scholarly journals The psychological burden of the COVID-19 pandemic drives anti-systemic attitudes and political violence

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrikas Bartusevicius ◽  
Alexander Bor ◽  
Frederik Juhl Jørgensen ◽  
Michael Bang Petersen
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
The United States ◽  
Psychological Burden ◽  
Lethal Violence ◽  
The Us ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior ◽  
Western Democracies

Western democracies, most notably the United States, have recently experienced a wave of protests, some characterized by lethal violence. While police brutality served as a catalyst, the eruption of protests coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic---the most severe global crisis of the 21st century. The pandemic has caused, inter alia, social stress, marginalization, and loss of economic status, which constitute psychological elicitors of aggression. Given this, we examined whether the psychological burden of the COVID-19 pandemic promotes anti-systemic attitudes and behavior. Analyses of two-wave panel data collected in April--July 2020 in the US, Denmark, Italy, and Hungary (N = 10,699), indicated that COVID-19 burden increased sentiments to ``watch the world burn'' and intentions to engage in political violence but not in peaceful protests. In the US, COVID-19 burden furthermore predicted engagement in the most violent actions during the George Floyd protests and counter-protests, including physical confrontation with the police. These results suggest that a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic during the fall of 2020 may increase the risk of political violence in Western democracies, especially in contexts of potential political instability, such as the US presidential election.

scholarly journals The Psychological Burden of the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Associated With Antisystemic Attitudes and Political Violence

2021 ◽  
pp. 095679762110318
Author(s):  
Henrikas Bartusevičius ◽  
Alexander Bor ◽  
Frederik Jørgensen ◽  
Michael Bang Petersen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
The United States ◽  
Psychological Burden ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Intentions To Participate ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior ◽  
Robust Evidence ◽  
Actual Participation

What are the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for people’s political attitudes and behavior? We tested, specifically, whether the psychological burden of the COVID-19 pandemic relates to antisystemic attitudes (dissatisfaction with the fundamental social and political order), peaceful political activism, and political violence. Nationally representative two-wave panel data were collected via online surveys of adults in the United States, Denmark, Italy, and Hungary ( ns = 6,131 and 4,568 in Waves 1 and 2, respectively). Overall, levels of antisystemic attitudes were low, and only a small share of interviewees reported behavioral intentions to participate in and actual participation in political violence. However, preregistered analyses indicated that perceived COVID-19 burden was associated with antisystemic attitudes and intentions to engage in political violence. In the United States, the burden of COVID-19 was also associated with self-reported engagement in violence surrounding the Black Lives Matter protests and counterprotests. We found less robust evidence that perceived COVID-19 burden was associated with peaceful activism.

Archived Attributes: An Internet-Text Approach to Measuring Legislator Attitudes and Behavior

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Emily Kalah Gade ◽  
Sarah Dreier ◽  
John Wilkerson ◽  
Anne Washington
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effective ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Religious Rhetoric ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Internet Archive ◽  
Scientific Analysis ◽  
The Us ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior ◽  
Time Invariant

Abstract The Internet Archive curated a 90-terabyte sub-collection of captures from the US government's public website domain (‘.gov’). Such archives provide largely untapped resources for measuring attributes, behaviors and outcomes relevant to political science research. This study leverages this archive to measure a novel dimension of federal legislators' religiosity: their proportional use of religious rhetoric on official congressional websites (2006–2012). This scalable, time-variant measure improves upon more costly, time-invariant conventional approaches to measuring legislator attributes. The authors demonstrate the validity of this method for measuring legislators' public-facing religiosity and discuss the contributions and limitations of using archived Internet data for scientific analysis. This research makes three applied methodological contributions: (1) it develops a new measure for legislator religiosity, (2) it models an improved, more comprehensive approach to analyzing congressional communications and (3) it demonstrates the unprecedented potential that archived Internet data offer to researchers seeking to develop meaningful, cost-effective approaches to analyzing political phenomena.

Understanding Police Recruits’ Attitudes Toward Public Interactions: An Australian Example

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise E. Porter ◽  
Geoffrey P. Alpert
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Police Culture ◽  
Physical Force ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Police Recruits ◽  
Code Of Silence ◽  
Police Attitudes ◽  
Culture Dimensions ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior

Recent events, particularly in the United States, have highlighted strained police-citizen relations and the importance of citizens viewing police as legitimate and trustworthy. Perceptions of unreasonable police officer conduct, particularly related to demeanor and physical force, are often at the center of public complaints. The present study used survey data to explore the attitudes of 577 Australian police recruits regarding behaving disrespectfully toward, and using force against, citizens. Over all, recruits’ attitudes were positive, likely reflecting present screening processes. However, some variation was evident and predicted by selected police culture dimensions, including cynicism and police authority, as well as officer characteristics and background factors. Further, attitudes more supportive of disrespect and force were, in turn, predictive of the code of silence for such behavior, measured through hypothetical unwillingness to report colleagues’ behavior. The implications for understanding police attitudes are discussed, as well as attempts to reduce negative attitudes and behavior.

Attitudes Toward Driving Safety and Their Modification

1970 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. H. Schuster
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Safety ◽  
The United States ◽  
Driving Behavior ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Driving Safety ◽  
Research Needs ◽  
Good Reliability ◽  
Considerable Research ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior

This paper reviews and discusses the measurement of attitudes toward traffic safety and the attempts to change these attitudes and related driving behavior. Psychological testing of such attitudes and personality characteristics is fairly well developed and there are some instruments of good reliability and useable validity. Efforts to modify driver attitudes and behavior are inconclusive and only mildly encouraging. Considerable research needs to be done before the attitudes and behavior of drivers can be changed to improve traffic safety in the United States.

scholarly journals Assessing the Integration of Environmental Justice and Sustainability in Practice: A Review of the Literature

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 11238
Author(s):  
Susan Spierre Clark ◽  
Monica Lynn Miles
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
The United States ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Healthy Environment ◽  
The Us ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Just Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Movement

The environmental justice (EJ) movement has been a key factor in the United States’ struggle to provide a healthy environment for all to thrive. The origins of the movement date as far back as the 1960’s, led primarily by people of color and low economic status communities living in America’s most polluted environments. More recently, the just sustainability movement calls for the inclusion of EJ considerations, including social justice, equity, and human rights, into sustainability science and initiatives. Whereas previous work has elucidated synergies between both concepts, this paper provides a literature review of studies that apply the concepts of EJ and sustainability in the US to inform ways in which the concepts are merging (or not) for practical applications. The primary objectives of this review are (1) to identify the common themes in which EJ and sustainability are applied, (2) to qualitatively assess the progression of the integration of these important movements in practical applications, and (3) to inform research gaps that exist in this area. In general, we find that despite the increasing conceptual emphasis on the need to integrate these important concepts, the reviewed scholarship reveals that in practice, the integration of EJ and sustainability remains piecemeal.

Ten Years of Messaging about the Affordable Care Act in Advertising and News Media: Lessons for Policy and Politics

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 711-728 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Gollust ◽  
Erika Franklin Fowler ◽  
Jeff Niederdeppe
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
News Media ◽  
Health Reform ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
The Us ◽  
Political Ads ◽  
The Affordable Care Act ◽  
The Law ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior

Abstract Messaging about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has seemingly produced a variety of outcomes: millions of Americans gained access to health insurance, yet much of the US public remains confused about major components of the law, and there remain stark and persistent political divides in support of the law. Our analysis of the volume and content of ACA-related media (including both ads and news) helps explain these phenomena, with three conclusions. First, the information environment around the ACA has been complex and competitive, with messaging originating from diverse sponsors with multiple objectives. Second, partisan cues in news and political ads are abundant, likely contributing to the crystallized politically polarized opinion about the law. Third, partisan discussions of the ACA in political ads have shifted in volume, direction, and tone over the decade, presenting divergent views regarding which party is accountable for the law's successes (or failures). We offer evidence for each of these conclusions from longitudinal analyses of the volume and content of ACA messaging, also referencing studies that have linked these messages to attitudes and behavior. We conclude with implications for health communication, political science, and the future outlook for health reform.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pippa Norris
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Research Team ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Independent Evidence ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Government ◽  
American Elections ◽  
Western Democracies

This introductory chapter begins with a brief discussion of the pervasive problems in the American electoral process. It then describes the Electoral Integrity Project (EIP). Established in 2012, the EIP is an independent project with a research team based at Harvard and Sydney universities that provides independent evidence from a rolling expert survey to document these problems and monitor how elections vary worldwide. According to expert estimates developed by EIP, the 2012 and 2014 elections in the United States were the worst among all Western democracies. Without reform, these problems risk damaging the legitimacy of American elections—further weakening public confidence in the major political parties, Congress, and the US government, depressing voter turnout, and exacerbating the risks of contentious outcomes fought through court appeals and public protests. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.

scholarly journals Fear of Electoral Violence and its Impact on Political Knowledge in Sub-Saharan Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 869-886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Söderström
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Electoral Violence ◽  
Political Citizenship ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior

The literature on electoral violence has focused on its causes as well as its scope, ignoring the implications for citizens trying to practice their political citizenship. Informed citizens are a central part of a functioning democracy. The emotive response to violence may play an important role here. This article contributes to a deeper understanding of how the voter responds to violence. Recent work on the role of emotions in politics has demonstrated its positive role for cognition, as fear can increase the individual’s propensity to amass information and reevaluate attitudes and behavior. This is tested in a hitherto unexamined context, namely, Sub-Saharan Africa, using the Afrobarometer survey (20 different countries). In general, political fear is a significant predictor of political knowledge, but in the opposite direction compared to the hypothesis. The affective intelligence hypothesis only receives partial support using this data, namely, in countries with high levels of political violence.

scholarly journals Stepping Outside the Self Promotes Pro-Environmental Behaviors

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 3128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chenxuan Hou ◽  
Emine Sarigöllü ◽  
Myung-Soo Jo ◽  
Dapeng Liang
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Environmental Attitudes ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Self ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Perspective Theory ◽  
Environmental Attitudes And Behavior ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior

Although different self-perspectives can prompt different mindsets, leading to different responses, little is known about how self-perspective impacts pro-environmental behaviors. This study explores the effect of self-perspective, i.e., either self-immersed or self-distanced perspective, on environmental attitudes and behavior. Based on an online survey of 409 respondents in the United States, we find that pro-environmental behaviors are perceived as more important and less costly from a self-distanced perspective, compared to a self-immersed one, which in turn facilitates more engagement in pro-environmental behaviors. Furthermore, a self-distanced perspective is more prevalent than a self-immersed perspective when individuals are less satisfied with and perceive less control over their pro-environmental behaviors. This study extends the self-perspective theory to research on pro-environmental behaviors, and offers useful implications for individuals to address conflicts between environmental and self-interested considerations, as well as for public policy makers and practitioners to promote more engagement in pro-environmental behaviors.

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