1st quiz Flashcards
what measures can be used to quantify polarisation - 6
- range/spread
- coverage
- group consensus
- distinctiveness (overlap)
- Variance/dispersion
- Divergence
describe what does a distribution with a large/small range/spread look like
a distribution with a large spread has tails that are far apart
a distrubution with a low spread has tails close together
does a system with a large range necessarily have more responders on the extremes?
explain
no , because the disterubution can just be a bi-modal distribution and there is no direct measure of bimodality
- The distribution of responders within that range depends on the shape of the distribution, not just the range itself.
- A large range means that the system spans a wide variety of values, but it does not tell you how those values are distributed
what kind of coverage indicates stronger polarization
more empty spaces in between the clusters suggests stronger polarisation
will the range be the same independently of the actual polarisation
yes, because its about the distance of the tails
what is distinctiveness
how much overlap is there between your groups?
- more distinctiveness means more polarisation
Divergence
* More or less for more polarization?
how far away are centers of the groups from each other?
- more
Group consensus
- how much diversity is there within each group?
- variance within each group
- More consensus within each group for more polarization?
what are the Types of polarization
- Ideological polarization
- Elite polarization
- Affective polarization
- Social polarization
- Ideological polarization
“The extent to which citizens become ideologically entrenched in their own values and political beliefs (group consensus), thereby increasing the divide between citizens who hold different values and beliefs
(divergence)”
Ideological polarization is the increasing division of beliefs, values, and opinions into opposing extremes, with little middle ground or overlap between them. through group consensus and divergence
- Elite polarization
In elite polarisation, elites grow more ideologically distant from each other and more internally homogeneous
* Can emerge as extremism in politicians
* For example, rejection of compromise and collaborative governance
* refers to the growing ideological distance and divergence in opinions, policies, and attitudes between political elites,
- Affective polarization
- Belief in moral superiority of own ideology
- dislike of the “others”
- Social polarization
- can be abt income, wealth, housing, healthcare…
- Social polarization is the process by which a society becomes increasingly divided into distinct and opposing groups, often along lines like race, class, religion, or political beliefs, leading to a decline in social cohesion and increased tension between these groups.
what are the consequences of ideological polarisation
overconfidence in own knowledge, less actual knoiwledge and general overclaiming- result in voting against
Why do people become polarized?
- Individual traits
- Contextual factors
- Cognitive architecture
what are the individual factors that influence polarisation of that individual
Epistemic motivation
- need for a predictable and simple world view, need for closure
Cognitive flexibility
- The ability to flexibly switch perspectives, focus of
attention, or response mappings - lower cognitive flexibility is related to political extremism.
- strong epistemic motivation and lack of cognitive flexibility are found in extremes of a plitical spectrum
what are the contextual factors that influence polarisation of an individual
- Social connections - Provide new information, feedback on (un)acceptable behavior, model behavior etc
- Online- Filter bubble
- Offline - Community
- Echo chambers
what are the cognitive processes involved in polarisation (cognitive architecture)
- Motivated reasoning - How people assess/ incorporate new information about societal issues seems to depend on their preexisting beliefs, goal is to maintain a positive self concept, avoid stress… not to have a full representation
- Attention - Top-down attention: choosing what to focus on in the outside world - Political affiliation influences how long you look at political information - you choose to foucus on the thigs that agree with ur opinion
- Language perception - words are processed differently based on ones political beliefs
- Emotional processing - our faces show emotions wich through an algorithm that detects them can be used to predict voting
what does the death penalty study concur
partcipants read exactly the same information
- But pre-existing beliefs radically change the effect of that information.
- example of motivated reasoning
why measuring polarisation with the range of the distrubtion mght not be the best option
the range only tells us about how far apart are the tails of the distribution. That does not necessarily mean that there are more people on the extremens, that there is a bi modal distribution, whic indicates polarisation, there might just be a wide normal distribution
how to measure polarisation when the groups that might be(coming more) extreme are not identified, or difficult to identify
with range, coverage and variance
how to measure polarization when you have identified groups that play a role in ur polarisation
distinctiveness, divergence, group concensuss
what is political polarisation
the extent to which citizens hold strong and moralized attitudes about political and societal issues
populism
political mentality that construdes sociaety as a fight between the corrupt elite and the noble people
