Recruiting Values for Opinion

这个项目研究传播者如何通过招募社会价值观来影响对政治问题的看法。价值观是重要的意见来源，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处理价值观影响态度的政治和心理动力。社会价值与政治问题之间的联系是公众争论的对象；政治传播者竞相在公众心目中建立某些问题和价值观之间的感知联系。由于有争议的问题常常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竞争价值观的优先顺序。这个项目的重点是传播者用来吸收价值观的策略，也将审查这种策略对个人政治态度的影响。本项目将考察五种不同的价值招聘策略。传播者直截了当地宣称某一价值与某一特定问题有关，例如，和平是爱国的。沟通者还可以在目标问题和熟悉的问题之间提供类比，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，以使隐私价值显得特别相关。沟通者也可能提供社交和行为暗示，作为一种玷污对方价值观的方式。在这样做的过程中，沟通者试图将对手的价值观与声名狼藉的社会团体或令人讨厌的行为联系起来。在价值支撑中，传播者试图通过将价值与其他价值观（如爱国主义或宗教信仰）联系起来，来扩大价值的尊重。最后，通信器可以重新定义或重新标记一个值。例如，对平等权利的呼吁可能会被重新标记为对特殊权利的要求；或者，平等可以狭义地定义为机会平等，而不是结果不平等。为了全面考察价值招聘的多样性和影响，本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，将在实际的公众争议过程中考察价值招聘。案例研究将包括与政治组织领导人的访谈，以研究这些组织如何将社会价值观纳入其公共运动中。内容分析将考察价值招聘策略在不同问题上的差异。实验工作将检验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在于，该奖项将为政治科学和社会心理学中关于价值观对公众舆论影响的现有文献带来新的见解。它将提供关于社会价值观在政治争议的公共辩论中的作用的更完整的信息。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.