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

本研究提出了一种新的政治自我认同的方法，并检验了它对女性主义身份起源的预测。 从这一新的角度来看，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。 三个主要的假设有关的政治身份的起源进行审查。 (1)一个显著的群体标签对于政治认同的建立、强化和转化至关重要。 (2)典型群体成员的政治和个人属性（群体原型）以及个体与他们的相似性（政治和个人）是身份形成和发展的基础。 (3)政治反对派的存在会使群体边界变得尖锐，并加强现有的政治认同;与反对派的不同性通过界定政治群体不是什么而进一步促进政治认同的发展。 这些预测在一系列实验研究中得到了验证，参与者来自纽约长岛。 参与者阅读了一个实验性修改的新闻故事，这个故事嵌在一个较长的问卷中，其中对女权主义者的描述是系统性的。 通过对一种意识形态的拥护者和反对者的描绘来探索政治认同的起源，该项目将：（1）推进对政治自我认同起源的理论思考;（2）确定有助于政治认同随着时间的推移而形成和发展的因素;（3）对政治认同和对相关政治信仰的支持之间的差距提供一种解释，这种差距目前的理论方法无法充分解释;（4）强调媒体在将政治认同定义为社会认同方面所发挥的作用;（5）在组织、种族或政治环境中，对具有先前历史和先前建立的原型的群体，更普遍地洞察导致社会认同形成和发展的因素。 与POWRE计划的目标相一致，该项目将推进调查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。 目前的研究将使调查员在政治自我认同领域的一个新的方向推进她的研究。

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.