Lecture 14 Flashcards
What is “bottom-up” approach to understanding ideology?
“Bottom-up”: ideologies tend to reflect this. It is underlying psychological needs and motives that influence an individual’s receptiveness to specific ideological positions. If you’re somebody who is easily startled that would predispose you to be on the political right. If “bottom-up” is true, then a conservative is a conservative in every culture and political context!
How should “bottom-up” approach help with the WEIRD problem?
We think that ideologies tend to reflect “bottom-up” and therefore, we hope that we can avoid the “WEIRD” problem because our findings should fit every culture.
What is the “top-down” approach to understanding ideology?
Acquisition of political attitudes through exposure to ideological bundles that are socially constructed by political elites. If these are really important for shaping ideology, we probably wouldn’t have much expectations along these lines.
What are the three major components of authoritarianism?
Authoritarianism (high scores on these three)
- A preference for convention
- Submission to established authorities
- Willingness to punish social deviants
What is the relation between authoritarians and authoritarianism?
When you access authoritarians, they will score high on authoritarianism.
What is social dominance orientation?
This is about thinking it is okay to be feel better than others. That social differences are okay.
What is the relation between authoritarianism, social dominance orientation and “left-right” dimension?
If you’re high on authoritarianism and high on social dominance orientation, you are likely to be a Republican.
What are the people who oppose social change?
Right-wing authoritarianism.
What are the people who oppose equality?
High in social dominance orientation
What is the relation between authoritarianism and unique environment?
Unique environment account for 33 % and 41 % of the variance in authoritarianism.
Is authoritarianism stable over time?
Yes - just as personality becomes increasingly stable with age.
How does university students change in their authoritarianism?
There are tendencies for university students to change about authoritarianism where people get more left-winged than when they started on university. It makes it more exploratory and therefore more likely to get a shift into a non-authoritarianism view. It’s viewed more as a peer effect other than a professor effect! It’s consistent that there is some change through one’s education.
What Big Five traits are related to conservatism?
Negative openness, positive conscientiousness.
Who are most conservatism - educated or non-educated 20 years old?
20-year olds are less conservative when they’re educated than 20-year olds that never got an education.
People with less education will begin parenthood earlier than educated people. There is some kind of shift here (when getting children) that get you to move to the right.
When have right-ward shifts happened?
- Occurred among high-exposure survivors of 9/11
- May occur in society at large during times of distress
- May occur with parenthood