Sebastian Stier

⏰ I’m happy to share that a major paper from my dissertation was published today (🔗 doi.org/10.1017/pan....) in Political Analysis. In the paper, Clemens Lechner and I conduct an extensive validation study on how to measure politicians’ public personality traits using computational text analysis!

Cover page of the article. "Affective States: Cultural and Affective Polarization in a Multilevel-Multiparty System" by Dylan Paltra, Marius Sältzer and Christian Stecker. "Affective Polarization—the growing mutual dislike among partisan groups—has been identified as a major concern in democracies. Although both economic and cultural ideological divides contribute to ideological polarization, their affective consequences can differ. This paper argues that cultural polarization becomes especially consequential when mobilized by far-right parties. Using data from 116 elections in Germany’s 16 states (1990-2023), we combine more than 550 state-level manifestos with more than 150,000 survey responses to examine how party polarization translates into voter affect. Our analyses show that both economic and cultural polarization increase affective divides, but cultural disagreements fuel hostility only in the presence of the Alternative for Germany (AfD). Acting as a cultural entrepreneur, the AfD amplifies the emotional impact of cultural divisions such as immigration, employing affective rhetoric and provoking strong rejection from other parties and voters. These findings highlight the catalytic role of far-right parties in transforming ideological competition into affective polarization."

🚨Publication Alert!
My first first-author publication with @msaeltzer.bsky.social and @pluggedchris.bsky.social is out in @polbehavior.bsky.social, which began as my bachelor's thesis. We study how party polarization shapes affective polarization—with a particularly important role of the AfD. (1/7)🧵

Within our @meta-rep.bsky.social project on research practices in Computational Communication Science (CCS), we are conducting a survey among CCS researchers. We would be grateful if you could participate (takes 10 to 15 minutes) and/or share the link: www.soscisurvey.de/AutoFrontCCS/
#CommSky

Benefit from many advantages! We provide attractive workplaces in Cologne or Mannheim and offer you generous home office arrangements. We attach great importance to work-life balance and our employees benefit from our company health management program. Get more information: https://www.gesis.org/ Working at GESIS

#jobs #stellenangebote #GESISjobs #CSS
Work at GESIS and benefit from many advantages.
youtu.be/YnPMagm0GWE

Apply now for a job as #PostDoc / #SeniorResearcher in Computational Social Science

(13 TV-L, working time 100 %, initially limited for 4 ys. with possible tenure)
www.gesis.org/en/ins...

Join our CSS department @gesis.org! Postdoc/senior researcher position, tenure track! All info at: www.gesis.org/institut/kar...

What a New Study Reveals About the Production-Consumption Gap on Social Media | TechPolicy.Press Prithvi Iyer considers new research on how online content reveals the tip of the iceberg, leading to incorrect inferences about online public opinion.

A new paper analyzes the “production-consumption gap” on social media, where a small subset of users produce most of the content, and considers its implications for the study of phenomena such as political polarization, and for the design of policy interventions. Prithvi Iyer considers the results:

*Preprocessing and Analyzing Web Tracking Data* by Frank Mangold, Helena Rauxloh & @sebstier.bsky.social

🗓️ 04-05 May 2026
🏢 Hybrid: Cologne | Online
🌐 t1p.de/WebTrackingD...

Interested in the sociodemographic background, policy preferences, attitudes and campaign strategies of candidates for the 2025 Bundestag election? The @gles.bsky.social Candidate Study 2025 is now available (doi.org/10.4232/5.ZA... @gesis.org) and includes CCS Module IV
@ccs-project.bsky.social 👇

We have a new preprint: osf.io/preprints/so...

What have we learned about social media - the constantly moving target of empirical research - over the past decade?

📝 New preprint out!
We discuss the production-consumption gap on social media and its implications for research and public opinion.
Brilliantly led by @lfoswaldo.bsky.social

doi.org/10.31235/osf...

Screenshot of Abstract describing the Special Issue on Bias in Computational Social Science in the Journal Communication Methods and Measures

Interested in understanding #bias in #CSS?

✨Here's our Special Issue editorial in Communication Methods and Measures:

"Critical, but constructive: defining, detecting, and addressing bias in Computational Social Science"

👉 doi.org/10.1080/1931... (with @bachl.bsky.social & Nathan TeBlunthuis)

#DSA #SocialMediaDaten

Im Rahmen der Vortrags- und Diskussionsreihe "Show & Tell – Social-Media-Daten in der Forschungspraxis" der #NFDI findet eine Serie von drei Sessions zum Thema „#Datenzugang für die Forschung im #DigitalServicesAct – neue Chancen, neue Herausforderungen“ statt.

1/2

#DataQuality #DigitalBehavioralData #DBD
Special Issue Explores the Quality of Digital Behavioral Data, by Weiß, B., Leitgöb, H., & Wagner, C

Most DBD are not generated for research purposes but are a side product of our daily activities. A new special issue addresses key questions:

*JOB* As part of the @assured.bsky.social project, we are searching for a person to work in our Secure Data Center team at @gesis.org to create safe researcher trainings. www.gesis.org/en/institute...
The position is open until filled, so do not hesitate to reach our directly if you are interested!

Job Alert! We are hiring two post-docs (full time, 4+ years) in our project SCEPTIC - Social, Computational and Ethical Premises of Trust and Informational Cohesion with @annanosthoff.bsky.social @guzoch.bsky.social and Prof. Andreas Peters (uol.de/informatik/s...)

#DataMethods #OpenScience

#GESISMethodsHub: An open portal for computational social science research—find tools, tutorials, and code, directly usable in your browser. Methods Hub makes it easy to learn, apply, and reproduce computational methods in the Social Sciences.

methodshub.gesis.org/

Call for Research Proposals: GESIS Panel.dbd
We offer researchers the opportunity to conduct their studies for free!

We grant:
Access to ~ 7,000 participants
Free participation in surveys & web tracking
Deadline: Nov 1, 2025
Details: www.gesis.org/en/gesis-pan...

We look forward to your proposals!

Join the GESIS Panel.dbd Insight Days on February 23–24, 2026 in Mannheim! Learn about fundamentals and best practices for working with the GESIS Panel.dbd and get exclusive access to a closed Call for Study Proposals only for workshop participants!

www.gesis.org/en/gesis-pan...

This is a highly interesting, timely and great initiative - a new diamond OA journal for #replication research! It is interdisciplinary, but #PolSci is specifically invited. Hence, if you or someone you know has an interesting replication paper, do not hesitate to submit!

#ASConference25
Societal Challenges and the important infrastructures for the Social Sciences on the way to get answers. Sebastian Stier shows how to unlock digital behavioral data.

as25.sociology.uni-m...

📢 We're hiring a Doctoral Student in Research Software Engineering for Digital Behavioral Data!
Work at the intersection of computer science and social science, develop innovative tools, and pursue your doctoral degree with us.

👉 Apply here: www.gesis.org/en/institute...

How common are “survey professionals” - people who take dozens of online surveys for pay - across online panels, and do they harm data quality?

Our paper, FirstView at @politicalanalysis.bsky.social, tackles this question using browsing data from three U.S. samples (Facebook, YouGov, and Lucid):

Explaining public preferences for regulating Artificial Intelligence in election campaigns: Evidence from the U.S. and Taiwan The increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in election campaigns, such as AI-generated political ads, automated messaging, and the widespread …

🧵 New publication: How do people feel about regulating #AI in election campaigns? 🧵

In a new article, @adrauc.bsky.social, @kunkakom.bsky.social, and I examine when and why people support stronger AI regulation in political competition.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

👇

📢 We're hiring a Doctoral Student in Research Software Engineering for Digital Behavioral Data!
Work at the intersection of computer science and social science, develop innovative tools, and pursue your doctoral degree with us.

👉 Apply here: www.gesis.org/en/institute...

Call for Submissions: Social Media Access Days Call for Submissions: Social Media Access Days

Social-Media-Daten zwischen Forschung und Infrastrukturen - nachhaltige Archivierung, Erschließung und Bereitstellung: An der @dnb-aktuelles.bsky.social finden vom 17.-19.03.2026 die Social Media Access Days statt. Wir freuen uns über Einreichungen bis zum 31.10.2025. www.dnb.de/DE/Professio...

Screenshot of the article “Open science in democracy research: the research infrastructure ‘Monitoring Electoral Democracy’ (MEDem)” published in European Political Science. The header shows the journal name, DOI link, and the label “DEBATE.” Below, the title is followed by the author list: Hajo Boomgaarden, Alexia Katsanidou, Sylvia Kritzinger, Georg Lutz, Johanna Willmann, and Jakob-Moritz Eberl. The abstract explains the aims of MEDem as a European research infrastructure to make democracy research data FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable). Keywords listed include open science, FAIR data, ESFRI roadmap, research infrastructure, democracy research, data harmonization, data linking, and data set search. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41304-025-00534-8

They say: once there’s a paper 📝, it’s real…
🎉 #MEDem in #EPS @ecpr.bsky.social

The paper outlines how MEDem will strengthen #OpenScience by making data #FAIR in #DemocracyResearch – and how scholars across Europe are joining forces to build a truly open #ResearchInfrastructure ⚙️

Thrilled to share: our Special Issue in Social Science Computer Review (@sscratsage.bsky.social) on digital behavioral data quality is out now. Many thanks to all contributing authers and my co-editors @clauwa.bsky.social and Bernd Weiß:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Here is a list that @juliankohne.bsky.social Mareike Wieland, Charlotte de Alwis, and I started a while ago:

toolreview.shinyapps.io/adapted_app/

The new GESIS Panel.dbd Digital Behavioral Data Sample offers for the second time the opportunity to submit studies: www.gesis.org/en/gesis-pan...

Accepted proposals will be fielded in 2026

We are hiring multiple PhD and postdocs for two newly funded projects at the intersection of mental health and political polarization at the CS Dept at Aalto, Finland. The PIs are Juhi Kulshrestha, Talayeh Aledavood, and Mikko Kivelä.

Full call text and link to apply: www.aalto.fi/en/open-posi...