Political Psychology Flashcards
Vamik Volkan’s transgenerational transmission of trauma
Identification with a victimized past can be a powerful force in shaping the collective identity of a group. Just like there is transgenerational trauma transmission in the analogy of Gregory, Peter, and Julie, you can see transgenerational trauma transmission in the people of Serbia 1990s caused in 1381 Battle of Kosovo.
What 5 things does Anthony Downs say the rational man will do?
According to Downs, the rational man will:
Always Makes A Decision
Ranks All The Alternatives In Order Of Preference
Their Preference Ranking Is Transitive
Always Chooses The Highest Ranked Preference
Always Makes The Same Decision When Confronted With The Same Alternatives
What is Phillip Converse’s Social Diffusion?
Social diffusion of “what goes with what” influences voter behaviour. The views of politically aware ‘opinion leaders’ diffuse to those who are less politically aware.
Inheriting beliefs from family and community as social groups play a significant role in shaping political attitudes.
The liberal/conservative yardstick shifts over time, so people can’t define conservative or liberal when asked, despite defining themselves as conservative or liberal. What is considered extreme/ moderate is decided socially. Converse argued that a significant portion of the public lacks a consistent and coherent ideology. Many individuals do not possess a well-organized set of beliefs or a comprehensive political ideology that guides their political decisions, but their preferences may change based on the framing of issues, political events, or the influence of political elites.
Converse suggested that public opinion tends to be issue-specific rather than ideologically driven. People might have preferences on specific issues, but these preferences may not be part of a broader, systematic belief system.
Converse’s 3 Sources of Constraints on Political Belief Change
Logical: Some policies cannot be logically compatible e.g. one cannot believe that government expenditures should be increased, that government revenues should be decreased, and that a more favourable balance of the budget should be achieved all at the same time.
Psychological: Individuals’ cognitive or emotional processes, e.g. biases, emotions, dispositions
Social: Influenced by family, friends, community, identity etc
What are Converse’s 5 levels of conceptualisation?
Ideologues: Consistent political ideology
Near-Ideologues: Near consistent political ideology
Group Interest: Votes on what is best for their community e.g., being a member of a trade union, so voting based on the union position.
Nature of the Times/ Single Issue: Some individuals may base their political decisions on the prevailing circumstances or a single, specific issue rather than a comprehensive ideology. They may prioritize current events or issues they deem particularly important at a given moment
No Issue Content: 20% of people have no concept of political issues, so have no consistent political ideology.
Explain Milton Lodge’s Online Model
Memory-Based Models (Schema theory, Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma, Rational Choice Theory, RAS Model) assume Veridical Recall and Memory Based Evaluation.
People are cognitive misers, so new information is valued and added to a running tally, and an impression is formed, with the original information being forgotten. Thus people may have opinions but may not be able to tell you the specific reason why.
Conflicts with Zaller’s RAS Model as Zaller’s RAS Model emphasizes the importance of pre-existing attitudes in shaping how individuals accept or reject new information. Lodge’s model, on the other hand, underscores the role of immediate contextual cues.
Explain what Axelrod and Kuklinski’s definition of Schema is
Schemas are cognitive structures which channel the way the information is processed. We tend to see, understand, and remember things the way we expect them to b in conformity with our schemas. When new information becomes available, a person tries to fit the new information into the pattern which he has used in the past to interpret information about the same situation.
For something to become part of your schema you must believe it to be a credible source
Zaller’s Memory Based RAS Model
John Zaller posits
* People “receive” political messages in proportion to how cognitively aware they are of political news.
* People “accept” political messages based upon how consistent with their existing ideas, ,uch like when new information aligns with schema, new information which aligns with political predispositions is more likely to be absorbed.
- Zaller posits that the most recent information a person has absorbed is most mentally accessible and decisions are made by averaging this
Therefore, the most recent information a person has received is the most influential in their decision-making.
Given that mass opinion generally reflects elite discourse, if there is elite consensus about a
policy, then the greater the level of a person’s political awareness, the greater the likelihood of their support for the mainstream policy.
What is Edward Thorndike’s Law of Effect?
The Law of Effect states that responses that are followed by a satisfying outcome in a particular situation are more likely to be repeated, while responses that are followed by discomfort or dissatisfaction are less likely to be repeated.
Critics suggest that the Law of Effect reduces behaviour to a series of stimulus-response associations, neglecting higher-order cognitive processes and internal states. Human behaviour is often influenced by complex cognitive processes such as perception, memory, reasoning, and language, which may not be adequately accounted for by the Law of Effect.
Similarly, twins who have a very similar upbringing may lead very very different lives.
What is Behaviourism?
Behaviourism is a theory of learning based on the idea that all behaviours are acquired through conditioning, and conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment.
Behaviourists believe that our actions are shaped by environmental stimuli.
What is Jim Sidanius’ theory of Social Dominance Orientation?
SDO is a theory to explain why humans forms groups, hierarchies, and why they seek to oppress other social groups. Indeed, people with high level of SDO (usually men due to testosterone) favour in-group members and are hostile to out-group members as they perceive them as competition for scarce resources (RGCM)
Legitimising myths are used to justify the prejudice and oppression, and symbolic racism shows how despite consciously supporting equality people will consistently oppose policies which would increase it.
What are 3 functions of Lewis’ Reptilian Brain?
- Primitive instincts (fight, flight, mating)
- Temperature Regulation
- Glandular system e.g., Pineal Gland to regulate melatonin production.
What are 3 functions of Lewis’ Limbic (Mammalian) Brain?
- Arousal
- Memory as incudes Hippocampus. The Hippocampus is larger in London taxi drivers due to memorising The Knowledge.
- Emotion and Limbic Resonance (Empathy)
What are 3 functions of Lewis’ Neo-Cortex (Primate) Brain?
- Sleep, memory and learning processes.
- It is also involved in instrumental conditioning; responsible for transmitting sensory information and information about plans for movement to the basal ganglia
- Abstraction, allows for humans to understand language
What is behavioural assymetry?
Behavioural Asymmetry: systematic outgroup favouritism or deference (minorities favour hegemony individuals, such as Jesse Jackson being concerned that a Black man is following him, but relieved when it’s a white man)
