Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: How Identities Affect Preferences

公民意愿的表达是民主的基本组成部分。我们从现有的研究中得知，偏好受到个人身份（即他们认同的群体）的强烈影响。随着人口结构的变化，潜在的偏好分布也可能发生变化，这强调了研究对学术和决策社区的重要性。这项研究的主要智力价值在于调查多重身份的存在如何影响偏好。由于在个人层面上的身份认同日益重叠，美国人比以往任何时候都更有可能认同一个以上的社会和政治群体。这些群体可能具有互补或竞争的利益。在形成政策偏好时，公民如何调和这些差异？当争论的对立双方与个人的两种身份一致时，对多重身份的依恋会产生内部冲突。该项目包括三个不同的研究，分别研究身份和偏好，每个研究都试图回答一个悬而未决的问题，即个人如何调和相互竞争的身份主张。第一项研究涉及调查分析身份如何影响不同身份的美国人的参与。第二和第三项研究涉及不同条件的实验设计，以衡量竞争身份对动员和减轻有偏见决策的影响。该项目将产生几个广泛的影响。从这项研究中得出的见解将告诉我们对具有不同身份的个人及其政治参与的了解。如果具有多种竞争身份的人参与政治，该项目将增强我们对政治代表的理解。如果他们脱离政治，该项目将确定政治参与和代表权的潜在挑战。该项目将使人们更深入地了解身份对政治行为的不断变化的作用，并为今后在这一日益重要的领域开展工作奠定基础。

The expression of citizens' preferences is a fundamental component of democracy. We know from existing research that preferences are strongly influenced by individuals' identities (i.e., the groups with which they identify). As demographics change, underlying preference distributions may also change, underscoring the importance of the research for academic and policy-making communities. The study's major intellectual merit is to investigate how the presence of multiple identities influences preferences. Because identities are increasingly overlapping at the individual level, Americans are more likely than ever to identify with more than one social and political group. These groups may feature complementary or competing interests. How do citizens reconcile these differences when forming policy preferences? Attachments to multiple identities can create internal conflict when two opposing sides of a debate line up with two of an individual's identities. The project includes three distinct studies that address identity and preferences, each seeking to answer an unresolved question about how individuals reconcile competing identity claims. The first study involves survey analyses of how identity influences engagement among Americans of varying identities. The second and third studies involve experimental designs that vary conditions to measure the influence of competing identities on mobilization and the mitigation of biased decision-making.The project is poised to produce several broad impacts. The insight drawn from this research will inform what we know about individuals with diverse identities and their political engagement. If people with multiple competing identities are engaged with politics, the project will enhance our understanding of political representation. If they are disengaged from politics, the project will identify potential challenges to political participation and representation. The project will provide a deeper understanding of the changing role of identity on political behavior, and lay the foundation for future work in this increasingly important area.