Bo MacInnis - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
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Papers by Bo MacInnis
Journal of Environmental Psychology, Oct 31, 2023
According to many natural scientists, global warming has worsened wild res and oods in the United... more According to many natural scientists, global warming has worsened wild res and oods in the United States, causing increasingly devastating damage, and will do so in the future. Whether government takes action to better mitigate the risks and costs of these natural disasters may depend on public opinion. This study explored Americans' preferences for policies to prevent and cope with such damage and the factors in uencing these preferences. A telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of American adults in August 2020 showed that majorities, and sometimes huge majorities, favored a variety of speci c policies to protect people from damage, most of which are not being implemented well currently. As expected, policy support was driven more by sociotropic reasoning than by self-interest but surprisingly was not smaller among racial minorities or lower income individuals, refuting Maslow's hierarchical of need theory and the notion of a " nite pool of worry." Challenging theories of issue framing and demonstrating the robustness of opinions on this issue, an experiment showed that policy support was not altered when increasing future damage from wild res and oods were attributed to global warming. Americans overwhelmingly favored federal government involvement in prevention and coping but preferred that the costs be borne mostly by people in re-and ood-prone areas. This evidence sends surprisingly strong signals to lawmakers about public preferences and highlights their contours and determinants, thus contributing to the development of theories of public opinion.
Preregistration for the impossible mediation test of the Unemployment study.
Natural scientists crossing the line on policy advocacy - all CTL conditions
How the public reacts to political candidates' changing stances on issues
In this paper, we estimate the impact of processed foods—characterized by energy density and the ... more In this paper, we estimate the impact of processed foods—characterized by energy density and the amount of unidentified residuals in the food including food additives —on children's weight. We find that there is a direct correlation between the increase of energy density and residuals in children's dietary intake and their weight and body mass index (BMI) as well as their chance of becoming overweight. We also find that the impact of processed foods is asymmetric across the distribution of BMI; overweight children are more susceptible to the impact of processed foods than normal-weight children. Our estimates are robust to unobservable family characteristics, potential omitted variables, simultaneity, and measurement errors. Our findings suggest that the changed characteristics of processed foods are partly responsible for the increase in childhood obesity. Policies that reduce the amount of additives and energy density may be considered.
To examine the persuasion of video advertisment showing Republican politicians accepted global wa... more To examine the persuasion of video advertisment showing Republican politicians accepted global warming as fact
To replicate UVA's anagrams study
Preregistration for second study of the Fenton ad experiment.
To assess the impact of learning the economic performances of Democratic and Republican President... more To assess the impact of learning the economic performances of Democratic and Republican Presidents on public attitudes toward the political parties
Replication concerning the persuasion of natural scientists' crossing the line - the case of ... more Replication concerning the persuasion of natural scientists' crossing the line - the case of global warming
This is the overall OSF registration that will link to each of the individual studies.
Journal of Environmental Psychology, Oct 31, 2023
According to many natural scientists, global warming has worsened wild res and oods in the United... more According to many natural scientists, global warming has worsened wild res and oods in the United States, causing increasingly devastating damage, and will do so in the future. Whether government takes action to better mitigate the risks and costs of these natural disasters may depend on public opinion. This study explored Americans' preferences for policies to prevent and cope with such damage and the factors in uencing these preferences. A telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of American adults in August 2020 showed that majorities, and sometimes huge majorities, favored a variety of speci c policies to protect people from damage, most of which are not being implemented well currently. As expected, policy support was driven more by sociotropic reasoning than by self-interest but surprisingly was not smaller among racial minorities or lower income individuals, refuting Maslow's hierarchical of need theory and the notion of a " nite pool of worry." Challenging theories of issue framing and demonstrating the robustness of opinions on this issue, an experiment showed that policy support was not altered when increasing future damage from wild res and oods were attributed to global warming. Americans overwhelmingly favored federal government involvement in prevention and coping but preferred that the costs be borne mostly by people in re-and ood-prone areas. This evidence sends surprisingly strong signals to lawmakers about public preferences and highlights their contours and determinants, thus contributing to the development of theories of public opinion.
Preregistration for the impossible mediation test of the Unemployment study.
Natural scientists crossing the line on policy advocacy - all CTL conditions
How the public reacts to political candidates' changing stances on issues
In this paper, we estimate the impact of processed foods—characterized by energy density and the ... more In this paper, we estimate the impact of processed foods—characterized by energy density and the amount of unidentified residuals in the food including food additives —on children's weight. We find that there is a direct correlation between the increase of energy density and residuals in children's dietary intake and their weight and body mass index (BMI) as well as their chance of becoming overweight. We also find that the impact of processed foods is asymmetric across the distribution of BMI; overweight children are more susceptible to the impact of processed foods than normal-weight children. Our estimates are robust to unobservable family characteristics, potential omitted variables, simultaneity, and measurement errors. Our findings suggest that the changed characteristics of processed foods are partly responsible for the increase in childhood obesity. Policies that reduce the amount of additives and energy density may be considered.
To examine the persuasion of video advertisment showing Republican politicians accepted global wa... more To examine the persuasion of video advertisment showing Republican politicians accepted global warming as fact
To replicate UVA's anagrams study
Preregistration for second study of the Fenton ad experiment.
To assess the impact of learning the economic performances of Democratic and Republican President... more To assess the impact of learning the economic performances of Democratic and Republican Presidents on public attitudes toward the political parties
Replication concerning the persuasion of natural scientists' crossing the line - the case of ... more Replication concerning the persuasion of natural scientists' crossing the line - the case of global warming
This is the overall OSF registration that will link to each of the individual studies.