Humanities and Social Sciences Communications Abstract While existing theories of political polarization tend to suggest that the opinions of liberals and conservatives move in opposite directions, avai

Nature Human Behavior Abstract Liberals and conservatives often take opposing positions on moral issues. But what makes a moral position liberal or conservative? Why does public opinion tend to become m

A new theory about the relation between cognitive ability and moral opinions

Why is it that people with higher cognitive ability tend to have more liberal opinions on moral issues? This project will try to offer an explanation.

Would you cut off your legs and replace them with prostheses which can take you places faster? Would you take drugs to enhance your cognitive skills? Perhaps you are already doing that? In the latest

Population Research and Policy Review 41, p. 1619–1639 Abstract Modern fertility techniques allow parents to carry out preimplantation sex selection. Sex selection for non-medical purposes is legal in m

The year is 2010 when the Arab Spring begins in North Africa and on the Arabian Peninsula. The protesters’ calls for democracy spread from country to country during 2011 and there was a strong belief

Considering the recent wildfires in Canada, the harmful effects of climate change are undeniably evolving faster than previously expected. It is now imperative for leaders in government, business and

"We live in an unpredictable time, the leading experts in artifical intelligence tell us. They have no answers and ordinary citizens are not even capable of asking the pertinent questions. We traveled

Nature Human Behavior, one of the most influential social science journals, is now publishing a groundbreaking study from a Swedish team of researchers that answers several critical questions on how public opinion changes on moral issues, such as: How come today’s conservatives are more liberal than yesterday’s liberals? Why has the public opinion in large parts of the world shifted so rapidly in favor of gay and lesbian rights, but been virtually unchanged on other contested issues such as abortion rights? And is it possible to create a scientific model that can predict public opinion changes on moral issues?

Simon Karlsson

I hold a master's degree in psychology and a bachelor's degree in political science and psychology. At the Institute for Futures Studies, I work in the research group led by Pontus Strimling. My respons