scholarly journals Are Political Attacks a Laughing Matter? Three Experiments on Political Humor and the Effectiveness of Negative Campaigning

2021 ◽  
pp. 106591292110235
Author(s):  
Iris Verhulsdonk ◽  
Alessandro Nai ◽  
Jeffrey A. Karp
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Unintended Effects ◽  
Good Strategy ◽  
Negative Campaigning ◽  
Political Humor ◽  
Candidate Evaluations ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Negative Messages

Research on the effectiveness of negative campaigning offers mixed results. Negative messages can sometimes work to depress candidate evaluations, but they can also backfire against the attacker. In this article, we examine how humor can help mitigate the unintended effects of negative campaigning using data from three experimental studies in the United States and the Netherlands. Our results show that (1) political attacks combined with “other-deprecatory humor” (i.e., jokes against the opponents) are less likely to backfire against the attacker and can even increase positive evaluations of this latter—especially when the attack is perceived as amusing. At the same time and contrary to what we expected, (2) humor does not blunt the attack: humorous attacks are not less effective against the target than serious attacks. All in all, these results suggest that humor can be a good strategy for political attacks: jokes reduce harmful backlash effects against the attacker, and humoros attacks remain just as effective as humorless ones. When in doubt, be funny. All data and materials are openly available for replication.

When They Go Low, We Gloat

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Alessandro Nai ◽  
Lukas P. Otto
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Negative Campaigning ◽  
Political Messages ◽  
Negative Message ◽  
Negative Messages

Abstract. We investigate whether Schadenfreude – finding pleasure in others’ misfortune – moderates the perception and effects of negative political messages (“negative campaigning”). We present the results of three experiments, two conducted in the United States with samples of 1,722 and 1,408 respondents surveyed via MTurk, and the other conducted in The Netherlands with a sample of 143 undergraduate students. In all studies respondents were exposed to a positive or negative message on a given issue and asked afterward to evaluate the message (message perception) and the target of the message (effect of the message). Studies 1 and 2 tested for the moderating effect of “trait” Schadenfreude – that is, to what extent respondents are likely to experience Schadenfreude in their everyday life, whereas Study 3 tested for the effects of “state” Schadenfreude via a stimulus intended to elicit it as a reaction. Results show that (1) Schadenfreude moderates the perception of the negative messages; people with low trait Schadenfreude react strongly (and negatively) to attacks; (2) state Schadenfreude does not have as strong an effect as trait Schadenfreude; (3) Schadenfreude only marginally moderates the direct effect of the negative message on the evaluation of the target politician.

Migration and the Internet

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas John Cooke ◽  
Ian Shuttleworth
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
The United States ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Using Data ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Dynamics Models

It is widely presumed that information and communication technologies, or ICTs, enable migration in several ways; primarily by reducing the costs of migration. However, a reconsideration of the relationship between ICTs and migration suggests that ICTs may just as well hinder migration; primarily by reducing the costs of not moving.  Using data from the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics, models that control for sources of observed and unobserved heterogeneity indicate a strong negative effect of ICT use on inter-state migration within the United States. These results help to explain the long-term decline in internal migration within the United States.

scholarly journals Challenges in Bridge Health Monitoring: A Review

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (13) ◽  
pp. 4336
Author(s):  
Piervincenzo Rizzo ◽  
Alireza Enshaeian
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Monitoring ◽  
Highway Bridges ◽  
The United States ◽  
Anomalous Behavior ◽  
Existing Structures ◽  
Bridge Health Monitoring ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Many ◽  
Major Factors

Bridge health monitoring is increasingly relevant for the maintenance of existing structures or new structures with innovative concepts that require validation of design predictions. In the United States there are more than 600,000 highway bridges. Nearly half of them (46.4%) are rated as fair while about 1 out of 13 (7.6%) is rated in poor condition. As such, the United States is one of those countries in which bridge health monitoring systems are installed in order to complement conventional periodic nondestructive inspections. This paper reviews the challenges associated with bridge health monitoring related to the detection of specific bridge characteristics that may be indicators of anomalous behavior. The methods used to detect loss of stiffness, time-dependent and temperature-dependent deformations, fatigue, corrosion, and scour are discussed. Owing to the extent of the existing scientific literature, this review focuses on systems installed in U.S. bridges over the last 20 years. These are all major factors that contribute to long-term degradation of bridges. Issues related to wireless sensor drifts are discussed as well. The scope of the paper is to help newcomers, practitioners, and researchers at navigating the many methodologies that have been proposed and developed in order to identify damage using data collected from sensors installed in real structures.

scholarly journals Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Years of Potential Life Lost Attributable to COVID-19 in the United States: An Analysis of 45 States and the District of Columbia

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 2921
Author(s):  
Jay J. Xu ◽  
Jarvis T. Chen ◽  
Thomas R. Belin ◽  
Ronald S. Brookmeyer ◽  
Marc A. Suchard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
District Of Columbia ◽  
Ethnic Disparities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Attributable Mortality ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Rate Ratios ◽  
Degree Of Association ◽  
Racial Ethnic

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic in the United States has disproportionately impacted communities of color across the country. Focusing on COVID-19-attributable mortality, we expand upon a national comparative analysis of years of potential life lost (YPLL) attributable to COVID-19 by race/ethnicity (Bassett et al., 2020), estimating percentages of total YPLL for non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic Blacks, Hispanics, non-Hispanic Asians, and non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Natives, contrasting them with their respective percent population shares, as well as age-adjusted YPLL rate ratios—anchoring comparisons to non-Hispanic Whites—in each of 45 states and the District of Columbia using data from the National Center for Health Statistics as of 30 December 2020. Using a novel Monte Carlo simulation procedure to perform estimation, our results reveal substantial racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19-attributable YPLL across states, with a prevailing pattern of non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics experiencing disproportionately high and non-Hispanic Whites experiencing disproportionately low COVID-19-attributable YPLL. Furthermore, estimated disparities are generally more pronounced when measuring mortality in terms of YPLL compared to death counts, reflecting the greater intensity of the disparities at younger ages. We also find substantial state-to-state variability in the magnitudes of the estimated racial/ethnic disparities, suggesting that they are driven in large part by social determinants of health whose degree of association with race/ethnicity varies by state.

Is Music Teacher Professional Development Becoming More Effective? Evaluating Practice and Policy in the United States, 1993–2012

2020 ◽  
pp. 002242942098252
Author(s):  
Justin J. West
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
United States ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Using Data

The purpose of this study was to evaluate music teacher professional development (PD) practice and policy in the United States between 1993 and 2012. Using data from the nationally representative Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) spanning these 20 years, I examined music teacher PD participation by topic, intensity, relevance, and format; music teachers’ top PD priorities; and the reach of certain PD-supportive policies. I assessed these descriptive results against a set of broadly agreed-on criteria for “effective” PD: content specificity, relevance, voluntariness/autonomy, social interaction, and sustained duration. Findings revealed a mixed record. Commendable improvements in content-specific PD access were undercut by deficiencies in social interaction, voluntariness/autonomy, sustained duration, and relevance. School policy, as reported by teachers, was grossly inadequate, with only one of the nine PD-supportive measures appearing on SASS reaching a majority of teachers in any given survey year. Implications for policy, practice, and scholarship are presented.

Political beliefs, views about technocracy, and energy and climate policy preferences

2020 ◽  
pp. 096366252097856
Author(s):  
Matthew C. Nowlin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Representative Sample ◽  
Significant Interaction ◽  
The United States ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Political Beliefs ◽  
Climate Policies ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Energy And Climate Policy

The use of technocratic decision-making, where policy decisions are made by elite experts, is an important aspect of policymaking in the United States. However, little work has examined public opinion about technocracy. Using data from a representative sample of the United States ( n = 1200), I explore differences in support for technocracy and the implications of that support for views about politically controversial energy sources and climate policies. Overall, I find that liberal Democrats, moderate/conservative Democrats, and moderate/liberal Republicans were more likely than conservative Republicans and moderate independents to support technocratic decision-making. In addition, I find that as support for technocracy increases, so does support for energy sources and climate policies; however, there are significant interaction effects across political beliefs.

Overeducation and the Earnings of Black, Hispanic, and White Male Workers

1988 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard R. Verdugo ◽  
Naomi Turner Verdugo
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Puerto Ricans ◽  
White Male ◽  
The United States ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Male Workers ◽  
White Minority

This study addresses two issues: (1) the impact of overeducation on the earnings of male workers in the United States, and (2) white-minority earnings differences among males. Given that educational attainment levels are increasing among workers, there is some suspicion that earnings returns to education are not as great as might be expected. This topic is examined by including an overeducation variable in an earnings function. Regarding the second issue addressed in this article, little is actually known about white-minority differences because the bulk of such research compares whites and blacks. By including selected Hispanic groups in this analysis (Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Other Hispanics) we are able to assess white-minority earnings differences to a greater degree. Using data from a 5% sample of the 1980 census to estimate an earnings function, we find that overeducated workers earn less than either undereducated or adequately educated workers. Second, we find that there are substantial earnings differences between whites and minorities, and, also, between the five minority groups examined.

The Labor Market Skills of Recent Male Immigrants: Evidence from the Current Population Survey

ILR Review ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 792-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Funkhouser ◽  
Stephen J. Trejo
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Current Population Survey ◽  
Population Survey ◽  
Census Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Skill Levels ◽  
Recent Immigrants ◽  
Current Population ◽  
Using Data

Using data from special supplements to the Current Population Survey (CPS), the authors track the education and hourly earnings of recent male immigrants to the United States. In terms of these measures of labor market skills, the CPS data suggest that immigrants who came in the late 1980s were more skilled than those who arrived earlier in the decade. This pattern represents a break from the steady decline in immigrant skill levels observed in 1940–80 Census data. Despite the encouraging trend over the 1980s, however, the average skills of recent immigrants remain low by historical standards.

scholarly journals Moving a Mountain: The Extraordinary Trajectory of Same-Sex Marriage Approval in the United States

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 237802311772765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Rosenfeld
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
The United States ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Small Set ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Election Studies

Most public opinion attitudes in the United States are reasonably stable over time. Using data from the General Social Survey and the American National Election Studies, I quantify typical change rates across all attitudes. I quantify the extent to which change in same-sex marriage approval (and liberalization in attitudes toward gay rights in general) are among a small set of rapid changing outliers in surveyed public opinions. No measured public opinion attitude in the United States has changed more and more quickly than same-sex marriage. I use survey data from Newsweek to illustrate the rapid increase in the 1980s and 1990s in Americans who had friends or family who they knew to be gay or lesbian and demonstrate how contact with out-of-the-closet gays and lesbians was influential. I discuss several potential historical and social movement theory explanations for the rapid liberalization of attitudes toward gay rights in the United States, including the surprising influence of Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign.

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