POWRE: Political Identification as Social Identity: The Portrayal of Feminists and the Development of Feminist Identity

本研究提出了一种政治自我认同的新方法，并对其对女性主义认同起源的预测进行了检验。从这个新的角度来看，政治认同被视为一种社会认同，其支持者和反对者的描绘方式被认为是其发展的核心。本文考察了关于政治认同起源的三个主要假设。(1)显著的群体标签对政治认同的建立、强化和转化至关重要。(2)典型群体成员（群体原型）的政治和个人属性以及与他们的相似性（政治和个人）是身份形成和发展的基础。(3)政治反对派的存在强化了群体边界，强化了现有的政治认同；与反对派的差异性进一步推动了政治认同的发展，因为它定义了政治团体不是什么。这些预测在纽约长岛的一系列实验研究中得到了验证。参与者阅读了一篇经过实验修改的新闻报道，该报道嵌入在一份较长的问卷中，其中对女权主义者的描述是系统地变化的。通过对一种意识形态的支持者和反对者的描述，探索政治认同的起源，该项目将：(1)推进关于政治自我认同起源的理论思考；(2)识别有助于政治认同形成和发展的因素；(3)对当前理论方法无法充分解释的政治认同与相关政治信仰支持之间的差距提供解释；(4)强调媒体在将政治认同定义为社会认同方面所起的作用；(5)为具有先前历史和先前建立的原型的群体在组织、种族间或政治环境中更普遍地形成和发展社会身份的因素提供见解。与POWRE项目的目标一致，该项目将推进研究人员当前的研究议程，并提高和扩大她作为政治行为、性别和政治以及政治传播学者的声誉。目前的研究将使研究者在政治自我认同领域的研究向一个新的方向发展。

A new approach to political self-identification is advanced in this research and its predictions concerning the origins of feminist identity are examined. From this new perspective, political identification is viewed as a social identity and the way in which its supporters and opponents are portrayed is considered central to its development. Three major hypotheses concerning the origins of political identity are examined. (1) A salient group label is crucial to the establishment, strengthening, and transformation of political identity. (2) The political and personal attributes of typical group members (group prototype) and one's similarity (political and personal) to them is the basis for identity formation and development. (3) The existence of a political opposition sharpens group boundaries and strengthens an existing political identity; dissimilarity from an opposition further promotes the development of political identity by defining what the political group is not. These predictions are tested in a series of experimental studies with participants from Long Island, New York. Participants read an experimentally altered news story embedded in a longer questionnaire in which the portrayal of feminists is systematically varied. By exploring the origins of political identity in the portrayal of an ideology's adherents and detractors, the project will: (1) advance theoretical thinking on the origins of political self-identification; (2) identify the factors that contribute to the formation and development of political identity over time; (3) provide an explanation for the gap between political identification and support for related political beliefs that is not adequately explained by current theoretical approaches; (4) highlight the role played by the media in defining political identification as social identity; and (5) lend insight into the factors that lead to the formation and development of social identities more generally in an organizational, interethnic, or political setting for groups with a prior history and a previously established prototype. Consistent with the goals of the POWRE program, this project will advance the investigators current research agenda and enhance and broaden her reputation as a scholar of political behavior, gender and politics, and political communications. The current study will allow the investigator to advance her research in a new direction in the area of political self-identification.