PS 320 - Exam 2
Media Effects (agenda setting, priming, framing, persuasion) (types of media effects)
Agenda Setting: volume of coverage devoted to an issue suggests the importance of that issue Framing: changes in judgment produced by changes in the presentation of the choice problem Priming: Similar to framing - the media can influence the criteria or pieces of information people use when making policy jusgements/decision; ability of a message to affect the criteria individuals use to evaluate political figures Persuasion: genuine attitude change (natural persuasion) making an argument that a particular way of think about an issue is the right way to think about it
stereotype suppression, and the conditions needed to suppress a stereotype
people are capable of suppressing stereotype if they have the ability are motivated and can engage in controlled processing. People can stop or interrupt stereotype activation by gathering additional information, when individating information and it contradicts a stereotype, this could lead people to not rely on the stereotype. Stereotype activation can be suppressed, What happens when multiple stereotypes might be activated, people tend to suppress the less dominant stereotype to avoid distractions and interference - Race Trumps Gender: Subjects who see a Chinese woman eating a bowl of noodles with chopsticks have their "Chinese" stereotype activated. - Gender Trumps Race" Subjects who see a Chinese woman putting on makeup have their "women" stereotype activated and not racial. Conditions needed to suppress a stereotype: - People must be aware of the potential influence of the stereotype. - People must have the available cognitive resources to initiate controlled processing. - People must be sufficiently motivated to initiate some strategy to override stereotypic responses.
Affect and Democratic Theory
"Affect" refers to the emotions or feelings that people hold toward other groups people or things "Cognition" refers to the thoughts that people hold toward attitude objects. Conventional wisdom suggests that affective judgments are "post-cognitive," that is, they occur after cognitive perception and encoding; emotions are assumed to be under cognitive control. Zajonc (1980, 1984) and other psychologists have recently argued for affective primacy - affective states can be induced by noncognitive and nonperceptual procedures - affect and cognition are represented by separate neuroanatomical structures - emotions may not be under cognitive control Affect and Democratic Theory Democratic theorists assume that to make judgements based on emotions is self optimal we criticize unfairly by being emtional when making political judgements . presume that "good" judgments require deliberation (i.e. cognitive thought) Emotions are incompatible with clear thinking and good decisions Decisions based on emotions are suboptimal (of less than the highest standard or quality) compared to those based in rationality. Being emotional about politics is associated with psychological distraction, distortion, extremity, and unreasonableness Hamilton warns that the passions of men won't conform to reason and justice without constraints. We thus need institutions, rules, and procedures to protect us from our emotional selves. Western thought has historically seen passion (affect) as antithetical to reason (cognition).
purpose of political socialization
- Political systems are systems of behavior through which society is able to make decisions that most people accept as authoritative or binding most of the time. - Political systems, like individuals, have a strong interest in preserving themselves. - The persistence of a political system may in part depend upon the success of a society in producing children most of whom acquire positive feelings about it. (older generation must give their values to next generation) - The purpose is to teach people to be better citizens, teach them about peaceful transfer of power
Big 5 Personality Traits, and their relationship to ideology and participation
1. Openness to experience - a measure of how willing people are to experience new things (high score for more willing) 2. Conscientiousness - appreciation for rules and norms; the ability to control ones impulses (higher score for hardworking, dependable and can control thier impulses) 3. Extroversion - how active and energetic or how sociable/outgoing people are (more outgoing is a higher score) 4. Agreeableness - peoples relations towards others are they kind and communal or antagonistic towards others (helpful, trusting, kind is a higher score) 5. Emotional stability (or the opposite neuroticism) - how anxious/steady/or resilient someone is (higher score if one is anxious, unhappy, and prone to negative emotions) Those who score higher on conscientiousness and emotional stability are more likely to identify as conservative. Openness to new experiences those who are open to new experiences are less likely to identify as conservatives.
What is political socialization?
A process that does not occur overnight its a gradual process where people become more politically aware and citizens mature politically, it involves political learning - the developmental process through which the citizen matures politically - those developmental processes through which persons acquire political orientations - the learning process by which the political norms and behaviors acceptable to an ongoing political system are transmitted from generation to generation
Components of the California F-scale
A series of 38 questions was designed to measure individuals' anti-democratic potential, that is, their susceptibility to anti-democratic propaganda. Responses to these questions were used to construct a Fascism (F) scale. By creating this scale, Adorno et al. hoped they could identify the correlates of the "fascist personality," which might help society prevent its spread.
Cognitive behaviors associated with RWA (5 behaviors)
Ability to make correct inferences - tendency to misremember evidence and make erroneous inferences in judgments, e.g. in court cases Agreement with contradictory ideas - compartmentalized thinking that often lacks attitudinal constraint across domains What is our "most serious problem?" - tendency to identify many problems as the most serious - This result could reflect both (1) greater insecurity and (2) greater acquiescence bias Bias in Judging "Sufficient Evidence" - RWAs don't believe everything they hear. They reject out of hand "dangerous ideas" from "bad sources." - Double standard when testing for truth: evidence for disagreeable conclusions is scrutinized more critically than evidence supporting agreeable conclusions. Special Vulnerability to the Fundamental Attribution Error - Tendency to overexplain others' shortcomings in terms of dispositional factors and underexplain them in terms of situational factors. Personal failures, however, are attributed to situational rather than dispositional factors.
the rebound effects of stereotype suppression
Conscious effort to suppress stereotypes may actually make us more likely to later use them. Trying to suppress a stereotype requires us to think about the stereotype, which, in turn, may increase the accessibility of that stereotype. - examples: sexism, racism
Explain differences between competing models of change
Continuity: attitudes between generations remain the same over time, absolutely and relative (stay similar) to each other overtime Generational Effects: different generations are effected in different way by different events, generations may express different attitudes at one point in time and will still express similar attitudes at a different point in time. Life Cycle Effects: younger and older generation start at different levels of attitudes but over time the younger generation will become more and more like their parents (younger generation converges with older as it ages, generational gap is narrower at time t + 1 than at time t, as people grow and age they become more and more like their parents.) Period Effects: generations begin the same and move together over time
Gray's Model of Emotionality, Dual Systems of Emotional Arousal, BIS, BAS
Different systems of the brain control and have different emotional significance to how we interpret the world and they plays an important interpretative function in learning. It has three subsystems Fight-Flight System - people decide to run or show aggression (not necessary relevant to politics) BIS and BAS: We have Dual Systems/models of Emotional Response - Each system is responsible for different things and they preform different tasks, they process and pay attention to different types of information - Each is able to enhance the efficiency of our information processing by directing us to focus on different things depending on the circumstances around them. - Two systems efficiently balance allocation of mental and physical resources - Two systems facilitate strategic sensory evaluation and direction of motivation - Two systems enhance the efficiency of information processing Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) • The BIS scans the environment for signs of novelty and intrusion of threat. • The BIS compares expectations of normality to current environmental information. • If threat is detected, the BIS warns us by causing an affective response of anxiety. This anxiety causes us to interrupt ongoing behavior and shift attention to contemporary information. • If no threat is detected, ongoing action continues and is guided by previously learned behaviors. Behavioral Approach System (BAS) • The BAS is concerned with task execution. • The BAS tells us whether we are executing tasks well or poorly. - good performance generates affective mood of enthusiasm - poor performance generates affective mood of depression • The BAS also tells us how well our previously learned behaviors are serving our current needs. • Gray argues that people will engage in actions they feel enthusiastic about.
Pathologies of Passion
Displacement Pathology - emotion overstimulates the individual, distorts judgments, and displaces reason - affect leads to impulsiveness and inconsiderate judgment Distraction Pathology -emotional symbols distract the mind; emotional appeals may draw attention to personality over policy (people focus on personality not policies) Intransigence Pathology - emotionally charged stimuli can lead to extremity, rigidity, and an unwillingness to compromise Self-absorption Pathology - emotionally aroused individuals are more likely to act out of primordial self-preservation and self-interest
Dual process models
Dual-process models have been applied to a wide range of areas in psychology, including attitudes, stereotyping, person perception, judgment, and decision making. Most dual-process models assume that there are two qualitatively different modes of information processing at work in individuals' judgments. - fast, associative information-processing mode based on low-effort heuristics vs. a slow, rule-based information-processing mode based on high-effort systematic reasoning - affective vs. cognitive, uncontrolled vs. controlled, heuristic vs. systematic, unconscious vs. conscious, theory driven vs. data driven Processing modes are believed to exist on a continuum within all individuals.
Heuristics
Heuristics: judgmental shortcuts (e.g. partisanship), efficient ways to organize and simplify policy choices; Citizens compensate for their limited information about politics by using judgmental heuristics. because it requires little information to execute and yields dependable answers to complex policy choices Heuristics have been described as "rules of thumb for judgment" (Kunda 1999). Heuristics allow people to be knowledgeable in their reasoning without necessarily possessing a large body of political information. We tend to base our "categorizations" on the degree to which individuals or events represent the category or are similar to it. How representative of the category is the particular individual or event in question? The representativeness heuristic serves us pretty well in our judgments because "the similarity between an instance and a category is often a good indicator of category membership." example: inferring partisanship of a candidate who is white, affluent, tough on crime, for tax cuts, pro-life, etc. representativeness heuristic can lead to errors
Minimal effect model
Hypodermic Needle Model became unfavarable between Political communication scholars and was replaced by the minial effect model, this model argues that the media has very small if any effect on public opinion. This model assumes not a passive audience but an active one. In which citizens upon hearing information from the media do not automatically accept it and make counterarguments based on their prior beliefs. Also asummes that the magnitude of media influence to the extent that is occurs is likey to be smaller than the influence by our peers (friends and family) and those in our social networks Assumes individual differences in receptivity; some individual are more likely/less likey to be influenced by the media. But the main message/argument of this model is that the media does not have that much power to convert or persuade peoples attitudes. - Evidence that this is true; peoples opinions do not change
preconditions of political socialization
In order for political socialization to take place certain preconditions must take place/ be met, first being exposure teachers (those doing the socialization) must come in contact with the learners and second there must be an an exchange in information, not always verbal could be by things like political signs, and third receptivitly, the learning must be willing to accept and listen to the information being taught. Things that could change these preconditions are the nature of the relationship between the source and receiver and the timing of the communication. 1. Exposure: "learners" must come into contact with "teachers" for socialization to take place 2. Communication: information must be exchanged, some cues are more politically relevant than others 3. Receptivity: willingness to listen
Hypodermic Needle Model
Makes assumption about the relationship between media and public opinion, many assumptions have been contested now, but it assumes a passive audience rather than a active one, a passive audience in the sense that the media is acting on the public and not at all the reverse, it assumes a direct influence by the media one that is injected into the minds of the americans and It asumes there is no blockage that citizens have (they lack the ability or motivation to counter whatever message they might receive from the media) Another assumption that has sense been questioned is the idea that we all respond the same and equally as responsive. More recent research finds that some individuals are more receptive to media influence than others or that some types of media frames are more influential than others. Hypodermic Needle Model does not create a particularly charitable view of the average american citizen or of democracy in general, you would think that informed citizens would be more critical of their consumption of media information.
Negative advertising, positive and negative
Measuring negative ads negative ad: "any criticism leveled by one candidate against another candidate during a campaign" (no consideration of ads' merit) doesnt matter if negative claim is true or not tone: positive or negative type of appeal: policy, traits, values Throughout the years there have been an increase in negative ads, and negative ads outweigh positive by alot Consequences of negative ads - Negative ads reduce trust in government - Negative ads reduce political efficacy - Negative ads decrease turnout by ~ 2% - Negative ads increase voter roll-off by ~ 1.2% - 80% of citizens say negative advertising is unethical and does damage to our democratic system Positives of negatives ads Country was founded through political attack, e.g. Declaration - attack against king Country survived early negative campaigns Threat of criticism provides politicians incentive to adopt sound policies, attract votes Criticism can increase information quality for voters - inform people about consequences of making the "wrong" choice - citizens in battleground states (states that receive the most negative ads) have higher political interest - citizens in battleground states are more politically informed Negativity makes accountability possible
Correlates of RWA
More likety to support harsh Punishment of lawbreakers Acceptance of government injustices Ethnocentrism Adherence to traditional sex roles Hostility toward homosexuals Conformity to group norms Demographics - no gender differences - Authorianism declines when education increases - alumni study: biggest agent of change over time - having children makes people more likely to give authoritarian responses to questions
Causes of elite polarization
Polorization: wide distance between opinions of group members, e.g. parties Non-institutional causes of elite polarization - Generational replacement of representatives and senators - democrats and republicans who could've been socially friends (get drinks/dinner), when newer younger generations take over they are less likey to engage eachother socially. Decreases their likihood to agree politcally. - Increase in party switching, Increase in party sorting - people who used to be conservative democrats now feel less welcomed in the democratic party so they become republican and vice versa. These people may not want to run again - Redistricting - redistricting within each state is controlled by state legislatures, if the district lines are drawn in a paritsan way it allows an increase in the number of safe seats for each party. This allows more extreme parisian members on both the right and left to win reelection. - Proliferation of interest groups - rapid rise in number of interest groups who put pressure on both the left and right to be ideologically a pure republican or democrat Institutional (factors due to structures and rules within the house and senate) causes of elite polarization - Strengthening of party rules and party discipline - leaders of both parties in both chambers have become more strict in enforcing party discipline by withholding favors and committee assignments from members of the party who buck the party line when it comes to voting - Rise of omnibus legislation - the grouping or collecting of multiple issues into a single large piece of legislation often a funding bill that must be passed or the government could shut down. By lumping lots of issue into one piece of legislation many of which may be desirable by most parties they can squeeze in other pieces of other bills that are less popular but essentially force members in their party to prevent an undesirable outcome. - Deviations from seniority system - used to be the case that both parties had a fairly strict seniority system in terms of who was going to chair the different committees but more recently the leadership of both parties have not automatically given the committee chairmanship to the most senior member - this is a way of enforcing party discipline. Cultural causes of elite polarization - Shortened work week - members of congress are only in session for a smaller amount of time it becomes more difficult to build relationships - Decrease in media scrutently "political junkets" - less social activites to create relationships - Income inequality - Narrow congressional majorities - when the margin of the majority party is small in the government there is an increased pressure to tow the party line or the party may not be able to enact their agenda - Rise of partisan (polarization) media - elites become consumers of media outlets that reenforce narratives that promote their party agenda
Moderators of framing effects (5 factors that reduce the size of framing effects)
Predispositions - If people have strong predispositions on an issue then framing effects tend to be smaller if those frams contradict what they already believe (they can counterargue in their mind) - Example: Gross (2000) finds that people with unprejudiced predispositions rejected "dispositional" frames about the 1992 LA riots, i.e. they gave more liberal responses that those in "situational" frames. Citizen Deliberation - When people talk about issues out loud with others they are less vulnerable to framing - Example: On the issue of mayoral control of schools, Price and Na (2000) find that citizens who participated in a deliberation forum were less susceptible to framing effects. Political Information - Some argue that emphasis framing effects should be greatest among the unsophisticated. Sophisticated respondents are expected to possess their own frames and be able to potentially counterargue elite frames. - Others argue that emphasis framing effects should be greatest among the sophisticated. They suggest that framing works because it encourages people to weight certain considerations rather than others. But only sophisticated respondents are expected to have multiple considerations stored in memory. - Example: On the issue of welfare, Nelson, Oxley, and Clawson (1997) find that framing effects are larger among those most familiar with competing welfare arguments. Source Credibility - Emphasis framing effects should be greater when the audience believes the source is credible, trustworthy. - Example: On the issue of Klan rallies (free speech vs. public safety), Druckman (2001) finds that source credibility determines strength of framing effects. Frame Competition - In the real world, people are rarely exposed to only one frame on an issue. Exposure to competing frames might eliminate emphasis framing effects. - Example: Sniderman and Theriault (1999) find that framing effects are smaller among those who read "free speech" and "public safety" frames rather than just one of them.
Right Wing Authoritarianism and its attitudinal clusters
RWA is the constellation of three different attitudes clusters in an individual: Authoritarian Submission: high degree of submission to authorites who are perceived to be established and legitimate in the society in which one lives Authoritarian Aggression: a general aggressiveness, directed against various persons, that is perceived to be sanctioned by established authorities. Conventionalism: a high degree of adherence to the social conventions that are perceived to be endorsed by society and its established authorities
Description of the socialization process
Socialization starts with parents being the most influential in early childhood socialization, then schools, religion, then friends and peer groups, and then by a persons own identity (gender, ethnicity), and then news/media. Conventional wisdom in the literature is although socialization in geeral begins in early childhood, political socialization does not begin until early adolescent in young adulthood. Prepolitical Personality Theory: rejects the idea of pre-adolescent political learning, argues that kids simply develop personalities which may later shape the acquisition of political information Proximity Theory: accepts the idea of pre-adolescent learning, but argues that whatever is learned in childhood is overshadowed by political learning experiences that occur closer to adulthood State of Readiness Theory: argues that children are not intellectually ready for political learning
Agents of political socialization
The Family Schools Peers Friends Coworkers Political Leaders Mass Media Churches
Polarization in the mass public
The mass public is not ideologically polarized - Fiorina (2006) argues that the public is not ideologically polarized - closely divided does not equal deeply divided - 50 50 split in election does not mean they are that different - party sorting does not equal party polarization - issue preferences are not truly "polarized" Why do people think the mass public is ideologically polarization - Confusing closely divided with deeply divided - Political activists are more extreme than normal people - the people we see in media - The media - shows peopel constantly arguing and disagreeing - Confusing positions with choices - just because someone votes for a candidate they might not endorse everything they say or want
Barber's typology of presidential character
Two dimensions of presidential character - activity level (active/passive) - enjoyment level (positive/negative) Active-Positive (AP): There is a consistency between being very active and the enjoyment of it, indicating relatively high self-esteem and relative success in relating to the environment. They are usually productive and have an ability to be flexibly and adaptive. There is an emphasis on rational mastery on presidential taks. (High activity, high enjoyment) Active-Negative (AN): The contradiction here is between relatively intense effort and relatively low emotional reward for that effort. The activity has a compulsive quality, as if the [president] were trying to make up for something or to escape from anxiety into hard work...Life is a hard struggle to achieve and hold power, hampered by the condemnations of a perfectionistic conscience. Active-negative types pour energy into the political system but display a recurrent, negative emotional reaction to their work. (High activity, low enjoyment) Passive-Positive (PP): low activity and high enjoyment; seen as receptive, compliant, other-directed character whose life is a search for affection as a reward for being agreeable and cooperative rather than personally assertive. The contradiction is between low self-esteem and a superficial optimism. Often soften the harsh edges of politics. But their dependence and the fragility of their hopes and enjoyments make disappointment in politics likely. Passive-Negative (PN): Low activity, low enjoyment; Why is someone who does little in politics and enjoys it less there at all? The answer lies in the passive-negative's character-rooted orientation toward doing a duty (think of it as a moral or national duty). this compensates for low self-esteem based on a sense of uselessness. Passive-negative types are in politics because they think they ought to be. Their tendency is to withdraw, to escape from the conflict and uncertainty of politics by emphasizing vague principles and procedural arrangements. They become guardians of the right and proper way, above the sordid politicking of lesser men.
Sources and consequences of polarized political trust
What explains polarization of poltical trust - Negative Feelings about the Other Party - partisans increasingly dislike members of the other party - negativity rooted in feelings, not just policy - Motivated Reasoning - biased perceptions of performance - biased weighting of evaluation criteria Sources - Political trust has polarized along partisan lines - increasingly cold feelings toward the other party - motivated reasoning: biased perceptions of government performance - motivated reasoning: biased weighting of evaluation criteria Consequences - Foreign Policy Preferences - Economic Policy Preferences - Health Care Policy Preferences - Political Dysfunction and Gridlock
What information actually gets transmitting though these preconditions of political socialization
broad attitudes toward political system, "diffuse support" (belief that democracys are stable representative forms of government), Attitudes toward specific institutions or individuals, "specific support" beliefs toward congress or presidency Political efficacy: 2 types 1. External political efficacy is measure of system responsiveness to the individual, do you agree/disageee that the goernement care what citizens think - if you say yes you have a high political efficacy. 2. Internal political efficacy is a self reflection of politics, do people believe that they know what is going on in the political words Political participation norms: voting is a duty Political attitudes party identification policy attitudes
