POLI 100M: Poli-cal Psychology Lecture 2: Individual Differences Taylor N. Carlson Beenstr@ucsd.edu
Announcements • Grade contracts due on Tuesday! Any ques-ons about this? • Remember that you must complete 1 reading commentary per week, submiPed to TritonEd. • Office Hours: Tuesday 2:30-4:30 in SSB 341, or by appointment
Last Time • Syllabus overview • What is poli-cal psychology? Why do we study it? • The components of the Poli-cal Being • How do we study poli-cal psychology? – Surveys – Psychophysiological data – Experiments (lab and field) – Correla-on ≠ Causa-on
What ques-ons do you have?
Today: Driving Ques-ons • How do individual psychological or biological differences impact poli-cal behavior? – Personality – Gene-cs – Psychophysiology • Why should we care about individual differences as they relate to poli-cal behavior?
Today: Learning Outcomes 1. Iden-fy the Big 5 Personality Characteris-cs 2. Iden-fy some of the key forms of poli-cal behavior that correlate with different personality types and explain the intui-on behind these correla-ons 3. List some poli-cal behaviors and abtudes that correlate with gene-cs 4. Iden-fy the main psychophysiological measures used to study poli-cal behavior and why they are useful 5. Describe some of the rela-onships between psychophysiology and poli-cal behavior 6. Evaluate why we should care about individual differences in personality, psychophysiology, and gene-cs as they relate to poli-cal behavior
Personality
What is personality? • Many defini-ons! • Important and rela-vely stable aspects of a person that account for consistent paPerns of behavior that may be observable or unobservable, conscious or unconscious • In poli-cal psychology, we’re mainly interested in how personality traits predict poli-cal behaviors and abtudes – Par-sanship – Vote choice – Whether to vote or par-cipate in poli-cs – Informa-on seeking – Engagement in poli-cal discussions – Many more!
What is personality? • Important and rela-vely stable aspects of a person that account for consistent paPerns of behavior that may be observable or unobservable, conscious or unconscious • Broad defini-on! Want to think about more concrete traits that we can use to describe and predict behavior • What traits have you heard of?
The Big Five 1. O penness to Experience 2. C onscien-ousness 3. E xtraversion 4. A greeableness 5. N euro-cism
Source: Boundless. "The Five-Factor Model." Boundless Psychology Boundless, 20 Sep. 2016. Retrieved 12 Jul. 2017 from hPps://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/personality-16/trait-perspec-ves-on- personality-79/the-five-factor-model-311-12846/
Openness What poli-cal behaviors or abtudes are linked to openness? • Liberal/Democrat • Conserva-ve/Republican • More engagement • Less engagement • Seek more informa-on • Seek less informa-on • Par-cipate more in poli-cal • Par-cipate less in poli-cal discussions discussions • Pay more aPen-on • Pay less aPen-on • More poli-cally knowledgeable • Less poli-cally knowledgeable • More opinionated • Less opinionated
Conscien-ousness What poli-cal behaviors or abtudes are linked to conscien-ousness? • Liberal/Democrat • Conserva-ve/Republican • More poli-cal knowledge • Low poli-cal knowledge • Par-cipate more in • Par-cipate less in poli-cal poli-cal discussions discussion
Extraversion What poli-cal behaviors or abtudes are linked to extraversion? • Watch the news less • Watch the news more • Less opinionated • More opinionated • Par-cipate less in poli-cal • Par-cipate more in discussions poli-cal discussions • Par-cipate more in • Par-cipate more in social individual poli-cal poli-cal ac-vi-es ac-vi-es
Agreeableness What poli-cal behaviors or abtudes are linked to agreeableness? • High poli-cal knowledge • Low poli-cal knowledge • Pay more aPen-on to poli-cs • Pay less aPen-on to poli-cs • More opinionated • Less opinionated • More engaged • Less engaged • Par-cipate more in poli-cal • Par-cipate less in poli-cal discussions discussions • Don’t support welfare policies • Support welfare policies • Don’t support interna-onal • Support interna-onal coopera-on coopera-on
Neuro-cism What poli-cal behaviors or abtudes are linked to neuro-cism? • Less collec-ve ac-on • More collec-ve ac-on • Slightly more liberal/ • Slightly more Democra-c conserva-ve/Republican • More opinionated • Less opinionated
The Big Five Summary • Openness and Extraversion have the strongest influences over poli-cal outcomes • Agreeableness, conscien-ousness, and neuro-cism influence some behaviors, but generally are inconsistent
Other Personality Traits • Poli-cal psychologists also examine other personality characteris-cs, such as: – Social anxiety – Authoritarianism – Conflict avoidance – Willingness to self-censor – Need for cogni-on • The Big Five are s-ll the main focus
Ques-ons?
5 minute break
Biopoli-cs Gene-cs, Psychophysiology, and Poli-cs
Why Biology? • Broadly, why do we do what we do? • What makes us who we are? • Nature vs. Nurture • Both biology and our environment influence poli-cal behaviors
An Evolu-onary Theory of Poli-cal Behavior • “Allows for the combina-on of familial socializa-on, cultural norms, environmental s-muli, ra-onal ac-on, and endogenous or innate influences…” (Hatemi & McDermoP 2011) – Allows us to predict how individuals vary in their poli-cal behavior – Biological and Environmental factors work together
Gene-cs
Gene-cs: Some Background • Gene: the func-onal and physical unit of heredity passed from parent to offspring • Video Clip: American Society of Human Gene-cs • Many human traits (height, hair color, eye color) can be inherited from parents – Complex traits are impacted by both genes and the environment
Example: Height • Both parents are really tall (genes) • Child never eats fruit, vegetables, protein, etc. (environment) • Child might not be as tall as his/her gene-c poten-al I’m even standing on a rock…
Genes and the Environment • Gene-c makeup is constant throughout our lives • Genes alone do not determine our future • All genes work in the context of our environment
Twin Studies
Twin Studies • Iden-cal twins have the same gene-c makeup • Ideal way to test genes vs. environment? – Twin Studies! • Raised in the same household (share environment) • Raised in different households (different environment) • Iden-cal twins raised apart have about an equal chance of being similar to each other in terms of personality, interests, and abtudes as iden-cal twins raised together.
Gene-cs + Poli-cs = Genopoli-cs • Genes + environment influence our behavior and abtudes • Poli/cal behavior and abtudes too!
Genopoli-cs: Abtudes • Shared genes can explain up to 50% of the variance in the following poli-cal abtudes: – Immigra-on – Death penalty – Euthanasia – Conserva-sm – Authoritarianism
Genopoli-cs: Behavior • The following poli-cal behaviors are in part heritable: – Being a leader – Religiosity (how oven you aPend religious services, how religiously observant you are) – Voter par-cipa-on – Poli-cal intensity – Par-san aPachment (how strongly you feel aPached to your poli-cal party)
Genopoli-cs: Key Points • Voter preferences are not simply a func-on of one’s issue posi-ons, party affilia-on, or level of informa-on (environmental) • Rather, they reflect elements influenced by one’s gene-c makeup too • Genes do not determine poli-cal abtudes or behavior (there isn’t a “voter gene” or a “conserva-ve gene”), but with the environment they can have an impact
Ques-ons?
Psychophysiology
Psychophysiology • “The scien-fic study of cogni-ve, emo-onal, and behavioral phenomena as related to and revealed through physiological principles and events” (Cacioppo & Tassinary 1990) • Assump-on: human thought, emo-on, and ac-ons are physiologically embodied
Psychophysiology • Psychological states have a physiological basis – When you experience fear, what does your body do? – When you experience anxiety, what does your body do? • Changes in our bodies are in some way related to changes in our psychological states • Mind-body connec-on is a route through which gene-cs could impact social abtudes and behavior
Psychophysiology: the not so missing link Poli-cal abtudes Genes & behavior
Psychophysiology: the not so missing link Poli-cal abtudes Genes Physiology & behavior
Psychophysiological Measurement • Recall from Lecture 1: What are some things that we can measure when doing psychophysiological research?
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