Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: How Identities Affect Preferences

公民偏好的表达是民主的一个基本组成部分。我们从现有的研究中了解到，偏好受到个人身份(即他们认同的群体)的强烈影响。随着人口结构的变化，潜在的偏好分布也可能发生变化，这突显了这项研究对学术和政策制定社区的重要性。这项研究的主要智力价值是调查多重身份的存在如何影响偏好。由于在个人层面上的身份认同日益重叠，美国人比以往任何时候都更有可能认同不止一个社会和政治团体。这些集团可能具有互补或相互竞争的利益。公民在形成政策偏好时如何调和这些差异？当辩论的两个对立双方与个人的两个身份相一致时，对多个身份的依恋可能会造成内部冲突。该项目包括三项针对身份和偏好的不同研究，每项研究都试图回答一个悬而未决的问题，即个人如何协调相互竞争的身份主张。第一项研究涉及对身份认同如何影响不同身份的美国人的参与度的调查分析。第二和第三项研究涉及不同条件的实验设计，以衡量相互竞争的身份对动员和减轻有偏见的决策的影响。该项目将产生几个广泛的影响。从这项研究中得出的洞察力将为我们了解具有不同身份的个人及其政治参与提供信息。如果具有多个相互竞争身份的人参与政治，该项目将增强我们对政治代表的理解。如果他们脱离政治，该项目将确定对政治参与和代表性的潜在挑战。该项目将提供对身份在政治行为中不断变化的作用的更深入的理解，并为这一日益重要的领域的未来工作奠定基础。

The expression of citizens' preferences is a fundamental component of democracy. We know from existing research that preferences are strongly influenced by individuals' identities (i.e., the groups with which they identify). As demographics change, underlying preference distributions may also change, underscoring the importance of the research for academic and policy-making communities. The study's major intellectual merit is to investigate how the presence of multiple identities influences preferences. Because identities are increasingly overlapping at the individual level, Americans are more likely than ever to identify with more than one social and political group. These groups may feature complementary or competing interests. How do citizens reconcile these differences when forming policy preferences? Attachments to multiple identities can create internal conflict when two opposing sides of a debate line up with two of an individual's identities. The project includes three distinct studies that address identity and preferences, each seeking to answer an unresolved question about how individuals reconcile competing identity claims. The first study involves survey analyses of how identity influences engagement among Americans of varying identities. The second and third studies involve experimental designs that vary conditions to measure the influence of competing identities on mobilization and the mitigation of biased decision-making.The project is poised to produce several broad impacts. The insight drawn from this research will inform what we know about individuals with diverse identities and their political engagement. If people with multiple competing identities are engaged with politics, the project will enhance our understanding of political representation. If they are disengaged from politics, the project will identify potential challenges to political participation and representation. The project will provide a deeper understanding of the changing role of identity on political behavior, and lay the foundation for future work in this increasingly important area.