scholarly journals Can political speech foster tolerance of immigrants?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Petra Schleiter ◽  
Margit Tavits ◽  
Dalston Ward
Keyword(s):  
Political Speech ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
Group Norm ◽  
Large Samples ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
And Behavior

Abstract Politicians frequently use political speech to foster hostility toward immigrants, a strategy that shapes political preferences and behavior and feeds the success of the populist right. Whether political speech can be used to foster tolerance of immigrants, however, remains unexplored. We identify three mechanisms by which political speech could increase tolerance: (1) stressing in-group conceptions that highlight commonalities with immigrants; (2) emphasizing inclusiveness as an in-group norm; and (3) providing information that counters anti-immigrant stereotypes. Using quotes from US politicians in two survey experiments, we find that pro-immigrant speech that stresses inclusive norms or counters negative stereotypes about immigrants leads to more tolerant attitudes (but not behavior) toward immigrants. These effects are small and detectable only in large samples.

The Appearance of Corruption

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daron R. Shaw ◽  
Brian E. Roberts ◽  
Mijeong Baek
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Campaign Finance ◽  
Behavioral Model ◽  
Political Speech ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Political Opinions ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
The U.S

The sanctity of political speech is a key element of the U.S. Constitution and a cornerstone of the American republic. When the Supreme Court linked political speech to campaign finance in its landmark Buckley v. Valeo (1976) decision, the modern era of campaign finance regulation was born. In practical terms, this decision meant that in order to pass constitutional muster, any laws limiting money in politics must be narrowly tailored and serve a compelling state interest. The lone state interest the Court was willing to entertain was the mitigation of corruption. In order to reach this argument the Court advanced a sophisticated behavioral model, one with key assumptions about how laws will affect voters’ opinions and behavior. These assumptions have received surprisingly little attention in the literature. This book takes up the task of identifying and analyzing empirically the Court’s presumed links between campaign finance regulations and political opinions and behavior. In so doing, we rely on original survey data and experiments from 2009–2016 to openly confront the question of what happens when the Supreme Court is wrong, and when the foundation of over forty years of jurisprudence is simply not true.

Rebuttals as deracializing strategies for African American and white candidates

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Matthew Tokeshi
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Racial Attitudes ◽  
Racial Politics ◽  
Central Line ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
Campaign Strategy ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
Campaign Messages ◽  
Racial Cues

Abstract The study of American racial politics has long focused on the conditions that activate racial animosity. A central line of research demonstrates that campaign messages that highlight negative stereotypes of African Americans can activate whites' racial attitudes. However, little is known about whether this activation can be overcome. I develop a theory of racial deactivation and test its predictions with two survey experiments. I find that explicitly criticizing the racial nature of an attack restores support for white candidates, but not African American candidates. However, African American and white candidates fare equally well using two rebuttal styles: a credible, non-racial justification of the attacked action or an explicit racial critique combined with the justification. The results have implications for how race affects campaigns, the susceptibility of the American public to racial cues, and campaign strategy.

Why Won't Lola Run? An Experiment Examining Stereotype Threat and Political Ambition

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (02) ◽  
pp. 232-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Pruysers ◽  
Julie Blais
Keyword(s):  
Stereotype Threat ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Political Behavior ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Political Ambition ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
Psychology Literature ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior

Among the most well-documented and long-standing gender gaps in political behavior are those relating to political ambition, as men have consistently been shown to express a significantly higher level of political ambition than women. Although this gap is well established, the reasons for the differences between men and women remain largely unknown. One possible explanation is that negative stereotypes about women's political ability are responsible. Stereotype threat, as it is referred to in the psychology literature, is a phenomenon where individuals of a social group suffer cognitive burdens and anxiety after being exposed to negative stereotypes that relate to their identity. These disruptions have been shown to alter attitudes and behavior. In order to test this possibility, we employed an experimental design whereby we randomly assigned 501 undergraduate students into threat and nonthreat conditions. While men exhibited higher levels of political ambition in both conditions, women in the nonthreat condition expressed significantly higher levels of political ambition than those women who were exposed to negative stereotypes. The results of this study therefore suggest that the gender gap in political ambition may be partly explained by negative stereotypes about women in politics.

scholarly journals Reconsidering the Link Between Self-Reported Personality Traits and Political Preferences

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
BERT N. BAKKER ◽  
YPHTACH LELKES ◽  
ARIEL MALKA
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Causal Influence ◽  
Self Perceptions ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Psychological Attributes ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
Concurrent Assessment

Research on personality and political preferences generally assumes unidirectional causal influence of the former on the latter. However, there are reasons to believe that citizens might adopt what they perceive as politically congruent psychological attributes, or at least be motivated to view themselves as having these attributes. We test this hypothesis in a series of studies. Results of preregistered panel analyses in three countries suggest reciprocal causal influences between self-reported personality traits and political preferences. In two two-wave survey experiments, a subtle political prime at the beginning of a survey resulted in self-reported personality traits that were more aligned with political preferences gauged in a previous assessment. We discuss how concurrent assessment within the context of a political survey might overestimate the causal influence of personality traits on political preferences and how political polarization might be exacerbated by political opponents adopting different personality characteristics or self-perceptions thereof.

Taking Psychoanalytic and Psychometric Perspectives toward a Binocular Vision of Religion

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-85
Author(s):  
Barbara Keller
Keyword(s):  
Hypothesis Testing ◽  
Current Psychology ◽  
Religious Experience ◽  
Binocular Vision ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Psychology Of Religion ◽  
Individual Experience ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Large Samples ◽  
And Behavior

Abstract Current psychology of religion relies mostly on quantitative psychometric approaches for the description, explanation, or prediction of religious experience and behavior, risking narrow reifications of operational definitions and neglect of individual experience. Psychoanalytic concepts are rarely addressed, due to being seen as lacking a scientific foundation, such as hypothesis testing based on large samples. Psychoanalysts have been slow to discuss religion without suspicion of pathology. Recently, psychoanalysts have broadened their empirical work and a “narrative turn” is discernible in developmental and personality psychology, allowing the inclusion of subjective perspectives. Drawing on these developments a rapprochement of psychodynamic and psychometric approaches is suggested to gain more depth of vision. Examples are given for the areas of development, personality, and psychotherapy.

Are Black Restaurant Servers Tipped Less Than White Servers? Three Experimental Tests of Server Race Effects on Customers’ Tipping Behaviors

2021 ◽  
pp. 193896552110366
Author(s):  
Zachary W. Brewster ◽  
Kenneth Gourlay ◽  
Gerald Roman Nowak
Keyword(s):  
Causal Effect ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Small Samples ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Large Samples ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
Race Effects ◽  
Widespread Phenomenon ◽  
The Relationship

A limited number of published studies have presented evidence indicating that restaurant customers discriminate against Black servers by tipping them less than their White coworkers. However, the cross-sectional, localized, and small samples that were analyzed in these extant studies do not support any unqualified claim that consumer racial discrimination in tipping practices is a widespread phenomenon. Thus, in an effort to further clarify the relationship between restaurant servers’ race and customers’ tipping practices, we present results from three survey experiments designed to assess the causal effect of servers’ race on customers’ tipping intentions. In three independent, demographically diverse, and relatively large samples of U.S. consumers, we found no evidence to conclude that all else being equal consumers discriminate against Black restaurant servers by tipping them less than comparable White servers. Furthermore, the null effects of servers’ race on customers’ tipping practices were not found to be sensitive to variation in service quality, dining satisfaction, servers’ sex, customers’ sex, or customers’ race. Our results challenge the generalizability of the previously observed server race effects on customers’ tipping practices and point toward the need for future research that aims to advance our understanding of the conditions under which customers’ tipping practices are sensitive to the perceived race of their server. The implications of our results for restaurant operations and directions for future research are also discussed.

scholarly journals Rethinking the Link Between Self-Reported Personality Traits and Political Preferences

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bert N. Bakker ◽  
Yphtach Lelkes ◽  
Ariel Malka
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Causal Influence ◽  
Self Perceptions ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Psychological Attributes ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
Concurrent Assessment

Research on personality and political preferences generally assumes unidirectional causal influence of the former on the latter. However, there are reasons to believe that citizens might adopt what they perceive as politically congruent psychological attributes, or at least be motivated to view themselves as having these attributes. We test this hypothesis in a series of studies. Results of preregistered panel analyses in three countries suggest reciprocal causal influences between self-reported personality traits and political preferences. In two two-wave survey experiments, a subtle political prime at the beginning of a survey resulted in self-reported personality traits that were more aligned with political preferences gauged in a previous assessment. We discuss how concurrent assessment within the context of a political survey might overestimate the causal influence of personality traits on political preferences, and how political polarization might be exacerbated by political opponents adopting different personality characteristics or self-perceptions thereof.

scholarly journals Terrorism and Voting: The Effect of Rocket Threat on Voting in Israeli Elections

2014 ◽  
Vol 108 (3) ◽  
pp. 588-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNA GETMANSKY ◽  
THOMAS ZEITZOFF
Keyword(s):  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
The Gaza Strip ◽  
The Right ◽  
And Behavior

How does the threat of becoming a victim of terrorism affect voting behavior? Localities in southern Israel have been exposed to rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip since 2001. Relying on variation across time and space in the range of rockets, we identify the effect of this threat on voting in Israeli elections. We first show that the evolution of the rockets’ range leads to exogenous variation in the threat of terrorism. We then compare voting in national elections within and outside the rockets’ range. Our results suggest that the right-wing vote share is 2 to 6 percentage points higher in localities that are within the range—a substantively significant effect. Unlike previous studies that explore the role of actual exposure to terrorism on political preferences and behavior, we show that the mere threat of an attack affects voting.

scholarly journals Russia in Anticipation of Changes: Religious Factor and Socio-political Preferences

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria M. Mchedlova ◽  
Elena N. Kofanova
Keyword(s):  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Public Consciousness ◽  
Religious Factor ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
The One ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Sociological Studies

The religious factor is now at the focus of theoretical and public discussions, addressing the issues of understanding and evaluation of its manifestation forms in various spheres of society: intra-Church, private, public and political. Numerous research focuses account for the variability of interpretations of how the religious factor impacts the political process, in Russia among other countries. The political connotations of the religious factor in relation to the domestic political sphere imply identification of its impact on the nature of socio-political demands, assessment of the situation in the country, visions of development, unity or demarcation lines in public consciousness and behavior. Demand for change in Russian society is shared by all religious and ideological groups, which is confirmed by sociological studies. This demand manifests itself in a plea to reform the political system to achieve greater openness on the one hand, and provide social guarantees, as well as ensure efficient institutional functioning, on the other. The issue of political subjectivity and readiness for certain actions demonstrates unequal activism among representatives of various religious and ideological groups. Filling the image of the desired future with the meanings of social justice related not only to common access to basic social benefits, but also to equality of all before the law, ensuring democracy and human rights, as well as universal geopolitical meaning, confirms the shared nature of the main socio-political parameters. These parameters demonstrate that there are no deep ideological obstacles on the way to articulation of common interests, which are aimed at socio-political changes or maintaining traditional foundations. In the context of Russian multi-religious society, which coexists with secular identities, the conclusion above is of key importance for ensuring social consolidation. The article is based on data from a nationwide representative survey of the Institute of Sociology 2018 (No. 4000), in which the authors personally participated.

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