Michael D. Cobb

Framing Effects on Public Opinion about Nanotechnology

In this study, I examine whether Americans’ emotions and opinions about nanotechnology are influenced by how the issue is framed. Using data collected from an experiment embedded within a national survey, I find consistent framing effects even though the magnitudes of respondents’ opinion changes are not especially large. Frames about specific risks and benefits of nanotechnology are more influential than frames based on general beliefs about the merits of science, and framing nanotechnology as beneficial is only somewhat less powerful than framing it as risky. I conclude by discussing the implications of these framing effects for future mass opinions about nanotechnology.

Echoes of Vietnam

In the early stages of the counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq, military leaders resisted the release of body count and “casualty ratio” data. However, in the spring of 2004, the U.S. military (and American media) began to focus on the “limited” American casualties in specific operations versus the “significant” number of insurgents killed. This article examines the extent to which body count/casualty ratio “frames” and individual casualty tolerance influence public perceptions about the war and the success or failure of U.S. military operations. Two experiments were conducted pitting alternative casualty frames against one another to measure their relative impact. The results demonstrate the influence of framing effects on public perceptions and clarify understanding of the determinants and impact of casualty tolerance.

“Don’t Let Them Die in Vain” Casualty Frames and Public Tolerance for Escalating Commitment in Iraq

This article builds on past framing research to probe the impact of casualty frames on the public’s willingness to expend additional “blood and treasure” in an ongoing war. The rhetoric of “sunk costs” (often described as “sacrifices”) that must be redeemed through further conflict is a well-known, yet irrational, trope. Utilizing an experiment embedded in a nationally representative survey on attitudes about Iraq, we find that “investment frames” increase support for the war among individuals who believe the U.S. “did the right thing in Iraq,” but decrease support for the war among those who feel the U.S. “should have stayed out.” We also find, however, that framing effects are inconsistent when the frames are attributed to sources. These latter results demonstrate the importance of including unattributed frames to evaluate source effects in framing research.

National Citizens’ Technology Forum: Nanotechnologies and Human Enhancement

Many observers believe that the “converging technologies” of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technologies, and cognitive science (NBIC) could lead to radical and pervasive enhancements of human abilities. Both supporters and critics of NBIC technologies acknowledge that their continued development and deployment portend dramatic social and cultural challenges. Stakeholders see a need for informed citizen input early in the process of developing such technologies. Indeed, the legislation that authorizes the US National Nanotechnology Initiative (P.L. 108–93) speaks to the importance of public input in decision-making about such research and development.

Public Attitudes Towards Nanotechnology-Enabled Cognitive Enhancement in the United States

Anticipatory governance of emergent technologies depends on a comprehensive understanding of the values in society that shape public understanding of new and emerging technologies, as well as their response to related technologies already available within the culture (Barben et al. 2008; Guston and Sarewitz 2002). One method of contributing to the understanding of public values is to measure them directly through survey research. In this chapter, we present results from a 2008 national survey about nanotechnology and human enhancements. More specifically, the survey was designed to evaluate the public’s support for potential nano-enabled cognitive enhancement technologies. To the best of our knowledge, it was the first nationally representative survey about human enhancements to be conducted in the United States. Where appropriate, we also report some preliminary findings from a follow-up survey in 2010 that supplement our analysis of the 2008 study, but we intend to report the bulk of the 2010 survey elsewhere.

Nano in Sight: Epistemology, Aesthetics, Comparisons and Public Perceptions of Images of Nanoscale Objects

ABSTRACT Images of atoms, molecules and other nanoscale objects constitute one of the principal ways of communicating scientific knowledge about nanotechnology, both within and beyond the scientific community. This paper reports on four kinds of insights from studies of nano images: (1) a critical epistemology of these images; (2) aesthetic interpretations intended to counterbalance problems identified in the epistemology; (3) comparisons with issues of visualization from other scientific areas; and (4) a consideration of how persons in the public interpret artistic pictures of nanobots. These insights demonstrate how the humanities and social sciences contribute to the understanding of nanotechnology.

An Absence of Malice The Limited Utility of Campaigning Against Party Corruption

We examine whether repeated scandals within one party generate collective sanctions for fellow partisans. Do voters punish a party’s candidates because of multiple corruption scandals? Our data come from a unique survey conducted prior to the 2010 legislative elections in North Carolina, a state that had recently seen a number of high-profile corruption scandals involving Democrats exclusively. Although Republicans campaigned energetically against “the party of corruption,” we find the impact of that campaign was muted. Respondents who accurately identified at least one scandal rated the Democratic Party less favorably and thought Republicans would do better at responding to corruption. Nevertheless, vote choice was unrelated to knowledge of corruption scandals, and Republicans did not benefit from any effects on voter turnout. Importantly, respondents’ partisanship only sometimes mediated attitudes and did not affect behavior. We conclude that voters might in theory prefer “clean” parties, but their political actions are uninfluenced by that preference, a finding that has unfortunate implications for democracy.