recent research

From Kevin Lewis' February picks:

• Our ballots may be secret, but most Americans either don't believe it or don't care. (Alan Gerber and friends)
• A new explanation for variations in political participation: electrodermal responsiveness. (Michael Gruszczynski and friends)
• The fundraising and frontrunner feedback loop - caught by economists. (James Feigenbaum and friend)
• An argument for not getting rid of the electoral college - it's pretty fair. (AC Thomas and friends)
• Education is correlated with higher political participation, but that may just be because education is a proxy for social status. (Mikael Persson)
• If you're a politician it doesn't matter whether you get falsely vilified or credited; either way, when the truth comes out, you're worse off. (Michael Cobb and friends)
• Forget Intrade and Nate Silver - just ask 19,000 people who will win the next election to get the best prediction. (Michael K. Miller and friends)
• All that money spent on presidential campaign advertising is apparently well spent. (Brett R. Gordon and friend)
• Hmm... we misjudge candidates in part because of the "false memories" we make about them. (Jason Coronel and friends)
• How best to "counter-frame." (Chong and Druckman)
• Social pressure to vote works on women and minorities too. (Costas Panagopoulus)
• Voting technology and mail-in-voting mean fewer bum ballots. (R. Michael Alvarez and friends)
• Evidence that surveys may not represent reality. (Christian Vossler and friend)
• Candidates have a role in inspiring confidence in the voting process. (Greg Vannahme and friend)
• Maybe conservatives are just more sensitive. (Samantha Joel and friends)
• Re-affirming the ego on Facebook. (Catalina Toma and friends)
• Charting out the link between values and political attitudes. (Diana Boer and friend)
• Legislators may not be all about getting re-elected - or at least not flip-flopping on policies just to gain votes. (James Lo)
• An odd argument for why hyper-partisanship exists - because legislators can emphasize their position preferences (rather than their ability to bring home the pork). (Justin Grimmer)
• Gerrymandering is supposed to help incumbents - except it doesn't. (Stephen Ansolobehere and friend)
• Evidence that politicians have something to do with how their constituents think. (Tetsuya Matsubayashi)
• Direct democracy - at least in the form of California ballot initiatives - may not be so good for democracy. (Ly Lac and friends)
• A different view of representation - it's not about reflecting your constituent beliefs, but listening to them. (Rebekah Herrick)
• One reason Americans aren't fond of Congress - when it's out of sync with popular opinion. (Mark Ramirez)
• Voters punish corrupt politicians - but only when economic times are tough. (Elizabeth Zechmeister and friend)
• Voters are rationally irrational - except when they're not. (Michael D. Thomas and friend)
• People get a kick out of giving - all across the globe. (Lara Aknin and friends)...
• ... possibly more so when they're feeling like a superhero as demonstrated in this wicked cool experiment. (Robin Rosenberg and friends)
• ... but not so much if they're feeling superior or inferior to others as demonstrated in this somewhat less cool experiment. (Jonathan Yip and friend)
• Peer pressure makes us bigger - but less happy - givers. (Diane Reyniers and friends)
• Love it. Humans are not the only species that behave altruistically toward strangers. (Jingzhi Tan and friend)
• ... and one of the reasons they may give to strangers is that it's a good way to make friends, just like with humans. (Sebastian Fehrler and friend)
• Power makes us better long-term planners. (Priyanka Joshi and friend)
• ... but more prone to dehumanize others. (Jason Gwinn and friends)
• We're all a little bit honest and a little bit liars. (Rajna Gibson and friends)