about how conservatives and liberals differ in the ways they interact with evidence. Conservatives are more likely to see intuitive, direct experience as legitimate. Scientific evidence, then, may become just another viewpoint.

Though we conducted these studies in 2018 before the pandemic, they help explain some of the ideological reactions to it in the U.S.

Among conservatives especially, the idea that the pandemic itself is not a major threat can hold as long as there’s personal evidence on offer that supports that view. President Donald Trump’s recovery from COVID-19 and his assertion based on his own experience that the disease is not so bad would have bolstered this belief. Recommendations from researchers to wear masks can remain mere suggestions so long as the court of public opinion is still undecided.

What other research is being done

Social scientists are already documenting ideological reactions to the pandemic that fit our findings. For example, many conservatives see the coronavirus as less of a threat and are more susceptible to misinformation. They also tend to see preventive efforts as less effective. Our studies suggest these views will continue to proliferate as long as anecdotal experience conflicts with scientific expertise.

What’s next

An individual’s understanding of scientific evidence depends on more than just his or her political ideology. Basic science literacy also plays a role.

The pandemic has forced people to confront how hard it is to understand the uncertainty inherent in many scientific estimates. Even liberals who are initially more sympathetic to science information might find their confidence in public health messages tested if these messages waver and evolve.

As such, we expect future research will focus on how health officials can most effectively communicate scientific uncertainty to the public.

Randy Stein, Assistant Professor of Marketing, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Alexander Swan, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Eureka College, and Michelle Sarraf, Master’s Student in Economics, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Featured in the Peoria County Chronicle!

I was asked for some local expert input on how to manage mental health in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. https://chronicleillinois.com/news/peoria-county-news/using-media-and-entertainment-to-help-support-mental-health-during-pandemic/

Alexander Swan, an assistant professor of psychology at Eureka College, said use of the social network TikTok for sharing videos has been helpful, particularly for college-age students.

“They’re content creating in a way and giving viewers a means to humorously explore their own quarantine,” said Swan, who holds a doctorate in psychological and brain sciences from the University of California-Santa Barbara. “Humor is an incredible way to deal with stress, and I promote this coping strategy a lot in my health psychology course.”

Noting that laughing is a stress-relieving aerobic exercise that releases endorphins and dopamine, Swan added, “So watch those TikTok videos, those comedy films or specials, or have a good laugh session with friends or family over Zoom.”

Other connection apps he suggested are iMessage, Facetime, Google Hangouts, Zoom, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. “Though we may be social distancing, it doesn’t mean we have to be alone,” he said. “Loneliness is devil in the details here and it’s incredibly important to stave off the feelings in any way we can.”

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Featured in Two UNILAD Film + Psych Articles

April and May 2020 have been busy months! Despite the seemingly endless back half of the semester, the livestreaming, and video-editing, two very cool things have happened.

I was interviewed for two pieces for the media organization UNILAD. I offered my thoughts on the 20th anniversaries for two enduring films: American Psycho (2000) and Final Destination (2000).

Here’s the link for American Psycho: https://www.unilad.co.uk/featured/american-psycho-is-about-more-than-patrick-batemans-insanity/

And here is the link for Final Destination: https://www.unilad.co.uk/featured/final-destination-creator-jeffrey-reddick-says-films-are-still-horrifying-20-years-on-because-we-all-fear-death/

I look forward to any future collabs on film–one of my very favorite passions in life!

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Featured in the Washington Post!

A new study regarding personality types was just published and I was asked to comment on it with the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2018/09/17/scientists-identify-four-personality-types

Pretty wild stuff! It has even been reposted/reblogged by other news orgs, like the Chicago Tribune. I’m pretty excited–it’s the little things…

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Blog Somewhat Recovered!

A short update: After accidentally, and boneheadedly, deleting my website’s database (right before I did a backup), I can safely say that the majority of the former website, with updating edits, has been restored.

By far the worst thing was restoring blog posts. Unfortunately, I waited a little too long to utilize Google’s cached version, which had all my posts archived, so I had to use the Wayback Machine (side note: this site is AWESOME). They only had one page of updates, but I’m pretty sure it was my 10 most recent posts (so a couple of really early Blog posts are now lost in the ether). Now, you might be saying: Alex, why did you update old blog posts? Well, I dunno, posterity’s sake? It was a part of my academic life, so why not? Obviously I wouldn’t do it if web caches didn’t exist, but since they do and it was easy to implement it.

Anyway, I’m going to try to keep this blog updated with the comings and goings of my academic life, so stay tuned!

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