news 2022

New systematic review in Nature Human Behaviour summarizes studies conducted worldwide   One of the most contentious questions of our time is whether the rapid global uptake of digital media is contributing to a decline in democracy. While discussions on the risks of social media have recently received a great deal of media coverage, tech companies argue that findings are not conclusive.

If infection numbers drop significantly over the course of a pandemic in response to policy measures, this lowers people's sense of fear and panic-related behaviour more strongly than the infection rates and the measures themselves.

Study shows that divergent opinions need not necessarily lead to polarisation We naturally feel close to people who are similar to us, who share our interests or partake in related activities, for instance. This natural feeling of closeness can be funnelled to reduce political differences and increase consensus on conflictual political topics.

The Corona pandemic has not only impinged on daily life around the world for around two years now - it is increasingly shifting science and research into the focus of public debate. One aspect is the trust people have in the work done by scientists. A team of researchers led by Prof. Rainer Bromme, a psychologist at the University of Münster, now have published a study, which concludes that science has so far passed the pandemic stress test of public trust in science.

Results of surveys involving more than 100,000 participants in 26 countries show a correlation between belief in conspiracies and identification as far-left, and, in particular, far-right Conspiracy theories have circulated at all times, in all cultures, and among all populations. They routinely appear in conjunction with major incidents, such as those that today take the form of terrorist attacks, the COVID-19 pandemic, and presidential elections.