Like Father, Like Son: Justin Trudeau and Valence Voting in Canada's 2015 Federal Election

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Cambridge University Press via the DOI in this record.Canada’s 2015 federal election was an exiting, as well as a nostalgia provoking, contest. After nine years in office, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the governing Conservatives were defeated by the resurgent Liberals led by Justin Trudeau. Trudeau is the son of Pierre Trudeau, perhaps Canada’s best known prime minister. Analyses of national survey data demonstrate that party leader images—a major component of the “valence politics” model of electoral choice—were important in both cases. Unlike his father, Justin Trudeau was castigated as a “lightweight” and “just not ready.” However, articulating plausible policies to jump-start Canada’s sluggish economy and espousing “sunny ways,” the younger Trudeau was warmly received by many voters. In contrast, Harper’s image of managerial competence was tarnished by bad economic news, and his attempt to refocus the campaign on emotionally charged cultural issues failed. The result was a Liberal majority government and a prime minister named Trudeau

The structure of foreign policy attitudes among middle power publics: a transpacific replication

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Routledge via the DOI in this recordEmpirical models illustrating how mass publics organise their views on foreign policy issues abound. Models that posit militant internationalism and cooperative internationalism as the two factors structuring mass foreign policy attitudes and that typically rely on American survey data have given way to models positing a larger number of underlying factors supported by cross-national survey data. Still, there are few studies assessing the cross-national validity of multi-factor models. Further, middle power states that must navigate between international leadership and followership remain understudied. This article draws on new survey data from Canada and Australia—two archetypal middle power states—to replicate a recent and influential model of foreign policy attitudes comprised of four factors: cooperative internationalism, militant internationalism, isolationism, and support for global justice. Using an exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) framework, it finds that the four-factor structure of foreign policy attitudes observed in the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany obtains among the Canadian and Australian publics, yet there are country-specific nuances that suggest differences in the ways Canadians and Australians perceive foreign policy options.University of Melbourne, Faculty of ArtsEconomic and Social Research Council (ESRC

Estimating the size of "anti-vax" and vaccine hesitant populations in the US, UK, and Canada: comparative latent class modeling of vaccine attitudes

This is the final version. Available on open access from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this recordVaccine hesitancy is a significant impediment to global efforts to vaccinate against the SARS-CoV-2 virus at levels that generate herd immunity. In this article, we show the utility of an inductive approach - latent class analysis (LCA) - that allows us to characterize the size and nature of different vaccine attitude groups; and to compare how these groups differ across countries as well as across demographic subgroups within countries. We perform this analysis using original survey data collected in the US, UK, and Canada. We also show that these classes are strongly associated with SARS-CoV-2 vaccination intent and perceptions of the efficacy and safety of the COVID-19 vaccines, suggesting that attitudes about vaccines to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic are well explained by latent vaccine attitudes that precede the pandemic. More specifically, we find four substantive classes of vaccine attitudes: strong supporters, supporters with concerns, vaccine hesitant, and "anti-vax" as well as a fifth measurement error class. The strong "anti-vax" sentiment class is small in all three countries, while the strong supporter class is the largest across all three countries. We observe different distributions of class assignments in different demographic groups - most notably education and political leaning (partisanship and ideology).Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC

Some people just want to watch the world burn: The prevalence, psychology and politics of the “Need for Chaos”

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the Royal Society via the DOI in this recordPeople form political attitudes to serve psychological needs. Recent research shows that some individuals have a strong desire to incite chaos when they perceive themselves to be marginalized by society. These individuals tend to see chaos as a way to invert the power structure and gain social status in the process. Analyzing data drawn from large-scale representative surveys conducted in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, we identify the prevalence of Need for Chaos across Anglo-Saxon societies. Using Latent Profile Analysis, we explore whether different subtypes underlie the uni-dimensional construct and find evidence that some people may be motivated to seek out chaos because they want to rebuild society, while others enjoy destruction for its own sake. We demonstrate that chaos-seekers are not a unified political group but a divergent set of malcontents. Multiple pathways can lead individuals to “want to watch the world burn.”Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC

The effects of stochastic resonance electrical stimulation and neoprene sleeve on knee proprioception

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A variety of knee injuries and pathologies may cause a deficit in knee proprioception which may increase the risk of reinjury or the progression of disease. Stochastic resonance stimulation is a new therapy which has potential benefits for improving proprioceptive function. The objective of this study was to determine if stochastic resonance (SR) stimulation applied with a neoprene sleeve could improve knee proprioception relative to a no-stimulation/no-sleeve condition (control) or a sleeve alone condition in the normal, healthy knee. We hypothesized that SR stimulation when applied with a sleeve would enhance proprioception relative to the control and sleeve alone conditions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using a cross-over within subject design, twenty-four healthy subjects were tested under four combinations of conditions: electrical stimulation/sleeve, no stimulation/sleeve, no stimulation/no sleeve, and stimulation/no sleeve. Joint position sense (proprioception) was measured as the absolute mean difference between a target knee joint angle and the knee angle reproduced by the subject. Testing was conducted during both partial-weight bearing (PWB) and non-weight bearing (NWB) tasks. Differences in joint position sense between the conditions were evaluated by repeated-measures analysis of variance testing.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Joint position sense error during the stimulation/sleeve condition (2.48° ± 1.32°) was found to be more accurate (P < 0.05) relative to the control condition (3.35° ± 1.63°) in the PWB task. No difference in joint position sense error was found between stimulation/sleeve and sleeve alone conditions for the PWB task. Joint position sense error was not found to differ between any of the conditions for the NWB task.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggest that SR electrical stimulation when combined with a neoprene sleeve is an effective modality for enhancement of joint proprioception in the PWB knee. We believe these results suggest the need for further study of the potential of SR stimulation to correct proprioceptive deficits in a clinical population with knee injury/pathology or in subjects at risk of injury because of a proprioceptive deficit.</p

Effects of different lower-limb sensory stimulation strategies on postural regulation – A systematic review and meta-analysis

Systematic reviews of balance control have tended to only focus on the effects of single lower-limb stimulation strategies, and a current limitation is the lack of comparison between different relevant stimulation strategies. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine evidence of effects of different lower-limb sensory stimulation strategies on postural regulation and stability. Moderate- to high- pooled effect sizes (Unbiased (Hedges’ g) standardized mean differences (SMD) = 0.31 – 0.66) were observed with the addition of noise in a Stochastic Resonance Stimulation Strategy (SRSS), in three populations (i.e., healthy young adults, older adults, and individuals with lower-limb injuries), and under different task constraints (i.e., unipedal, bipedal, and eyes open). A Textured Material Stimulation Strategy (TMSS) enhanced postural control in the most challenging condition – eyes-closed on a stable surface (SMD = 0.61), and in older adults (SMD = 0.30). The Wearable Garments Stimulation Strategy (WGSS) showed no or adverse effects (SMD = -0.68 – 0.05) under all task constraints and in all populations, except in individuals with lower-limb injuries (SMD = 0.20). Results of our systematic review and meta-analysis revealed that future research could consider combining two or more stimulation strategies in intervention treatments for postural regulation and balance problems, depending on individual need

Partisanship, local context, group threat, and Canadian attitudes towards immigration and refugee policy

The 2015 Canadian federal election campaign brought to the fore partisan cleavages in approaches to immigration policy, refugee policy, and multiculturalism. At the level of mass public opinion, research on attitudes toward immigration in Canada and other immigrant-receiving countries has pointed to a variety of explanatory factors. These include partisanship, economic interests, and feelings of cultural threat. There is also a growing literature on the effects of local demographic (specifically ethnic or immigrant) context in shaping attitudes toward immigration. Such a contextually-oriented approach, however, has been pursued by relatively few analysts of Canadian public opinion. This article endeavours to fill this gap. It brings together recent survey data and local-level demographic data to answer the question of what leads Canadians to hold open or restrictionist attitudes toward immigrants and refugees, focusing on the roles of partisanship, contextual measures of local immigrant populations, and perceptions of economic and cultural threat

Personality traits and foreign policy attitudes: A cross-national exploratory study

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordThe study of foreign policy attitudes lies at the intersection of political psychology and international relations. Despite a shared interest in both fields in the psychological bases of political phenomena, research exploring the links between personality traits and foreign policy attitudes is scarce. This article pursues a set of questions intended to bring these agendas together. Do personality traits influence attitudes toward foreign policy? Are the links between personality traits and foreign policy the same, or do they differ across different national contexts? In exploring these questions, this article draws on data from a series of large-scale public opinion surveys in six western democracies: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, and Australia.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC