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

一般说来，如今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，在这些练习中，个人只是表达通常是匿名的，或者基本上是匿名的观点。这项提议旨在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、物质福祉或影响公共政策。特别是，PI询问个人是否仅仅从这样的表达中获得某种类型的好处，即使他们这样做是匿名的，并评估潜在的政治表达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常见，但对于人们为什么这样做，以及他们从中获得了什么好处，我们缺乏明确的答案。这项研究基于行为经济学领域中被称为自我信号的概念，为一种类型的政治行为提供了新的解释。在这方面，这项研究有助于利用跨学科的方法来解释一种新兴的政治行为类型。通过更好地了解个人的不同动机，这项研究有可能增加在一个高度政治两极分化的时代取得积极集体结果的可能性。在这个项目中，PI理论认为，人们有动机进行政治表达，部分是因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。个人不完全了解自己在多大程度上拥有期望的属性和价值观，并将政治表达作为获得积极自我形象的一种低成本方式。此外，尽管自我认同的自由派和保守派都有类似的动机来从事这种行为，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的期望自我形象。对于自我认同的自由派来说，表达对自由派政策的支持是一种相对廉价的方式，可以让他们觉得自己慷慨而富有同情心，就像表达对保守派政策的支持是一种让自我认同的保守派感到道德和自立的低成本方式一样。也就是说，人们不会把“钱放在嘴边”。自我认同的自由派人士不会向慈善机构捐赠更多资金，自我认同的保守派人士也不会更道德。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。具体地说，PI测试受试者在匿名政治表达后是否表现出增强的自我形象，以及哪些受试者对自己的评价更高的属性是否与他们的意识形态相一致。接下来，PI测试个人在参与政治表达后是否觉得自己的行为更自私，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，这可能会导致更令人满意的集体结果类型。

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.