Exam 1 Political Psychology

Affective Intelligence Theory (emotions, fear, anger influence on voting)

.When voters agree with a candidate on an issue they will be enthusiastic about the candidate. When they disagree, they will be angry. When there is some distance, but not enough to make them angry, voters will experience anxiety. New information that produces enthusiasm will not be processed more rapidly than neutral information. Both anxiety and anger did increase processing time, but only for candidates the subjects preferred. In a high-threat environment, anger and anxiety both show learning effects, and subjects are much better able to place their preferred candidate. In the low-threat environment, however, both affective responses lead to less accurate placement. The weight of the evidence supports aspects of the affective intelligence thesis, albeit with important caveats. Anxiety, which is presumed to cause heightened attention and processing, only operates for preferred candidates and in an environment where there is substantial information that defies expectations. In a high-threat environment anxiety leads to more careful processing, more effort to learn about the candidate who generates the anxiety, and better assessment of that candidate's position on the issue ... But in a low threat environment, anxiety appears to do very little to increase either processing efforts or learning. Furthermore, regardless of threat environment, anxiety does not have any effects on processing information about rejected candidates ... Anger, which ought to generate aversion, exhibits the expected effect, at least in low-threat environments. In such environments greater attention is paid to information that invokes anger, but then that anger is aimed at an initially liked candidate, aversion occurs as voters turn toward other candidates. The result is to incorrectly recall where such as candidate stands with regard to issues.

toxic triangle (destructive leadership)

1) Destructive Leaders (possessing charisma, personalized power, narcissism, negative life themes, and an ideology of hate); 2) Susceptible Followers (composed of either conformers or colluders); and 3) Conducive Environments (where instability, perceived threats, cultural values, and lack of effective institutions or checks and balances provide a breeding ground for destructive leadership).

identity leadership

1) seen as "one of us," or part of the in-group prototype; 2) seen as "doing it for us," or advancing in-group interests; 3) seen as actively "crafting a sense of us," by involvement as a skilled entrepreneur of identity in shaping a shared understanding of who the in-group is; and finally, 4) be seen to "make the group matter," taking in-group values and priorities and making them become reality. It is a view of leadership that is not necessarily the interaction between leaders and followers as individuals, but as group members

Hermann, Preston, and Young (1996) propose a typology of foreign policy leadership style types for world leaders based upon three dimensions:

1) their responsiveness to (or awareness of) constraints; 2) their openness to information; and 3) their motivational focus (i.e., task/problem accomplishment versus interpersonal/relationship emphasis). The dimensions result in eight specific foreign policy styles: expansionistic, evangelistic, actively independent, directive, incremental, influential, opportunistic, and collegial.

destructive leadership

1. Destructive leadership is seldom absolutely or entirely destructive; there are both good and bad results in most leadership situations. 2. The process of destructive leadership involves dominance, coercion, and manipulation rather than influence, persuasion, and commitment. 3. The process of destructive leadership has a selfish orientation; it is focused more on the leader's needs than the needs of the larger social group. 4. The effects of destructive leadership are outcomes that compromise the quality of life for constituents and detract from the organization's main purposes. 5. Destructive organizational outcomes are not exclusively the result of destructive leaders, but are also products of susceptible followers and conducive environments.

media bias

A commonly held argument, particularly among conservatives, is that the media is biased in a liberal direction. In a study of the 1992 election, Beck, Dalton, Greene, and Huckfeldt (2002) found no clear pattern of bias in volume of coverage. In fact, they argue that "where there was partisan favoritism in news reports and editorials, it was demonstrably small in most cases. A majority of those exposed to television received messages that were close to evenly balanced; similarly, biases in newspaper coverage were often slight. hey also found that people who were highly partisan perceived a bias against their preferred candidate, even when none existed. While studies do not bear out partisan favoritism, media outlets exist that are known for their partisanship in agenda and editorial content. MSNBC blogs and Huffington Post are known for their liberal slant, while the Drudge Report and Fox News for their conservative one.

authoritarian personality according to Adorno

Adorno et al. saw the authoritarian personality as composed of several central personality traits, including conventionalism (rigid adherence to conventional values); submission to authority figures; authoritarian aggression (that is, aggressive impulses towards those who are not conventional); anti-intraception (that is, rejection of tenderness, imagination, subjectivity); superstition and stereotype (fatalistic belief in mystical determinants of the future and rigid thinking); high value placed on power and toughness; destructiveness and cynicism; projectivity (that is, the projection outward of unacceptable impulses); and an excessive concern with the sexual activity of others.

cognitive style

Alexander George (1980) built on Johnson's work, abstracting out three stylistic variables that seemed to shape what presidential advisers do. The first, cognitive style, refers to the way the president gathers and processes information from his environment. Does the president come with a well-formulated vision or agenda that helps to shape how he perceives, interprets, and acts on information or is he interested in sounding out the situation and political context before defining a problem and seeking options? The way this question is answered suggests the types of advisers the president will have around him and the kinds of information the president will want in making a decision. In the first instance, the president seeks advisers and information that are supportive of his predispositions; in the second instance, he is interested in experts or representatives of his various constituencies who will provide him with insights into the political context and problem at any point in time. At issue in this second instance is what fits with the context: what is doable at this particular moment.

sense of efficacy

Alexander George (1980) built on Johnson's work, abstracting out three stylistic variables that seemed to shape what presidential advisers do. The second stylistic variable centers on a sense of efficacy or competence. Sense of efficacy for George relates to how the president's agenda is formed. The problems he feels most comfortable tackling and the areas he is most interested in are likely to dominate his agenda. If, like George Bush, the president feels more at ease with foreign than domestic policy, his presidency will probably favor foreign over domestic policy. If, like Ronald Reagan, he has an arena of problems that are of particular importance, such as building the military strength of the United States vis-à-vis the Soviet Union, these issues may dominate much of the time of his administration.

orientation toward political conflict

Alexander George (1980) built on Johnson's work, abstracting out three stylistic variables that seemed to shape what presidential advisers do. The third stylistic variable George calls orientation toward political conflict. How open is the president to face-to-face disagreements and confrontations among his advisers? The more open the president is to such debate and crossfire, the easier it is for him to forge an advisory system exhibiting the characteristics of Johnson's competitive model; the more uncomfortable such a milieu makes him, the more likely the president is to want an advisory system that either emphasizes teamwork (all of us work together) or formal rules (here are the gatekeepers who manage what gets to the president). George argues that this orientation tends to shape the president's dealings with his cabinet and the executive bureaucracy as well as the White House staff. It colors the way he wants his advisory system to run. Moreover, it helps to define the type of control the president will want over the policy-making process and how much loyalty he will demand from those around him. If conflict is to be minimized, the president will have to expend resources to keep it under control; one way to achieve such control is to choose advisers who are loyal to the president and have served him for some time. If conflict can be tolerated and, perhaps, even used, the president may see high turnover among his staff as egos are bruised or tempers flare. But advisers are more likely to be policy advocates and know what they want the president to do.

affect

Appearance of observable emotions; Isen, in a review of studies of positive affect, notes that positive affect and emotions promote improvements in problem solving, negotiating, and decision making. Positive affect seems to expand peoples' abilities to see interrelationships and connections among cognitive items. On the other hand, when compared to neutral affect, positive and negative affect, but particularly positive affect, reduce peoples' ability to perceive variability in other groups. Cassino and Lodge note that positive affect is associated with a greater use of heuristics in information processing, while negative affect results in deeper information processing strategies; extreme stereotyping corresponds with more extreme affect

political values

Beliefs reflect what we think is true; values reflect what we wish to see come about, even if it is not currently true. Rokeach (1973) argued that there are two types of values, terminal values, which are goals, and instrumental values, which endorse the means to achieve those goals. For example, Americans want a safe society and want the police to maintain law and order. This is a terminal value—a concern for the well-being of the people. At the same time, Americans value civil liberties, defined in the constitution, and endorse only those behaviors by the police that enforce public safety and order through means that do not violate civil liberties. This is an example of instrumental values.

emotion

Emotions also vary in intensity, which can increase in response to certain psychological properties, as well as to the nature and impact of events. One of those event characteristics is simply how real the event seems to the person experiencing the emotion (Ortony, Clore, & Collins, 1988). Second, the closer the emotion-producing situation is in time, that is, its proximity, the greater the intensity of the emotion. Third, unexpected events or actions increase intensity. Fourth, physical arousal and the flow of adrenaline increase the emotional intensity. Fifth, in terms of psychological properties, leaving aside individual differences, the salience of social identity groups will increase emotion intensity; trying to be unemotional can actually impede important elements in decision making; the connection between affect and emotion is debated

motivations

For Allport, motivation was not hidden in the unconscious or derived from childhood experience, but consciously considered through cognitive processes.

fundemental attribution error

In interpreting and evaluating information regarding the cause of behavior of other people, one of the most important aspects of perceptions of causality is whether it is attributed to internal states (personality) or to external forces (situation). People are more likely to attribute others' behavior to their general dispositions (personality traits or attitudes) than to the situation they are in.

deindividuation

Individuation refers to the desire to be distinguishable from others in some aspect (Maslach, Stapp, & Santee, 1985; Whitney, Sagrestano, & Maslach, 1994). Some people have a greater desire than others to differentiate themselves. Those high in the desire for individuation are less likely to conform than those low in individuation. Conversely, deindividuation can increase conformity. When this occurs, people attribute their behavior to being part of the group's behavior, and there is a diffusion of responsibility. People feel less responsible for their actions when those actions take place in a group context than they would if they committed those acts alone.

schema

Once a person or situation is classified into a category, people apply organized generic knowledge, in the form of a category (or a schema)

party identification (funnel of causality)

Party identification strongly affects how people vote, particularly those who identify intensely with their party. When you consider how little Americans actually know about politics, the importance of party identification seems obvious. If people know little about the current issues, those who identify always have their party attachment to guide them in the voting booth. Party identification also affects how people view short-term forces, such as issues and candidates. It is used to screen information, and it colors the voter's interpretation of issues and candidates. But people do not always vote for candidates of their own party, nor do they always agree with their party's stance on particular issues. When people defect and vote for the other party's candidates, it is the result of short-term forces. For example, a moderate conservative who is a member of the Republican party, but who favors reproductive choice, might decide not to vote for George W. Bush, because he is opposed to abortion rights. it turns out that environment is still influential in determining party affiliation, but genetics are equally important.

impression-based model

People are selective in their attention to information, and studies have also questioned how well they actually remember information as campaigns progress. Lodge and Stroh (1995; see also Lodge, 1995; Lodge, McGraw, & Stroh, 1989) argue that, as information is acquired, it is used to enhance, or update, beliefs about a candidate or party, and the specific details of the information are forgotten. Likes and dislikes are influenced by the information, and are remembered, but a person may well be hard-pressed to explain what the liking or disliking is based upon. This impression-based model of information processing, memory, and evaluation of political candidates, stands in contrast to more traditional models, which maintain that people store in memory the evidence supporting their evaluations

Heuristic-Systematic Model (attitude change and persuasion)

Systematic information processing focuses on the information provided in a comprehensive manner. This is essentially the same as the ELM's concept of the central route. Heuristic information processing involves the use of heuristics which are "easily processed judgment relevant cues ... rather than individualistic or particularistic judgment-relevant information". The HSM takes this a step further through the sufficiency principle, which holds that people attempt to maintain a balance between their desire to expend as little cognitive effort as possible and their desire to be accurate in their judgments. If a person uses heuristics to evaluate a message, which are low-effort cognitive devices, but is not confident that they have made a judgment that is as correct or accurate as they would like, the person will engage in systematic information processing

Elaboration Likelihood Model (attitude change and persuasion)

The ELM focuses on cognition and rests upon the concept of the elaboration likelihood continuum. The continuum is "defined by how motivated and able people are to assess the merits of a person, issue or a position (i.e., the attitude object). The more motivated and able people are to assess the central merits of the attitude object, the more likely they are to effortfully scrutinize all available object-relevant information" (Petty & Wegener, 1998). The ELM purports there are two routes to attitude change through persuasion: a central route and peripheral route. The central route is when an individual has "careful and thoughtful consideration of the true merits of the information presented in support of an advocacy". In this route, the elaboration likelihood is high. People arrive at a decision through a reasoned and informed thought process. The peripheral route is different in that it results from an attractive cue without scrutiny. The higher a person goes along the elaboration continuum, the more central route processes are important. Conversely, the farther down one goes along the continuum, the less important central route processes become. The ELM shows that attitude change varies depending on the mental effort put into considering the attitude object. The attitudes that result through the peripheral route tend to be weaker than those formed through the central route (Petty & Wegener, 1998).

voting behavior in UK vs. USA

The association between class and partisanship in Britain was very strong. The central difference between Britain and the United States, in terms of party alignment, was the greater importance of class in partisan alignment in Britain than in the United States. Other factors, such as age, sex, religion, and region, had some influence in British party alignments, but much less so than did class and family. As in the United States, British voters were affected by short-term factors, which caused them to defect and vote for the other party. Indeed, during the 1950s and 1960s, the Conservative party would never have won an election were it not for short-term factors that led the majority Labour party identifiers to defect and vote Tory.

funnel of causality

The authors of The American Voter, and others included in the Michigan school, presented a model of political attitudes, and their relationship to each other, that depicted the causes of the vote. The model is called the funnel of causality (see Figure 6.1), and it distinguishes between long-term factors or attitudes that affect how Americans vote (which are attachment to a party, or party identification, and group interests) and short-term factors (currently important issues and candidates' personal characteristics).

instrumental beliefs (operational code typology)

The best approach for selecting goals for political action; How such goals and objectives can be pursued most effectively; The best approach to calculation, control, and acceptance of the risks of political action; The matter of "timing" of action; The utility and role of different means for advancing one's interests

the Authoritarian Personality study & critique of Adorno

The fascism, or F scale, was developed to test for a person's propensity toward fascism. The other scales were the anti-Semitism (A-S) scale; the ethnocentrism (E) scale, which included Negro (N), minority (M), and patriotism (P) subscales; and the Politico-Economic Conservatism (PEC) scale; Adorno et al. argued that their empirical evidence demonstrated that this syndrome was closely associated with anti-Semitism, ethnocentrism, and, in turn, with political conservatism. But criticisms quickly emerged on conceptual and methodological grounds. One of the more important criticisms was presented by Edward Shils (1954) who noted that communists, who also held authoritarian political values, scored low in the Adorno et al. measurement scale, the F scale. Therefore, he argued, they apparently tested only for right wing authoritarianism and not left wing authoritarianism and therefore their F scale was not a true measure of authoritarianism.

formalistic style management (Johnson's 3 management styles)

The formalistic style (Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon) is designed to reduce the effects of human error through a well-designed management system that is hierarchical, nonconfrontational, focused on issues rather than personalities, and oriented toward generating options and making the best decision. The focus of this style is on preserving the president's time for the big decisions.

philosophical beliefs (operational code typology)

The fundamental nature of politics and political conflict, and the image of the opponent; The general prospects for achieving one's fundamental political values; The extent to which political outcomes are predictable; The extent to which political leaders can influence historical developments and control outcomes; The role of chance.

selective exposure

The process by which individuals screen out messages that do not conform to their own biases. Politics can spark strong emotions and feelings of self-identity—just the sort of circumstances that may lead people to prefer information matching their beliefs. the desire to avoid dissonance, the use of heuristics, and cognitive laziness would all contribute to selective exposure. People do not want to experience the dissonance that contrary information would expose them to, and they are not strongly motivated to seek out massive amounts of information since they already limit their conscious use of information by using heuristics and other cognitive shortcuts. Selective exposure is not necessarily a bad thing. Some studies found that exposure to views and information contrary to their own views can have a boomerang effect, making people even more firm in their original beliefs.

bolstering

The process of balancing and avoiding inconsistency; which involves selective exposure to information, as people search for information supporting their decisions and avoid information that would be critical of them. Bolstering also occurs when people denigrate the alternative not chosen and amplify the attractive aspects of the decisions they did make.

situational conformity

Theories/Explanations:sociagroup size; group unanimity; commitment to the group; individuation

maximalists

They argue that, looked at differently, Americans are much more politically sophisticated than the Michigan model maintains. Their argument is that the Michigan school's assumption that people organize their political thoughts in a linear (liberal to conservative) manner diverts attention from how people actually think about politics. They maintain that, although not expert in political philosophies of liberalism and conservatism, people can process political information and decide where they stand on political issues, emphasized the role of affect, or feelings in political reasoning. They offered a different perspective that beliefs can also be seen as organized in a weblike structure, with pockets of beliefs consistently related to other pockets.

competitive frames

Typically, people are exposed to more than one frame regarding candidates or issues. When there are competitive frames, which is likely to win? Initially, it was argued that the frames would cancel each other out, and people would rely on their values when deciding what to think. Sniderman and Theriault (2004) found that when people were exposed to free speech frames and public safety frames in the context of a hate group demonstration, they chose the position consistent with their values. They argued that "competing frames make alternative positions equally accessible, which increases the likelihood that people will be able to identify and choose the side that is consistent with their ideological values". However, Druckman and Chong (2007) postulated that frames may differ in strength and that stronger frames will dominate when there are competitive frames. Strength is determined by the availability of the frame (that is, the perceiver's ability to see a connection between the frame and the issue); the accessibility of the frame (that is, "the frame must actually come to mind as a consideration when thinking about the topic"); and the applicability of the frame (that is, the "individual must view the consideration as compelling or persuasive for it to be considered strong")

ideology

Values and beliefs are closely related, and when we refer to political values and belief systems, we call it an ideology, which is "a particularly elaborate, close-woven, and far-ranging structure" of attitudes and beliefs

Hedonic-Contingency Model (attitude change and persuasion)

Wegener and Petty (1994) offered the Hedonic Contingency Model, which offered distinctions between happy and sad moods. If an individual is in a sad mood, they pay little attention to information. The reverse is true for those in a happy mood. Wegener, Petty and Smith (1995) tested this proposition and found that when individuals had an expectation of happiness from a message, those in a happy mood paid more careful attention. Handley, Lassiter, Nickell and Herchenroeder (2004) maintained that mood is automatic and found support for their hypothesis by studying individuals who were brought into happy, sad, and neutral moods and asking them to rank their inclinations for future activities.

the Michigan school

What this study demonstrated was that Americans are not political philosophers and that a deep understanding of politics and democracy was not the foundation of their decisions on how to vote. reported that very few Americans fit the profile of an ideologue, that is, of a person who understood the differences between liberal and conservative principles and who could locate each party and the issues along liberal and conservative dimensions. They conducted surveys in which they asked people what they liked and disliked about the parties and candidates and coded the surveys in terms of the nature of the response. If the respondent expressed likes and dislikes in terms of ideological principles, that person was considered an ideologue. They classified people into one of several possible levels of conceptualization, on the basis of the primary attitudes used to express likes and dislikes about the parties and candidates. The levels of conceptualization are arranged in terms of degrees of sophistication. In fact, they found that only about 2.5% of their respondents fell into the ideologue level of conceptualization. The second level of conceptualization of respondents was called the "near-ideologues." These people claimed to know the differences between liberal and conservative principles, but were less confident about, and less able to articulate, those principles. About 9.5% of the sample fell into the near-ideologue level of conceptualization. The next level of conceptualization, the "group benefits" level, was populated by people who saw political issues in terms of concrete benefits for their group, compared to those for other groups in society. At this level, "there is little comprehension of 'long-range plans for social betterment,' or of basic philosophies rooted in postures toward change or abstract conceptions of social and economic structure or causation" (Campbell et al). Forty-two percent of the respondents fell into this category. Level four was populated by "nature of the times" folks, who had no conception of ideology, no recognition of group interests, and who, when they did think of politics, thought simply in terms of whether times were good or bad for themselves and their families. Good times meant that the party of the president was good; bad times meant that the party of the president should be punished. The category also included people who identified a single isolated issue with a party (e.g., Social Security benefits and the Democratic party). Twenty-four percent of the respondents fell into this category. The final level was "absence of issue content"—the booby prize level. These people, 22.5%, knew nothing about political issues and approached politics solely in terms of party membership (absent any understanding of the party's position on issues) or candidate appeals (looks, religion, or sincerity, rather than issue positions), when they had anything resembling a political opinion. Few of the people at this level of conceptualization bothered to vote.

political belief system

When beliefs are clustered together, we call it a belief system. Most Americans, for example, have a belief system about democracy that includes such beliefs as "Free speech is a necessity," "The people have a right to decide who holds political power," and "All citizens should have the right to vote."

negativity effect

When dealing with individuals we dislike, we tend to attribute behavior to dispositional rather than situational factors

informational social influence (conformity)

Whenever we use other people's actions or opinions to define reality, we conform because of informational social influence.

operational codes

a concept originally introduced by Leites, are constructs representing the overall belief systems of leaders about the world (i.e., how it works, what it is like, what kinds of actions are most likely to be successful, etc.); the operational code is unique to the personality of the person under examination and, more importantly, because the operational code links motivation (a personality factor) with beliefs. As George observed, operational code beliefs, unlike attitudes, represent central beliefs which "are concerned with fundamental, unchanging issues of politics and political action." philosophical beliefs vs. instrumental beliefs

identity

a deeply held sense of who a person is

representativeness heuristic

a probability judgment. is a rule of thumb for deciding what kind of person someone is based on how closely that person fits a stereotype. A person may, for example, evaluate the characteristics of another person and estimate the likelihood that that person belongs to a particular occupation For example, medical professionals are commonly seen with stethoscopes. If you see someone with a stethoscope, you will assume that it is probable that that person is a medical professional.

emotions

affect all aspects and are affected by all aspects of the Political Being's mind. Values, identities, and attitudes are emotional, have emotional components, and emotions interact with the next portion of the Political Being's mind, cognition.

attitudes

an enduring system of positive or negative beliefs (the cognitive component), affective feelings and emotions, and action tendencies regarding attitude objects, that is, the entity being evaluated; an organized set of beliefs, persisting over time, which is useful in explaining the individual response to tendencies

attitudes

an enduring system of positive or negative beliefs, affective feelings and emotions, and subsequent action tendencies regarding an attitude object, that is, the entity being evaluated.

Imaginability

another aspect of the availability heuristic. Imaginability is the tendency to retrieve information that is plausible without any regard for actual probabilities. As a result, individuals construct a series of possible behaviors based on their ability to imagine their occurrence.

cardinal traits

are critically important and dominate a person's life, example would be authoritarianism, Allport believed these are rare and most people have few cardinal traits

heuristics

are mental shortcuts in processing information about others

traits

are personality characteristics that are stable over time and in different situations. Traits produce predispositions to think, feel, or act in a particular pattern toward people, events, and situations. Trait theorists also regard traits to be hierarchically organized. Trait theories in psychology began with the work of Gordon Allport (1937, 1961, 1968). Allport disagreed with Freud's contention that personality dynamics are governed by the unconscious. He also believed that childhood experiences are less important in the adult's personality than Freud maintained

motives

are those aspects of personality concerned with goals and goal-directed actions. Motives "energize, direct, and select behavior"

Receive-Accept-Sample Model (explaining how people form opinions in different political contexts and media environments)

argued that individuals have competing opinions on issues. The view that prevails results from what is on one's mind at the time.

beliefs

associations people create between an object and its attributes

stereotypes

beliefs about the attributes of people in particular groups or social categories; Stereotyping, as in all social categorization, is a mental short-cut that enables people to know quite a bit about a person or group of persons, whether that knowledge is accurate or not. It occurs quickly and without conscious thought

personality

central psychological factor influencing political behavior, we place personality in the center of the Political Being's brain. It affects other aspects of the thought process and is itself affected by life experiences, but personalities tend to be very stable in terms of amenability to change, and they influence our behavior and behavioral predispositions on an on-going constant basis, non- consciously

familiarity heuristic

comes into play when people are familiar with one candidate, but not the others, and they are at a minimum at least neutral toward that candidate.

need for affiliation-intimacy

concern for close relations with others

need for power

concern for impact and prestige

need for achievement

concern with excellence and task accomplishment

behavioral genetics

concerns itself with the degree of variation in a phenotype that is attributable to the genotype, lots of studies on twins, there is evidence to suggest that many of our political beliefs have a strong genetic component, The Big Five and authoritarianism were also shown to have high heritability scores,

values

deeply held beliefs about what is right and wrong

dissonance

efers to an aversive state that results when our behavior is inconsistent with our attitudes. Dissonance creates psychological tension, which people feel motivated to avoid through selective attention to information. Once dissonance is experienced, people are motivated to relieve it.

situational (or zeitgeist) theory of leadership

holds that it is the context that is special, not the person, and that the situation itself determines the type of leaders and leadership that will occur. For example, this theory suggests that in the absence of the outbreak of the World War II and Chamberlain's political humiliation by Adolf Hitler at Munich, Winston Churchill would have remained in the shadows and never risen to the rank of British Prime Minister. It was the particular nature of the times and the dire crisis facing Britain (i.e., the hardships of the blitz, Britain's isolation and lack of allies, and the danger of imminent invasion by Germany) that created the stage for the charismatic, strong, uncompromising Churchill to lead. Further, just as the war had created the proper situational context for Churchill's leadership, the end of the war resulted in a dramatically altered context and his defeat in the first postwar national elections in 1945. Thus, it was the convergence of a unique situation with an individual whose personal qualities matched up well with the requirements of that situation that led to the emergence of Churchill's leadership. contrasts with great man theory.

transformational leadership

in which leaders engage their followers in such a way that they raise each other to higher levels of motivation and morality. As Burns (1879: 20) describes it: Transforming leadership ultimately becomes moral in that it raises the level of human conduct and ethical aspiration of both leader and led, and thus it has a transforming effect on both. Perhaps the best modern example is Gandhi, who aroused and elevated the hopes and demands of millions of Indians and whose life and personality were enhanced in the process. Transcending leadership is dynamic leadership in the sense that the leaders throw themselves into a relationship with followers who will feel "elevated" by it and often become more active themselves, thereby creating new cadres of leaders.

affect referral heuristic

is a heuristic in which people vote for a candidate they are both familiar with and whom they regard highly.

viability heuristic

is a selection of a candidate based on the likelihood that he or she will win

the drunkard's search (informational shortcut)

named after the drunkard who loses his keys in the street and looks for them under the lamppost because the light is better there—not because that is where he lost the keys. This is analogous to when people reduce complicated issues and choices among candidates to simple comparisons—because it is easier. This occurs in comparisons of candidates for office, when people use one-dimensional searches, focusing on obvious single issues or candidate characteristics, rather than searching for the complexities of both candidates and issue.

Big Three (motives)

need for achievement, need for power, need for affiliation-intimacy; For example, Winter and Stewart (1977) argued that those high in power and low in affiliation make better presidents. Those high in power also require a far greater degree of personal control over the policy process and the actions of subordinates than do low power personalities. In terms of interpersonal relationships, people high in the need for power exhibit more controlling, domineering behavior towards subordinates than low power people (Winter, 1973, 1987; McClelland, 1985). Motivation and leadership have received attention in Winter's (1987) study of the appeal of American presidents. He argued that a leader's popular appeal (measured by electoral success) is a function of the fit between his motives and those of society.

Big Five (traits)

neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, and conscientiousness; for example those high in neuroticism are characterized as people who worry and are nervous and insecure, whereas those low in neuroticism are calm, secure, and unemotional. People who are high in extraversion are sociable, optimistic, fun loving, and affectionate, while those low in extroversion are quiet, reserved, and aloof. A person high in openness is curious, creative, and has many interests, while one low in openness is conventional and has narrow interests. People high in agreeableness are trusting, good natured, helpful, and soft-hearted, while a person low in agreeableness tends to be cynical, rude, irritable, and uncooperative. Finally, a person high in conscientiousness is organized, hardworking and reliable, while a person low in conscientiousness is aimless, unreliable, negligent, and hedonistic. viewed as superordinate and universal, though there are some gender and cultural differences.

childish games

occurs when individuals communicate something to another person that is familiar and meaningful to them, but not to the person communicated with

normative social influence.

people may have conformed not because they wanted to be correct but instead because they wanted to be liked; this is called normative social influence.

availability heuristic

people predict the likelihood of something based on the ease with which they can think of instances or examples of it, for example, estimating the distribution of As in a political science class based on how many people you can think of who got As in the class last year

Gresham's law of political information (informational shortcut)

personal information can drive more relevant political information out of consideration. Thus there can be a perverse relationship between the amount of information voters are given about a candidate and the amount of information they actually use: a small amount of personal information can dominate a large amount of historical information about a past record.

priming

priming effects occur when the mention of a specific consideration in one context (the prime) increases the accessibility of that consideration, leading to an increase in the use of that trait later in later evaluations of a social target". Because political issues are many in number and extraordinarily complex, people need help in deciding which issues are important and which aspects of those issues need to be attended to. The news media deliver that guidance by priming; that is, pointing out to the public which elements of which issues are important.

norms

refer to expectations about how all group members should behave. Like roles, the formation of norms in a group can be difficult to identify. Some argue that a group's initial behavior can be transformed into norms. Others argue that norms can arise from the expectations for behavior that people bring with them when they join a group.

endorsement heuristic

refers to a shortcut wherein people select a candidate who has been endorsed by people the voter has confidence in.

coverage bias

refers to how much time or space is devoted to a particular story. Fewer lines in a newspaper article, and placement on page 12, will result in less attention to the story.

cohesion

refers to the factors that cause a group member to remain in the group (Festinger, 1950). The importance of cohesion to a group's well-being cannot be underestimated. It exerts powerful effects on a group's longevity. As such, understanding how cohesion in a group develops is important. There are several factors that affect the development of group cohesion. First, the more time group members spend together, the more cohesive they become (Griffith & Greenlees, 1993). Second, the more group members like each other, the more cohesive the group is (Lott & Lott, 1965). Third, groups that are more rewarding to their members are more cohesive (Ruder & Gill, 1982). Fourth, external threats to a group can increase the group's cohesiveness (Dion, 1979). Fifth, groups are more cohesive when leaders encourage feelings of warmth among group members.

group polarization

refers to the tendency for individuals' opinions to become more extreme after discussion than before discussion; For example, if group member A's pregroup-discussion opinion tended to be moderately cautious, then their postgroup-discussion opinion would probably be extremely cautious. Likewise, if group member B's pregroup-discussion opinion was moderately risky, it will become even more risky after group discussion; an explanation for this is based on social comparison processes where when motivated by a need to be viewed positively by other group members, individuals may shift their opinions to a more extreme position; another explanation for group polarization is based on social identity processes where group discussion causes individual group members to focus on the group, which can often lead to pressures toward conformity. Rather than perceiving the average opinion of the group, individual group members often perceive the group's opinion to be more extreme. Pressures to conform lead individuals to adopt a position that is more extreme than their initial position.

social loafing

refers to the tendency of group members to work less hard when in a group than when working alone;

conformity

refers to the tendency to change one's beliefs or behaviors so that they are consistent with the standards set by the group;

spiral conflicts

security dilemmas often lead to spiral conflicts in which each side matches and one-ups the actions taken by the other side. This can produce arms races and other types of aggression that result from misunderstanding each other's motives

confirmation bias

seen when individuals tend to favor information that confirms already-existing beliefs

security dilemmas

situations in which the efforts made by one state to defend itself are simultaneously seen as threatening to its opponents, even if those actions were not intended to be threatening.

agenda setting

strong correlations between quantity of coverage and the importance attributed to issues by the public. "The press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about". People are limited in how much time and attention they can or wish to devote to politics. They rely upon the media to tell them which issues need attention and in what form.

right wing authoritarianism (Altemeyer)

submission to perceived authorities, particularly those in the establishment or established system of governance. That system could be a repressive right wing system, as in Apartheid South Africa, or a communist system as in the People's Republic of China, or a democratic system as in the United States. Hence, right wing authoritarianism can occur in any political system. Altemeyer has developed a Right Wing Authoritarianism Scale (RWA) too. right wing authoritarianism is a product of social learning, a combination of personality predispositions, and life events; poor critical thinking skills, more likely to scapegoat a specific group of people, acceptance of contradictory ideas and an ability to compartmentalize them ignoring the contradictions, see the world as a very dangerous place, are particularly susceptible to the fundamental attribution error, wherein people attribute the behavior of others to internal dispositions and their own behavior to external forces

"great man" theory of leadership

suggests that people who become leaders are special—that they have personal qualities or characteristics that set them apart from nonleaders. According to this line of thinking, Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill were special and would have become great leaders even in the absence of the crises during which they emerged (the American Civil War and World War II, respectively). contrasts with zeitgeist theory

social identity

that part of an individual's self-concept which derives from one's knowledge of one's membership in a social group (groups) together with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership; "us" and "them"; Tajfel and Turner (1979) summarized this theory with three theoretical principles. First, group members strive to achieve or maintain a sense of positive social identity. Second, group members base this social identity on favorable comparisons that can be made between in-group and relevant out-group members. The social categories or groups of which individuals are members provide individuals with a social identity by enabling them to compare their in-group with relevant out-groups. These comparisons are said to contribute to individuals' self-esteem, because they allow individuals to define the members of their group as being better than other groups. In other words, in an attempt to gain a positive sense of self, individuals compare their group with other groups, to create a favorable distinction between the groups. Third, group members will attempt to leave their group or join a more positively distinct group when their social identity is not satisfactory to them. Tajfel and Turner (1979) imply that intergroup discrimination is a result of a motivation to evaluate one's own group more positively than a relevant out-group. By comparing one's in-group to a relevant out-group, individuals attempt to differentiate their group from other groups so that their social identity will be enhanced.

ethnocentrism

the belief that our own ethnic group is superior to all others. The preference for our own ethnic group is so widespread that it seems that all ethnic groups and cultures exhibit this preference; the strength of ethnocentrism might be related to such factors as the economic uncertainty, population density, and the tendencies of political elites.

cognition

the channels through which the mind and the environment first interact. They involve receiving and interpreting information from the outside. They are the mind's computer in that they facilitate the individual's ability to process information, interpret his or her environment, and decide how to act towards it.

competitive style management (Johnson's 3 management styles)

the collegial and competitive styles emphasize less hierarchical organization. On the other hand, the competitive style (Franklin Roosevelt) centers around confrontation, with the leader setting up an organization with overlapping areas of authority to maximize the availability of information and differing perspectives. The emphasis in competitive systems is upon debate and advocacy, with the leader playing the role of final arbiter.

collegial style management (Johnson's 3 management styles)

the collegial and competitive styles emphasize less hierarchical organization. The collegial style (John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton) focuses on working as a team, sharing responsibility, and consensus-building, with an interest in generating options, openness to information, and reaching a doable as well as best decision. Leaders organizing their advisers around the collegial style want to be involved in policymaking and are uncomfortable when they are not in the middle of things.

entiativity

the perception, named entiativity, that refers to the extent to which a collection of people is perceived as a coherent entity. Some groups, such as people in line at a bank, are perceived as being low in entiativity. Other groups, such as members of a family or members of a professional sports team, are perceived as being high in entiativity.

egocentric bias

the tendency of individuals to accept more responsibility for joint outcomes than others attribute to them

positivity effect

the tendency to attribute positive behaviors to dispositional factors and negative behaviors to situational factors with individuals we like

hindsight bias

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it, "i knew it all along"

Anchoring and adjustment

the tendency to judge the frequency or likelihood of an event by using a starting point (called an anchor) and then making adjustments up or down

Ideologue Voter

was considered a political sophisticate in the sense that such a person would presumably be politically aware, could understand and process political information consistently, and would make political choices suitable for their personal, group, and value-based interests.

self-serving bias

when individuals are more likely to take responsibility for successes than failures

transactional leadership

where the leader approaches followers with an eye towards exchanging one valued thing for another (i.e., jobs for votes, subsidies for campaign contributions, etc.).

statement bias

wherein a member of the media inserts his or her own views in the reporting of a story

groupthink

wherein groups attempt to minimize disagreement by promoting conformity; refers to an irrational style of thinking that causes group members to make poor decisions; here are a number of observable features of these groups that provide evidence for the existence of groupthink. First, in all of these decision-making groups, group members felt a strong pressure to conform to the group. There were strong sanctions for disagreeing with other group members or criticizing their opinions. Second, self-censorship was present in most of the groups. Although many group members may have disagreed with the decisions that were being made, they felt pressured to not express these disagreements openly. Third, mindguards in the group prevented group members from learning of new information that might disrupt the flow of the group's proceedings. Fourth, there was an apparent unanimity of opinion. All of the group members seemed to agree with one another. Fifth, illusions of invulnerability allowed group members to feel confident in their decisions. Most group members believed that their judgments could not be wrong. Sixth, illusions of morality prevented group members from ever questioning the morality of their decisions. They believed that because they were a member of an elite decision-making group, all of their decisions were moral and justified. Seventh, group members had a biased perception of the other group. the causes of groupthink. One cause is cohesiveness. When groups are very cohesive, disagreements are typically held to a minimum, creating the perfect conditions for faulty decision making. Another cause of groupthink is isolation. When groups, such as the president's advisory committee, are discussing top-secret issues, they do so in isolation, which prevents outsiders from entering the group to review the group's deliberations. Another cause of groupthink is the presence of a directive leader, who has control over the discussion and can prevent any disagreements from being voiced. Finally, stress can also create symptoms of groupthink.

gatekeeping

wherein the editors or program managers decide which stories will be told. This means that some stories are not reported. This can lead to a bias in favor of the status quo as new perspectives and issues are left unreported.

retrospective voting heuristic

wherein voters make decisions about current candidates for office, based upon those candidates' performance in the past

central traits

which affects people regularly, but not in every situation. An example would be honesty.

secondary traits

which are least important and most irregular in affecting behavior

framing

which refers to when the media not only provides the content but also how to understand and think about it.

social identity

works in units of groups (in-group & out-group). derives from membership in social groups such as nationality, gender, age, race, ethnicity, occupation, and other kinds of group membership