2026 · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · dataset
DDE ↗Free copySocial Media and Politics
Abstract
Cleaned, anonymized data supporting The “differential demographics effect” (DDE): A theoretical quantification of how online platforms might invisibly influence opinions and votes by exploiting demographic characteristics of their user population.
2026 · Frontiers in Psychology
All you need is love: preliminary validation of a new test of 10 parenting competencies that predict good outcomes with young children ↗Open accessFree PDF ↗Family Dynamics and Relationships Abstract
Objectives: The main objectives of this study were to provide preliminary evidence of the validity of a new online test of parenting competencies and to determine the relative value of 10 competencies that have been shown in empirical studies to be helpful in parenting. Methods: We examined data obtained from a diverse convenience sample of 16,986 parents in 133 countries (53.3% from the U.S.) who completed the new online parenting questionnaire. We employed a concurrent study design to assess the validity of the new instrument. In a double-blind procedure to assess content validity, 11 parenting professionals rated both the competencies and the questionnaire items. To assess criterion validity, we used regression analyses to examine the relationship between questionnaire scores and participants' answers to questions about the quality of their relationship with their children, how highly they rated their own parenting ability, and the happiness, health, and success of their children. Results: < 0.001), suggesting relatively strong criterion validity for the new questionnaire. Internal consistency reliability was also high. Regression analyses suggested that the competency we labeled Love and Affection was the best predictor of good outcomes with children and that the competency we called Safety was the least valuable of the 10. Effects were found for gender (with females slightly outscoring males), race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, number of children, and education level. Total scores were higher for parents who had had parenting training, and more training was associated with higher scores. Conclusion: The study supports the view that parenting can be broken down into measurable and trainable competencies and provides guidance regarding how such training should be conducted.
2026 · PLoS ONE
The Platform Messaging Effect (PME): A quantification of how go-vote reminders on social media platforms can influence voting intentions ↗Open accessSocial Media and Politics
Abstract
Over the past decade, researchers have identified and quantified about a dozen new forms of influence made possible by the internet. Some appear to be among the most powerful forms of influence ever discovered in the behavioral sciences, sometimes producing shifts in voting preferences among undecided voters as high as 95% after just one exposure to biased online content (Epstein et al., in press). Although experts have expressed concern about how users - especially children and teens - may be harmed by social media content, few controlled studies have sought to quantify the extent to which go-vote reminders on such platforms can impact voting. In the present study, we sent go-vote reminders to US voters on a close simulation of a popular social media platform to determine (a) whether such reminders can increase the likelihood that people will vote, and (b) whether such reminders can impact how people will vote. We found (a) that interspersing vote reminders in a Facebook-like message feed significantly increased the magnitude of voting intentions (by over 40% under certain conditions) and (b) that vote reminders also had a significant impact on how people might vote. Because reminders of this sort are ephemeral - impacting people and then disappearing without leaving a paper trail - unless large-scale systems for capturing ephemeral content of this sort are in place, social media platforms that send vote reminders to users in a partisan fashion might be able to shift the outcomes of close elections without people's knowledge.
2026 · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · dataset
POS-PME ↗Free copySocial Media and Politics
Abstract
Cleaned, anonymized data supporting "The Platform Messaging Effect (PME): A quantification of how go-vote reminders on social media platforms can influence voting intentions."
2026 · SSRN Electronic Journal · preprint
Diagrammatic Representations of Neural Transduction Theory (NTT) ↗Free copyParanormal Experiences and Beliefs
2026 · SSRN Electronic Journal · preprint
Behavioral addictions might be more common and harmful than previously thought ↗Free copyGambling Behavior and Treatments
2026 · SSRN Electronic Journal · preprint
It’s Complicated: The Relationship Between COVID-19 and Mental Health Problems ↗Free copyCOVID-19 and Mental Health
2026 · SSRN Electronic Journal · preprint
Can Morality Be Meaningfully Quantified? Initial Findings from the Moral Standards Project ↗Free copyFree PDF ↗Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment 2026 · SSRN Electronic Journal · preprint
Who would Make the Best Blade Runner? Humans or LLMs? ↗Free copyEthics and Social Impacts of AI
2026 · SSRN Electronic Journal · preprint
Mental Health in the Superpowers: Surprising Findings in a Comparison Between the Frequency of Mental Disorders in the US and Russia ↗Free copyMental Health Treatment and Access
2025 · Scientific Reports
A rank ordering and analysis of nine resilience competencies demonstrates the special importance of thought management in maintaining resilience ↗Abstract
Resilience has long been known to involve both innate personality characteristics and learned competencies. In the present study, we measured nine trainable competencies that empirical studies suggest are associated with resilience, and then we rank-ordered those competencies according to how well they predicted several desirable, self-reported life outcomes. We did so by analyzing data obtained from a diverse convenience sample of 5279 English-language speakers (mean age 30.5) from 104 countries (47.7% from the U.S.) who took a new online test of resilience. Participants were first asked various demographic and criterion questions and then took the 81-item, Likert-scale test. The competencies were: Copes Effectively with Past Traumas, Develops Mental and Physical Toughness, Maintains Advantageous Relationships, Manages Emotions Constructively, Manages Stress Effectively, Manages Thoughts Constructively, Practices Assertiveness, Seeks to Grow and Improve, and Solves Problems Effectively. The test had high internal-consistency reliability, and total scores were good predictors of whether someone had ever been in therapy, had ever been hospitalized for a mental health problem, was currently in therapy, had ever been diagnosed with a mental illness, as well as of happiness, personal success, professional success, and self-reported level of resilience. Test scores for people who reported having had resilience training were significantly higher than test scores for people who had no such training. Regression analyses showed that the resilience competency that best predicted desirable outcomes was Manages Thoughts Constructively. Unfortunately, participants scored relatively poorly on this competency (59.5%), while scoring highest on Maintains Advantageous Relationships (72.9%). A small effect was found for gender, with males outscoring females by 0.5%. Effects were also found for race/ethnicity, country, sexual orientation, educational level, parental status, employment status, marital status, and age. The study supports the value of a competencies approach to understanding resilience and calls special attention to the important role that thought management techniques may play in resilience.
2025 · Scientific Reports
Preliminary experimental support for a vulnerability theory of emotional bonding ↗Open accessFree PDF ↗Attachment and Relationship Dynamics Abstract
Abstract In an internet-based study with a diverse group of 1000 adult participants in the US, support was found for a “vulnerability theory of emotional bonding” (VTEB), according to which the strength of a new emotional bond can be predicted by measures of the vulnerability that each of two persons shows with respect to one another, where vulnerability is defined by measures of states of need and empathy. In a pre-manipulation-post-manipulation design, participants were first asked questions regarding their current states of need and empathy, then shown a photograph of a male confederate and asked questions regarding their feelings toward him. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of four groups in which they viewed a video showing the confederate responding to a set of questions about cancer but showing, in each of the four respective groups, reactions indicating either (1) low need and low empathy, (2) low need and high empathy, (3) high need and low empathy, or (4) high need and high empathy, following which participants were again asked questions regarding their feelings toward the confederate. As predicted, new bonds were weakest when need and empathy states were low, and highest when need and empathy states were high. The study suggests that further research may make it possible to develop a formal and predictive theory of emotional bonding of the form B = f ( N 1 , N 2 , E 1 , E 2 ), where E and N are measures of empathy and need, respectively, and B is the strength of the resulting bond.
2025 · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · dataset
VTEB ↗Free copyAttachment and Relationship Dynamics
Abstract
Cleaned, anonymized data supporting "Preliminary Experimental Support for a Vulnerability Theory of Emotional Bonding."
2025 · PLoS ONE
The Multiple Platforms Effect (MPE): A quantification of how exposure to similarly biased content on multiple online platforms might impact users ↗DMA and digital regulationOpen accessFree PDF ↗Social Media and Politics Abstract
Over the past decade, controlled studies have identified nearly a dozen new forms of manipulation that can be used by search engines, social media platforms, microblogging platforms, and intelligent personal assistants. A recent study has shown that when users were exposed repeatedly to similarly biased content on the same platform, the net impact of those exposures was additive. We now ask the following: What happens when users are exposed to similarly biased content generated by different means on multiple online platforms? In the present experiment, which was randomized, controlled, counterbalanced, and double-blind, we exposed people to similarly biased content generated by different means on three different platforms - simulations of Google Search, Alexa, and X (f.k.a., Twitter) - presented successively and in a random order. We found that the impact of successive exposures was additive for both opinions and voting preferences pertaining to political candidates. Overall, the number of undecided voters voting for the favored candidate increased with each successive platform exposure by 42.4%, then 56.5%, then 66.7% over the pre-exposure level. We speculate that if Big Tech companies share values or political preferences, their net effect on our elections might be considerably greater than the effect of any individual company.
2025 · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · dataset
POS-MPE ↗Free copyMisinformation and Its Impacts
Abstract
Cleaned, anonymized data supporting "The Multiple Platforms Effect (MPE): A quantification of how exposure to similarly biased content on multiple online platforms might impact users."
2025 · Sexual Medicine
The relationship between compulsive sexual behavior and pedophilic preference in an incarcerated sample of individuals convicted of sexual offenses, implications for treatment ↗Open accessPsychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
Abstract
Background: There is a presumed yet untested connection between sexual compulsivity and pedophilic interest among sexual offenders against children, which has driven the widespread use of anti-libidinal treatments for high-risk offenders. Aim: To test the hypothesis that compulsive sexual behavior (CSB) and pedophilic interest are related. Methods: A group of 95 prisoners in treatment for sexual offenses was administered questionnaires measuring CSB, and their self-reported offense history analyzed in order to assess their level of pedophilic interest. Outcomes: All subjects were able to provide valid details of their sexual behavior and of their previous sexual offending, and there was a wide distribution of scores on both measures. Results: Contrary to the main hypothesis, the findings revealed a negative relationship between CSB and pedophilic interest. Further analysis indicated that the main factor of CSB underlying this relationship was a lack of negative affect, together with non-significant negative trends toward the unwanted consequences and affect dysregulation components of CSB in relation to pedophilic interest. Clinical Implications: These results challenge the assumption that targeting CSB through anti-libidinal medication should be the primary intervention for offenders with elevated sexual interest in children. Instead, multifactorial approaches to sexual offending may yield more meaningful long-term effects on offender risk. Strengths and Limitations: This study is the first to explore the relationship between CSB and pedophilic interest in convicted offenders, providing valuable insights into their management and treatment. However, its findings are limited by treating pedophilic interest as a continuous variable, despite evidence suggesting it may be a taxon, potentially restricting the broader applicability of the results. Conclusions: The study concludes that compulsive sexual behavior and pedophilic interest are not inherently linked in incarcerated offenders. This underscores the need for nuanced, individualized treatment approaches that align with multifactorial models of sexual offending. Clinically and at the policy level, this calls for a shift away from a sole focus on anti-libidinal treatments toward interventions tailored to address the complex and varied needs of this population.
2025 · PLoS ONE
The “multiple exposure effect” (MEE): How multiple exposures to similarly biased online content can cause increasingly larger shifts in opinions and voting preferences ↗Open accessSocial Media and Politics
Abstract
A series of experiments published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2015 showed that search engine results favoring one candidate can (a) shift the preferences of undecided voters by up to 80% in some demographic groups and (b) be masked so people show no awareness of the manipulation. We labeled this phenomenon the Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME), and it appears to be one of the largest behavioral effects ever discovered. All previous SEME experiments allowed subjects just one search opportunity. In the present report, in three new experiments performed on simulations of three popular online platforms with a total of 1,488 undecided, eligible U.S. voters (mean age = 37.2), we asked whether multiple exposures to similarly biased content on those platforms could shift opinions and voting preferences more than a single exposure could. In the new experiments all participants were first shown brief biographies of two political candidates, then asked about their voting preferences, then exposed to biased content on one of our three simulated platforms, and then asked again about their voting preferences. In all experiments, participants in different groups saw biased content favoring one candidate, his or her opponent, or neither. In all the experiments, our primary dependent variable was Vote Manipulation Power (VMP), the percentage increase in the number of participants inclined to vote for one candidate after having viewed content favoring that candidate. In Experiment 1 (on our Google simulator), the VMP increased with successive searches from 14.3% to 20.2% to 22.6%. In Experiment 2 (on our Twitter/X simulator), the VMP increased with successive exposures to biased tweets from 49.7% to 61.8% to 69.1%. In Experiment 3 (on our Alexa simulator), the VMP increased with successive exposures to biased replies from 72.1% to 91.2% to 98.6%. Corresponding shifts were also generally found for how much participants reported liking and trusting the candidates and for participants’ overall impression of the candidates. Because multiple exposures to similarly biased content is common on the internet, we conclude that our previous reports about the possible impact of biased content – always based on single exposures – might have underestimated its possible impact. Findings in our new experiments exemplify what we call the “multiple exposure effect” (MEE).
2025 · Psychological Reports
Which Assertiveness Competencies Count Most? Assessing Assertiveness, Passiveness, and Aggressiveness With a New Online Questionnaire ↗Free copySocial Skills and Education
Abstract
Data collected online from a convenience sample of 16,033 people from 83 countries (57.7% from the US and Canada) were analyzed to determine (a) which of four empirically derived assertiveness competencies - Communicating Proactively, Expressing Your Needs and Desires, Standing Up for Yourself, and Presenting Yourself Confidently - best predicted four self-reported positive life outcomes and (b) how well those life outcomes were predicted by measures of assertiveness, passiveness, and aggressiveness. The self-reported life outcomes we predicted were Personal Success, Professional Success, Happiness, and the size of one's Circle of Friends. Regression analyses showed that the competency "Presenting Yourself Confidently" was the best predictor of four of the five desirable outcomes. Assertiveness was positively correlated with those life outcomes; passiveness was negatively correlated with those outcomes; and the relationship between aggressiveness and those variables was orderly and complex, suggesting that aggressiveness has both benefits and costs. Effects were found for gender and sexual orientation. Our results also confirmed the value of assertiveness training.
2025 · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · dataset
EACI ↗Free copySocial Skills and Education
Abstract
Cleaned, anonymized data supporting "Which assertiveness competencies count most? Assessing assertiveness, passiveness, and aggressiveness with a new online questionnaire."
2025 · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · dataset
ECDI ↗Free copyChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
Abstract
Cleaned, anonymized data supporting "Extended Childhood Disorder (ECD): Proposal and Empirical Support for a New Ecologically-Based Diagnostic Category of Teen Dysfunction."
2025 · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · dataset
POS-MEE Experiments 1-3 ↗Free copyMisinformation and Its Impacts
Abstract
Cleaned, anonymized data supporting "The 'multiple exposure effect' (MEE): How multiple exposures to similarly biased online content can cause increasingly larger shifts in opinions and voting preferences."
2025 · International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology
Extended childhood disorder (ECD): Proposal and preliminary empirical support for a new ecologically-based diagnostic category of teen dysfunction ↗Open accessChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
Abstract
Background/Objective: Existing diagnostic categories of teen dysfunction often refer to hypothetical biological or developmental factors, even though teen dysfunction is often absent in many non-Western cultures. Diagnostic categories of this sort do not do justice to the social causes of many teen problems in the United States (U.S.) and other Western countries. To put more emphasis on known cultural causes of teen dysfunction, we propose adopting an ecologically-based diagnostic category we call "extended childhood disorder" (ECD), characterized by (1) excessive and sometimes harmful involvement with peers, (2) conflict centering around control issues with authority figures, and (3) mood problems centering around control issues with authority figures. Method: 5198 individuals were evaluated, either by themselves or by therapists, counselors, teachers, or parents: a diverse group of 3147 females, 1750 males, and 301 others, mean age 23.4. 54.3 % of the participants were from the U.S., and the remaining 46.7 % were English speakers in 74 other countries. Results: Total scores on a diagnostic test of ECD were negatively correlated with level of happiness and positively correlated with levels of anger, depression, and anxiety, whether reported by self or others (note that higher scores on the ECDI indicate greater dysfunction). Total scores were also predictive of 13 clinically significant criterion variables. Notably, prevalence of ECD in our sample roughly matched the 2010 National Comorbidity Survey estimates of the prevalence of teen disorders in the U.S. Conclusion: The ECD diagnostic category should be considered as a viable alternative to current diagnoses of teen problems that emphasize hypothetical endemic or neural deficits.
2025 · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · dataset
POS-DPE Experiments 1-3 ↗Free copyMisinformation and Its Impacts
Abstract
Cleaned, anonymized data supporting "The “digital personalization effect” (DPE): A quantification of the possible extent to which personalizing content can increase the impact of online manipulations."
2025 · Computers in Human Behavior
The “digital personalization effect” (DPE): A quantification of the possible extent to which personalizing content can increase the impact of online manipulations ↗Open accessMisinformation and Its Impacts
Abstract
In recent published reports on the “search engine manipulation effect,” the “targeted messaging effect,” and the “answer bot effect,” exposure to biased content produced significant shifts in the opinions and voting preferences of undecided voters. In the present study, these effects were replicated on simulations of the Google search engine, X (f.k.a., Twitter), and Alexa, and biased content was also personalized. Participants were first asked to rank order news and other sources according to how much they preferred them. Then they were randomly assigned either to a group in which content would be received from highly preferred or least preferred sources. Participants were also randomly assigned to either a pro-Candidate-A or a pro-Candidate-B group. In all three experiments, the voting preferences of participants who saw biased content – that is, content that favored Candidate A or Candidate B – coming from least preferred sources shifted by relatively small amounts (17.1% in Experiment 1, 21.8% in Experiment 2, and 39.3% in Experiment 3); whereas, the voting preferences of participants who saw that same biased content coming from highly preferred sources shifted by significantly and substantially larger amounts (67.7% in Experiment 1, 71.9% in Experiment 2, and 65.9% in Experiment 3). All shifts occurred in the direction of the candidate favored by the bias. We conclude that personalization of biased content can greatly increase the impact of such content.
2025 · SSRN Electronic Journal · preprint
The “Differential Demographics Effect” (DDE): A Theoretical Quantification Of How Online Platforms Might Invisibly Influence Opinions And Votes By Exploiting Demographic Characteristics Of Their User Population ↗Free copySocial Media and Politics
2025 · SSRN Electronic Journal · preprint
Adultness Across the Lifespan: How Statistics Can Mislead Us About the Competence of Young People ↗Free copyEgo Development and Educational Practices
2025 · SSRN Electronic Journal · preprint
Testing a Quantitative Social Pressure Theory of Sexual Orientation with Data Obtained from 310,144 Participants in 92 Countries Completing Surveys in their Native Languages ↗Free copyLGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
2025 · SSRN Electronic Journal · preprint
A Vulnerability Theory of Emotional Bonding (VTEB): Preliminary Experimental Support for a New Quantitative Theory ↗Free copyAttachment and Relationship Dynamics
2024 · PLoS ONE
The Video Manipulation Effect (VME): A quantification of the possible impact that the ordering of YouTube videos might have on opinions and voting preferences ↗Open accessSocial Media and Politics
Abstract
Recent research has identified a number of powerful new forms of influence that the internet and related technologies have made possible. Randomized, controlled experiments have shown, for example, that when results generated by search engines are presented to undecided voters, if those search results favor one political candidate over another, the opinions and voting preferences of those voters can shift dramatically-by up to 80% in some demographic groups. The present study employed a YouTube simulator to identify and quantify another powerful form of influence that the internet has made possible, which we have labeled the Video Manipulation Effect (VME). In two randomized, controlled, counterbalanced, double-blind experiments with a total of 1,463 politically-diverse, eligible US voters, we show that when a sequence of videos displayed by the simulator is biased to favor one political candidate, and especially when the "up-next" video suggested by the simulator favors that candidate, both the opinions and voting preferences of undecided voters shift dramatically toward that candidate. Voting preferences shifted by between 51.5% and 65.6% overall, and by more than 75% in some demographic groups. We also tested a method for masking the bias in video sequences so that awareness of bias was greatly reduced. In 2018, a YouTube official revealed that 70% of the time people spend watching videos on the site, they are watching content that has been suggested by the company's recommender algorithms. If the findings in the present study largely apply to YouTube, this popular video platform might have unprecedented power to impact thinking and behavior worldwide.
2024 · Scientific Reports
A rank ordering and analysis of four cognitive-behavioral stress-management competencies suggests that proactive stress management is especially valuable ↗Abstract
The main objective of this study was to determine the relative value of four cognitive-behavioral competencies that have been shown in empirical studies to be associated with effective stress management. Based on a review of relevant psychological literature, we named the competencies as follows: Manages or Reduces Sources of Stress, Manages Thoughts, Plans and Prevents, and Practices Relaxation Techniques. We measured their relative value by examining data obtained from a diverse convenience sample of 18,895 English-speaking participants in 125 countries (65.0% from the U.S. and Canada) who completed a new inventory of stress-management competencies. We assessed their relative value by employing a concurrent study design, which also allowed us to assess the validity of the new instrument. Regression analyses were used to rank order the four competencies according to how well they predicted desirable outcomes. Both regression and factor analyses pointed to the importance of proactive stress-management practices over reactive methods, but we note that the correlational design of our study has no implications for the possible causal effects of these methods. Questionnaire scores were strongly associated with self-reported happiness and also significantly associated with personal success, professional success, and general level of stress. Data were collected between 2007 and 2022, but we found no effect for time. The study supports the value of stress-management training, and it also suggests that moderate levels of stress may not be as beneficial as previously thought.
2024 · Computers in Human Behavior
The search suggestion effect (SSE): A quantification of how autocomplete search suggestions could be used to impact opinions and votes ↗Open accessInformation Retrieval and Search Behavior
Abstract
Can autocomplete search suggestions – the words or phrases generated by a search engine as people are typing a search term – influence opinions and votes? Previous research has shown that search results that favor one political candidate can have a rapid and substantial impact on the opinions and voting preferences of undecided voters. News reports in 2016 suggested that a leading search engine was suppressing negative search suggestions for one US Presidential candidate but not for her opponent. We conducted a progressive series of five randomized, controlled, counterbalanced, double-blind experiments to determine what effect differential suppression of this type might have on voters. We found that negative suggestions attract far more clicks than neutral or positive ones, consistent with extensive research on negativity bias, and that the differential suppression of negative search suggestions can turn a 50/50 split among undecided voters into more than a 90/10 split favoring the candidate for whom negative search suggestions were suppressed. We conclude that differentially suppressing negative search suggestions can have a dramatic impact on the opinions and voting preferences of undecided voters, potentially shifting a large number of votes without people knowing and without leaving a paper trail for authorities to trace.
2024 · PLoS ONE
Can biased search results change people’s opinions about anything at all? a close replication of the Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME) ↗Open accessFree PDF ↗Information Retrieval and Search Behavior Abstract
In previous experiments we have conducted on the Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME), we have focused on the ability of biased search results to shift voting preferences. In three new experiments with a total of 1,137 US residents (mean age = 33.2), we sought to determine whether biased search rankings could shift people's opinions on topics that do not involve candidates or elections. Each of the new experiments looked at a different topic, and participants were pre-screened to make sure they didn't have strong opinions about these topics. The topics were: Is artificial intelligence useful or dangerous? Is fracking helpful or dangerous? And: Are people born gay or do they choose to be gay? All participants were first asked various demographic questions, then shown brief summaries of the "pro" and "anti" views on each topic, and then asked their opinions about each topic. Next, participants were allowed to conduct an online search using our mock search engine (Kadoodle) lasting up to 15 minutes. In each experiment, one-third of the participants saw biased search results favoring one perspective; one-third saw biased search results favoring the opposing perspective; and one-third (the control group) saw mixed search results. After completing their search, participants were again asked for their opinions about the topic. Our primary dependent variable was Manipulation Power (MP), the percentage increase in the number of participants favoring one viewpoint after having viewed search rankings favoring that viewpoint. The MPs in the three experiments were 25.0%, 30.9%, and 17.8%, respectively. Corresponding shifts were also found for how persuasive participants found each viewpoint to be and for how much they trusted each viewpoint. We conclude that search rankings favoring one viewpoint on a wide range of topics might be able to cause people who have not yet formulated a strong opinion on such topics to adopt the favored perspective. If our findings prove to be robust, we are exposing what might be considered an unforeseen consequence of the creation of search engines, namely that even without human interference, search algorithms will inevitably alter the thinking and behavior of billions of people worldwide on perhaps any topic for which they have not yet formed strong opinions.
2024 · Behavior and Social Issues
How a Daily Regimen of Operant Conditioning Might Explain the Power of the Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME) ↗Open accessFree PDF ↗Information Retrieval and Search Behavior Abstract
Abstract Recent studies have shown that biased search results can produce substantial shifts in the opinions and voting preferences of undecided voters – a phenomenon called the “search engine manipulation effect” (SEME), one of the most powerful list effects ever discovered. We believe this is so because, unlike other list effects, SEME is supported by a daily regimen of operant conditioning. When people conduct searches for simple facts (86% of searches), the correct answer invariably turns up in the top position, which teaches users to attend to and click on high-ranking search results. As a result, when people are undecided, they tend to formulate opinions based on web pages linked to top search results. We tested this hypothesis in a controlled experiment with 551 US voters. Participants in our High-Trust group conducted routine searches in which the correct answer always appeared in the first search result. In our Low-Trust group, the correct answer could appear in any search position other than the first two. In all, participants had to answer five questions during this pre-training, and we focused our analysis on people who answered all the questions correctly (n = 355) – in other words, on people who were maximally impacted by the pre-training contingencies. A difference consistent with our hypothesis emerged between the groups when they were subsequently asked to search for information on political candidates. Voting preferences in the High-Trust group shifted toward the favored candidate at a higher rate (34.6%) than voting preferences in the Low-Trust group (17.1%, p = 0.001).
2024 · SSRN Electronic Journal · preprint
Which Parenting Competencies Are Most Helpful in Raising Teens? ↗Free copyChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
2024 · SSRN Electronic Journal · preprint
Preventing the Misuse of Digital Influence: The Development of Systems for Preserving and Analyzing Big Tech Content, and Why Such Systems Are Essential for Democracy ↗DMA and digital regulationFree copyMisinformation and Its Impacts
2023 · PLoS ONE
What would happen if twitter sent consequential messages to only a strategically important subset of users? A quantification of the Targeted Messaging Effect (TME) ↗Abstract
The internet has made possible a number of powerful new forms of influence, some of which are invisible to users and leave no paper trails, which makes them especially problematic. Some of these effects are also controlled almost exclusively by a small number of multinational tech monopolies, which means that, for all practical purposes, these effects cannot be counteracted. In this paper, we introduce and quantify an effect we call the Targeted Messaging Effect (TME)-the differential impact of sending a consequential message, such as a link to a damning news story about a political candidate, to members of just one demographic group, such as a group of undecided voters. A targeted message of this sort might be difficult to detect, and, if it had a significant impact on recipients, it could undermine the integrity of the free-and-fair election. We quantify TME in a series of four randomized, controlled, counterbalanced, double-blind experiments with a total of 2,133 eligible US voters. Participants were first given basic information about two candidates who ran for prime minister of Australia in 2019 (this, to assure that our participants were "undecided"). Then they were instructed to search a set of informational tweets on a Twitter simulator to determine which candidate was stronger on a given issue; on balance, these tweets favored neither candidate. In some conditions, however, tweets were occasionally interrupted by targeted messages (TMs)-news alerts from Twitter itself-with some alerts saying that one of the candidates had just been charged with a crime or had been nominated for a prestigious award. In TM groups, opinions shifted significantly toward the candidate favored by the TMs, and voting preferences shifted by as much as 87%, with only 2.1% of participants in the TM groups aware that they had been viewing biased content.
2023 · Frontiers in Psychology
Is everyone a mix of straight and gay? A social pressure theory of sexual orientation, with supporting data from a large global sample ↗Open accessFree PDF ↗LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy Abstract
Sigmund Freud, Alfred Kinsey, E.O. Wilson, and others have suggested that social pressure suppresses natural tendencies for humans to express bisexuality, the apparent norm for one of our two closest genetic relatives, the bonobo. An analysis of data obtained from a new online sample of 1,150,938 people in 215 countries and territories (63.9% from the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada) who completed the English version of a validated questionnaire of sexual orientation lends support to this idea. A histogram of scores from 0 (exclusive opposite-sex inclinations) to 18 (exclusive same-sex inclinations) forms a near-normal distribution. Although this distribution was likely caused to some extent by sampling bias, it may also reflect the unusual honesty people show when taking online tests anonymously, as an increasing body of evidence demonstrates. We present a formal mathematical expression of a social pressure theory of sexual orientation, along with empirical evidence and computational explorations that support the theory. We also present an analysis of the new data set. Among other findings: sexual orientation labels corresponded to broad, skewed, overlapping distributions of scores. Self-labeled gays/lesbians and, to a greater extent, self-labeled straights, reported that the larger the mismatch between their sexual orientation label and their actual sexual inclinations, the more distress they felt regarding their sexual orientation, a finding that is predictable from cognitive dissonance theory. Educating the public about the true nature of sexual orientation might quell the often rancorous public debates on this topic, as well as give comfort to a large number of mislabeled people.
2023 · SSRN Electronic Journal · preprint
Multiple searches increase the impact of similarly biased search results: An example of the “multiple exposure effect” (MEE) ↗Free copyInformation Retrieval and Search Behavior
2023 · PLoS ONE
The Opinion Matching Effect (OME): A subtle but powerful new form of influence that is apparently being used on the internet ↗Abstract
In recent years, powerful new forms of influence have been discovered that the internet has made possible. In the present paper, we introduce another new form of influence which we call the "opinion matching effect" (OME). Many websites now promise to help people form opinions about products, political candidates, and political parties by first administering a short quiz and then informing people how closely their answers match product characteristics or the views of a candidate or party. But what if the matching algorithm is biased? We first present data from real opinion matching websites, showing that responding at random to their online quizzes can produce significantly higher proportions of recommendations for one political party or ideology than one would expect by chance. We then describe a randomized, controlled, counterbalanced, double-blind experiment that measured the possible impact of this type of matching on the voting preferences of real, undecided voters. With data obtained from a politically diverse sample of 773 eligible US voters, we observed substantial shifts in voting preferences toward our quiz's favored candidate-between 51% and 95% of the number of people who had supported that candidate before we administered and scored the quiz. These shifts occurred without any participants showing any awareness of having been manipulated. In summary, in the present study we show not only that OME is a large effect; we also show that biased online questionnaires exist that might be shifting people's opinions without their knowledge.