Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Group Connections and Mass Partisanship

本研究评估了一个关于党派复兴原因的关键问题：这种现象是由意识形态复杂性的提高还是更强烈的党派集团中心主义所驱动的？探讨这个问题对于理解党派偏见如何影响公众建设性地参与民主政治的能力至关重要。这个项目开发了一个调查实验，以判断之间的竞争解释的复苏，在群众党派对一个有代表性的样本的选民。智力Merit：该项目的理论表明，极化党派更有能力提供核心的心理利益，如减少不确定性，组成员。这一理论的一个含义是，认同社会群体的强烈心理动机应该会增加党派的强度。这项研究将直接评估关于党派复兴的基础（心理或意识形态）的相互竞争的论点。它通过具体说明提高党派强度的心理基础来推进两极分化文学。该项目还提供了一个新的视角，人格的政治评价的影响。通过评估的党派和党派实力的个性基础，这个项目延伸研究个性和政治在一个新的和富有成效的direction.Broader影响：这项研究解决了民主公民的质量和两极分化是否有助于或破坏政治决策的质量的关键问题。通过评估公众与政党关系加强的原因，本研究将评估代表性关切如何推动政策行动。

This study evaluates a critical question about the causes of partisan resurgence: Is this phenomenon driven by heightened ideological sophistication or more intense partisan group-centrism? Answering this question is crucial for understanding how partisanship affects the ability of the public to constructively participate in democratic politics. This project develops a survey experiment to adjudicate between competing explanations of the resurgence in mass partisanship on a representative sample of the electorate.Intellectual Merit: The project's theory suggests that polarization has made partisanship more capable of providing core psychological benefits, such as uncertainty reduction, to group members. An implication of this theory is that strong psychological motivations to identify with social groups should increase partisan intensity. The study will directly evaluate competing arguments about the underpinnings (psychological or ideological) of partisan resurgence. It advances the polarization literature by specifying the psychological underpinnings of heightened partisan intensity. The project also offers a new perspective on the effect of personality on political evaluations. By evaluating the personality basis of partisanship and partisan strength, this project extends research on personality and politics in a new and fruitful direction.Broader Impacts: This study addresses crucial questions about the quality of democratic citizenship and whether polarization contributes to or undermines the quality of political decision-making. By evaluating the causes of the public's heightened ties to parties, this study will assess how actions on policies are driven by representational concerns.