3,257 research outputs found
“Unmotivated bias” and partisan hostility: Empirical evidence
Extreme partisan animosity has been on the rise in the US and is prevalent around the world. This hostility is typically attributed to social group identity, motivated reasoning, or a combination thereof. In this paper, I empirically examine a novel contributing factor: the “unmotivated” cognitive bias of overprecision (overconfidence in precision of beliefs). Overprecision could cause partisan hostility indirectly via inflated confidence in one\u27s own ideology, partisan identity, or perceptions of social distance between the parties. Overprecision could also cause this hostility directly by causing excessively strong inferences from observed information that is either skewed against the out-party or simply misunderstood. Using a nationally representative sample, I find consistent support for direct effects of overprecision and mixed support for indirect effects. The point estimates imply a one standard deviation increase in a respondent\u27s overprecision predicts as much as a 0.71 standard deviation decline in relative out-party favorability
Clarifying (Opportunity) Costs
Opportunity cost is widely considered to be a fundamental concept in economics. But the definition of the term continues to be both unclear and controversial. I describe how the term is widely used in two distinct ways, both in academic and non-academic contexts. I propose a practical way for educators to clarify the concept and related terminology
Suspense-optimal college football play-offs
U.S. college football’s traditional bowl system, and lack of a postseason play-off tournament, has been controversial for years. The conventional wisdom is that a play-off would be a more fair way to determine the national champion, and more fun for fans to watch. The colleges finally agreed to begin a play-off in the 2014-2015 season, but with just four teams, and speculation continues that more teams will be added soon. A subtle downside to adding play-off teams is that it reduces the significance of regular season games.We use the framework of Ely, Frankel, and Kamenica (in press) to directly estimate the utility fans would get from this significance, that is, utility from suspense, under a range of play-off scenarios. Our results consistently indicate that play-off expansion causes a loss in regular season suspense utility greater than the gain in the postseason, implying the traditional bowl system (two team play-off) is suspense-optimal. We analyze and discuss implications for TV viewership and other contexts
Partisan selective engagement: evidence from Facebook
This study investigates the effects of variation in "congeniality" of news on Facebook user engagement (likes, shares, and comments). We compile an original data set of Facebook posts by 84 German news outlets on politicians that were investigated for criminal offenses from January 2012 to June 2017. We also construct an index of each outlet's media slant by comparing the language of the outlet with that of the main political parties, which allows us to measure the congeniality of the posts. We find that user engagement with congenial posts is higher than with uncongenial ones, especially in terms of likes. The within-outlet, within-topic design allows us to infer that the greater engagement with congenial news is likely driven by psychological and social factors, rather than a desire for accurate or otherwise instrumental information
The supply of media slant across outlets and demand for slant within outlets: Evidence from US presidential campaign news
We conduct across-outlet and within-outlet (and within-topic) analyses of “congenially” slanted news. We study “horse race” news (news on candidates\u27 chances in an upcoming election) from six major online outlets for the 2012 and 2016 US presidential campaigns. We find robust evidence that horse race headlines were slanted congenially with respect to the preferences of the outlets\u27 typical readers. However, evidence of congenial slant in the timing and frequency of horse race stories is weaker. We also find limited evidence of greater within-outlet demand for headlines most congenial to outlets\u27 typical readers, and somewhat stronger evidence of greater demand for relatively uncongenial headlines. We discuss how various aspects of our results are consistent with each of the major mechanisms driving slant studied in the theoretical literature, and may help explain when each mechanism is more likely to come into play. In particular, readers may be more likely to click on uncongenial headlines due to inferring that these stories are particularly informative when they stand in contrast to an outlet\u27s typically congenial slant
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Measurement error and the hot hand
This paper shows the first autocorrelation of basketball shot results is a highly biased
and inconsistent estimator of the first autocorrelation of the ex ante probabilities the
shots are made. Shot result autocorrelation is close to zero even when shot probability
autocorrelation is close to one. The bias is caused by what is equivalent to a severe
measurement error problem. The results imply that the widespread belief among players
and fans in the hot hand is not necessarily a cognitive fallacy.Keywords: Overinference, Basketball, Autocorrelation, Psychology, Semi-streakiness, Errors-in-variable
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Media Proliferation and Partisan Selective Exposure
The number of Internet news media outlets has skyrocketed in recent years. We analyze
the effects of media proliferation on electoral outcomes assuming voters may choose news
that is too partisan, from an informational perspective, i.e. engage in partisan selective
exposure. We find that if voters who prefer highly partisan news–either because they are
truly ideologically extreme, or due to a tendency towards excessive selective exposure–
are politically “important,” then proliferation is socially beneficial, as it makes these
voters more likely to obtain informative news. Otherwise, proliferation still protects
against very poor electoral outcomes that can occur when the number of outlets is small
and the only media options are highly partisan. Our model’s overall implication is thus
that, surprisingly, proliferation is socially beneficial regardless of the degree of selective
exposure.Keywords: Media bias, Selective exposure, Blogs, Elections, Internet media, Media competitio
Constrained-Transport Magnetohydrodynamics with Adaptive-Mesh-Refinement in CHARM
We present the implementation of a three-dimensional, second order accurate
Godunov-type algorithm for magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD), in the
adaptive-mesh-refinement (AMR) cosmological code {\tt CHARM}. The algorithm is
based on the full 12-solve spatially unsplit Corner-Transport-Upwind (CTU)
scheme. The fluid quantities are cell-centered and are updated using the
Piecewise-Parabolic-Method (PPM), while the magnetic field variables are
face-centered and are evolved through application of the Stokes theorem on cell
edges via a Constrained-Transport (CT) method. The multidimensional MHD source
terms required in the predictor step for high-order accuracy are applied in a
simplified form which reduces their complexity in three dimensions without loss
of accuracy or robustness. The algorithm is implemented on an AMR framework
which requires specific synchronization steps across refinement levels. These
include face-centered restriction and prolongation operations and a {\it
reflux-curl} operation, which maintains a solenoidal magnetic field across
refinement boundaries. The code is tested against a large suite of test
problems, including convergence tests in smooth flows, shock-tube tests,
classical two- and three-dimensional MHD tests, a three-dimensional shock-cloud
interaction problem and the formation of a cluster of galaxies in a fully
cosmological context. The magnetic field divergence is shown to remain
negligible throughout.Comment: 53 pages, 17 figs, under review by ApJ
Online Surveys: Increasing Your Research and Evaluation Capacity
Online surveys are increasingly viewed as a method to expand research and evaluation capacity. This article focuses on a case study utilizing online surveys for data collection conducted by researchers at the Pennsylvania State University and the University of Arizona. The National Youth Participation Study makes use of computer technology and the interest youth have in such technology. Online methods, survey design, techniques when surveying youth and lessons learned in developing the online study are shared by the authors
Theory of Systematic Computational Error in Free Energy Differences
Systematic inaccuracy is inherent in any computational estimate of a
non-linear average, due to the availability of only a finite number of data
values, N. Free energy differences (DF) between two states or systems are
critically important examples of such averages in physical, chemical and
biological settings. Previous work has demonstrated, empirically, that the
``finite-sampling error'' can be very large -- many times kT -- in DF estimates
for simple molecular systems. Here, we present a theoretical description of the
inaccuracy, including the exact solution of a sample problem, the precise
asymptotic behavior in terms of 1/N for large N, the identification of
universal law, and numerical illustrations. The theory relies on corrections to
the central and other limit theorems, and thus a role is played by stable
(Levy) probability distributions.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
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