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.

I will be on the 2025-2026 academic job market

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).
  
  
• Polarized Attitudes and Anti-Democratic Orientation: Robust Evidence for Paradoxical Relationships Among American Partisans. Invited to Revise & Resubmit at Political Studies. (with Ariel Malka, Christopher M. Federico, & Thomas H. Costello)

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)
  
  
• Questionnaire Democrats? Reconsidering the Relevance of Abstract Democracy Support in the American Public. (with Ari Malka)

Instructor of Record

• POL 201: Introduction to Statistical Methods in Political Science (3x)
  Stony Brook University W23, W24, F24


• POL 344: American Political Ideology and Public Opinion (3x)
  Stony Brook University F23, S24, W25


• POL 504: Research Design (MA in Political Psychology Program) (1x)
  Stony Brook University S25

Teaching Assistant

• PSYC-E1587: Fake News and Political Misperceptions (1x)
  Harvard University Extension School S23