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Poorly designed ballots can prevent voters from understanding, seeing, using, and processing information correctly, which can lead to voting failures that alter the outcome of elections. Applied psychologists and human factors engineers can make a real difference in ensuring that ballots accurately capture voter intent. More
Making Votes Count: It’s as Much About Psychology (and Ballot Design) as Security
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APS interviews Michael Wohl on how collective angst can influence collective nostalgia. More
Days of Future Past: Concerns for the Group’s Future Prompt Longing for Its Past (and Ways to Reclaim It)
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The act of giving can help those in need even as it improves the giver's own well-being. More
Making Nice: How Giving and Gratitude Can Rebuild Connections and Break Down Barriers
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Individuals on the conservative and liberal ends of the political spectrum may ‘feel’ their feelings somewhat differently when their moral expectations are violated. More
Liberals and Conservatives May Feel Moral Violations Differently
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We may perceive those we can trust to disagree with us as having greater integrity than “fence-sitters” who have no strong feelings either way. More
I Trust You to Disagree: Caring May Signal Integrity Across Political Lines
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The views expressed by political party leaders can change how individual voters feel about an issue, according to findings from a longitudinal study of voters in New Zealand. More
Voters’ Preexisting Opinions Shift to Align with Political Party Positions
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Data from 16,000 individuals in the UK reveal links between early conduct problems and economic and political discontent 25 years later. More
Adults’ Political Leanings Linked With Early Personality Traits
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Social conservatives are more likely to believe untrue warnings about possible threats than are liberals, two studies show. More
Political Affiliation Can Predict How People Will React to False Information About Threats
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People from opposing political parties may agree on the existence and causes of climate change more than they think, a study shows. More
Republicans and Democrats Generally Agree on Climate Change – But Not With Each Other
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People who occupy the extreme ends of the political spectrum may be less influenced by outside information on a simple estimation task than political moderates. More
Political Extremists Are Less Susceptible to Common Cognitive Bias
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With over a year of campaigning before the general election, voters should be able to tap into lots of information when they make their decisions in the voting booth. But it turns out there’s a lot more going on when we step behind the curtain to cast our ballot. More
This is Your Brain on Politics