Doctoral Dissertation Research: Deceptive Self-Signals - Activating Political Identity to Affirm a Positive Self-Image

一般来说，今天大量的政治表达发生在社交网络环境中。这些都是低风险的练习，个人只是表达自己的观点，这些观点通常是匿名的，或者基本上是匿名的。本提案试图解释为什么个人在社交媒体上表达对某些政策和政党的支持，而这样做不太可能提高他们的社会地位、物质福利或影响公共政策。特别是，PI询问个人是否仅仅通过这样的表达就能获得某种利益，即使他们是匿名的，并评估政治表达背后的动机是否与其他类型的表达不同。虽然这种类型的政治表达非常普遍，但我们对人们为什么这样做以及从中获得什么好处缺乏明确的答案。本研究基于行为经济学领域的自我信号概念，为一类政治行为提供了一种新的解释。在这方面，该研究利用跨学科的方法有助于解释一种新兴的政治行为类型。通过更好地理解个人的不同动机，这项研究有可能在一个以高度政治两极分化为标志的时代增加积极的集体结果的可能性。在这个项目中，PI理论认为，人们被激励进行政治表达，部分是作为一种低成本的方式，向自己发出信号，表明他们拥有某些期望的属性、价值观和相关行为。个体对于自己拥有期望属性和价值观的程度并不完全了解，并将政治表达作为获得积极自我形象的低成本方式。此外，尽管自我认同的自由主义者和保守主义者都有类似的动机参与这种行为，但他们这样做是为了激活与他们各自的意识形态倾向相关的不同期望的自我形象。表达对自由主义政策的支持对于自我认同的自由主义者来说，是一种相对没有成本的方式，可以让他们感到自己慷慨和富有同情心，正如表达对保守主义政策的支持对于自我认同的保守主义者来说，是一种低成本的方式，可以让他们感到道德和自力更生。也就是说，人们不会“说到做到”。自认为是自由派的人不会向慈善机构捐赠更多，自认为是保守派的人也不会更有道德。因此，政治表达可能构成一种欺骗性的自我信号。为了评估这一理论，PI采用了一种创新的实验设计。具体来说，PI测试了受试者在匿名政治表达后是否表现出增强的自我形象，以及受试者对自己的评价是否与他们的意识形态相一致。接下来，PI测试了个人在参与政治表达后是否觉得他们可以更自私地行事，特别是当以与期望的价值观一致的方式行事的成本增加时。最后，PI调查了吸引个人特定的自我形象是否会导致他们参与需要更高成本的政治表达，这可能会导致更理想的集体结果。

GeneralA large amount of political expression today occurs in social network settings. These are low-stakes exercises in which individuals simply express opinions that are often anonymous, or essentially anonymous. This proposal seeks to explain why individuals express support for certain policies and political parties on social media when doing so is unlikely to enhance their social standing, material well-being, or to influence public policy. In particular, the PI asks whether individuals gain some type of benefit simply from making such expressions, even if they do so anonymously, and assesses whether the motivations underlying political expression are distinct from those of other types of expression. While this type of political expression is extremely common, we lack clear answers to why people do it and what benefits they gain from it. This study provides a new explanation for a type of political behavior based on a concept from the field of behavioral economics known as self-signaling. In this respect, the study helps to explain an emerging type of political behavior by utilizing an interdisciplinary approach. By gaining a better understanding of the individuals' different motivations, the study has the potential to increase the likelihood for positive collective outcomes in an era marked by high degrees of political polarization.TechnicalIn this project, the PI theorizes that people are motivated to make political expressions partly as a low-cost way of signaling to themselves that they possess certain desired attributes, values, and associated behavior. Individuals have incomplete knowledge about extent to which they possess desired attributes and values, and use political expression as a low-cost way to gain a positive self-image. Further, although both self-identified liberals and conservatives are similarly motivated to engage in this behavior, they do so to activate different desired self-images associated with their respective ideological disposition. Expressing support for liberal policies is a relatively costless way for self-identifying liberals to feel that they are generous and compassionate, just as expressing support for conservative policies is a low-cost way for self-identifying conservatives to feel moral and self-reliant. That said, people do not put their "money where their mouth is." Self-identified liberals do not donate more to charity, nor are self-identified conservatives more moral. Thus, political expression may constitute a form of deceptive self-signaling. To evaluate this theory, the PI utilizes an innovative experimental design. Specifically, the PI tests whether subjects exhibit an enhanced self-image following anonymous political expression, and whether the attributes on which subjects rate themselves more highly correspond with their ideology. Next, the PI tests whether individuals feel they can act more selfishly after engaging in political expression, especially when the costs to acting in a manner consistent with the desired values increases. Last, the PI investigates whether appealing to individuals-specific self-images can lead them to engage in political expressions that entail higher costs, which could lead to more desirable types of collective outcomes.