Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 9, 2025
06:42
Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
Published on: September 28, 2018
12.0K
Political storms: Emergent partisan skepticism of hurricane risks
Elisa F Long1, M Keith Chen2, Ryne Rohla2
1Anderson School of Management, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. elisa.long@anderson.ucla.edu.
Science Advances
|September 12, 2020
Summary
Political affiliation influences trust in science, impacting crucial behaviors. This study found that likely Trump voters were less likely to evacuate during Hurricane Irma, demonstrating a real-world consequence of science denial.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral economics
- Political science
- Environmental studies
Background:
- Growing mistrust in scientific evidence and government guidelines is linked to political affiliation.
- Skepticism spans issues like climate change, vaccine hesitancy, and COVID-19 risks.
- The behavioral impact of these beliefs on high-stakes decisions remains understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether political affiliation influences self-protective behaviors during natural disasters.
- To quantify the impact of conservative media narratives on hurricane evacuation decisions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized GPS data from 2.7 million smartphone users in Florida and Texas.
- Combined mobility data with 2016 U.S. presidential election precinct-level results.
- Employed fine-grain geographic controls comparing voters within 150m of each other.
Main Results:
- Likely Trump-voting Florida residents were 10-11 percentage points less likely to evacuate Hurricane Irma compared to Clinton voters (34% vs. 45%).
- This evacuation gap was not observed in prior hurricane events.
- Results remained robust after controlling for geographic proximity.
Conclusions:
- Media-fueled skepticism towards scientific forecasts can lead to divergent self-protective behaviors.
- Science denialism has significant and measurable consequences on public safety decisions.
- Political polarization can undermine adherence to critical public health and safety advisories.
Related Concept Videos
02:41Responses to Drought and Flooding
11.7K
Water plays a significant role in the life cycle of plants. However, insufficient or excess of water can be detrimental and pose a serious threat to plants.
11.7K
01:14Fundamental Attribution Error
13.5K
According to some social psychologists, people tend to overemphasize internal factors as explanations—or attributions—for the behavior of other people. They tend to assume that the behavior of another person is a trait of that person, and to underestimate the power of the situation on the behavior of others. They tend to fail to recognize when the behavior of another is due to situational variables, and thus to the person’s state. This erroneous assumption is...
13.5K
01:01Group Polarization
38.2K
Group polarization is the strengthening of an original group attitude following the discussion of views within a group (Teger & Pruitt, 1967). That is, if a group initially favors a viewpoint, after discussion the group consensus is likely a stronger endorsement of the viewpoint. Conversely, if the group was initially opposed to a viewpoint, group discussion would likely lead to stronger opposition.
38.2K
02:09Stereotype Threat and Self-fulfilling Prophecies
41.8K
When we hold a stereotype about a person, we have expectations that he or she will fulfill that stereotype. A self-fulfilling prophecy is an expectation held by a person that alters his or her behavior in a way that tends to make it true. When we hold stereotypes about a person, we tend to treat the person according to our expectations. This treatment can influence the person to act according to our stereotypic expectations, thus confirming our stereotypic beliefs. Research by Rosenthal and...
41.8K
01:34Groupthink
48.3K
When in group settings, we are often influenced by the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors around us. Groupthink is another phenomenon of conformity where modification of the opinions of members in a group aligns with what they believe is the group consensus (Janis, 1972). In such situations, the group often takes action that individuals would not perform outside the group setting because groups make more extreme decisions than individuals do. Moreover, groupthink can hinder opposing trains of...
48.3K
01:30Unrealistic Optimism Bias
126
Unrealistic optimism bias is the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of positive outcomes. This cognitive bias makes individuals believe they are less likely to experience failures, setbacks, or risks and more likely to succeed than others. For example, people may assume they are less prone to health issues, accidents, or financial struggles than their peers, even when they share similar risk factors.One key component of this bias is the above-average effect, where individuals perceive...
126