POWRE: In Mixed Company: Psychological Responses to Mediated Representations of Oppositional Political Views

POWRE：在混合公司中：对反对派政治观点的中介表达的心理反应

• 批准号: 9973236
• 负责人: Diana Mutz
• 金额: $ 9.34万
• 依托单位: Center For Adv Study in the Behavioral Science
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-09-01 至 2000-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9973236&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: POWRE; Mixed; Company; Psychological; Responses

This project centers on a single research question: How do people respond to mediated representations of political views that are dissimilar to their own? More specifically, when, and under what conditions, if any, does exposure to representations of dissimilar political views on television produce the same kinds of consequences widely attributed to face-to-face exposure to dissimilar political views? Exposure to crosscutting political perspectives has been argued to bring about at least three beneficial consequences for individuals who are so exposed in face-to-face contexts. These include greater awareness of rationales for views one personally opposes, greater perceived legitimacy of a policy with which one disagrees, and a deeper understanding of the rationales for one's own views. Drawing on the social psychological literature and research on human-media interactions, the investigator utilizes an experimental design to evaluate responses to televised representations of oppositional political views presented in a laboratory setting. Three experimental factors will be manipulated in order to explore major differences in how conflict is handled in media as opposed to face-to-face encounters. Exposure to crosscutting political views is essential to large-scale pluralist democracies such as the United States. Yet previous research has demonstrated that in the contemporary United States people are exposed to relatively little face-to-face political disagreement. The one glaring exception to the tendency toward exposure to homogeneous political views comes from mass media. Relative to their interpersonal contacts, people are exposed to an impressively large dose of dissimilar political views through mediated sources. Television and newspapers in particular expose people to far more dissimilar political views than do their interpersonal acquaintances. What are the consequences of the fact that in the contemporary United States non-likeminded views reach people primarily through media? The answer to this question has particularly important implications in light of the increased consumer control over media content that new media technologies makes possible, and the rising level of public discomfort with exposure to conflicting views, despite the integral role that exposure to oppositional views plays in a democratic system. Political differences of opinion are often seen as unnecessary conflicts rather than as essential to resolving legitimate debates in a pluralist system. This project meets multiple criteria for eligibility in the POWRE program. First, being at the Center for Advanced Study for a year without administrative or teaching responsibilities will inevitably be a boon to the investigator's publication record and career. Second, the close proximity of the Center to a specially designed laboratory makes this an excellent opportunity to answer the obvious next question in the research agenda in progress. In order to do so, the investigator will need to venture into what is new methodological territory for her, using laboratory experiments involving physiological measurement. Thus this proposal also fits well within a third POWRE guideline since it involves access to and utilization of special facilities and methodologies. Finally, the investigator also have served as Associate Chair of her department for the last three years, during which time she also assumed significant new family responsibilities (i.e., two children). The timing of this grant is such that it will give her a tremendous boost in terms of time and resources for research right after she finishes her three-year term as Associate Chair.

这个项目的中心是一个单一的研究问题：人们如何回应与他们自己不同的政治观点的调解表达？更具体地说，在什么时候以及在什么条件下，如果有的话，在电视上接触不同政治观点的表现会产生被广泛归因于面对面接触不同政治观点的相同类型的后果？人们认为，接触贯穿各领域的政治观点至少会给在面对面环境中接触过的个人带来三个有益的后果。这些包括更多地认识到个人反对的观点的理由，更多地感受到不同意的政策的合法性，以及对自己观点的理由有更深的理解。根据社会心理学文献和关于人与媒体互动的研究，调查者利用实验设计来评估对在实验室环境中呈现的对立政治观点的电视再现的反应。三个实验因素将被操纵，以探索在媒体中如何处理冲突与面对面接触的主要差异。接触贯穿各领域的政治观点对美国这样的大规模多元民主国家至关重要。然而，先前的研究表明，在当代美国，人们接触到的面对面政治分歧相对较少。接触同质化政治观点的趋势有一个明显的例外，来自大众媒体。相对于他们的人际交往，人们通过中介渠道接触到了令人印象深刻的大量不同政治观点。尤其是电视和报纸，让人们接触到的不同政治观点比他们在人际关系中的熟人要多得多。在当代美国，志同道合的观点主要通过媒体传播给人们，这一事实会产生什么后果？鉴于新媒体技术使消费者能够加强对媒体内容的控制，以及公众对暴露于相互冲突的观点的不安程度不断上升，这个问题的答案具有特别重要的意义，尽管暴露于对立观点在民主制度中扮演着不可或缺的角色。政治意见分歧往往被视为不必要的冲突，而不是在多元体系中解决合法辩论所必需的。该项目符合POWRE计划的多个资格标准。首先，在高级研究中心工作一年，没有行政或教学责任，对研究人员的出版记录和职业生涯来说，必然是一种恩惠。其次，该中心靠近专门设计的实验室，这是回答正在进行的研究议程中显而易见的下一个问题的绝佳机会。为了做到这一点，研究人员需要冒险进入对她来说是新的方法学领域，使用涉及生理测量的实验室实验。因此，这项建议也完全符合《保护所有人权利公约》的第三条准则，因为它涉及特殊设施和方法的获取和利用。最后，调查员还在过去三年中担任她所在部门的协理主任，在此期间，她还承担了重大的新的家庭责任(即两个孩子)。这笔赠款的时机恰到好处，在她结束三年副主席任期后，它将极大地促进她在研究方面的时间和资源。