POLI 100M: Poli-cal Psychology. Lecture 3: Poli-cal Par-cipa-on and Vo-ng Taylor N. Carlson

Transcription

1 POLI 100M: Poli-cal Psychology Lecture 3: Poli-cal Par-cipa-on and Vo-ng Taylor N. Carlson

2 Announcements Grade contracts due today! Short Assignment 1 is due next -me any ques-ons about this? Remember that you must complete 1 reading commentary per week, submiqed to TritonEd. Office Hours: Tuesday 2:30-4:30 in SSB 341, or by appointment

3 Last Time Personality Big Five personality traits: openness, conscien-ousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuro-cism/emo-onal stability Connec-ons to poli-cal behavior, especially extraversion (engagement) and openness (engagement and a^tudes) Gene-cs Some poli-cal a^tudes and behaviors are heritable! Nature AND Nurture Psychophysiology Mind-body connec-on; not so missing link between gene-cs and poli-cal behavior Can explain certain poli-cal a^tudes (ideology, immigra-on) and engagement in some ac-vi-es (poli-cal discussion)

4 What ques-ons do you have?

5 Today: Driving Ques-ons What are the psychological mo-va-ons behind why people vote and par-cipate in poli-cs? What are the psychological mo-va-ons behind how individuals choose which candidates to support?

6 Today: Learning Outcomes 1. Iden-fy common forms of poli-cal par-cipa-on 2. Explain the resource model of poli-cal par-cipa-on 3. Explain the psychological correlates of poli-cal par-cipa-on 4. Describe the most common ways in which individuals choose candidates to support 5. Evaluate whether these psychological factors that mo-vate vo-ng behavior are more or less influen-al than other factors, such as resources

7 Poli-cal Par-cipa-on

8 How do we par-cipate in poli-cs? Which of these ac-vi-es do you think are the most common? How many of these ac-vi-es have you done? Which of these ac-vi-es do you think are the most important?

9 Poli-cal Par-cipa-on in the US

10 Source: US Elec-on Project electproject.org

11 Source: US Elec-on Project electproject.org

12 Source: US Elec-on Project electproject.org

13 Source: US Elec-on Project electproject.org

14 Source: Center for American Women and Poli-cs, Rutgers University

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18 Why do people par-cipate in poli-cs? Brady, Verba, & Schlozman (1995) would ask instead: Why don t people take part in poli-cs? Because they can t Because they don t want to Because nobody asked

19 Why do(n t) people par-cipate in poli-cs? Brady, Verba, & Schlozman (1995): Par-cipa-on for different ac-vi-es is mo-vated by different things Vo-ng: Driven by interest, civic skills maqer Income and -me are less important Dona-ng money: Driven by income Time and civic skills don t maqer Volunteering and other poli-cal ac-vi-es: Driven by interest, civic skills maqer the most, -me also maqers Income doesn t maqer

20 A Resource Model of Poli-cal Par-cipa-on Those who have resources par-cipate! Ini-ally focused on resources like money Focused on why low-ses individuals par-cipated less Newer Version: Resources include Time Money Civic skills

21 What s missing?

22 Think back to the reasons why people don t par-cipate Because they can t Because they don t want to Because nobody asked

23 Personality and Par-cipa-on Contac-ng Elected Officials More extraverted more, likely to contact More open to experience, more likely to contact More conscien-ous, less likely to contact More emo-onally stable, less likely to contact

24 Personality and Par-cipa-on Par-cipa-ng in Campaigns Social Ac-vi-es Examples: Try to convince someone to vote for/against a candidate Work for a candidate or party AQend campaign mee-ngs or rallies More extraverted, more likely to aqend rallies More open, more likely to convince others to vote for a candidate More open, more likely to work for a party/candidate

25 Personality and Par-cipa-on Individualis-c Ac-vi-es Examples: Put up a yard sign/bumper s-cker/campaign buqon Contributed to a party or candidate Give money to a poli-cal group More open, more likely to contribute money More open, more likely to put up a yard sign/bumper s-cker/campaign buqon No effects for extraversion or other Big 5 traits

26 Personality and Par-cipa-on Mondak (2010) finds no rela-onship between the Big 5 traits and vo-ng No rela-onship between Conflict Orienta-on and vo-ng Other personality traits maqer! Social Anxiety: those who are socially anxious are less likely to vote

27 Personality and Par-cipa-on: Summary Extraversion affects the social forms of par-cipa-on, but not the individualis-c forms Openness affects nearly all forms of par-cipa-on except vo-ng Conscien-ousness, Agreeableness, and Emo-onal Stability/Neuro-cism have inconsistent effects on par-cipa-on Vo-ng seems less strongly influenced by personality

28 Gene-cs and Par-cipa-on Fowler & Dawes (2008) show that there is a gene-c component to vo-ng Loewen & Dawes (2012) show that considering vo-ng a duty is heritable, which could be the mechanism that explains the heritability of vo-ng Remember that it s Genes AND Environment, though!

29 Stress and Par-cipa-on Cor-sol is released in response to stress Cor-sol levels are higher on elec-on days than on nonelec-on days (Waismel-Manor et al. 2011) Cor-sol levels in supporters of losing candidates are elevated compared to cor-sol levels of supporters of winning candidates (Stanton et al. 2010) Those with higher baseline cor-sol levels are less likely to vote (French et al. 2014)

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31 Stress and Par-cipa-on Hassell & SeQle (2017) find that when triggered to consider life stressors unrelated to poli-cs, individuals without a history of past par-cipa-on are less likely to vote.

32 Emo-ons and Par-cipa-on Recall that poli-cs is emo-onal! Anger is poli-cally mobilizing Weber (2013) finds that poli-cal messages that evoke anger increase inten-ons to par-cipate Fear leads to greater aqen-on to poli-cal informa-on (Brader 2005) Enthusiasm leads to a larger reliance on habit (Brader 2005)

33 Psychology and Poli-cal Par-cipa-on: Summary Poli-cal par-cipa-on is more than just resources! Individual differences impact poli-cal par-cipa-on Personality: mostly extraversion and openness Gene-c predisposi-ons toward vo-ng and correlates of vo-ng Stress depresses turnout Some emo-ons (anger, fear) are mobilizing, while others are not (sadness, some-mes enthusiasm)

34 5 minute break

35 Vote Choice

36 Choosing a Candidate Why do individuals choose to vote for certain candidates? What are the psychological explana-ons for how individuals choose which candidate to support?

37 Classic Explana-ons of Vote Choice Retrospec-ve Vo-ng: vote for incumbents who have performed well in the past term in office Are you beqer off now than you were 4 years ago? Prospec-ve Vo-ng: vote for candidates who you think will best represent your interests in the future Example: Single issues vote for the candidate whose posi-on is closest to yours on an issue you care about Informa-on Shortcuts (Heuris-cs): Opinion Leaders other people give you vo-ng advice Candidate Traits gender, race, personality, trustworthiness Party Iden-fica-on the ul-mate cue of policy posi-ons

38 Influence of Party ID Party Iden-fica-on is the best single predictor of vote choice in federal elec-ons From , about ¾ of presiden-al voters were self-iden-fied par-sans suppor-ng their party s candidates

39 What is Party Iden-fica-on? An informa-on shortcut Reflects someone s level of policy agreement with the two par-es Running tally of performance evalua-ons of the par-es in office A strong psychological aqachment A social iden-ty

40 Party Iden-fica-on as a Social Iden-ty Social iden-fica-on involves comparing a judgment about yourself with your percep-on of a social group What kinds of social groups come to mind as I think about Democrats? Republicans? Independents? What social groups do I iden-fy with?

41 Party Iden-fica-on as a Social Iden-ty Republican Respondents Democrat Respondents Group Descrip,ons of Republicans Big Business Forward thinking Able leadership Big Business Group Descrip,ons of Democrats Minori-es Minori-es Forward thinking Able leadership

42 Why is party ID so influen-al? Powerful informa-on shortcut (more on this next -me) Operates as a perceptual screen Ignore or reinterpret informa-on that goes against their party (more on this next -me) Mo-vated reasoning (more on this next -me) Individuals are psychologically mo-vated to be consistent Stability of party iden-fica-on; desire to vote along party lines Social pressure stemming from others in your social network (more on this later)

43 Vote Choice: Summary Classic theories of vote choice: Retrospec-ve vo-ng Prospec-ve vo-ng Informa-on shortcuts (opinion leaders, candidate traits, party iden-fica-on) Choosing a candidate can be cogni-vely taxing, so some-mes we use informa-on shortcuts to choose a candidate Party ID is the most influen-al predictor of vote choice in federal elec-ons Debate over what party ID is, maybe a social iden-ty Many reasons why party ID is influen-al over the vote

44 5 minute break

45 Bringing it all together Get into groups of 3-4 people I will assign you a ques-on and a posi-on Your job is to come up with the best argument you can defending your assigned posi-on One person from your group should write down your argument and turn it in