Socialization
What are the three types of socializations effects?
Generation effects = generations have different views based on what happened during their formative years
ex. great depression, civil rights movement impact the political views of the generations that were young adults at the time
life cycle effects = views change as age change, young people tend to believe X and old people tend to believe Y, regardless of their generation
ex. young people less likely to vote than old
period effects = effects views of all age groups simultaneously and in the same direction
ex. there is more support for an incumbent president when the economy is doing well
What does it mean for questions to be reliable and valid?
reliable = questions are consistent, mean the same thing to every respondent
valid = questions measure what they intend to measure
Define political trust, political efficacy, and political cynicism.
trust = belief that government can be counted on to uphold citizens' best interests
Efficacy = extent to which a person believes their political activities will influence government
Political cynicism = evaluation that the political system is not producing policies according to expectations
What are the four main domains of policy questions?
Social Welfare, Civil Rights, Foreign Policy, Cultural Issues
Name the big 5 personality traits.
Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism
(OCEAN)
Which aspect of partisanship is influenced by generation effects and which is influenced by life cycle effects?
Generation effects = Direction of partisanship
life cycle effects = Strength of partisanship
Name and define two potential issues with question wording. Explain why it is an issue.
1. Inadequate wording = when the words used do not constitute a question
Issue because respondents won't know how to respond, so it's likely their response captures the attitude the question is trying to measure.
2. Incomplete wording = respondents must add or change words to make the question answerable
Issue because all questions should be interpreted in the same way so that they're measuring the same concept. Incomplete wording leaves room for different interpretations
How have levels of political trust changed since the 1960s? Name one reason why political trust has changed, and one reason that was possible but seems to be untrue.
Political trust has declined greatly - 1968 60% of people say that the government can be trusted to do the right thing and in 2017 it is 18%
Reason why it's declined = Media coverage has become more negative and personal
Reason that could be true but isn't = Trust in all major institutions has declined (i.e. business, medicine, university) - trust actually does not seemed to have declined in these institutions
How have levels of racial resentment changed since the 1980s and what is it a strong predictor of currently?
According to lecture, levels have not changed but the link between racial resentment and political opinions has become stronger. Racial resentment predicts evaluations of Obama even better than party ID. In 2016 and 2020, it was a stronger predictor of Republican presidential vote than in 2012.
Which personality traits are always consistently correlated with ideology? What are these correlations?
Bonus Q: What are extraversion, agreeableness, and openness all correlated with?
Liberalism = Openness to experience is correlated with liberalism
Conservativism = contentiousness is correlated with conservatism
Bonus Q answer: Whether people identify with a party and the strength of identification.
When are political views most likely to change and when are they least likely?
Most likely to change in childhood to early adulthood.
Least likely to change after mid- to late- 20s.
What is optional wording? When is it acceptable? When is it unacceptable? Provide examples of acceptable and unacceptable optional wording.
Optional wording = having different word options for the same question to fit respondent circumstances
It is okay when it doesn't change the concept of the question.
ex. using different pronouns in a question depending on the respondent
It isn't okay when it leads to a slightly different question getting asked to some people and not others.
ex. in a question that references "characteristics of a neighborhood" making it optional to provide examples of potential characteristics, so that some respondents get read examples and others don't
Why do researchers argue that it is important to maintain a certain level of trust among citizens in democratic systems? What are the consequences of having high trust? What are the consequences of having low trust?
Important because low trust can lead to unstable government with leaders who can't or won't create good policy.
High = political leaders have the flexibility to make decisions; more supportive of redistributive programs (among Conservatives)
Low = social disruption; people more willing to vote for quick and simple political fixes without understanding consequences for democracy (i.e. challengers, third parties, and extreme candidates)
What characterizes most people's beliefs on foreign policy issues and how do these beliefs change over time?
Beliefs are shallow and not well formed. People generally don't follow foreign affairs closely. Thus, public opinion subject to abrupt changes when foreign policy issues grab the attention of the public.
Name two ways genetics can influence political beliefs?
Through personality and through the way brain processes are developed
What is party sorting? What most likely explains recent party sorting in the United States?
Party sorting = party identification and ideology becoming tightly linked (liberals sort into the Democrats and conservatives sort into the Republicans)
Most likely explanation = generational replacement (i.e. generations that weren't sorted are replaced by generations that are)
Name three properties of a "good question" that will increase the reliability of survey responses.
1. Complete script
2. Means the same thing to all respondents
3. Consistently communicates kind of answers that are 'appropriate'
What is the difference between political trust and social trust?
Political trust = trust in the government to "do the right thing"
Social trust = generalized trust in others (that you have never met).
Both related to the existence of democratic institutions.
Trend in both political and social social trust: both declining over time
What are the pros and cons of studying macro public opinion vs. micro public opinion?
Micro: Pros = can investigate people's thought processes, only need a small sample to determine, can ask any questions at any time.
Cons = cost more time and resources, low response rate, short term fluctuations do not equal opinion change
Macro: Pros = can cancel survey error at the individual level, orderly and observable changes that are usually uniform across the population, even a small amount of change can have large effects
Cons = can still have errors in the sample, erases the different nuances from micro levels, question wording is almost never the same
What do Alford, Funk, and Hibbing (2005) conclude about genetics and political attitudes? What do they conclude about genetics and partisan identification?
"The results indicate that genetics plays an important role in shaping political attitudes and ideologies but a more modest role in forming party identification" (abstract)
Describe the relationship between marriage and partisanship. Why is it difficult to determine the cause of this relationship?
Relationship = married couples tend to have the same partisan identification; more likely now than ever before
Multiple possible explanations:
1. “Assortative mating” / self-selection - seek romantic partners with similar/compatible political views. See evidence from dating websites.
2. Partners become more alike due to exposure (socialization); select on non-political factors. Possible for some couples but more evidence of self-selection explanation.
Name four reasons why respondents may answer factual questions incorrectly.
1. They don't understand the question
2. They don't know the answer
3. They can't recall the answer, but they know it
4. They don't want to report the answer
Name two impacts of political efficacy.
1. increase in political activity (e.g. voting)
2. increase in political trust
How has the macro ideological distribution of US citizens changed over the past 45 years? How has the distribution of partisan identification changed?
Bonus Q: What reading could you cite in your answer to this question?
Neither have changed significantly over the past .
Small decline in self-identified moderates since around 2012 or 2013. We see cycles in ideological 'mood' across issue areas.
An larger number of people identify as independents compared to the 1970s.
Bonus question hint: Look at week 5 readings
Describe twin studies, explain why they can be helpful, and provide on critique of twin studies.
Twin studies: Compare survey responses between identical and (same-gender) fraternal twins. All twins share environmental factors. If identical twins are more alike than fraternal twins, the additional similarity is due to them being genetically identical. Since, theoretically, both types of twins are raised in similar environments, but only identical twins have the same genetics, similarities that identical twins share above and beyond what fraternal twins share may be attributed to genetics.
Primary criticism: Equal environments assumption. Violated if identical twins lead more intertwined lives than fraternal twins. Fraternal twins may be treated differently from one another to a greater extent than identical twins.