scholarly journals A Psychological Profile of the Alt-Right

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick S. Forscher ◽  
Nour S. Kteily
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Mechanical Turk ◽  
Social Discourse ◽  
Psychological Profile ◽  
Considerable Influence ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Economic Anxiety ◽  
Amazon's Mechanical Turk ◽  
The U.S

The 2016 U.S. presidential election coincided with the rise of the “alternative right,” or alt-right. Alt-right associates have wielded considerable influence on the current administration and on social discourse, but the movement’s loose organizational structure has led to disparate portrayals of its members’ psychology and made it difficult to decipher its aims and reach. To systematically explore the alt-right’s psychology, we recruited two U.S. samples: An exploratory sample through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk ( N = 827, alt-right n = 447) and a larger, nationally representative sample through the National Opinion Research Center’s Amerispeak panel ( N = 1,283, alt-right n = 71–160, depending on the definition). We estimate that 6% of the U.S. population and 10% of Trump voters identify as alt-right. Alt-right adherents reported a psychological profile more reflective of the desire for group-based dominance than economic anxiety. Although both the alt-right and non-alt-right Trump voters differed substantially from non-alt-right, non-Trump voters, the alt-right and Trump voters were quite similar, differing mainly in the alt-right’s especially high enthusiasm for Trump, suspicion of mainstream media, trust in alternative media, and desire for collective action on behalf of Whites. We argue for renewed consideration of overt forms of bias in contemporary intergroup research.

scholarly journals A Psychological Profile of the Alt-Right

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick S. Forscher ◽  
Nour Kteily
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Representative Sample ◽  
Social Discourse ◽  
Psychological Profile ◽  
Considerable Influence ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Economic Anxiety ◽  
The U.S

The 2016 U.S. presidential election coincided with the rise of the “alternative right” or “alt-right”. Alt-right associates have wielded considerable influence on the current administration and on social discourse, but the movement’s loose organizational structure has led to disparate portrayals of its members’ psychology and made it difficult to decipher its aims and reach. To systematically explore the alt-right’s psychology, we recruited two U.S. samples: An exploratory sample through MTurk (N = 827, Nalt-right = 447), and a larger nationally representative sample through the National Opinion Research Center’s Amerispeak panel (N = 1283, Nalt-right = 71 – 160, depending on the definition). We estimate that 6% of the U.S. population and 10% of Trump voters identify as alt-right. Alt-right adherents reported a psychological profile more reflective of the desire for group-based dominance than economic anxiety. Although both the alt-right and non-alt-right Trump voters differed substantially from non-alt-right non-Trump-voters, the alt-right and Trump voters were quite similar, differing mainly in the alt-right’s especially high enthusiasm for Trump, suspicion of mainstream media, trust in alternative media, and desire for collective action on behalf of Whites. We argue for renewed consideration of overt forms of bias in contemporary intergroup research.

Values of Participants in Behavioral Accounting Research: A Comparison of the M-Turk Population to a Nationally Representative Sample

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
William D. Brink ◽  
Lorraine S. Lee ◽  
Jonathan S. Pyzoha
Keyword(s):  
Labor Markets ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
Behavioral Accounting ◽  
The World ◽  
Online Labor Markets ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Online Labor ◽  
Amazon's Mechanical Turk ◽  
The U.S

ABSTRACT The external validity of conclusions from behavioral accounting experiments is in part dependent upon the representativeness of the sample compared to the population of interest. Researchers are beginning to leverage the availability of workers via online labor markets, such as Amazon's Mechanical Turk (M-Turk), as proxies for the general population (e.g., investors, jurors, and taxpayers). Using over 200 values-based items from the World Values Survey (WVS), the purpose of the current study is to explore whether U.S. M-Turk workers' values are similar to those of the U.S. population. Results show for the majority of items collected, M-Turk participants' values are significantly different from the WVS participants (e.g., values related to trust, ethics, religious beliefs, and politics). We present select items and themes representing values shown to influence judgments in prior research and discuss how those values may affect inferences of behavioral accounting researchers. Data Availability: Data are available from the authors upon request.

Functions of Imagined Interactions With AI Among Alexa-Users

2021 ◽  
pp. 027623662110053
Author(s):  
Timothy Gaspard ◽  
Phil Madison
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Psychological Effects ◽  
Mechanical Turk ◽  
Interaction Theory ◽  
Human Interactions ◽  
Personal Assistants ◽  
Amazon's Mechanical Turk ◽  
Machine Communication ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Imagined Interactions

Humans and agents of artificial intelligence (AI) participate in human-machine communication (HMC) more frequently now than ever before – especially in the U.S. Voice powered assistants (VPAs) are widely accessible software agents that enact various social roles, such as personal assistants, and are increasingly packaged with AI-devices to complete simple-tasks, such as sending texts, more efficiently. VPAs are designed to mimic human-human interactions (HHIs) to facilitate more natural human-VPA interactions (HVPAIs). The focus of this study is on the psychological effects of HVPAIs with Amazon’s VPA, Alexa, to identify predictors of frequent Alexa-use through six functions of imagined interactions (IIs) – rehearsal, self-understanding, relational maintenance, conflict linkage, compensation and catharsis. A modified survey of imagined interaction was distributed to 810 self-reported Alexa-users recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Results suggest that HVPAIs with Alexa impacts the imagination of participants similarly to HHIs, and that use of specific functions of IIs are significant negative predictors of Alexa-use. Moreover, the inclusion of machine-interlocutors as part of imagined interaction theory appears to be compelling as humans and machine interactions evolve in the 21st century.

scholarly journals Dimensions of pathological narcissism and intention to vote for Donald Trump

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0249892
Author(s):  
Matthew M. Yalch
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Mechanical Turk ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Pathological Narcissism ◽  
Potential Predictor ◽  
Self Image ◽  
The Hierarchical Structure ◽  
Amazon's Mechanical Turk ◽  
Best Fit

Pathological narcissism is a term often applied to former President Donald Trump, but it has been less examined as a potential predictor of voting for him. Trump projects a grandiose and omnipotent self-image during press conferences and rallies, and his followers at these events often respond with both effusive admiration and an inflated sense of their own self-regard, all of which are aspects of narcissism. However, while Trump’s personal narcissism has been well documented, there is little research on the narcissism of his supporters. In this study we conducted an exploratory analysis examining the hierarchical structure of pathological narcissism and which aspects of narcissism within that structure were associated with intended voting for Trump in the 2020 U.S. presidential election in a sample of U.S. residents collected online (N = 495) using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Results indicated that an eight-echelon hierarchy best fit the data. Within this hierarchy, antagonistic and indifferent aspects of narcissism within the fifth echelon best predicted intended voting for Trump over and above relevant demographic variables. These results have implications for the study of narcissism and, especially given the results of the 2020 election, the degree to which one can make use of narcissistic aspects of personality in political contests.

The Tribal Economy: Economic Perceptions, Economic Anxiety and the Prospects for Political Accountability

The Forum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 519-542
Author(s):  
Diana C. Mutz
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Economic Change ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
The Us ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Economic Anxiety ◽  
Incumbent Party

Abstract Whether American citizens hold presidents accountable for changes in the condition of the economy has increasingly been questioned. At the same time, the outcome of the 2016 election has been widely interpreted in economic terms. Press and pundits on both sides of the aisle have endorsed the “left behind” voter thesis suggesting that those who were economically dissatisfied or anxious voted against the incumbent party and thus elected Donald Trump. Likewise, some have argued that Trump would have won again in 2021 if not for the economic downturn caused by the COVID19 pandemic. In this study I use seven waves of nationally-representative panel data to examine change over time in individuals’ perceptions of the economy across the two most recent presidential election periods. I compare the magnitude of change from partisan rationalization of the economy to the magnitude of changes in perceptions due to the record-breaking decline in GDP during the year that COVID19 hit the US. My results provide little to no evidence that changes in perceptions due to real economic change were strong enough to overcome the effects of partisan rationalization. Given that the COVID19 recession was unusually severe, these results provide little reason for optimism that voters can hold leaders accountable for economic change.

Is it Ethical to Use Mechanical Turk for Behavioral Research? Relevant Data from a Representative Survey of MTurk Participants and Wages

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron J Moss ◽  
Cheskie Rosenzweig ◽  
Jonathan Robinson ◽  
Leib Litman
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Research ◽  
Mechanical Turk ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Financial Situation ◽  
Reliable Source ◽  
Traditional Work ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Amazon's Mechanical Turk ◽  
The U.S

To understand human behavior, social scientists need people and data. In the last decade, Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) emerged as a flexible, affordable, and reliable source of human participants and was widely adopted by academics. Yet despite MTurk’s utility, some have questioned whether researchers should continue using the platform on ethical grounds. The brunt of their concern is that people on MTurk are financially insecure, subjected to abuse, and earning inhumane wages. We investigated these issues with two random and representative surveys of the U.S. MTurk population (N = 4,094). The surveys revealed: 1) the financial situation of people on MTurk mirrors the general population, 2) the vast majority of people do not find MTurk stressful or requesters abusive, and 3) MTurk offers flexibility and benefits that most people value above more traditional work. In addition, people reported it is possible to earn about 9 dollars per hour and said they would not trade the flexibility of MTurk for less than 25 dollars per hour. Altogether, our data are important for assessing whether MTurk is an ethical place for behavioral research. We close with ways researchers can promote wage equity, ensuring MTurk is a place for affordable, high-quality, and ethical data.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document