Cultural Trends

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  [Article] Despite Isolation, Amish Succumb to Polarization Impulse

  Negative social mood trends induce conflicts between groups and within groups. The disharmony among the Amish is an extreme example of how conflict can arise even within apparently homogenous groups.
   
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  [Article] The Auto-Tune Epidemic

  Large-degree market turns tend to signal seismic shifts in popular music.
   
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  [Article] Bad Mood is Good News

  Is the popularity of news itself mood-dependent? As our preliminary study shows, the answer appears to be “Yes.”
   
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  [Social Mood Watch] Hands Down: The Hero Who Best Embodies Today’s Bear Market Mood

  Need a hint about the hero’s identity? Picture a grim, sexually voracious, revenge-seeking, anti-social, motorcycle riding, goth-dressing computer hacker…
   
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  [Social Mood Watch] Has “Enhanced Performance” Come to a College Near You?

  Schools are juicing test scores to boost academic reputation.
   
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  [Social Mood Watch] How Does a Sports Rivalry Turn Murderous?

  Democracy seemed to appear on Egypt’s horizon a year ago, yet social mood helps explain why that sun has yet to rise.
   
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  [Social Mood Watch] Did Your Wine Just Call You the “B” Word?

  Is there a way to make sense of the queen of beverages being sold as a streetwalker?
   
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  [Social Mood Watch] “What’s going to work well in tough times”?

  Paul Lee, new Chief Programmer for ABC, asked himself an unusual but strategically important question before he created a bold new lineup that appears perfectly suited to the times.
   
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  [Social Mood Watch] Are Men Finished?

  In periods of negative social mood, the public looks favorably on women as non-traditional leaders.
   
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  [Social Mood Watch] The Sort of Authoritarianism That’s “Easier to Disguise”

  If they ditch e-mail for more person-to-person communication, are we to believe that such chats won’t include last night’s poker game or next month’s wedding plans or who got drunk at the company’s Christmas party?