POWRE: In Mixed Company: Psychological Responses to Mediated Representations of Oppositional Political Views

这个项目集中在一个单一的研究问题上：人们如何回应与自己不同的政治观点的中介表现？更具体地说，什么时候，在什么条件下，如果有的话，在电视上看到不同政治观点的表现会产生与面对面接触不同政治观点相同的后果？人们认为，接触跨领域的政治观点，对面对面接触的个人来说，至少会带来三个有益的后果。这些包括对个人反对的观点的理由有更强的认识，对自己不同意的政策有更强的合法性认识，对自己观点的理由有更深入的理解。根据社会心理学文献和关于人与媒体互动的研究，研究者利用实验设计来评估在实验室环境中对对立政治观点的电视表现的反应。三个实验因素将被操纵，以探索如何在媒体上处理冲突，而不是面对面的遭遇的主要差异。对像美国这样的大规模多元民主国家来说，接触跨领域的政治观点是必不可少的。然而，先前的研究表明，在当代美国，人们很少接触到面对面的政治分歧。对同质政治观点的倾向的一个明显的例外来自大众媒体。相对于他们的人际交往，人们通过中介渠道接触到大量不同的政治观点。尤其是电视和报纸，让人们接触到的不同政治观点，比他们的熟人接触到的多得多。在当代美国，思想不同的观点主要通过媒体传播给人们，这一事实的后果是什么？这个问题的答案具有特别重要的意义，因为新媒体技术使消费者对媒体内容的控制增加，以及公众对暴露于冲突观点的不安程度不断上升，尽管暴露于对立观点在民主制度中起着不可或缺的作用。政治上的意见分歧往往被视为不必要的冲突，而不是在多元制度中解决合法辩论的必要条件。该项目符合POWRE计划的多个资格标准。首先，在高级研究中心工作一年，没有行政或教学责任，这将不可避免地有利于研究者的发表记录和职业生涯。其次，该中心靠近一个专门设计的实验室，这使它成为回答正在进行的研究议程中明显的下一个问题的绝佳机会。为了做到这一点，研究者需要冒险进入对她来说是新的方法学领域，使用涉及生理测量的实验室实验。因此，这项建议也完全符合第三项power准则，因为它涉及获得和利用特别设施和方法。最后，在过去的三年里，研究者还担任了她所在部门的副主任，在此期间，她还承担了重要的新的家庭责任（即两个孩子）。这项拨款的时机是这样的，它将给她的时间和资源方面的巨大推动，在她结束她的三年任期后的研究副主席。

This project centers on a single research question: How do people respond to mediated representations of political views that are dissimilar to their own? More specifically, when, and under what conditions, if any, does exposure to representations of dissimilar political views on television produce the same kinds of consequences widely attributed to face-to-face exposure to dissimilar political views? Exposure to crosscutting political perspectives has been argued to bring about at least three beneficial consequences for individuals who are so exposed in face-to-face contexts. These include greater awareness of rationales for views one personally opposes, greater perceived legitimacy of a policy with which one disagrees, and a deeper understanding of the rationales for one's own views. Drawing on the social psychological literature and research on human-media interactions, the investigator utilizes an experimental design to evaluate responses to televised representations of oppositional political views presented in a laboratory setting. Three experimental factors will be manipulated in order to explore major differences in how conflict is handled in media as opposed to face-to-face encounters. Exposure to crosscutting political views is essential to large-scale pluralist democracies such as the United States. Yet previous research has demonstrated that in the contemporary United States people are exposed to relatively little face-to-face political disagreement. The one glaring exception to the tendency toward exposure to homogeneous political views comes from mass media. Relative to their interpersonal contacts, people are exposed to an impressively large dose of dissimilar political views through mediated sources. Television and newspapers in particular expose people to far more dissimilar political views than do their interpersonal acquaintances. What are the consequences of the fact that in the contemporary United States non-likeminded views reach people primarily through media? The answer to this question has particularly important implications in light of the increased consumer control over media content that new media technologies makes possible, and the rising level of public discomfort with exposure to conflicting views, despite the integral role that exposure to oppositional views plays in a democratic system. Political differences of opinion are often seen as unnecessary conflicts rather than as essential to resolving legitimate debates in a pluralist system. This project meets multiple criteria for eligibility in the POWRE program. First, being at the Center for Advanced Study for a year without administrative or teaching responsibilities will inevitably be a boon to the investigator's publication record and career. Second, the close proximity of the Center to a specially designed laboratory makes this an excellent opportunity to answer the obvious next question in the research agenda in progress. In order to do so, the investigator will need to venture into what is new methodological territory for her, using laboratory experiments involving physiological measurement. Thus this proposal also fits well within a third POWRE guideline since it involves access to and utilization of special facilities and methodologies. Finally, the investigator also have served as Associate Chair of her department for the last three years, during which time she also assumed significant new family responsibilities (i.e., two children). The timing of this grant is such that it will give her a tremendous boost in terms of time and resources for research right after she finishes her three-year term as Associate Chair.