Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Political psychology'

The knowledge base of empirical psychology is more expansive than ever before. So too is the impulse to integrate this factual knowledge into political theory. But how should this psychological turn be undertaken? What would a political psychology for political theorists look like? How could psychology credibly tackle the questions that political theorists characteristically ask, especially regarding the nature and consequences of prescriptive political judgment? In this thesis, I explore this issue through the framework of recent debates between political moralists—specifically, John Rawls, G. A. Cohen, and Peter Singer—and political realists—largely Bernard Williams. Deploying the insights of political realists, I argue that moralists cannot quarantine the relevance of psychological facts through the ideal of a 'pure' normative judgment. To explore what this empirical engagement might look like, I contrast these moralist ideals of judgment with Jonathan Haidt’s social intuitionism, which proposes a more affectively laden and pluralistic model of judgment. I then redeploy the insights of political realism to critique social intuitionism, to uncover its weaknesses from the perspective of existing political theory. Finally, to stabilize this critique, I lay out the framework for a reflexive political psychology, which acknowledges the co-constitutive relationship between the discipline of psychology and its subject matter: human psychology. This reflexive political psychology offers an agenda by which we can investigate the political usefulness of psychological and political theories.

The present research is on parent influence on adolescent political development. The study surveys parent political behavior, parent warmth and quality of relationship with their child, and adolescent knowledge of parent political behavior to understand how these factors affect a match in party affiliation in parent and adolescent. 547 family groups are included in the study. I hypothesized that an adolescent’s politics would be more likely to match that of their parent when the parent is politically involved and warm and the adolescent is aware of the parent’s political behavior. This study is important because individuals’ party affiliation determines their voting behavior, which determines many decisions made in this country. It is interesting to understand how people develop their party affiliation and what role parents have in this development.

This thesis is concerned with political psychology as an academic field with regard to the explanatory power of political psychology accounts in understanding the al-Qaeda network. Understanding al-Qaeda as a network of cells dispersed worldwide and in cooperation with local militant Islamist groups requires analysis at individual and group level, a multidisciplinary and multimethod research and focus on context and process. In this sense, political psychology accounts appear to have explanatory power to understand the al-Qaeda network, utilizing the defining characteristics of the field. Analyzing al-Qaeda through the lenses of political psychology, it can be concluded that psychoanalytically based approaches may not be very relevant to approach al-Qaeda. In this regard, this thesis promotes the study of the al-Qaeda network by concentrating on the group level of analysis. In this context, sociological accounts, social psychological framework of moral disengagement mechanisms, developmental psychology approach of social learning theory and large group in its own right provide us with powerful frameworks to study the causes, process and effects of al-Qaeda&rsquo
s terrorist activities.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2000.
Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 229 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 221-229).

According to social identity theory people categorize themselves and others into groups based on political affiliation. The political group identity makes them favor policies and people associated with the political ingroup and disapprove of policies and people associated with the political outgroup. The purpose of this study was to investigate if this effect could extend to attitudes on non-political clothes associated with politicians. 638 Swedish adults partook in an online experimental survey. Participants evaluated pictures of clothes worn by famous Swedish politicians and non-political persons on two occasions. On the first occasion, identity was unknown, and on the second occasion, identity was revealed. When revealing identity, participants rated clothes worn by outgroup politicians less beautiful and clothes worn by ingroup politicians more beautiful. They were also willing to pay more for clothes that they learned were worn by ingroup politicians. Participants were also analyzed by their political left or right placement. Both leftist and rightist participants rated clothes worn by opposite political groups less beautiful. This tendency was stronger for rightists. Additionally, rightists rated clothes worn by rightist politicians more beautiful and were willing to pay more for them when learning about their political affiliation. In conclusion, by associating non-political items with politicians our attitudes towards those items can change, thus political association can affect our attitudes outside of the political realm.

Discrepant findings in past research have led to two competing hypotheses regarding threat’s effect on political ideology: the worldview defense and the conservative-shift hypotheses. According to the former, supported by terror management theory (TMT), threat will cause liberals to become more liberal and conservatives to become more conservative (political polarization). According to the latter, supported by system justification theory (SJT) and the theory of political conservatism as motivated social cognition, threat will cause liberals to become more conservative, and conservatives either to become more conservative or to remain at their current level of conservatism. To pit these two hypotheses against one another in a single experiment, it was tested whether making participants’ political views salient might influence the way that threat affects political views. It was predicted that when liberals wrote about their liberal views and when conservatives wrote about their conservative views, to make their political views more salient, threat would lead to greater political polarization. This was predicted because past TMT research has shown that threat will lead to a more fervent adherence to salient values, not to all aspects of a worldview. Thus, the salience of people’s political views should make them more likely to adhere to them following threat. On the other hand, it was predicted that in the control condition, all participants would become more conservative. This appears likely because of abundant past evidence that threat leads to greater conservatism and because threat tends to activate brain areas that are also associated with conservatism. It was, furthermore, predicted that threat might make liberal participants, but not conservative participants, less likely to participate in politics, because past research has shown that liberals will withdraw from participation in politics when they are more authoritarian, and threat tends to make people behave more like authoritarians. The former hypothesis was not supported; in fact, the only effect found was that conservatives became more liberal under threat, a finding that has no precedent in the literature. However, there was partial support for the latter hypothesis: both liberals and conservatives showed less of an intent to participate in politics following threat.

This thesis investigates the psychological underpinnings of citizens’ political judgements in Turkey. Drawing upon political psychology studies, it focuses on the cognitive, affective and motivational components of political behaviour and investigates the role that ideological inclinations, value-orientations, emotions and sophistication play in shaping individual-based political decisions. By taking account of the electoral stronghold of the AK Party - whose roots are traced to its pro-Islamist agenda - in combination with the recent authoritarian turn in the country, the examination sheds light on the way citizens negotiate their political belonging and shape their positions in a non-traditional Western context. In doing so, the study uses both quantitative and qualitative data: the 2007 World Value Survey, a survey conducted in Ankara in 2009, and 25 semi-structured interviews with Turkish citizens. The findings highlight the importance of ideological divisions, value orientations and affective expressions of public opinion driving differential accounts of the socio-political reality, thus confirming the widely acknowledged high levels of polarization in Turkey. A key division emerges around ideological inclinations and values dividing citizens on the basis of their position towards the AK party. Also, the research suggests that more moderate segments of the population converge when it comes to the importance of individual freedoms and rights, the importance of democracy and the coexistence of traditions and modernization. Political sophistication conditions the function of ideology, values, and emotions at the individual level highlighting important differences in the belief systems of high sophisticates and novices.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether the individual political leader is important for the analysis of international relations. Traditionally the focus of investigation in international relations has been on the nation-state, or the systems level, and as a result the individual level has been somewhat neglected. Using the theory of political psychology there is a possibility of finding nuances that might not be found if the focus of the investigation is on the nation-state. With the help of key concepts such as personality, emotion, cognition, and social identity decision making that has affected world politics have been examined. An empirical examination of the political psychology has been made by applying the theory to a case study, George W Bush. By applying the theory of political psychology to the decision making process used by George W Bush and his Administration it will be shown that the individual can impact world politics, especially in the case of the invasion of Iraq. Furthermore, one of the flaws of the theory of political psychology, its problem in handling the concept of global terrorism, is briefly discussed. The conclusion that has been drawn in this thesis is that the individual level of analysis is just as important as the systems level or the domestic level of analysis.

What explains public opinion toward economic globalization, and specifically, toward international trade? A wave of recent scholarship has shown that symbolic and identity-based factors--individual predispositions such as ethnocentrism, nationalism, prejudice, and cosmopolitanism--are highly correlated with attitudes toward trade. The nature of the relationship between symbolic attitudes and trade opinion, however, remains conspicuously unclear. This dissertation combines fresh empirical strategies with the theoretical tools of both economics and psychology to illuminate the role and effect of non-material factors in the formation of public opinion toward international trade. I present a new theoretical framework for the study of individual preferences in international political economy, and test the empirical implications of the theory using observational data, an original survey experiment, and systematic analysis of open-ended survey responses. Specifically, I show: (1) that symbolic attitudes such a prejudice have a causal effect on trade preferences, independent of economic considerations; (2) that the effect of economic self-interest on trade preferences is contingent upon the strength of symbolic attitudes; and (3) that the trade preferences of cosmopolitan individuals are susceptible to the effect of subjective beliefs about the impact of trade on foreigners, providing the first evidence of foreign-regarding motivations in the context of trade opinion.
Government

There is a gender gap in United States politics; men are over represented, and prioritize issues/policies differently compared with women. Stereotypes may be associated depending on group memberships. Stereotypes of men (competent) are consistent and stereotypes of women (warm) are inconsistent with politicians (competent). I examined stereotypes of major/non-major political parties, and how party affiliation affects whether stereotypes about men/male politicians/women/female politicians predict female politicians’ traits. Stereotype valence ascribed to political parties is important because people vote for a positively viewed party/representative. I assessed the strength and valence of stereotypes associated with political parties, and found major parties were viewed more positively than non-major parties, and the Democratic and Republican parties were viewed more positively than the Independent Party (Study 1). I found warmth and competence attributes ascribed to women/female politicians/men/male politicians predicted Karen Johnson’s warmth and competence depending on whether Karen Johnson was a major or non-major party candidate. When men/male politicians were perceived as competent Karen Johnson was perceived as competent, but no relationship between men/male politicians’ warmth and Karen Johnson’s warmth emerged. When women/female politicians were perceived as warm/competent, Karen Johnson was perceived as warm/competent. As a major candidate, Karen Johnson was perceived as warm/competent when women/female politicians were perceived as warm/competent. However, when Karen Johnson was a non-major candidate, there was no relationship between women’s competence and Karen Johnson’s competence, and when women/female politicians were perceived as warm, Karen Johnson was perceived as warm (Study 2). Women in office and members of multiple social groups are discussed.

The current work is aimed at implementing some research areas within Political Psychology with theories and methodologies drawn from Social Cognition. Specifically, we have tried to depict a picture of impression formation and attitude change toward political candidates following two experimental routes. In the first session (Session A, Chapters 2, 3 and 4) the attention was focused on the analysis of the role of some communication strategies used in the political arena with a particular attention to the widespread use of negative messages against the opposing candidates (i.e., negative campaigns). The ample literature about this topic is still inconclusive (e.g., Lau et al. 1999, 2007), and it is not able to clearly indicate what are the likely consequences of negative political campaigns. The main purpose of this session was to go beyond this inconclusive condition taking into account some variables that may be the origin of the inconclusive results described in the literature. Chapter 2 (Study 1, 2, 3 and 4) was primarily focused on the likely consequences of negative messages on the perception of the source candidate. The obtained results clearly indicated the role of several variables in changing the likely consequences, such as: the specific type of negative messages used, the level of measurement (implicit vs. explicit), and the evaluated dimension of social judgment (competence vs. warmth, Fiske et al., 2002). Some negative campaigns may increase the competence ascribed to the source candidate but at the same time decrease the perceived sociability. Subsequently, in order to assess the actual efficacy of a negative message, the focus of attention moved to the analysis of the likely consequences on the perception of both the source candidate and of the opposing candidate. Moreover, despite the consequences described in the previous studies (Chapter 2) on perceived competence and warmth, the aim was to delineate a general affective evaluation, both implicit and explicit. For these reasons, in Study 5 (Chapter 3) we analyzed the effects of negative campaigns on the general evaluation toward both the involved politicians. Overall, results delineated negative consequences for both candidates, both at the implicit level and at the explicit level. The effects were discussed and interpreted at the light of dual system models (e.g., Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2006). Finally, in Study 6 (Chapter 4) the aim was to analyze the consequences of another type of negative campaign: an attack against the electorate, and thus toward the participant. In this case, we analyzed the consequences on the modification of the degree of identification (implicit and explicit) with our own political group. Moreover, in this last study we investigated the likely influences of some personal features of the audience. Specifically, we took into account the polarization of pre-existing implicit attitudes toward own political group. Results indicated that people with well polarized pre-existing implicit attitudes were not influenced by the content of the negative campaigns. Conversely, those with weak pre-existing implicit attitudes were strongly affected by negative messages. Moreover, in those last participants after the manipulation there was dissociation between implicit and explicit consequences, interpreted as the outcomes of two different attitude systems (Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2006). The second session of the current work (Session B, Chapter 5 and 6) focused on the investigation of some differences between the two most important political ideologies. Specifically, in Chapter 5 we examined some differences in the communication style between the two Italian coalitions, that may have an influence in persuasive routes. In a first study (1a and 1b) the focus was on the analysis of some grammatical features, such as syntactic complexity and linguistic wordiness: right-wing candidates are less prolix and use simpler sentences as compared to left-wing politicians. Then, the focus of attention moved to the analysis of the real use of negative campaigns: the left-wing is more likely to attack single candidates, whereas the right-wing is more likely to attack the opposite coalition in general (Study 2a). Finally, we analyzed the use of negative messages during the last US presidential race (Study 2b). In Chapter 6, because of the opposite consequences of negative campaigns on the two universal and fundamental dimensions of social judgment (competence vs. warmth, e.g. Fiske et al., 2002), we analyzed the ascription of these dimensions to left- vs. right-wing politicians. Results from Study 1 and 2 indicated that the relevance of these two dimensions changed on the basis of the political affiliation of the participants. Moreover, in general, a right-wing candidate is perceived as more competent than warm, the opposite for a left-wing candidate. Subsequently, Study 3 and 4 indicated that the described pattern of results may be detected also in some subtle qualities. Indeed, in line with the special agency bias (e.g., Chatterjee, 2002), people portrayed left-facing oriented (right from the observer point of view) are more likely described as right-wing candidates as compared to left-wing politicians. In the last part the obtained results were discussed highlighting two key concepts emerged from the current work. On the one hand, we stressed how important is the use of indirect measures in Political Psychology in order to detect implicit attitudes. On the other hand, we stressed the role of the two dimensions of social judgment, namely competence and warmth, in impression formation processes in the political field.
Questo lavoro è nato dall’obiettivo di implementare alcuni ambiti di studio di Psicologia Politica con la prospettiva e la metodologia della Social Cognition. Nello specifico si è cercato di delineare un quadro dei processi di formazione e cambiamento di atteggiamento nei confronti di candidati politici seguendo due percorsi sperimentali. Nella prima parte (Sessione A, capitoli 2, 3 e 4) l’interesse si è focalizzato sull’analisi del ruolo di alcune strategie comunicative usate nell’ambito politico con particolare attenzione ai sempre più diffusi messaggi di attacco nei confronti della controparte politica (campagne negative). La vasta letteratura sull’argomento presenta ancora dei risultati contradditori (e.g., Lau et al. 1999, 2007), e non è in grado di indicare chiaramente quali siano le possibili conseguenze di tale comunicazione. Obiettivo di questa sessione sperimentale è stato principalmente cercare di superare tale inconclusività individuando delle possibili variabili intervenienti che potrebbero esserne responsabili. Il Capitolo 2 (Studi 1, 2, 3 e 4) si è principalmente focalizzato sull’analisi delle conseguenze delle comunicazioni negative sulla percezione di chi le utilizza. I risultati hanno indicato l’importanza di diversi fattori nel diversificare le conseguenze; in particolare è stata evidenziata la necessità di distinguere tra diversi tipi di messaggi negativi, inoltre una dissociazione tra livello implicito ed esplicito di valutazione, nonché differenze legate alle specifiche dimensioni di giudizio sociale prese in considerazione (competenza vs. socievolezza). Certe campagne negative possono portare ad un aumento della competenza attribuita alla fonte, ma ad una contemporanea diminuzione della sua socievolezza percepita. In seguito, per stabilire l’effettiva efficacia di un messaggio di tipo negativo, l’attenzione si è spostata anche sull’analisi delle conseguenze non solo sul candidato fonte ma anche sul candidato attaccato. Inoltre, al di là degli effetti individuati dagli studi precedenti su competenza e socievolezza percepite, si è cercato di prendere in considerazione un indice di valutazione affettiva generale, sia implicita che esplicita. Per questi motivi, nello Studio 5 (Capitolo 3) sono stati analizzati gli effetti che le campagne negative possono avere su una valutazione generale di piacevolezza rispetto ai due candidati coinvolti. I risultati hanno evidenziato conseguenze negative per entrambi i candidati sia a livello implicito che esplicito, interpretate e discusse alla luce delle teorie dei sistemi duali di atteggiamento (e.g., Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2006). Infine, nello Studio 6 (Capitolo 4) l’obiettivo è stato analizzare le conseguenze di un’altra tipologia di campagna negativa: un attacco nei confronti dell’elettorato e quindi un attacco rivolto al partecipante stesso. In questo caso sono state esaminate le conseguenze sulla modificazione del livello di identificazione (implicita ed esplicita) con il gruppo politico di appartenenza. Inoltre, in quest’ultimo studio sono state indagate eventuali modulazioni degli effetti dovute a caratteristiche proprie delle persone a cui sono diretti tali messaggi, nel caso specifico alla forza degli atteggiamenti impliciti pre-esistenti rispetto al proprio gruppo politico. Dallo studio è emerso che chi ha atteggiamenti impliciti pre-esistenti molto polarizzati non si lascia influenzare dalle campagne negative. Al contrario, coloro che presentano degli atteggiamenti impliciti pre-esistenti deboli sono fortemente influenzati dai messaggi negativi. Inoltre, questi stessi partecipanti hanno presentato una dissociazione tra conseguenze a livello implicito ed esplicito, spiegabili nuovamente come prodotti di due diversi sistemi di atteggiamento (Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2006). Nella seconda parte di questo lavoro (Sessione B, capitoli 5 e 6) sono state prese in esame alcune differenze tra le due più diffuse ideologie politiche. In particolare nel Capitolo 5 sono state analizzate delle differenze comunicative tra le due coalizioni politiche italiane che possono avere un peso nei processi persuasivi. In un primo studio (1a e 1b) l’interesse si è focalizzato su caratteristiche puramente grammaticali, di complessità sintattica del discorso e di prolissità linguistica: i rappresentati del centro-destra sono meno prolissi e usano una strutturazione delle frasi meno complessa dei loro colleghi di centro-sinistra. Successivamente, il focus si è spostato sull’utilizzo delle campagne negative: il centro-sinistra sembra preferire un attacco nei confronti dei singoli candidati, mentre il centro-destra sembra preferire un attacco più generalizzato (Studio 2a). Infine, è stato analizzato l’utilizzo di strategie negative nelle recenti elezioni americane (Studio 2b). Nel sesto capitolo, visti gli effetti del tutto divergenti delle campagne negative sulle due dimensioni universali e fondamentali di giudizio sociale (competenza e socievolezza, e.g. Fiske et al., 2002), è stata analizzata l’attribuzione di tali dimensioni a candidati di centro-destra e di centro-sinistra. Dagli studi 1 e 2 è emerso che l’importanza delle due dimensioni varia in base all’affiliazione politica del rispondente; inoltre, in generale, un candidato del centro-destra viene descritto più competente che socievole, l’opposto per un candidato del centro-sinistra. Successivamente, dagli studi 3 e 4 si è dimostrato come questa differenza si rifletta e venga confermata anche da elementi più sottili. Infatti, in linea con il bias spaziale (e.g., Chatterjee, 2002), le persone ritratte con il viso rivolto verso la propria sinistra (destra dell’osservatore) vengono descritte come più probabili candidati del centro-destra piuttosto che del centro-sinistra. Nella parte conclusiva i risultati ottenuti sono stati discussi sottolineando due aspetti chiave emersi dal presente lavoro. Da un lato il vantaggio che può essere apportato dall’utilizzo di tecniche di indagine meno dirette nel campo della Psicologia Politica, in grado di tracciare gli atteggiamenti impliciti. Dall’altro, l’importanza delle due dimensioni di valutazione, ovvero competenza e socievolezza, nella formazione di impressioni nel dominio politico.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2001.
Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 196-202). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users. Address: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p3018371.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2002.
Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 175 p.). Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: Kathleen M. McGraw, Dept. of Political Science. Includes bibliographical references (p. 167-175).

The main objective of this thesis was to investigate the proposition that moral emotions act as antecedents of political attitudes. My approach (Chapter 1) stems from moral foundations theory, which proposes that liberals and conservatives have different moral values (Graham, Haidt, & Nosek, 2009). Chapter 2 presents Study 1, an experimental test of the hypothesis that induced disgust leads participants to adopt more left-wing economic attitudes in comparison to a control condition (sadness). Results supported this hypothesis. Chapter 3 reviews emotion-regulation theories, and presents Study 2, which investigated whether emotion-regulation strategies, disgust sensitivity (DS-R), and private body consciousness (PBC) moderate the effects found in Study 1. As predicted, disgust led to more left-wing economic attitudes, but this was only the case for high-PBC and high-DS-R participants. Chapter 4 presents Study 3, which replicated Study 2, and showed dissociations between the effects of disgust on economic and social attitudes. Chapter 5 presents a cross-sectional investigation (Study 4) that tested for associations between the predisposition to experience disgust and both social and economic attitudes. As predicted, core disgust and pathogen disgust were associated with left-wing economic attitudes and these effects applied only to British participants, and not non-British participants. Chapter 6 presents Study 5 – an experiment investigating the relationship between disgust and prejudiced attitudes towards outgroups. Induced disgust led to more prejudiced attitudes towards a novel group than both sadness and neutral emotion. Chapter 7 is focused on two self-conscious moral emotions: guilt and shame. Study 6, presented in this chapter, found a positive association between guilt proneness and left-wing economic attitudes, and a relationship between shame proneness and social-conservative attitudes. Study 7 failed to reveal causal relationships between incidental guilt and shame and political attitudes. Chapter 8 presents the general discussion addressing limitations, implications, and future research directions.

This thesis argues for a move beyond the division of contemporary western experiences into separate social and political spheres. This includes a comparative study of the theories of Hannah Arendt and Michel Foucault alongside historical and contemporary examples in support of the relevance of their theories and that of this thesis. The synthesis between Arendt and Foucault made here corrects the respective weaknesses in each theory by using the strengths of the other. Furthermore, this synthesis informs a move beyond the social and political referred to above. The critique of sovereignty, the defence of plurality and the critique of instrumental reason are shown here as the most important parallels between the two thinkers and the central ways that people in contemporary western society are disempowered. This thesis argues for a reconsideration of these issues in order to redress this disempowerment. The thesis also looks at the major divergence between the two thinkers which is shown to rest on their respective treatment of the social and political. This argument rejects the Arendtian argument for the separation of the social and political to favour Foucauldian resistance located on and within the everyday experiences of western individuals. This shown to be political action rooted in the social aspects of the individuals' lives and stands in opposition to the claims of Arendt regarding the social. However, this retains the political strengths of her vision. The synthesis of the strengths of both theorists alongside the ultimate rejection of the Arendtian separation of the social and political that this Foucauldian resistance exemplifies is concluded as constituting a move beyond the social and political to have more relevance, meaning and ultimate empowerment for individuals because it more accurately reflects the realities of their everyday lives.

Big Five personality traits have been shown to be one important psychological process that underlie differences in political orientation. An abundance of work has found that political conservatism is consistently predicted by trait Conscientiousness, whereas political liberalism is consistently predicted by Openness to Experience. Other work found that political behaviors may be related to regional differences in personality. The present study extended existing work by examining the numbers and features of distinct personality profiles within Republican, Democratic, and swing regions of the United States. To do so, we conducted latent profile analysis (LPA) to determine different personality profiles within different political regions of the US. Across two different datasets with a total sample size of over 6 000, our results revealed that while all regions shared similar numbers (3-5 profiles per region) and patterns of personality profiles (e.g., well-adapted and maladapted individuals), regions that are lean more toward either Democratic or Republican partisanship also showed unique personality profile patterns (e.g., “Disorganized & Reclusive”, “Rigid & Antisocial”). Overall, these results provide initial evidence suggesting that different personality profiles do exist among different political regions of the US, and offer insights on the interplay between trait personality, political orientation, and geographical differences.

In the 20th century, political communications have evolved at a tremendous pace. In its present version, as can be encountered everywhere in the Western world, this type of communication increasingly makes use of marketing-related techniques. These techniques, coupled with the naturally affective characteristics of modern media have influenced political campaigning into featuring more and more emotional messages. This tendency has decisively affected the quality of the information that political actors (politicians, parties, etc.) contribute to the public sphere, thus impeding on citizens' capacity to construct rational opinion on a variety of political matters.
This thesis sets out to explore two examples from Quebec's history to show how this increasing use of emotional messages in political communications has found its way into the province's social environment.

A humiliating event can generate powerful emotions that can become part of a group’s identity. The need for vengeance can erupt into violence decades later, even across generations, especially in situations where physical force is associated with respect or status. Humiliation is a neglected area of the violence literature, yet has the power to turn insult into retribution, and indignation into fury. When humiliation takes the form of extreme degradation, then the resulting fury washes away the shame of helplessness. I take the psychoanalytical theories of child development, social trauma, demonisation of the enemy and the entitlements of victimhood and show how they combine with humiliation to yield violence. Humiliation also interferes with the mourning process, making it difficult to come to terms with loss and leads to an obsession with the past events. Violence against a humiliator is usually paid back in the same currency, so a humiliated people will tend to humiliate their oppressors. Political leaders can manipulate this need for revenge, and if they have personal narcissistic tendencies will merge their personal need to avoid humiliation with that of society at large, potentially embarking on unnecessary conflicts. In societies where security or status relies on a reputation of toughness or a credible threat of violence, any potential challenge or insult must be confronted aggressively to avoid humiliation. These ideas are brought together in an analysis of Israeli Palestinian conflict in Gaza. Here two societies, each having undergone deep trauma and humiliation, remain locked in violent conflict. The thesis suggests that the daily humiliations of the people of Gaza helps to build a pool of resentful young men and women, and that this becomes a fertile recruitment ground for resistance organisations. Retaliation against aggression results in deeper humiliation and the cycle of violence continues.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio State University, 2005.
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This study explored the relationship between voters' political behavior regarding the issue of gay rights and the underlying psychological needs served by their attitudes on this issue. A telephone survey of 100 randomly selected local voters was conducted, during which Herek's (1987) Attitude Functions Inventory (AFI) was administered. Three of the four attitude function subscales (Experiential- Schematic, Social-Expressive and Ego-Defensive) were confirmed using a LISREL confirmatory factor analysis. The Value-Expressive subscale was not confirmed and showed poor reliability. Pro- and anti-gay rights behavior was measured using a Political Behavior Index (PBI) developed for this study. Regression analyses and MANOVAs were employed to test six hypotheses, all of which received some support. Pro-gay rights behavior was associated with ExperientialSchematic attitudes and a Value-Expressive item regarding civil liberties. Anti-gay rights behavior was associated with Ego-Defensive attitudes and a Value-Expressive item regarding moral beliefs. Men scored higher on the EgoDefensive function than did women. Those who knew more gay people were more likely to exhibit Experiential-Schematic attitudes and were less likely to hold Ego-Defensive attitudes. These findings imply that efforts to change anti-gay rights behavior need to address the underlying motivations of Ego-Defense and Value-Expression regarding the construct of moral beliefs. An additional implication is a potential for increasing support for the legal rights of gay people by increasing association with people one knows to be gay.

This dissertation explores the extent to which weather and climate systematically affect political behavior. The idea that weather (and other elements of the natural world) exercise a fundamental influence on politics has long been a theme in classical and modern political thought. As political science moved from pure description to a more social-scientific form of analysis, scholars became less interested in understanding the impact of climate. If mentioned at all, weather typically is referred to as one of the various elements making up the "error term" in our statistical analyses. Recent work in the natural and social sciences, however, has suggested there are systematic and important links between weather, climate, and behavior. This work (which I review) not only inspires a return to a traditional focus of political analysis, but more importantly provides a number of hypotheses to guide our analysis of politics. Inclement weather increases the costs of moving from place to place. Sunlight enhances while extreme temperature depresses mood. Finally, hot weather is associated with enhanced aggression. These correlates of climate have implications for a variety of subfields across political science, including comparative politics and international relations. This dissertation concentrates primarily, however, on American politics, particularly from a behavioral perspective. To see if weather has a significant effect on politics, then, I explore behavior in four settings that have been especially important in mainstream studies: Presidential approval; social capital; Election Day voting; and finally elite participation (in the form of abstention on roll call voting). In terms of the first, if (as Zaller argues) a response to a telephone survey indeed entails a summing up of `considerations' regarding an issue rather than expression of a `true' attitude, then it is likely sunlight should stimulate positive responses to questions because it encourages the release of serotonin, which makes people more positive in general. Controlled logistic regression of sunlight on Presidential approval reveals that, in spring, sunlight boosts approval. The next chapter explores how hot climates and rain may reduce levels of social capital. This is because heat boosts levels of aggression, which should diminish helping behavior, and because rain makes it more difficult to volunteer and associate with other people. Analysis of state-level social capital data and city-level volunteer data provides some evidence that these propositions are correct. The third empirical chapter focuses upon voting on Election Day. While it finds that rain does have a depressive effect upon voting rates among the poor due to raising the costs associated with voting, there is little evidence that vote choice is affected by the weather. The final empirical chapter examines how weather conditions may affect voting rates among members of the United States House of Representatives, which seems possible because, like regular citizens during Election Day, House members pay costs when visiting the Capital to vote, and unpleasant weather could comprise a real if minor cost. OLS regression at the vote-level and logistic regression at the legislator level reveals that in the winter and spring, sunlight boosts voting, while summer humidity depresses voting and heat in winter has a positive effect. While these conclusions are interesting in themselves and meaningfully contribute to contemporary academic discussions, they further suggest some things about how we thing about political science. In particular, analyses of political topics could often be enhanced by reflectively considering the contents of the error term, as this exercise can offer new and useful perspective on current scholarship. Further, this dissertation also suggests that political science (and research in general) could benefit from taking a more comprehensive view of the environmental context of human behavior.

This thesis develops three independent lines of investigation on the social psychology of political action and social change. Rather than developing a grand theory, I focus on adapting current perspectives in the social psychology of emotion, automaticity, goals and mental simulation to the study of political action and social change. The approach taken is eclectic both theoretically and methodologically. In Chapter 1, I review the social psychology of political action and social change. In doing so, I conceptualise political action and social change and explore current explanations of these phenomena. I also introduce moral emotions, automaticity and imagination in order to mark the way for the subsequent chapters. In Chapter 2, I examine the role of the moral emotions in political action and social change. Specifically, I explore the antecedents and consequences of anger, sympathy, and admiration. Drawing on theories of intergroup relations and emotion, I show that legitimate status, competence, and warmth all elicit admiration. Notably, admiration towards the authorities and centres of group power inhibits political action aimed at challenging the social order. However, when the target of admiration is a subversive hero or “martyr”, admiration uniquely predict willingness to challenge the status quo. In Chapter 3 I investigate the role of automaticity in political action. More specifically, I develop a dual process account of political action. I demonstrate that controlled (vs. automatic) processes lead to an increase in political action tendencies in members of a disadvantaged group. Notably, automatic protest attitudes influence political action through anger. That is, the more positive one’s automatic protest attitudes are the more anger they feel in relation to group grievances. Notably, automatic attitudes are more likely to predict political action when one is low in the motivation and ability to deliberate on political issues. In Chapter 4 I examine the role of imagination in political action and social change. I demonstrate that being able to imagine a particular social change goal (e.g., revolution or reform) uniquely predict political action tendencies aimed at that goal. Notably, imagination also qualifies the influence of efficacy and anger on politic action tendencies. Put simply, anger only predicts political action for collective mobility when group members can imagine this social change goal. In addition, efficacy only predicts action aimed at revolution when one can imagine an alternative social system (e.g., economy). In Chapter 5 I draw some conclusions, and discuss the limitations and issues that arise from the work presented here. Finally, I propose some avenues for future research. In iii addition, I put forward a typology of social change in the hope that it will engender future work on the social psychology of political action and social change.

The central aim of this study was to examine the narratives of survivors of political violence during apartheid and their complex ways of reconstructing trauma and recovery, almost twenty years after the collapse of apartheid in South Africa. The traumatic events experienced by victims occurred during 1960 - 1993. This retrospective study involved victims of both sides of the conflict. The sample comprised twenty survivors of gross human rights violations who suffered: detention, torture, police harassment, displacement, shootings, or the loss of a significant other. Interviews were conducted between late 2009 and early 2010, involving participants from a diversity of race groups, ages, gender and socio-economic status. General areas of exploration were: (hi)story of suffering under apartheid, impact of traumatic events, ways of coping with negative effects, helpful and hindering aspects of their journey after trauma, present situation and views about the future. Interviews were recorded and transcribed for analysis.

This study examines the relative influence of value priorities, ethnicity and 'worries' in the determination of political party affiliation amongst Ugandan university students. Schwartz's values questionnaire was administered to 309 male and 176 female first year students from the faculties of engineering, medicine, law, commerce, social sciences, sciences, education and mass communication at Makerere University Uganda. The sample included respondents from all of the six sub-ethnic groups in Uganda. Respondents also covered the major religious groups in the country and were also representative of the major political parties. Results from the statistical analysis on the data show that ethnicity and certain values playa role in the determination of these students' affiliation to a political party. Chi-square results show that achievement, benevolence, universalism, security, tradition and conformity values are given differing importance across political parties. And, Anova results show that the tradition value has a significant mean difference across parties. Other factors such as religion and course of study are also found to have significant influence on these student's affiliation to political parties. Although 'worries' are found not to have a significant influence on student's political party affiliation, findings show that students from different political parties differ in their ratings of the different types of ' worries'. Therefore results show that ethnicity and value priorities do infl4ence these students' affiliation to a political party but ' worries' do not. The discussion section explores these findings in the context of contemporary Ugandan politics.

Researchers have examined the experience of distress with refugee children and adolescents who have been exposed to political violence. Recognition has also been given to migration stress and traumatic grief as additional stressors in the lives of refugee youth. Studies in this area have established the fact that development appears to influence the expression of distress in youth who have experienced adverse experiences such as political violence. Reaction to political violence and the refugee experience also appear mediated by culture as well as other contextual factors such as the nature of the violence. The purpose of this study was to focus on clinician conceptualizations of refugee youth who have been exposed to political violence, as well as the factors that contribute to developing their conceptualizations. A total of 6 clinicians were interviewed and were analyzed using qualitative methods to identify emergent themes. The clinicians addressed 6 major themes associated with conceptualization, including sources of information, formal assessment, conceptualization, cultural factors or cultural influences, and advice to clinicians working with refugee youth. Three subthemes emerged regarding conceptualization, namely trauma- based conceptualization, loss, and resiliency. It is hoped that the results of this study will bridge the gap between clinicians and researchers regarding refugee minors with exposure to refugee youth.

Political skill has been described as using human resources and manipulating social exchanges to influence group outcomes (Mintzberg, 1983). Researchers have found that political skill has significant relationships with constructs such as contextual performance, career satisfaction and leadership. Based on these empirical findings it may be beneficial to include a measure of political skill as part of a selection process. In this study, different methods were explored for measuring political skill that may be appropriate for administrative purposes such as the self-rated questionnaire called the Political Skill Inventory (PSI), a situational judgment test (SJT) and the structured interview. A sample of 100 graduate business students, most of whom had extensive managerial experience, completed the previously mentioned measures in exchange for feedback on their assessments. The participants were subsequently rated on political skill by their coworkers. The only significant association with the coworker scores was the PSI; neither the SJT nor the structured interview showed a significant relationship with the peer ratings of political skill. However, there were unforeseen technical limits to the measures that might explain the negative findings. The paper concludes with recommendations for improving the measures prior to a follow-up study.

Community college student support services are an important aspect of success among community college students. Theoretical and empirical models of organizational politics and withdrawal guided the expectation that community college employees who perceive their organizations as political may withdrawal from their organization, diminishing the services delivered to students at the institution. A multisite cross-sectional survey design was utilized to gather quantitative data via Survey Monkey from national professional organizations. Two-hundred seventeen usable surveys from community college administrators (executive, mid-level managers, and administrators) were gathered. Data were analyzed via correlation and regression models to examine if political skill reduced or moderated the relationship between perception of organizational politics and work withdrawal behaviors. Employee political skill was a partial antidote, reducing the effect of organizational politics on withdrawal behaviors, but there was not a significant interaction moderating effect. Recommendations include political skill training for community college administrators as part of their professional development program, as well as including graduate education components and new employee orientation programs. Such training could lead to positive social change in community college settings by increasing levels of service and job satisfaction and reducing attrition among community college administrators, leading to higher levels of community college student satisfaction and graduation rates.

Colonial legacies affect neocolonial experiences of conflict in the 20th and 21st centuries. A critical and comprehensive appreciation of the global "war on terror" reveals terrorism "from above'" (state-sponsored terrorism) as a growing issue in the international community. Further, women's varied experiences within communities of resistance are often undermined, ignored, or maligned within formal research on conflict and peace. Liberation psychologists are called to align with oppressed, marginalized, and suffering communities. To this end, this work explores the experience of women political prisoners of the Irish conflict for independence from Great Britain. A qualitative critical psychosocial analysis was used to understand the phenomenology of women's political imprisonment through the firsthand narratives of Republican women imprisoned during the "Troubles" of Northern Ireland. The intention of this study was to 1) provide an analysis of power and its connection to social conditions, 2) to provide a psychological analysis of how oppression may breed resistance in communities struggling for liberation, and 3) to explore the gendered experience of Irish women political prisoners. The results indicated that political imprisonment may be understood as a microcosm of oppression and liberation, and the subjective experience of political prisoners may glean insights into how communities develop critical consciousness, organize politically, resist oppression, and meaningfully participate in recognizing their human rights. Additionally, this research challenged the exclusion of women's voices as members of resistance movements and active agents in both conflict and peace building and challenged the failure to investigate state-sponsored terrorism, or terrorism from above.

Political Science
Ph.D.
There has been both praise and vilification of religion's role in shaping democratic citizens. By focusing on individual differences, religious motivations can help explain the complex relationship between religion and good citizenship, especially concerning the important topics of political engagement and prejudice. This dissertation will demonstrate that in order to understand the connection between religion and democratic citizenship, we must consider people's religious motivations. We must go beyond traditional approaches that only consider people's beliefs and behaviors. Religious motivation is a powerful measurement tool providing a richer framework than traditional measures of religiosity when answering a variety of questions regarding democratic citizenship. It is also a unique measure of individual difference with independent effects going beyond measures of personality, open-mindedness, ideology, and religiosity. The goal of this dissertation is twofold. First, it will establish religious motivation as an important measure that can greatly aid our understanding of the relationship between religion and democratic citizenship. Second, this dissertation will demonstrate how religious motivation can clarify religion's relationship with two specific measures of democratic citizenship: prejudice and political engagement. To meet these goals, this dissertation employs nationally representative surveys including a unique survey-experiment to provide evidence of religious motivations' important explanatory power. The findings suggest it is not what religious service you attend, or even how often you attend, but the motivation for being religious that best explains the level of political engagement and prejudice.
Temple University--Theses

Political scientists concentrate on the concept of political activity as social cooperation motivated to meet two goals: biological survival and accumulation of extrinsic rewards such as power, wealth, or territory. Self-determination research in the field of human motivation reveals a different motivator in the form of innate psychological needs. This literature review and theoretical analysis offers an alternative cause for political activity in light of recent empirical work completed by psychologists in the study of Self-Determination Theory. The findings suggest that humans act politically to secure satisfaction of their psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence.
Master of Arts

Participation in Peace Support Operations (PSOs) is one of the most common military duties assigned to present-day Western soldiers. Previous research concerned with the psychological effects of these missions on the individual soldier has focused on issues of mental health and how to ensure military effectiveness. This study takes a different perspective, and examines how PSOs affect the political psychology of the peace soldier, asking: how and to what extent do the sociopolitical psychological orientations of the individual soldier change as a consequence of peace support operations? The study combines theory from clinical, social, and personality psychology to construct a framework for understanding how and why the values and the attitudes toward violence of the soldier may be affected by PSO deployments. It is argued that although combat exposure may cause changes in attitudes and values, these variables will overall remain stable across the deployment. Stability is predicted to be the norm due to the importance of certain attitudes and values to the soldierly identity, and owing to the good person-environment fit that the deployment provides for the soldiers. It is also argued that the individual’s personality traits will predict levels of change and stability. Empirically, two Swedish contingents deployed to northern Afghanistan under the auspices of NATO’s ISAF mission are analyzed. Change and stability are examined by combining statistical analyses of surveys with in-depth interviews carried out at both the pre- and post-deployment stages. As hypothesized, the study finds that both values and attitudes exhibit high levels of stability across the mission. Contrary to expectations the soldiers’ experiences of combat exposure had little to no effect on attitudes and values. Combat exposure was, however, limited during the deployments studied. Finally, the individual’s personality traits are identified as being relatively potent factors for inducing change and stability. By demonstrating that low-exposure PSOs have only minor effects on the sociopolitical psychological orientations of soldiers, the study advances knowledge of the political psychology of the peace soldier and provides additional contributions to the fields of value and personality psychology. Among other things, the study demonstrates the stability of values in a very challenging environment, and how personality traits affect change and stability in values.