Recruiting Values for Opinion

这个项目研究了传播者如何通过招募社会价值观来影响政治问题上的观点。价值观是意见的重要来源，为公民评价公共政策提供了持久的标准。然而，许多关于价值观的研究并没有充分探讨价值观影响态度的政治和心理动力。社会价值观和政治问题之间的关联是有争议的公共辩论的对象;政治传播者竞相在公众心目中构建某些问题和价值观之间的感知联系。由于有争议的问题往往会使两种或两种以上受人尊敬的价值观直接竞争，党派人士也试图影响公众对相互竞争的价值观的优先次序。这个项目将着重于传播者用来招募价值的策略，并将研究这些策略对个人政治态度的影响。这个项目将研究五种不同的价值招募策略。 沟通者直截了当地声称某个价值与特定问题相关，例如，和平是爱国的。沟通者还可以提供目标问题和熟悉问题之间的类比，并提供明确的价值参考。因此，例如，那些反对新的互联网安全措施的人可能会将这些规定与窃听进行比较，以使隐私价值观似乎特别相关。沟通者也可能提供社会和行为线索，作为玷污对方所招募的价值观的一种方式。在这样做的时候，传播者试图将对手的价值观与声名狼借的社会团体或令人讨厌的行为联系起来。在支持价值观的过程中，传播者试图通过将价值观与其他价值观（如爱国主义或宗教信仰）联系起来来扩大价值观的尊重。最后，通信者可以重新定义或重新标记值。 例如，对平等权利的呼吁可能被重新贴上特殊权利的要求的标签;或者，平等可能被狭义地定义为平等机会，而不是不平等的结果。 为了提供一个全面的检查的品种和价值招聘的影响，这个项目结合了案例研究，内容分析和实验设计。在案例研究和内容分析中，价值招募将在实际的公共争议过程中进行审查。个案研究将包括与政治组织领导人的访谈，以审查这些团体如何将社会价值观纳入其公共运动。内容分析将研究价值招聘策略在不同问题上的差异。实验工作将研究价值招募对个人政治态度的影响。 PI还将研究个人如何感知特定争议的某些价值观的相关性，以及他们如何判断竞争价值观的相对重要性。 这项研究的广泛影响和科学贡献集中在这个奖项将为政治学和社会心理学中现存的关于价值观对公众舆论影响的文献带来更多的见解。 它将提供更完整的信息，说明社会价值观在政治争议的公共辩论中的作用。它还将有助于更好地了解将价值观与态度联系起来的个人心理过程。

This project examines how communicators influence opinion on political issues by recruiting social values. Values serve as important sources of opinion by providing enduring standards with which citizens can evaluate public policies. Much of the research on values does not, however, adequately address the political and psychological dynamics by which values influence attitudes. The association between social values and political issues is the object of contentious public debate; political communicators compete to construct perceived linkages in public's mind between certain issues and values. Because controversial issues often bring two or more esteemed values into direct competition, partisans also try to influence the public's prioritization of competing values. This project focuses on the tactics that communicators use to recruit values, and will also examine the impact of such tactics on individual political attitudes.This project will examine five separate value recruitment tactics. The communicator makes a straightforward claim that a value is relevant to a particular issue, e.g., Peace is patriotic. Communicators can also offer analogies between the target issue and a familiar issue with clear value referents. So, for example, those objecting to new Internet security measures might compare the regulations to wiretapping to make privacy values seem especially relevant. The communicator might also offer social and behavioral cues as a way of tarnishing the values recruited by the opposing side. In so doing, the communicator seeks to associate the opponent's values with disreputable social groups or unsavory behavior. In value bolstering, the communicator seeks to magnify the value's esteem by linking it to other values, such as patriotism or religiosity. Finally, the communicator may redefine or relabel a value. A call for equal rights, for example, might be relabeled as a demand for special rights; alternatively, equality might be defined narrowly as is equal opportunity, rather than unequal outcomes. To provide a comprehensive examination of the variety and impact of value recruitment, this project incorporates case study, content analysis, and experimental designs. In the case studies and content analyses, value recruitment will be examined over the course of actual public controversies. The case studies will include interviews with the leaders of political organizations to examine how the groups incorporated social values into their public campaigns. The content analysis will examine how value recruitment tactics vary across issues. The experimental work will examine the effects of value recruitment on individual political attitudes. The PI will also examine how individuals come to perceive the relevance of certain values for specific controversies, and how they judge the relative importance of competing values. This research's broad impact and scientific contribution centers on the added insight this award will bring to the extant literature in political science and social psychology on the effects of values on public opinion. It will provide more complete information about the role of social values in public debate over political controversies. It will also contribute to a better understanding of the individual psychological processes linking values to attitudes.