Identity and Ideology: Cognitive Foundations and Policy Implications

身份与意识形态：认知基础与政策含义

• 批准号: 0424015
• 负责人: Roland Benabou
• 金额: $ 13.58万
• 依托单位: Princeton University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-08-15 至 2007-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0424015&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Identity; Ideology; Cognitive; Foundations; Policy

Identity and Ideology: Cognitive Foundations and Policy ImplicationsThis research will address important problems in political economy and public economics from a newperspective that aims to incorporate into policy analyses a better understanding of people's actual motives,cognitive processes and behavior. In particular, a central emphasis will be placed on the motivated,endogenous nature of individuals' self-views (identities) and world views (ideologies).A first line of research will center on people's beliefs concerning the primacy of self-reliance versussocietal forces as determinants of individual wealth or poverty, and the corresponding desirability of laissezfaire versus welfare-state policies. A joint theory of ideology and policy will be developed to account for the striking attitudinal di.erences observed across countries, and shed light on the related question of when expectations of high mobility (e.g., the American Dream) will dampen the poor's demand for redistribution. Notably, both experiments and ethnographic studies document individuals' struggle with the cognitive dissonance often required to maintain (and pass on to one's children) the view that hard work and good deeds will ultimately bring a better life. The PI will build a model using tools from economic theory. The model will attempt to explain why people feel such a need to believe in a "just world"; why this need, and therefore the prevalence of the belief, may vary considerably across countries, and exhibit history-dependence; and how this affects redistributive policies, societies' response to technical change, and the stigma borne by the poor.The second part of the project will deal with the interaction between incentives and social or selfperceptionsin determining contributions to public goods. Indeed, a growing body of evidence showsthat people are often less likely to behave in a prosocial manner when faced with (moderate) rewards orfines than when there is no explicit incentive. At the same time, when given the opportunity to remainignorant of how their actions a.ect others, people often choose not to know, and revert to selfish choices.These paradoxes will be addressed with a theory of prosocial behavior that combines genuinely altruisticpreferences with social or self-signaling motives. Incentives a.ect the honor and stigma from alternativechoices, potentially causing a "crowding out" of voluntary participation. The model will also identifyfactors conducive to multiple norms of behavior, show how people can suffer from an increase in theirbargaining power, and explain how disclosing one's good deeds may backfire. Finally, competition amongsponsors of public-goods contributions (charitable or religious organizations, NGOs') will be analyzed.The third part of the project will develop a cognitive theory of why (and how) people invest themselvesin a personal, professional, social or cultural identity. The starting point will be the recognition thatindividuals often do not know their own preferences and motives very well, and tend instead to inferthem from their own actions. The model will first explain the phenomenon of escalating commitmentsand excessive specialization (e.g., work v.s. family). It will also allow the study of identity conflicts,media feedback and group stereotypes. Another important application will focus on resistance to economicreforms, arising from the fact that people may prefer forms of redistribution that are ineffcient (farm pricesupports or industry protection rather than transfers, buyouts and retraining) but allow them to maintainvaluable self-images. Redistributive mechanisms that take dignity concerns into account without inducingexcessive distortions will also be investigated.The research will bring to bear on some classical questions in public economicsand political economy a number of important findings from both psychology and sociology. It will alsotake up several novel questions related to the formation and persistence of people's identities and ideologies.Conversely, the tools of economic formalization will provide a clearer understanding, more explicitpredictions, new testable implications and a welfare analysis of these often loosely defined concepts, thusgenerating cross-disciplinary fertilization and challenges in the reverse direction as well. The benefits of the proposed research to society will include a better understandingof voter attitudes towards poverty and redistribution, of the efficacy of public and private incentives inpromoting socially desirable behaviors, of the notions of identity or dignity and the ways in which theymay conflict with economic or social reforms.

身份与意识形态：认知基础和政策含义本研究将从一个新的视角来解决政治经济学和公共经济学中的重要问题，旨在将对人们的实际动机，认知过程和行为的更好理解纳入政策分析。特别是，中心重点将放在个人的自我观点（身份）和世界观（意识形态）的动机，内生性。第一条研究线将集中在人们的信念，关于自力更生与社会力量作为个人财富或贫困的决定因素，以及自由放任与福利国家政策的相应可取性。将发展一种意识形态和政策的联合理论，以解释在各国观察到的惊人的态度差异，并阐明何时对高流动性的期望（例如，美国梦）将抑制穷人对再分配的要求。值得注意的是，实验和人种学研究都记录了个体与认知失调的斗争，这种认知失调通常需要维持（并传递给孩子）努力工作和善行最终会带来更好的生活的观点。PI将使用经济理论工具建立一个模型。 该模型将试图解释为什么人们认为有必要相信一个“公正的世界”;为什么这种需要以及这种信念的普遍性在各国之间可能有很大差异，并表现出历史依赖性;以及这如何影响再分配政策，社会对技术变革的反应，该项目的第二部分将探讨激励措施与社会或自我认知在确定对公共产品的贡献方面的相互作用。事实上，越来越多的证据表明，与没有明确的激励相比，人们在面对（适度）奖励或罚款时往往不太可能表现出亲社会的行为。与此同时，当人们有机会不知道自己的行为如何影响他人时，他们往往选择不知道，并回到自私的选择。这些悖论将用一种亲社会行为理论来解决，这种理论将真正的利他偏好与社会或自我信号动机结合起来。激励措施会从其他选择中获得荣誉和耻辱，潜在地导致自愿参与的“挤出”。该模型还将确定有利于多种行为规范的因素，展示人们如何因讨价还价能力的增加而遭受损失，并解释披露自己的善行如何可能适得其反。最后，我们将分析公共物品捐赠的竞争性赞助商（慈善或宗教组织，NGO）。本项目的第三部分将发展一种认知理论，解释人们为什么（以及如何）在个人、职业、社会或文化身份上投资。出发点将是认识到，个人往往不知道自己的喜好和动机很好，而往往是推断他们从自己的行动。该模型将首先解释不断升级的承诺和过度专业化的现象（例如，工作vs.家庭）。它还将允许研究身份冲突、媒体反馈和群体陈规定型观念。另一个重要的应用将集中在对经济改革的抵制上，这是因为人们可能更喜欢效率低下的再分配形式（农产品价格支持或行业保护，而不是转移、买断和再培训），但这会让他们失去有价值的自我形象。我们还将研究既考虑到尊严问题又不导致过度扭曲的再分配机制。这项研究将对公共经济学和政治经济学中的一些经典问题产生影响，并将带来心理学和社会学的一些重要发现。它还将探讨与人的身份和意识形态的形成和持久性有关的几个新问题。相反，经济形式化的工具将为这些往往定义松散的概念提供更清晰的理解、更明确的预测、新的可检验的含义和福利分析，从而产生跨学科的丰富和反向的挑战。拟议的研究对社会的好处将包括更好地了解选民对贫困和再分配的态度，公共和私人激励措施在促进社会可取行为方面的效力，身份或尊严的概念以及它们可能与经济或社会改革冲突的方式。