Adam R. Panish

Welcome! I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at Stony Brook University.

My research focuses on the political consequences of psychological predispositions - namely, how anxiety (a facet of neuroticism) drives political responses to economic shocks and social cues. My work also spans topics in public opinion and political psychology such as the nature of political sophistication, the influence of ethnic diveristy on authoritarians' support for redistribution, and the psychometric validity of items used to measure democracy support in public opinion surveys. Methodologically, I combine standard approaches like survey experiments with techniques for analyzing panel data such as structural equation modeling, matching, and difference-in-differences.

My research has been published at the British Journal of Political Science and Social and Personality Psychology Compass.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

1. Informed or overwhelmed? Disentangling The Effects of Cognitive Ability and Information on Public Opinion. 2025. British Journal of Political Science, 55, e58.
2. Why Anxious People Lean to the Left on Economic Policy: Personality, Social Exclusion, and Redistribution. 2025. British Journal of Political Science, 55, e8. (with Andrew W. Delton)
3. The Neurobiology of Political Ideology: Theories, Findings, and Future Directions. 2024. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 18(1), e12916. (with H. Hannah Nam)
4. Big five personality and COVID-19 beliefs, behaviors, and vaccine intentions: The mediating role of political ideology. 2023. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 17(12), e12885. (with Steven G. Ludeke and Joseph A. Vitriol)

Under Review

• Authoritarianism, Redistribution, and Ethnic Diversity. Invited to Revise and Resubmit at the American Journal of Political Science. (with Stanley Feldman).
• Americans’ Responses to COVID-19 and the Conditional Role of Dispositional Needs for Security: A Replication and Extension. Invited to Revise and Resubmit at Public Opinion Quarterly. (with Trent Ollerenshaw and Joseph A. Vitriol).
• Questionnaire Democrats? Reconsidering the Relevance of Abstract Democracy Support in the American Public. (with Ari Malka)

In Progress

• Who Responds? Trait Anxiety Shapes Political Responses to Personal Economic Conditions.
  • Awarded 2^nd place prize in the NYAAPOR/PANJAAPOR Young Public Opinion Scholars Competition
• Rethinking the Cross Lagged Regression Model: Limitations and Alternatives in Panel Analysis. (with Chris Weber, Stanley Feldman, and Bang Q. Zheng)
• Anxiety and the Moral Politics of Harm. (with Andrew W. Delton)

Instructor of Record

• POL 201: Introduction to Statistical Methods in Political Science
  Stony Brook University Winter 2023, Winter 2024, Fall 2024
• POL 344: American Political Ideology and Public Opinion
  Stony Brook University Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Winter 2025
• POL 504: Research Design (MA in Political Psychology Program)
  Stony Brook University Spring 2025

Teaching Assistant

• PSYC-E1587: Fake News and Political Misperceptions
  Harvard University Extension School Spring 2023