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Are people unwilling or unable to engage with information that runs against the views of their party? Tappin et al. push against this notion with a survey experiment that shows the public responds to counter-partisan policy arguments by changing their minds about these issues, even when they also see where party leaders stand on them.
Predicting the future is something that humans have tried to do — in various ways — for a very long time. A paper by Grossmann et al. tests the ability of social scientists to predict societal change and finds that they are not particularly good at it.
Biased research is wasteful, undermines the credibility of science and prevents cumulative knowledge. Hardwicke and Wagenmakers explain how preregistration, when carefully and transparently used, can help to reduce bias.
The global increase in violence against women during the COVID-19 pandemic has been termed the ‘shadow pandemic’. A study by Ravindran and Shah analysed evidence of violence against women in Indian society and find that, under strict lockdown rules, domestic violence and cybercrime complaints increased, whereas rape and sexual assault decreased.
