The morning chronotype has significant links with political conservatism, most robustly in Switzerland; the morning chronotype may have links to liberalism in Russia

Linking sleep, political ideology, and religious observance: a multi-national comparison. Aleksander Ksiazkiewicz, Fatih Erol. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Volume 34, Issue 3, Autumn 2022, edac020, https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edac020

Abstract: Sleep is fundamental to life and essential to one’s health behavior, scholastic achievement, and work performance. Recent years have seen an increase in empirical investigations incorporating sleep research into political science. This study complements existing sleep-politics studies by examining the associations between chronotype (a person’s preferred time to sleep and wake up) and attitudinal and behavioral political outcomes (left–right ideology and social conservatism proxied by religious service attendance). We analyze representative samples from 10 national contexts (Finland, Greece, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, and Switzerland) to test our hypotheses. The results demonstrate that morning chronotype has significant links with political conservatism in six national contexts depending on model specification (most robustly in Switzerland). Unexpectedly, the morning chronotype may have links to liberalism in three other countries depending on model specification (most robustly in Russia). The results for religious observance are more uniform, indicating a link between morningness and greater religious observance across all cases in many specifications (excepting a reversed relationship in New Zealand in some models). Urbanization, seasonal effects, geographical characteristics, and religious denominations are explored as potential confounders.

Social media does not affect political participation directly, but rather through metacognitive processes such as overestimating one’s knowledge; social media news use has a negative effect on objective knowledge

Dreston, Jana H., and German Neubaum. 2022. “Exploring the Link Between Social Media News Use, Subjective Political Knowledge and Voting Intentions.” PsyArXiv. December 6. doi:10.31234/osf.io/nf9dx

Abstract: Citizens are expected to make informed voting decisions. However, research indicates that political knowledge gained through media use does not relate to political participation such as voting. In times of decreasing voter turnout and increasing consumption of news via social media, it is important to study how these two relate. Recent research underscores the fact that, in reality, social media does not increase objective political knowledge, but rather the metacognition of subjective knowledge. In turn, this metacognition might foster political participation. Nevertheless, we do not know which forms of social media use foster users’ perception of being politically knowledgeable. A pre-registered, cross-sectional, pre-election survey (N = 1,223) showed that active forms of social media news use relate more strongly to subjective knowledge than incidental exposure. All forms of usage showed no or even negative associations with objective political knowledge. While none of the forms of social media news use exerted any direct effect on voting intentions, both subjective and objective knowledge are related to increased voting intentions. This study corroborates that social media does not affect political participation directly, but rather through metacognitive processes such as estimating one’s knowledge. However, both objective and subjective knowledge are essential for one’s voting intentions. By showing that active and passive forms of social media use affect knowledge differently, this study provides preliminary and nuanced insights into the ultimate role these technologies can play in democratic processes.

People usually like each other more when they feel they are accurately known by their counterparts, even in their negative traits

Does accuracy matter? A review of the consequences of accurate personality impressions as a function of context and content. Lauren Gazzard Kerr, Lauren J Human. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, December 3 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12718

Abstract: What are the implications of seeing others as they see themselves? That is, does viewing others accurately have consequences, positive or negative, to relationship evaluations (e.g., liking)? To address this, the current article provides a comprehensive review of the personality accuracy literature and discusses related work from the self-verification and empathic accuracy domains. We specifically explore whether the consequences of accurate perceptions could be influenced by two key categories of moderators: the context of the impression (e.g., high vs. low stakes) and content of the impression (e.g., desirability of traits). Lastly, we discuss future directions to aid our understanding of this question.

Consumers ordinarily avoid ugly products, but when from a luxury brand, they choose distinctively ugly products as often as attractive ones, not despite their ugliness but due to their ugliness & resulting ability to signal luxury

Hideous but worth it: Distinctive ugliness as a signal of luxury. Ludovica Cesareo, Claudia Townsend & Eugene Pavlov. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Dec 2 2022. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11747-022-00913-3

Abstract: Long-standing wisdom and academic research consistently agree that consumers choose attractive products and avoid ugly ones. And yet, multiple luxury brands successfully sell distinctively ugly products. This research provides an explanation, identifying distinctive ugliness as a signal of luxury and examining its impact on consumer choice. We explore this in seven studies, including a field study, a market pricing analysis, and five controlled laboratory experiments, three with consequential behavioral measures, incorporating a variety of fashion products, brands, aesthetic manipulations, and audiences. When products are from a non-luxury brand, consumers choose the attractive option and avoid the ugly. However, when from a luxury brand, consumers choose distinctively ugly products as often as attractive ones, not despite their ugliness but due to their ugliness and resulting ability to signal luxury. As such, brand prominence offers a boundary condition, as both a loud logo and distinctive ugliness serve to signal. Implications for both luxury and non-luxury brands are discussed.

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