Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Values and Attitudes

这个项目的目的是解释作为普遍价值观产物的基本政治态度。 熟悉美国政治的人都知道，各政党在许多方面都有所不同。 在社会心理学中，群体之间的差异被解释为基本价值观的差异：构建我们世界观的基本动机。 借鉴这一大量文献，本项目采用Shalon Schwartz（1992）开发的普遍价值标准衡量标准，并显示这些价值如何构建政治态度。 虽然政治学家长期以来一直在谈论核心价值观，但以前的研究已经将“个人主义”等概念与充满政策的问题结合起来。 使用Schwartz价值清单中基于价值观的问题，政策没有被提及，尽管被测量的结构（表面上）是相同的。构成Schwartz清单的56个项目测量了人类价值观的两个基本维度，这些价值观已经在多种文化和宗教环境中得到验证，并已在20多种语言中进行了测试。 在每一种情况下，研究人员都发现了人类价值观的两个相同的激励维度。 如果价值观真的能激发政治态度，那么这种差异就应该部分地用普遍价值观来解释，这些普遍价值观包括党派认同、保守主义、威权主义和社会主导取向等。 这项研究使用了一个全国性的本科生和他们的父母样本来测试这些价值观的代际传递，这将有助于解决党派偏见与父母的党派偏见之间的高度相关性。在基本层面上，这项研究可以帮助我们了解美国人在党派和意识形态上的真正分歧，确定基本世界观的差异。 此类研究更广泛的社会价值在于，了解美国人看待问题的不同方式可以帮助各方更好地相互理解，并从敌对言论转向差异意识。

The aim of this project is to explain fundamental political attitudes as the products of universal values. Anyone attuned to American politics know that the political parties differ in many ways. In social psychology, differences among groups have been explained by differences in fundamental values: basic motivations that construct our world-views. Borrowing from this large literature, this project takes standard measures of universal values developed by Shalon Schwartz (1992) and shows how these values structure political attitudes. While political scientists have long talked about core values, previous research has operationalized concepts like "individualism" with policy-laden questions. Using the values-based questions from the Schwartz Value Inventory, policy is not mentioned, though the construct being measure (on face) is the same.The 56 items that form the Schwartz inventory measure two basic dimensions of human values taht have been verified across multiple cultural and religious settings and have been tested in over 20 languages. In every case, researchers have found the same two motivating dimensions for human values. If values truly motivate political attitudes, the variance should be partially explained by universal values in understanding measures as diverse as partisan identification, conservatism, authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation. This study uses a national sample of undergraduate students and their parents to test the intergenerational transmission of these values, which would help address how partisanship is so highly correlated with parents' partisanship.At the basic level this research can help us understand what really divides Americans across partisan and ideological lines, indentifying differences in fundamental world-views. The broader social value of such research is that understanding the different ways Americans see problems can help all sides better understand each other and move from antagonistic rhetoric to a consciousness of difference.