Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Political Information and the Dynamics of Public Opinion

公众舆论是政治进程不可或缺的一部分；如果不彻底了解公众的意见，政策制定者的代表就没有意义。然而，认为意见是自发产生的是不够的；相反，意见反映了公众可以获得的信息——其中大部分来自政治精英（政治家、候选人、权威人士等）通过大众媒体。我们必须了解个人为什么以及如何形成特定的观点，以便政策制定者、政治家和媒体认识到他们对公众的影响，他们也必须代表公众的观点。个人在各种不同的政治相关信息来源和类型中做出的选择究竟如何影响这些观点？在21世纪的政治格局中，这些选择是众多的、多样的，而且很容易获得——尤其是在互联网上，个人可以自由选择和避免他们选择的任何信息。过去的研究并没有证明在这种复杂的政治环境中做出的选择是如何随着时间的推移影响政治观点的。这个项目旨在解释人们如何形成和更新政治观点。具体来说，它考察了人们从更广泛的政治环境中获得的信息是如何随着时间的推移而形成意见的。本论文涉及操纵信息、心理倾向和政治环境特征的实验方法，以了解这些变化如何导致对政策问题的不同意见。通过设计模拟当代政治的研究，这项研究将解释人们是如何形成他们的观点的，因为他们对政治的观察很大程度上来自于他们在哪里以及如何寻找信息的选择。这项研究将更深入地了解人们的信息选择（即他们主动或被动获取的信息）的原因和影响以及他们对政策选择的偏好。该项目的调查结果将进一步加深公众和新闻界对日益两极化和分裂的政治格局的理解，在这种政治格局中，个人可以从有线电视和互联网上的各种信息中自由选择。公民做出的信息选择，以及大众媒体提供的信息，是否会使政治进程两极分化，这是任何民主国家都非常关心的问题。关于信息和意见之间相互作用的发现将有助于对政治媒体在当代政治中的作用进行批判性和知情的讨论。

Public opinion is integral to the political process; without a thorough understanding of the public's views, representation by policymakers is meaningless. It is insufficient, however, to think that opinions emerge spontaneously; opinions instead reflect the information available to the public - much of which comes from political elites (politicians, candidates, pundits, etc.) via mass media. We must understand why and how individuals develop particular opinions in order for policymakers, politicians, and the media to act cognizant of their influence over the public whose opinions they must also represent. How exactly are those opinions influenced by the choices that individuals make among various alternative sources and types of politically relevant information? In the 21st century political landscape, these alternatives are numerous, diverse, and readily accessible -- especially on the internet, where individuals are free to select and avoid whatever information they so choose. Past research has not demonstrated how choices made within this complex political environment shape political opinions over time.This project aims to explain how people form and update political opinions. Specifically, it examines how opinions are shaped over time by the information people acquire from the broader political environment. The dissertation involves experimental methods that manipulate information, psychological dispositions, and features of the political environment in order to understand how these variations lead to different opinions toward policy issues. By designing studies that mimic contemporary politics, this research will explain how people form their opinions given much of what they observe about politics results from their choices of where and how to look for information.This research will yield a deeper understanding of the causes and effects of peoples' information choices (i.e., the information they actively or passively acquire) and their preferences over policy alternatives. The findings from the project will further public and journalistic understanding of an ever-more-polarized and divisive political landscape, where individuals are free to choose from a diverse array of information alternatives on cable television and the internet. Whether the information choices citizens make, and the information available from mass media, polarize the political process is a vital concern to any democracy. Findings regarding the interplay between information and opinion will contribute to critical, informed discussion of the role of political media in contemporary politics.