POLI 100M: Poli-cal Psychology Lecture 3: Poli-cal Par-cipa-on and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

POLI 100M: Poli-cal Psychology

Lecture 3: Poli-cal Par-cipa-on and Vo-ng Taylor N. Carlson Aeenstr@ucsd.edu

Announcements

• Grade contracts due today!
• Short Assignment 1 is due next -me – any

ques-ons about this?

• Remember that you must complete 1 reading

commentary per week, submiQed to TritonEd.

• Office Hours: Tuesday 2:30-4:30 in SSB 341, or

by appointment

Last Time

• Personality

– Big Five personality traits: openness, conscien-ousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuro-cism/emo-onal stability – Connec-ons to poli-cal behavior, especially extraversion (engagement) and openness (engagement and a^tudes)

• Gene-cs

– Some poli-cal a^tudes and behaviors are heritable! – Nature AND Nurture

• Psychophysiology

– Mind-body connec-on; not so missing link between gene-cs and poli-cal behavior – Can explain certain poli-cal a^tudes (ideology, immigra-on) and engagement in some ac-vi-es (poli-cal discussion)

What ques-ons do you have?

Today: Driving Ques-ons

• What are the psychological mo-va-ons

behind why people vote and par-cipate in poli-cs?

• What are the psychological mo-va-ons

behind how individuals choose which candidates to support?

Today: Learning Outcomes

• 1. Iden-fy common forms of poli-cal par-cipa-on
• 2. Explain the resource model of poli-cal

par-cipa-on

• 3. Explain the psychological correlates of poli-cal

par-cipa-on

• 4. Describe the most common ways in which

individuals choose candidates to support

• 5. Evaluate whether these psychological factors

that mo-vate vo-ng behavior are more or less influen-al than other factors, such as resources

Poli-cal Par-cipa-on

How do we par-cipate in poli-cs?

• Which of these ac-vi-es do you think are the

most common?

• How many of these ac-vi-es have you done?
• Which of these ac-vi-es do you think are the

most important?

Poli-cal Par-cipa-on in the US

Source: US Elec-on Project electproject.org

Source: US Elec-on Project electproject.org

Source: US Elec-on Project electproject.org

Source: US Elec-on Project electproject.org

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

Why do people par-cipate in poli-cs?

• Brady, Verba, & Schlozman (1995) would ask

instead: Why don’t people take part in poli-cs?

– Because they can’t – Because they don’t want to – Because nobody asked

Why do(n’t) people par-cipate in poli-cs?

• Brady, Verba, & Schlozman (1995): Par-cipa-on for

different ac-vi-es is mo-vated by different things

• Vo-ng:

– Driven by interest, civic skills maQer – Income and -me are less important

• Dona-ng money:

– Driven by income – Time and civic skills don’t maQer

• Volunteering and other poli-cal ac-vi-es:

– Driven by interest, civic skills maQer the most, -me also maQers – Income doesn’t maQer

A Resource Model of Poli-cal Par-cipa-on

• Those who have resources par-cipate!
• Ini-ally focused on resources like money

– Focused on why low-SES individuals par-cipated less

• Newer Version: Resources include

– Time – Money – Civic skills

What’s missing?

Think back to the reasons why people don’t par-cipate…

• Because they can’t
• Because they don’t want to
• Because nobody asked

Personality and Par-cipa-on

• Contac-ng Elected Officials

– More extraverted more, likely to contact – More open to experience, more likely to contact – More conscien-ous, less likely to contact – More emo-onally stable, less likely to contact

Personality and Par-cipa-on

• Par-cipa-ng in Campaigns

– Social Ac-vi-es

• Examples:

– Try to convince someone to vote for/against a candidate – Work for a candidate or party – AQend campaign mee-ngs or rallies

• More extraverted, more likely to aQend rallies
• More open, more likely to convince others to vote for a

candidate

• More open, more likely to work for a party/candidate

Personality and Par-cipa-on

– Individualis-c Ac-vi-es

• Examples:

– Put up a yard sign/bumper s-cker/campaign buQon – Contributed to a party or candidate – Give money to a poli-cal group

• More open, more likely to contribute money
• More open, more likely to put up a yard sign/bumper

s-cker/campaign buQon

• No effects for extraversion or other Big 5 traits

Personality and Par-cipa-on

• Mondak (2010) finds no rela-onship between

the Big 5 traits and vo-ng

• No rela-onship between Conflict Orienta-on

and vo-ng

• Other personality traits maQer!

– Social Anxiety: those who are socially anxious are less likely to vote

Personality and Par-cipa-on: Summary

• Extraversion affects the social forms of

par-cipa-on, but not the individualis-c forms

• Openness affects nearly all forms of

par-cipa-on except vo-ng

• Conscien-ousness, Agreeableness, and

Emo-onal Stability/Neuro-cism have inconsistent effects on par-cipa-on

• Vo-ng seems less strongly influenced by

personality

Gene-cs and Par-cipa-on

• Fowler & Dawes (2008) show that there is a

gene-c component to vo-ng

• Loewen & Dawes (2012) show that

considering vo-ng a duty is heritable, which could be the mechanism that explains the heritability of vo-ng

• Remember that it’s Genes AND Environment,

though!

Stress and Par-cipa-on

• Cor-sol is released in response to stress
• Cor-sol levels are higher on elec-on days than on non-

elec-on days (Waismel-Manor et al. 2011)

• Cor-sol levels in supporters of losing candidates are

elevated compared to cor-sol levels of supporters of winning candidates (Stanton et al. 2010)

• Those with higher baseline cor-sol levels are less likely

to vote (French et al. 2014)

Stress and Par-cipa-on

• Hassell & SeQle (2017) find that when

triggered to consider life stressors unrelated to poli-cs, individuals without a history of past par-cipa-on are less likely to vote.

Emo-ons and Par-cipa-on

• Recall that poli-cs is emo-onal!
• Anger is poli-cally mobilizing

– Weber (2013) finds that poli-cal messages that evoke anger increase inten-ons to par-cipate

• Fear leads to greater aQen-on to poli-cal

informa-on (Brader 2005)

• Enthusiasm leads to a larger reliance on habit

(Brader 2005)

Psychology and Poli-cal Par-cipa-on: Summary

• Poli-cal par-cipa-on is more than just

resources!

• Individual differences impact poli-cal

par-cipa-on

– Personality: mostly extraversion and openness – Gene-c predisposi-ons toward vo-ng and correlates of vo-ng – Stress depresses turnout – Some emo-ons (anger, fear) are mobilizing, while

• thers are not (sadness, some-mes enthusiasm)

5 minute break

Vote Choice

Choosing a Candidate

• Why do individuals choose to vote for certain

candidates?

• What are the psychological explana-ons for

how individuals choose which candidate to support?

Classic Explana-ons of Vote Choice

• Retrospec-ve Vo-ng: vote for incumbents who have

performed well in the past term in office

– Are you beQer off now than you were 4 years ago?

• Prospec-ve Vo-ng: vote for candidates who you think

will best represent your interests in the future

– Example: Single issues—vote for the candidate whose posi-on is closest to yours on an issue you care about

• Informa-on Shortcuts (Heuris-cs):

– Opinion Leaders—other people give you vo-ng advice – Candidate Traits—gender, race, personality, trustworthiness – Party Iden-fica-on—the ul-mate cue of policy posi-ons

Influence of Party ID

• Party Iden-fica-on is the best single predictor
• f vote choice in federal elec-ons
• From 1952-2016, about ¾ of presiden-al

voters were self-iden-fied par-sans suppor-ng their party’s candidates

What is Party Iden-fica-on?

• An informa-on shortcut

– Reflects someone’s level of policy agreement with the two par-es – “Running tally” of performance evalua-ons of the par-es in office

• A strong psychological aQachment
• A social iden-ty

Party Iden-fica-on as a Social Iden-ty

• Social iden-fica-on involves comparing a

judgment about yourself with your percep-on

• f a social group
• What kinds of social groups come to mind as I

think about Democrats? Republicans? Independents?

• What social groups do I iden-fy with?

Party Iden-fica-on as a Social Iden-ty

Group Descrip,ons of Republicans Group Descrip,ons of Democrats Republican Respondents Big Business Forward thinking Able leadership Minori-es Democrat Respondents Big Business Minori-es Forward thinking Able leadership

Why is party ID so influen-al?

• Powerful informa-on shortcut (more on this next -me)
• Operates as a “perceptual screen”

– Ignore or reinterpret informa-on that goes against their party (more on this next -me) – Mo-vated reasoning (more on this next -me)

• Individuals are psychologically mo-vated to be

consistent

– Stability of party iden-fica-on; desire to vote along party lines

• Social pressure stemming from others in your social

network (more on this later)

Vote Choice: Summary

• Classic theories of vote choice:

– Retrospec-ve vo-ng – Prospec-ve vo-ng – Informa-on shortcuts (opinion leaders, candidate traits, party iden-fica-on)

• Choosing a candidate can be cogni-vely taxing, so

some-mes we use informa-on shortcuts to choose a candidate

• Party ID is the most influen-al predictor of vote choice

in federal elec-ons

• Debate over what party ID is, maybe a social iden-ty
• Many reasons why party ID is influen-al over the vote

5 minute break

Bringing it all together

• Get into groups of 3-4 people
• I will assign you a ques-on and a posi-on
• Your job is to come up with the best argument

you can defending your assigned posi-on

• One person from your group should write

down your argument and turn it in