New paper with @marlenehilgenstock.bsky.social @pascalsiegers.bsky.social

Find us at the academy of sociology conference @unimainz.bsky.social @gesis.org @dprex.bsky.social!

Find us Sep 22.-26. at the #DGS2025 Conference, Campus Duisburg.
At the @gesis.org stand we present DP-R|EX – the Data Portal for Right-Wing & Extremism Data.
Let’s talk about sharing data for reuse, data management & hate speech!
👉info: datenportal-rechtsextremismus.de #ResearchData #ExtremismData

Sicherheit in Zahlen? Ein Beipackzettel für Meinungsumfragen zu Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik - PRIF BLOG In außen- und sicherheitspolitischen Debatten verweisen führende Politikerinnen und Politiker immer wieder auf Umfragen, nicht zuletzt bei Waffenlieferungen an die Ukraine. Doch wer Umfragedaten nutzt...

Meinungsumfragen zu Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik werden häufig zitiert. Doch was muss man beachten, wen man sie liest? Neues PRIF Spotlight von @sarahbrockmeier.bsky.social, Christina Eder, @jedinger.bsky.social, @alexiakatsanidou.bsky.social‬ & @leonkrause.bsky.social
blog.prif.org/2025/08/15/s...

Ambivalent sexism and opposition toward public breastfeeding The study examines the impact of hostile and benevolent sexism on attitudes toward public versus private breastfeeding. According to ambivalent sexism theory, we hypothesized that hostile sexism wo...

Excited to share my new paper together with Miriam Feldhausen just published in the Journal of Social Psychology. We explored how ambivalent sexism ist related to opposition toward public breastfeeding. doi.org/10.1080/0022...

In this new article, we study voting for the BSW from a policy space perspective with @gles.bsky.social data.

Findings:
-BSW voters tend to be left-nationalist
-Depending on prior party support, either nationalist or economically left-wing positions predict switching to BSW

doi.org/10.1080/0964...

Looking forward to be part of this exciting project together w/ @sewenz.bsky.social as a @gesis.org team! #ManyDaughters

People often overestimate how many others share their views—a phenomenon known as the false consensus effect.

In a new article in @ispp-pops.bsky.social, @clandwehr.bsky.social, Philipp Harms and I show that this tendency is associated with stronger populist attitudes: doi.org/10.1111/pops....

This statement from the NSF is insane.

Science is, in essence, designed to separate the true from the false.

Understanding how falsehoods spread is key to the scientific endeavor. It is not a violation of free speech to be proven wrong.

The Appraisal Model of Conspiracy Theories (AMCT): Applying Appraisal Theories to Understand Emotional and Behavioral Reactions to Conspiracy Theories Beliefs in conspiracy theories are related to a diverse set of emotional and behavioral consequences. At the same time, a theoretical model detailing when a conspiracy theory is more likely to elic...

New theory paper-led by @lpummerer.bsky.social with Karen Douglas, @drdanieljolley.bsky.social & @tgkinopoulos.bsky.social The Appraisal Model of Conspiracy Theories (AMCT): Applying appraisal theories to understand emotional and behavioral reactions to CTs www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Great to see so many people interested in @gesis.org data on foreign policy opinions. Thanks to @prif.org for the fantastic organization!

The partisan brain effect is extremely robust:

The “concordance-over-truth” bias persisted across education levels, analytic reasoning ability, and partisan groups, with a stronger effect among Trump supporters.

Extreme Trump attitudes are the strongest predictor: psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...

Discursive Shifts in the German Right-Wing Newspaper Junge Freiheit 1997–2019: A Computational Approach Right-wing media are pivotal for the success of the political right. We investigate the discursive trends in roughly 57,000 articles published in Germany’s biggest far-right weekly newspaper, Junge...

How did right-wing discourse in Germany change in the last 20 years? Our case study on the newspaper Junge Freiheit is now available in German Politics 34 (1), 128 - 155. For the open access version, check out: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

#polsky #polcom #commsky

Abstract of the article "Need for cognitive closure, political trust, adn belief in conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic"

📢 New Publication: @jedinger.bsky.social and I have explored the relationshop between need for closure, political trust and COVID conspiracy beliefs using data from the @gesis-panel.bsky.social . Open access: www.frontiersin.org/journals/soc...

Lena Masch (@lenamasch.bsky.social) political scientist @unimuenster.bsky.social | Political Psychology | Political Communication | text & images | 🐈‍⬛ lady she/her #firstgen https://linktr.ee/lenamasch 📷: Tobias Koch

Publication alert: lenamasch.bsky.social and I have explored the relationship between need for closure, political trust, and COVID conspiracy beliefs using data from the great @gesis-panel.bsky.social! Open-access doi.org/10.3389/frsp...

Abstract for our accepted pre-print of Reasons to believe: A systematic review and meta-analytic synthesis of the motives associated with conspiracy beliefs

🚨Our meta-analysis of the motives associated with conspiracy beliefs has been accepted at Psychological Bulletin!🚨“Reasons to believe: A systematic review and meta-analytic synthesis of the motives associated with conspiracy beliefs” osf.io/preprints/ps... 🧵👇 1/16

Episode 57: Collider bias Listen now | Does smoking prevent COVID? Is being obese actually healthy? Or is something funny going on?

Some said it couldn’t be done. That it was impossible; ridiculous; absurd. But @tomchivers.bsky.social and I have done it: recorded a whole podcast episode about collider bias. www.thestudiesshowpod.com/p/episode-57...

Why did Trump win? How well did we predict the MAGA landslide? What to expect from President Trump 2.0?
Join us for this virtual roundtable with Herbert Kitschelt, Sigrid Roßteutscher, Mary Stegmaier, & Nils Steiner!

Stability, change, and external shocks: Selected results for German public opinion on foreign and security policy In this post, we analyze long-term trends in security-related attitudes among the German public and recent changes due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. We will use annual surveys from th...

How have German attitudes towards the Bundeswehr and military defense changed? In this post, we analyze long-term trends in security-related attitudes among the German public and recent changes due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. doi.org/10.34879/ges...

Our paper confirms existing findings that spiritual beliefs are linked to conspiracy mentality. But more important our results show that literal affirmation of religious information correlates positively with conspiracy beliefs. Whether it is positive (religious orthodoxy) or negative (atheism)...

I’m excited to see our joint work (w/ pascalsiegers.bsky.social) about conspiracy beliefs and religion now published in Politics and Religion! Free to read: doi.org/10.1017/S175...

Glad to have played a small role in this paper by Kirsten Morehouse on participant privacy and open science, with algorithms to quantify and mitigate risk. My totally unbiased view is that it's worth reading if you ever share data: psycnet.apa.org/record/2024-... (preprint: osf.io/preprints/me...)

Eastern Europe is no exception: acceptance of inequality and left–right politics - Acta Politica Many scholars suggest that the left–right dimension can be simplified to a conflict over how much inequality should be accepted in society. Yet, studies on Eastern Europe indicate that acceptance of i...

What is the core difference between ‘left’ and ‘right’ in politics?

New paper out in @ActaPolitica where I show that acceptance of inequality separates left- and right-wing individuals in both Eastern and Western Europe, contrary to previous research.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Polisky

In a guest post, I summarise findings on changes in gender-specific voting behaviour in Germany. I also explore what the increasing social normalisation of the far-right AfD (despite its radicalisation in substantive terms) might mean for the future gender gap in the AfD vote.

#sociology polisky

New article: Why do citizens choose to read fact-checks about the Russian war in Ukraine? Our study shows that citizens in 19 countries (n = 19,037) are more inclined to seek truth rather than confirm existing beliefs. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Cover of the latest Issue of Zeitschrift für Psychologie.

Zeitschrift für Psychologie Special Issue: "Are All Conspiracy Theories Created Equal? The Form, Functions, and Consequences of General Conspiracy Mindsets versus Specific Conspiracy Beliefs" with B.Gjoneksa @olivierklein.bsky.social @alekscichocka.bsky.social econtent.hogrefe.com/toc/zfp/curr...

We are pleased to see our paper on the ideological correlates of economic system support in Germany finally published. We find that SDO is negatively related to the German variant of capitalism, the social market economy. Relations with RWA are more nuanced. Open access doi.org/10.1007/s121...