scholarly journals The nonlinear feedback dynamics of asymmetric political polarization

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (50) ◽  
pp. e2102149118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Ehrich Leonard ◽  
Keena Lipsitz ◽  
Anastasia Bizyaeva ◽  
Alessio Franci ◽  
Yphtach Lelkes

Using a general model of opinion dynamics, we conduct a systematic investigation of key mechanisms driving elite polarization in the United States. We demonstrate that the self-reinforcing nature of elite-level processes can explain this polarization, with voter preferences accounting for its asymmetric nature. Our analysis suggests that subtle differences in the frequency and amplitude with which public opinion shifts left and right over time may have a differential effect on the self-reinforcing processes of elites, causing Republicans to polarize more quickly than Democrats. We find that as self-reinforcement approaches a critical threshold, polarization speeds up. Republicans appear to have crossed that threshold while Democrats are currently approaching it.

Author(s):  
Mark Byers

This concluding chapter charts the continuing significance of the early postwar moment in Olson’s later work, particularly The Maximus Poems. The philosophical and political concerns of the American avant-garde between 1946 and 1951 play out across The Maximus Poems just as they inform later American art practices. The search of the early postwar American independent left for a source of political action rooted in the embodied individual is seen, on the one hand, to have been personified in the figure of Maximus. At the same time, Maximus’s radical ‘practice of the self’ charts a sophisticated alternative to the Enlightenment humanist subject widely critiqued in the United States in the immediate postwar period.


Author(s):  
Juliann Emmons Allison ◽  
Srinivas Parinandi

This chapter examines the development and politics of US energy policy, with an emphasis on three themes: the distribution of authority to regulate energy between national (or federal) and subnational governments, the relationship between energy and environmental policy and regulation, and the role of climate action in energy politics. It reviews patterns of energy production and consumption; provides an overview of national energy politics; and reviews literatures on federalism and energy politics and policy, the increasing integration of energy and environmental policies, and the politics of energy and climate action. The chapter concludes with a discussion of a future research agenda that underscores the significance of political polarization, subnational governance, and technological innovation for understanding US energy policy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 507-508
Author(s):  
Ying Wang ◽  
Mandong Liu ◽  
Iris Chi

Abstract Chinese immigrant caregivers face unique self-care difficulties in the United States due to language barriers, cultural isolation, and occupational stress. This study aimed to conduct a formative evaluation on a caregiver self-care curriculum of an app designed for Chinese immigrants in the United States. Using a co-design approach in 2019, 22 Chinese immigrant caregivers in Los Angeles county were recruited through purposive sampling method. The directed content analysis was adopted to analyze the qualitative data using NVivo 12.1.0 software. We organized the findings under two main contents: self-care and caregiving. Three categories were identified under the self-care content: physical health, emotional and mental health, and support resources. Sixteen subcategories under physical health (e.g., dietary supplements), five subcategories under emotional and mental health (e.g., depression) and eight subcategories under support resources (e.g., support and networking group, senior center) are suggested. Two categories were identified under the caregiving content: caregiving knowledge and skills, and community resources. Fourteen subcategories under caregiving knowledge and skills (e.g., care assessment) and six subcategories under community resources (e.g., medical emergency call) were mentioned. With this useful information, we could further refine the self-care curriculum to be more linguistically, culturally and occupationally sensitive for Chinese immigrant caregivers. Empowerment approach for enhancing the ability to caregiving and self-care should be emphasized in content design for immigrant caregivers. The co-design approach is crucial for planning of the program and intervention curriculum to improve understanding of the users’ needs and better cater them.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 652-653
Author(s):  
Emily Urban-Wojcik ◽  
Soomi Lee ◽  
Susan Charles ◽  
David Almeida ◽  
Richard Davidson ◽  
...  

Abstract The hippocampus, implicated in learning, memory, and spatial navigation, is one of the few brain structures that demonstrates neurogenesis across the lifespan. Hippocampal volume (HV), then, may be a marker of exposure to and engagement with novel events and environments, which may in turn be related to cognitive functioning. The present study examined the relationship between HV and activity diversity (AD), which characterizes the range and evenness of participation in daily activities. In 52 participants who completed the daily-diary and neuroscience projects of the Midlife in the United States Refresher study, greater levels of AD across an 8-day period were related to greater HV averaged across the left and right hemispheres when adjusting for overall brain volume, total activity time, time between projects, and relevant sociodemographic variables, b=1128mm3, t(43)=2.54, p=.015. These findings may point to a mechanism through which AD has been related to better cognitive and mental health outcomes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shauna Marie Bowes ◽  
Thomas H Costello ◽  
Caroline Lee ◽  
Stacey McElroy-Heltzel ◽  
Don E. Davis ◽  
...  

In recent years, an upsurge of polarization has been a salient feature of political discourse in America. A small but growing body of research has examined the potential relevance of intellectual humility (IH) to political polarization. In the present investigation, we extend this work to political myside bias, testing the hypothesis that IH is associated with less bias in two community samples (N1 = 498; N2 = 477). In line with our expectations, measures of IH were negatively correlated with political myside bias across paradigms, political topics, and samples. These relations were robust to controlling for humility. We also examined ideological asymmetries in the relations between IH and political myside bias, finding that IH-bias relations were statistically equivalent in members of the political left and right. Notwithstanding important limitations and caveats, these data establish IH as one of a small handful psychological features known to predict less political myside bias.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan-Willem van Prooijen ◽  
André P. M. Krouwel

Dogmatic intolerance—defined as a tendency to reject, and consider as inferior, any ideological belief that differs from one’s own—is often assumed to be more prominent at the political right than at the political left. In the present study, we make two novel contributions to this perspective. First, we show that dogmatic intolerance is stronger among left- and right-wing extremists than moderates in both the European Union (Study 1) as well as the United States (Study 2). Second, in Study 3, participants were randomly assigned to describe a strong or a weak political belief that they hold. Results revealed that compared to weak beliefs, strong beliefs elicited stronger dogmatic intolerance, which in turn was associated with willingness to protest, denial of free speech, and support for antisocial behavior. We conclude that independent of content, extreme political beliefs predict dogmatic intolerance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 66 ◽  
pp. 19-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal ◽  
Jose Alberto Molina ◽  
Jorge Velilla

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1011-1021
Author(s):  
Daniel N. Jones ◽  
Adon L. Neria ◽  
Farzad A. Helm ◽  
Reza N. Sahlan ◽  
Jessica R. Carré

Agentic self-enhancement consists of self-protective and self-advancing tendencies that can lead to aggression, especially when challenged. Because self-enhancers often endorse aggression to defend or enhance the self-concept, religious self-enhancement should lead to endorsing aggression to defend or enhance one’s religion. We recruited three samples ( N = 969) from Mechanical Turk ( n = 409), Iran ( n = 351), and the U.S.–Mexico border region ( n = 209). We found that religious (but not secular) self-enhancement in the form of religious overclaiming predicted support for, and willingness to engage in, religious aggression. In contrast, accuracy in religious knowledge had mostly negative associations with aggression-relevant outcomes. These results emerged across two separate religions (Christianity and Islam) and across three different cultures (the United States, Iran, and the U.S.–Mexico border region). Thus, religious overclaiming is a promising new direction for studying support for religious aggression and identifying those who may become aggressive in the name of God.


Author(s):  
Robert A. Ferguson

This chapter considers how prison technology is especially one-sided and imposed because it is not shared. Philosopher Jacques Ellul has argued that technical mastery (technopoly) can narrow thought and make it less sensitive to human dimensions and needs. Criminologists call this level of total technological imposition “a habitus of subjection.” In “total institutions,” prison theorists agree that current modes of technical use have led to “mortification of the self.” The bad aspects of prison technology are indeed bad. The United States has so many people in prison and jail and many more under legal surveillance because technology has made it possible.


2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davide Ausili ◽  
Claudio Barbaranelli ◽  
Barbara Riegel

Measuring self-care behaviors is crucial in diabetes research worldwide. Having a common measure of self-care represents an unmet need limiting the development of the science. The Self-Care of Diabetes Inventory was developed to address limitations of previous tools that were not theoretically grounded, strong in psychometrics, and clinically validated. However, the generalizability and comparability of the Self-Care of Diabetes Inventory has not been tested across cultures and languages. The aim of this study was to test the invariance of the Self-Care of Diabetes Inventory measurement model between Italy and the United States. Data from two multicenter cross-sectional studies were used. Two diabetes clinics and two hospitals in Italy and the United States were involved. We enrolled 200 adults in Italy and 226 in the United States, all with a confirmed diagnosis of type 1 or type 2 diabetes. The Self-Care of Diabetes Inventory was used to measure self-care maintenance, monitoring, and management behaviors as described in the middle range theory of self-care of chronic illness. Configural, metric, scalar, and strict invariance were tested for each scale. Three of the four measurement equivalence levels were supported in the three Self-Care of Diabetes Inventory Scales, whereas strict invariance—the highest level—was reached only by the Self-Care Maintenance and Self-Care Monitoring Scales. Clear support for the use of the Self-Care of Diabetes Inventory in diabetes research was provided. Cross-national comparisons of self-care between groups of Italian and U.S. patients are supported, based on the invariance of the measurement model. Aggregation of research data obtained using the Self-Care of Diabetes Inventory across countries could support knowledge development in the field of diabetes self-care.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document