Live data from Hacker News

Widespread misperceptions of long-term attitude change

pnas.org

11–20 of 208 posts

Re: Widespread misperceptions of long-term attitude change

#12
post #5
post #3

And they overestimate how badly the “other” political party is ruining the country when they’re in power.

I don't know about that. Something like an executive order can have effects years after someone is gone, momentum builds and it takes effort for a successor to undo it. To say nothing about lifetime court appointments. Not just in the supreme court either.

Any examples? IIRC, many such orders signed by Trump were immediately undone or at the very least drastically watered down by Biden.

Re: Widespread misperceptions of long-term attitude change

#15
post #6
post #3

And they overestimate how badly the “other” political party is ruining the country when they’re in power.

Is there a difference in the 2 major parties anymore? I seriously don't know which parry you're referring to.

They're both authoritarian but one obviously leans left, and the other, right.

Re: Widespread misperceptions of long-term attitude change

#16
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about that. Something like an executive order can have effects years after someone is gone, momentum builds and it takes effort for a successor to undo it. To say nothing about lifetime court appointments. Not just in the supreme court either.

Any examples? IIRC, many such orders signed by Trump were immediately undone or at the very least drastically watered down by Biden.

The Patriot Act was an executive order

Re: Widespread misperceptions of long-term attitude change

#17
post #13

Do you need some kind of account to see this link? When I click it I get redirected to the home page with the same anchor but ?skip=true :(. https://www.pnas.org/?skip=true#abstract

Works for me? Here's the DOI in any case: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2107260119

Re: Widespread misperceptions of long-term attitude change

#18
The actual title is

> Widespread misperceptions of long-term attitude change

Not "Study: Americans consistently overestimate how much culture has changed." And from the abstract

> Participants overestimated the amount of change on 29 attitudes (57%), underestimated change on 10 attitudes (20%), estimated change in the wrong direction on 10 attitudes (20%), and estimated change correctly on only two attitudes (4%). (out of 51 different attitudes)

Maybe we can change the title. When I read this abstract I got the feeling that Americans just don't know what's going on. Which honestly makes far more sense. Things are changing rapidly recently. It especially makes sense when you consider we're isolating our social groups more (internet makes this easier but isn't a sole contributor) and so there would be a biased estimate for over estimation.

What's also really interesting is that going through some of these is that it seems that people in the 70's greatly underestimated many things. For example when asked about abortion with there was serious risk people estimated (in 72) that only 49% of people were in favor but actually 87% were in favor. Now perception has changed to 71 and actual to 90. Another example is concerns about climate change. In 1990 people estimated 28% were concerned but actually 61% were concerned. Now it is 65.5 vs 65.

If you just came here for the title it really does look like there is a lot more interesting data than what the title says. It does seem like some things we've gotten better at getting estimates on while others are more difficult. Worth at least looking at the figures. But definitely could be some interesting followup analysis.

Re: Widespread misperceptions of long-term attitude change

#19
post #9
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a difference in the 2 major parties anymore? I seriously don't know which parry you're referring to.

The only people I ever see asking that are right-wing pundits trying to convince left-leaning voters not to bother voting, and occasionally burned-out centrists who've fallen for it. I've never seen a serious left-wing voter/activist/politician come out with the claim that "well, the right are just as bad as we are". "We are not so different, you and I" is always the last-ditch claim of the villain, knowing that they…

No post body was provided.

Re: Widespread misperceptions of long-term attitude change

#20
post #13

Do you need some kind of account to see this link? When I click it I get redirected to the home page with the same anchor but ?skip=true :(. https://www.pnas.org/?skip=true#abstract

I have the link: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2107260119

If you're unable to see it maybe we can figure out some means to share.

Post reply on HN