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，并对其关于女权主义身份起源的预测进行了检验。从这个新的视角来看，政治认同被视为一种社会认同，其支持者和反对者被描绘的方式被认为是其发展的核心。我们考察了关于政治认同起源的三个主要假设。(1)显著的群体标签对于政治认同的建立、加强和转变至关重要。(2)典型群体成员(群体原型)的政治和个人属性及其相似性(政治和个人)是认同形成和发展的基础。(3)政治反对派的存在加深了群体的界限，强化了现有的政治认同；与反对派不同的是，通过界定政治团体不是什么，进一步促进了政治认同的发展。这些预测在一系列来自纽约长岛的参与者的实验研究中得到了验证。参与者阅读了一份经过实验修改的新闻故事，嵌入在一份更长的问卷中，其中对女权主义者的描述有系统地不同。通过探讨意识形态追随者和批评者对政治认同起源的描述，该项目将：(1)推进关于政治自我认同起源的理论思考；(2)找出有助于政治认同随时间的形成和发展的因素；(3)解释政治认同与对相关政治信仰的支持之间的差距，这是目前的理论方法无法充分解释的；(4)突出媒体在将政治认同定义为社会认同方面所发挥的作用；以及(5)洞察在组织、种族间或政治背景下，对于有既往历史和先前建立的原型的群体，更普遍地导致社会认同形成和发展的因素。与POWRE计划的目标一致，该项目将推进调查人员当前的研究议程，并增强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者能够推动她在政治自我认同领域的研究朝着新的方向发展。

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.