Alexander Bor
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View article: Subverting Democracy in the Name of Democracy
Subverting Democracy in the Name of Democracy Open
Attempts to subvert democracy are often justified, paradoxically, as an effort to save orimprove democracy. Yet, little is known about the effectiveness of these justifications. Here,we conduct two original vignette experiments, where US A…
View article: Cross-cultural evidence that intergroup conflict heightens preferences for dominant leaders: A 25-country study
Cross-cultural evidence that intergroup conflict heightens preferences for dominant leaders: A 25-country study Open
Across societies and across history, seemingly dominant, authoritarian leaders have emerged frequently, often rising to power based on widespread popular support. One prominent theory holds that evolved psychological mechanisms of follower…
View article: Federalism and representation: Evidence from state abortion laws in the aftermath of Dobbs vs. Jackson women’s health organization
Federalism and representation: Evidence from state abortion laws in the aftermath of Dobbs vs. Jackson women’s health organization Open
Supporters of devolution argue that local policies better reflect citizen preferences than “one size fits all” policies enacted at the federal level. To test this claim, we leverage the sudden devolution of abortion policy-making that resu…
View article: The offline roots of online hostility: Adult and childhood administrative records correlate with individual-level hostility on Twitter
The offline roots of online hostility: Adult and childhood administrative records correlate with individual-level hostility on Twitter Open
Reducing hostility in social media interactions is a key public concern. Most extant research emphasizes how online contextual factors breed hostility. Here, we take a different perspective and focus on the offline roots of hostility, that…
View article: Undemocratic and unequal countries experience more political hostility on social media – Evidence from 30 Countries
Undemocratic and unequal countries experience more political hostility on social media – Evidence from 30 Countries Open
Concern about the hostility of political discussions on social media is widespread. Dominant public and scholarly narratives frequently attribute this hostility to common features of large social media platforms (such as anonymity, recomme…
View article: The offline roots of online hostility: Adult and childhood administrative records predict individual-level hostility on Twitter
The offline roots of online hostility: Adult and childhood administrative records predict individual-level hostility on Twitter Open
Reducing hostility in social media interactions is a key public concern. Most extant research emphasizes how online contextual factors breed hostility. Here, we take a different perspective and focus on the offline roots of hostility, i.e.…
View article: The COVID-19 pandemic eroded system support but not social solidarity
The COVID-19 pandemic eroded system support but not social solidarity Open
While the World was busy mitigating the disastrous health and economic effects of the novel coronavirus, a less direct, but not less concerning peril has largely remained unexplored: the COVID-19 crisis may have disrupted some of the most …
View article: Stability and change in the opinion–policy relationship: Evidence from minimum wage laws
Stability and change in the opinion–policy relationship: Evidence from minimum wage laws Open
Recent studies have documented large discrepancies between mass preferences and policies in U.S. states consistent with theories that highlight the oversized influence of affluent Americans on policymaking. In this note, we replicate and e…
View article: ‘Super-Unsupervised’ Classification for Labelling Text: Online Political Hostility as an Illustration
‘Super-Unsupervised’ Classification for Labelling Text: Online Political Hostility as an Illustration Open
We live in a world of text. Yet the sheer magnitude of social media data, coupled with a need to measure complex psychological constructs, has made this important source of data difficult to use. Researchers often engage in costly hand cod…
View article: Pandemic fatigue fueled political discontent during the COVID-19 pandemic
Pandemic fatigue fueled political discontent during the COVID-19 pandemic Open
Health authorities have highlighted “pandemic fatigue” as a psychological consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and warned that “fatigue” could demotivate compliance with health-related policies and mandates. Yet, fatigue from following the…
View article: Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning
Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning Open
At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and …
View article: Social and moral psychology of COVID-19 across 69 countries
Social and moral psychology of COVID-19 across 69 countries Open
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all domains of human life, including the economic and social fabric of societies. One of the central strategies for managing public health throughout the pandemic has been through persuasive messaging and…
View article: Moralizing the <scp>COVID</scp> ‐19 Pandemic: <scp>Self‐Interest</scp> Predicts Moral Condemnation of Other's Compliance, Distancing, and Vaccination
Moralizing the <span>COVID</span> ‐19 Pandemic: <span>Self‐Interest</span> Predicts Moral Condemnation of Other's Compliance, Distancing, and Vaccination Open
The emergence of the novel coronavirus has put societies under tremendous pressure to instigate massive and rapid behavior change. Throughout history, an effective strategy to facilitate novel behaviors has been to morally condemn those wh…
View article: Hostility in political debates online and offline: Who are the offenders - and who are the victims?
Hostility in political debates online and offline: Who are the offenders - and who are the victims? Open
Hostile behavior on social media in connection with, for example, political discussions, is considered a growing societal problem. In this article, we ask: Who are the perpetrators of political hostility on the Internet – and who are the v…
View article: Dominant jerks: People infer dominance from the utterance of challenging and offensive statements
Dominant jerks: People infer dominance from the utterance of challenging and offensive statements Open
Could there be upsides to rudely challenging people’s positions? If no one calls out the speaker of a challenging or offensive statement, it might be because the audience is afraid to challenge the speaker, thereby suggesting the speaker h…
View article: Do conspiracy theories efficiently signal coalition membership? An experimental test using the “Who Said What?” design
Do conspiracy theories efficiently signal coalition membership? An experimental test using the “Who Said What?” design Open
Theoretical work in evolutionary psychology have proposed that conspiracy theories may serve a coalitional function. Specifically, fringe and offensive statements such as conspiracy theories are expected to send a highly credible signal of…
View article: How the Development, Features and Roll-Out of a SARS-COV-2 Vaccine Shape Public Acceptance: A Conjoint Experiment in a Large Representative Sample of Danes
How the Development, Features and Roll-Out of a SARS-COV-2 Vaccine Shape Public Acceptance: A Conjoint Experiment in a Large Representative Sample of Danes Open
Background While effective vaccines against the SARS-COV-2 virus have been developed and countries around the world have invested heavily to secure vaccine rollout, a fundamental challenge remains. How do policy-makers around the world ens…
View article: Discriminatory Attitudes Against the Unvaccinated During a Global Pandemic
Discriminatory Attitudes Against the Unvaccinated During a Global Pandemic Open
Despite early hope that vaccines may end the COVID-19 pandemic, large unvaccinated minorities persist even in countries with high vaccine access. Consequently, public debates and protests have been intensifying over the issue of vaccinatio…
View article: Communicate hope to motivate the public during the COVID-19 pandemic
Communicate hope to motivate the public during the COVID-19 pandemic Open
How should health authorities communicate to motivate the public to comply with health advice during a prolonged health crisis such as a pandemic? During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, for example, people have had to comply with successive restr…
View article: The COVID-19 Pandemic Eroded System Support But Not Social Solidarity
The COVID-19 Pandemic Eroded System Support But Not Social Solidarity Open
While the World has been busy mitigating the disastrous health and economic effects of the novel coronavirus, a less direct, but not less concerning peril has largely remained unexplored: the COVID-19 crisis may disrupt some of the most fu…
View article: Increased Pressure Lowers Trust Among Unvaccinated: Effects of the Announcement of Re-Introducing Covid-Passports in Denmark
Increased Pressure Lowers Trust Among Unvaccinated: Effects of the Announcement of Re-Introducing Covid-Passports in Denmark Open
On November 8, 2021, the Danish government held a press conference re-introducing COVID-19 passports both to mitigate the recent surge in COVID-19 infections and to put more pressure on still unvaccinated people to take up the vaccine. The…
View article: "Pandemic Fatigue" Fueled Political Discontent: Evidence From 8 Western Countries Over 11 Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic
"Pandemic Fatigue" Fueled Political Discontent: Evidence From 8 Western Countries Over 11 Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic Open
Health authorities have highlighted “pandemic fatigue” as a psychological consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and warned that “fatigue” could demotivate compliance with healthrelated policies and mandates. Yet, “fatigue” from following th…
View article: Candidate evaluations across the aisle: Cross‐cultural evidence that out‐partisans value candidate warmth more than in‐partisans
Candidate evaluations across the aisle: Cross‐cultural evidence that out‐partisans value candidate warmth more than in‐partisans Open
Partisans view their own candidates through rose‐coloured glasses and see competing candidates much more negatively. However, recent advances in political behaviour reveal that such directional motivated reasoning is not simply about love …
View article: Does face mask use elicit risk-compensation? Quasi-experimental evidence from Denmark during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic
Does face mask use elicit risk-compensation? Quasi-experimental evidence from Denmark during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic Open
Background Public use of face masks has been widely adopted to halter the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, but a key concern has been whether the effectiveness of face mask use is limited due to the elicitation of false feelings of security that decre…
View article: The Psychological Burden of the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Associated With Antisystemic Attitudes and Political Violence
The Psychological Burden of the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Associated With Antisystemic Attitudes and Political Violence Open
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 th…
View article: Replication Data for: The Psychology of Online Political Hostility -- A Comprehensive, Cross-National Test of the Mismatch Hypothesis
Replication Data for: The Psychology of Online Political Hostility -- A Comprehensive, Cross-National Test of the Mismatch Hypothesis Open
This repository contains all data and script necessary to reproduce the analyses in "The Psychology of Online Political Hostility: A Comprehensive, Cross-National Test of the Mismatch Hypothesis" by Alexander Bor and Michael Bang Petersen …