Public Opinion
Social media exposes us to an incredible amount of information — from news stories to political messaging to pop culture. CSMaP studies how this information shapes public opinion and affects people’s political attitudes and beliefs.
Academic Research
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Journal Article
A Synthesis of Evidence for Policy from Behavioural Science During COVID-19
Nature, 2023
Scientific evidence regularly guides policy decisions, with behavioural science increasingly part of this process. In April 2020, an influential paper proposed 19 policy recommendations (‘claims’) detailing how evidence from behavioural science could contribute to efforts to reduce impacts and end the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we assess 747 pandemic-related research articles that empirically investigated those claims. We report the scale of evidence and whether evidence supports them to indicate applicability for policymaking. Two independent teams, involving 72 reviewers, found evidence for 18 of 19 claims, with both teams finding evidence supporting 16 (89%) of those 18 claims. The strongest evidence supported claims that anticipated culture, polarization and misinformation would be associated with policy effectiveness. Claims suggesting trusted leaders and positive social norms increased adherence to behavioural interventions also had strong empirical support, as did appealing to social consensus or bipartisan agreement. Targeted language in messaging yielded mixed effects and there were no effects for highlighting individual benefits or protecting others. No available evidence existed to assess any distinct differences in effects between using the terms ‘physical distancing’ and ‘social distancing’. Analysis of 463 papers containing data showed generally large samples; 418 involved human participants with a mean of 16,848 (median of 1,699). That statistical power underscored improved suitability of behavioural science research for informing policy decisions. Furthermore, by implementing a standardized approach to evidence selection and synthesis, we amplify broader implications for advancing scientific evidence in policy formulation and prioritization.
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Book
Computational Social Science for Policy and Quality of Democracy: Public Opinion, Hate Speech, Misinformation, and Foreign Influence Campaigns
Handbook of Computational Social Science for Policy, 2023
Reports & Analysis
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Analysis
How Americans’ Confidence in Technology Firms has Dropped
Results from the American Institutional Confidence poll's second wave show that the public's confidence in technology, and tech companies, has markedly decreased over the past five years.
June 14, 2023
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Analysis
Which Republicans Are Most Likely to Think the Election Was Stolen?
Those who dislike Democrats and don’t mind white nationalists. That includes plenty of Republicans with college educations.
January 19, 2021
News & Commentary
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Commentary
People Trust Themselves More Than They Trust the News. They Shouldn’t.
New research finds that Americans’ skepticism about news, which often drives people to use search engines to “do their own research,” could actually make them more misinformed.
March 12, 2024
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News
2023 Year in Review: Our Research & Impact
A look at our top articles, events, and more from the past year.
December 18, 2023