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Public perceptions of Artificial intelligence (AI) are mostly positive, but recent research indicates growing skepticism and differentiated attitudes towards different AI applications. Moreover, research showed that more conservative people are more skeptical. Extending previous research, we tested the role of authoritarianism, a broad ideological attitude, in relation to attitudes towards AI in different domains in a German online sample (N = 1,027). Structural equation models showed the expected ambivalent relationship between authoritarianism and attitudes towards technology (expressed in terms of positive and negative attitudes) as well as differentiated relationships with specific AI attitudes. Authoritarianism showed a small positive total effect on attitudes towards AI in autonomous vehicles and a non-significant total effect on AI in robots (mediated by attitudes towards technology and towards AI in general), but a strong relationship with attitudes towards AI in surveillance, which is in line with the general authoritarian preference for security and social order.

A large body of research exists investigating the link between environmental attitudes and behavior. Many empirical studies have found modest positive effects, suggesting that attitudes toward the environment might indeed influence environmental behavior. However, most of the previous empirical work is cross-sectional and correlational in nature. This means that the issue of the causal effect of environmental attitudes on behavior is far from settled, and that the relationships observed in the past may be due to unobserved confounders. In a panel study using six waves of the GESIS Panel Survey, we examine the individual-level effect of changes in one's attitudes on changes in different forms of environmental behavior. We use fixed effects panel regression within the structural equation modeling framework to control for unobserved time-invariant confounders, while also tackling other methodological challenges. We find that environmental attitudes have no effect on behavior after controlling for unobserved confounders. However, there is a robust effect of attitudes on willingness to sacrifice. This suggests that creating more positive attitudes might make individuals more willing to accept sacrifices for environmental protection.Es gibt zahlreiche Forschungsarbeiten, die sich mit dem Zusammenhang zwischen Umwelteinstellungen und -verhalten befassen. Viele empirische Studien haben meist schwach bis mäßig positive Effekte festgestellt, was darauf hindeutet, dass die Einstellung gegenüber der Umwelt tatsächlich das Umweltverhalten beeinflusst. Allerdings handelt es sich bei den meisten der bisherigen empirischen Arbeiten um Querschnitts- und Korrelationsstudien. Das bedeutet, dass die Frage nach dem kausalen Effekt von Umwelteinstellungen auf das Verhalten noch lange nicht geklärt ist und dass die in der Vergangenheit beobachteten Zusammenhänge möglicherweise auf unbeobachtete Störfaktoren zurückzuführen sind. In einer Panelstudie, die sechs Wellen der GESIS-Panel Studie verwendet, untersuchen wir die individuellen Auswirkungen von Veränderungen der eigenen Einstellungen auf Veränderungen in verschiedenen Formen des Umweltverhaltens. Wir verwenden eine Panelregression mit Fixed Effects im Rahmen der Strukturgleichungsmodellierung, um unbeobachtete zeitinvariante Störfaktoren zu kontrollieren und gleichzeitig andere methodische Herausforderungen zu bewältigen. Wir stellen fest, dass Umwelteinstellungen keinen Einfluss auf das Verhalten haben, nachdem wir für unbeobachtete Störfaktoren kontrolliert haben. Es gibt jedoch einen robusten Effekt von Einstellungen auf die Opferbereitschaft. Dies deutet darauf hin, dass eine positivere Einstellung dazu führen kann, dass die Menschen eher bereit sind, Opfer für den Umweltschutz zu bringen.

This paper reports findings from a crowdsourced replication. Eighty-five independent teams attempted a computational replication of results reported in an original study of policy preferences and immigration by fitting the same statistical models to the same data. The replication involved an experimental condition. Random assignment put participating teams into either the transparent group that received the original study and code, or the opaque group receiving only a methods section, rough results description and no code. The transparent group mostly verified the numerical results of the original study with the same sign and p-value threshold (95.7%), while the opaque group had less success (89.3%). Exact numerical reproductions to the second decimal place were far less common (76.9% and 48.1%), and the number of teams who verified at least 95% of all effects in all models they ran was 79.5% and 65.2% respectively. Therefore, the reliability we quantify depends on how reliability is defined, but most definitions suggest it would take a minimum of three independent replications to achieve reliability. Qualitative investigation of the teams’ workflows reveals many causes of error including mistakes and procedural variations. Although minor error across researchers is not surprising, we show this occurs where it is least expected in the case of computational reproduction. Even when we curate the results to boost ecological validity, the error remains large enough to undermine reliability between researchers to some extent. The presence of inter-researcher variability may explain some of the current “reliability crisis” in the social sciences because it may be undetected in all forms of research involving data analysis. The obvious implication of our study is more transparency. Broader implications are that researcher variability adds an additional meta-source of error that may not derive from conscious measurement or modeling decisions, and that replications cannot alone resolve this type of uncertainty.

This study looks at negative attitudes towards various out-groups and examines in an experimental design the influence of anonymous interview settings on estimates of attitudes towards supposedly sensitive topics. Respondents were presented with instruments meant to measure various forms of prejudice towards out-groups while the interview was conducted at random either as a computer assisted personal interview (CAPI) or computer assisted self interview (CASI). The scales used in this study can be shown to be both reliable as well as valid, furthermore, in accordance with various research by Bierly (1985), Zick et al. (2008) and Heitmeyer (2005) the results of a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) show various forms of prejudice form a type of generalized attitude. In the more recent articles from Zick et al. (2008), Heitmeyer (2005), Wagner et al. (2008), this is referred to as the ‘Syndrome Group-Focused Enmity’ (GFE). So while both an overarching ‘syndrome’ of prejudice as well as valid and reliable measures of individual forms of prejudice can be empirically confirmed, the results of the analyses show that prejudice towards a specific out-group, let alone a generalized attitude of prejudice, cannot be seen as uniformly desirable. Specific items elicit varying response behaviour. Item- and topic-trait desirabilities were established to help explain the extent to which the survey mode affected estimates. Other respondent- and item-related characteristics also influence SD bias. Survey mode effects are often only seen in conjunction with other factors.

This study looks at pre-service teachers, their usage of experiments in the classroom, and the factors that influence their behavior. In a longitudinal panel-study of high school/grammar school-level biology and chemistry pre-service teachers at all training colleges in the German State of Rhineland-Palatinate, we examine the role of attitudes, perceived behavioral controls, and subjective norms on the participants’ intention to- and actual use of experiments in the classroom. As a theoretical framework, we use the Theory of Planned Behavior. Attitudes, social norms, behavioural control and behavioural intention were measured at time points t1 and t2; behaviour with regards to experiments was measured at t3. In a second step, we examine which fundamental beliefs influence attitudes, social norms and behavioural control. The analyses show that attitudes, subjective norms and behavioural controls play important roles in determining the use of experiments. While for pre-service teachers with the subject biology attitudes play the most important role, for those with the subject chemistry it is behavioural control that most strongly influences the use experiments. The reform of teachers’ education programs in Germany has no significant effects on the intent or actual behaviour regarding experiments.

In an era of mass migration, social scientists, populist parties and social movements raise concerns over the future of immigration-destination societies. What impacts does this have on policy and social solidarity? Comparative cross-national research, relying mostly on secondary data, has findings in different directions. There is a threat of selective model reporting and lack of replicability. The heterogeneity of countries obscures attempts to clearly define data-generating models. P-hacking and HARKing lurk among standard research practices in this area.This project employs crowdsourcing to address these issues. It draws on replication, deliberation, meta-analysis and harnessing the power of many minds at once. The Crowdsourced Replication Initiative carries two main goals, (a) to better investigate the linkage between immigration and social policy preferences across countries, and (b) to develop crowdsourcing as a social science method. The Executive Report provides short reviews of the area of social policy preferences and immigration, and the methods and impetus behind crowdsourcing plus a description of the entire project. Three main areas of findings will appear in three papers, that are registered as PAPs or in process.