We tested whether conservatives and liberals are similarly or differentially likely to deny scientific claims that conflict with their preferred conclusions. Participants were randomly assigned to read about a study with correct results that were either consistent or inconsistent with their attitude about one of several issues (e.g., carbon emissions). Participants were asked to interpret numer...

There can be little doubt that Rational Choice Theory (RCT) with its emphasis on the 'instrumentally rational' individual as the foundation of the political process has significantly enhanced the scope of political science. This paper details many of the areas of political science in which our understanding of events has been significantly enhanced by the application of RCT. But, in the end, RC...

Psychologists have demonstrated the value of diversity--particularly diversity of viewpoints--for enhancing creativity, discovery, and problem solving. But one key type of viewpoint diversity is lacking in academic psychology in general and social psychology in particular: political diversity. This article reviews the available evidence and finds support for four claims: (1) Academic psychology...

 Donald R. Kinder is Philip E. Converse Collegiate Professor of Political Science, Professor of Psychology, and Senior Research Scientist, Center for Political Studies, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106-1248 ([email protected]). Nicholas Winter is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106-1248 (nw...

Political socialisation refers to a process in which every individual who is born into society learns the basic values, institutions and rules of it becomes compatible with political culture. In this process, boundaries their own unconsciously, roles that society, forms behaviour deemed legitimate beliefs. as learning such family, friendship networks, school, mass media religion have constructi...

Political scientists often find themselves analyzing datasets with a large number of observations, a large number of variables, or both. Yet, traditional statistical techniques fail to take full advantage of the opportunities inherent in “big data” as they are too rigid to recover nonlinearities and do not facilitate the easy exploration of interactions in high-dimensional datasets. In this pap...

Aburto and colleagues present a meta-analysis in adults on the effect of sodium reduction on blood pressure and other variables. With minor exceptions, this article is similar to another meta-analysis in the same issue of the BMJ; this again is similar to a 2004 Cochrane review,which is a minimal update of a previous analysis. Furthermore Aburto and colleagues’ current meta-analysis of populati...

Thucydides self-consciously invented a new form of inquiry, which can reasonably be called “social and political science.” His intellectual goal was a new understanding of power and its relationship to human agency and the deep structures of human society. His understanding of agency and structure is in some ways reminiscent of the reflexivity theory developed by Anthony

This paper tests the effectiveness of concept mapping as a classroom technique and curricular tool. In it, I use survey data and semi-structured interviews to assess student perceptions of the learning and the impact of concept mapping. I find that concept maps are an excellent way to encourage thorough reading of complex texts. Concept maps are a simple, powerful tool that dramatically enhance...