I'm Not Dumb, I'm Political: Analyzing the Relationship Between Political Bias ...

This topic submitted by Kittinger, J. Downs, A. Kwarciany, C. ( kittinjc@muohio.edu ) on 2/17/05. [ Human Nature Team: Kittinger, J. Downs, A. Kwarciany, C.-Section: Cummins/Wolfe]

1. Introduction

a. Do emotions or facts play a stronger role when it comes to memory retention? How much does preconceived ideology play into persons thought processes and decision-making? Being involved in the political process in the country, whether it be a candidate or just a voter, leads citizens to choose a party based on their beliefs. When faced with a political question based on a moral issue how often is a person making true choices on how they feel or choosing based on the emotional pull of being a Democrat or Republican. Is a person when given a politically ambiguous situation more likely to remember facts if they positively coincide with their political preference? In this study we hope to prove that in the emotionally charged world of politics personal ideology influences judgment and adversely affects memory retention. Our study is interdisciplinary because we will be drawing on the academic areas of social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, political and decision science.

b. Our study will address the fundamental issues of human nature. When we begin to look at the human being as a collective self do we see our species to be more logical beings or do we act on emotional impulses? How much does this struggle between being logical and emotional play into our through process and decision-making?

c. We plan to provide positive empirical data on the relationship between emotion/bias and decision-making--specifically, political decision-making. By studying and understanding this relationship, we better understand the nature of how we live and who we are.

d. Our study is based on what tools human beings use when trying to make decisions. Chris WolfeÕs lecture titled The Rational Autonomous Selfish Hedonist, given the week of February 14th, was very pertinent to our topic. That lecture and the corresponding discussions and readings for this week focus on judgment and decision-making, key concepts in our study.
2. Relevance of your Research Question

Book/ Journal References:

Adolphs, R. (2003). Cognitive neuroscience of human social behaviour. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 4, 165-178.
--This article is based on the idea that decision-making is to be studied primarily from a neuroscience and psychology standpoint.
Asch, S. E. (1955). Opinions and social pressure. Scientific American, 193, 31-35.
-- This article touches on the core notion that people will modify their beliefs to keep their likes and dislikes congruent or to avoid the aversive feelings associated with discordant beliefs and actions.
Bahrick, H., Hall, L. K., & Berger, S. A. (1996). Accuracy and distortion in memory for high school grades. Psychological Science, 7, 265-271.
--This article deals with the idea that a person would, when asked about past actions, skew the facts to place them in a positive light.
Dalgleish, T., & Power, M. (in press). Handbook of cognition and emotion. New York: Wiley.
-- This book emphasizes the role of emotion in guiding decision making.
Davidson, R. J. (2003). Affective neuroscience and psychophysiology: Toward a synthesis. Psychophysiology, 40(5), 655-665.
--This is book deals with the phenomenon of how people make inferences and draw conclusions that are motivationally or emotionally compelling
Duval, T. T., & Silvia, P. J. (2002). Self-awareness, probability of improvement, and the self-serving bias. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 49-61.
--This journal article emphasizes the idea that people will slant the representations of those they like and care about in a positive direction and negatively distort information about those they donÕt like.
Ferguson, M. J., & Bargh, J. A. (2004). How social perception can automatically influence behavior. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8(1), 33-39.
-- This article speaks to the motivation reasonsion of why people draw conclusions and make inferences that are compled by emtions.
Goren, P. (2002). Character weakness, partisan bias, and presidential evaluation. American Journal of Political Science, 46, 627-641.
--This book documents the influence of "partishanship" on the way people assimilate, refuse to assimilate, or distort what they know about polices and candidates.
Hastie, R. (2000). Problems for judgment and decision making. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 653-683.
--This article argues that judgment and decision making remains primarily cognitive.
Kruglanski, A. W. (1996). Motivated social cognition: Principles of the interface. In E. T. Higgins & A. W. Kruglanski (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (pp. 493-521). New York: Guilford.
--This book deals with the experimental evidence suggest that people modify information that reaches the consciousness level in order to protect their self-esteem.
Sahdra, B., & Thagard, P. (2003). Self-deception in emotional coherence. Minds and Machines, 13(2), 213-231.
-- This book deals with the part of human nature that allows us to lie to ourselves in order to justify a situation.
Sears, D. O. (1992). Passion in politics and the science of politics. Journal of Socio-Economics, 21, 181-190.
--This journal article emphasizes the use of rational choice in economics and tieing to to the cultural preference for rational and instrumental explanation.
Thagard, P. (2003). Why wasn't O. J. convicted? Emotional coherence in legal inference. Cognition and Emotion, 17, 361-385.
--This study deals with emotional coherence and how much emotion plays into our rational though.
Tetlock, P., & Mellers, B. (2002). The great rationality debate. Psychological Science, 13, 94-99.
--This book deals with cognitive bases that influences decisions.
Westen, D. (1998b). The scientific legacy of Sigmund Freud: Toward a psychodynamically informed psychological science. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 333-371.
--This article was written in reference to psychological study of Sigmund Freud which will give us better knowledge of such studies..
Westen, D., Blagov, P., Feit, A., Arkowitz, J., & Thagard, P. (2004). When Reason and Passion Collide: Emotional Constraint Satisfaction in Motivated Political Reasoning. Unpublished manuscript, Emory University
-- This study deals primarily with the relationship between decision making, emotions and logic.

Websites:

Human Development and it Its Risk Factors: Emotional and Behavioral Regulation.
(n.d.) Retrieved February 16, 2004, from http://www,jyu.fi/humander/emotional_and_behavioral_regulation.shtml.
-- This website suggests relationship between emotional regulation and behavioral tendencies.
--Background info: Emotions affect humans in broader terms
--Not large jump to suggest emotion affects learning behavior

Project Implicit. (n.d.). Retrieved on February 16, 2004, from
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/.
--This research project to assess conscious and unconscious preferences.

Siemens, George (2004). Connectivism: a learning theory for the digital age. Retrieved
6
on February 16, 2004, from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm.
--This website reviews connectivism and places it in a broader context.
--Learning, education
--Gives historical basis- "digital age"

Thagard, Paul, et al. (August 20, 2004). Computational epistemology laboratory.
Retrieved on February 16, 2004, from University of Waterloo, Department of Psychology Web site: http://cogsci.uwaterloo.ca
--Headed by Paul Thagard, designer of HOTCO 2 program for emotional coherence.
--Program used in Westen et al. Study "When Reason and Passion Collide"
--This website will serve as a general resource site.

Thagard, Paul, "Cognitive Science," The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2004 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). URL=http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2004/enteries/cognitive-science/ [requested citation format]
-- This website gives background information on cognitive science and places it in context of philosophy.

As you can see from the articles listed above, our research project is just a small fish in a very large sea of information about what, how, and why we make decisions. The idea that emotion and ideology influence judgment is far from new. While the basic ideas behind our own research project are not new, the exact relationships between emotion, ideology, judgment, and memory are still objects of intense speculation. It is in this massive context of speculation and theories in psychology, neuroscience, and other areas that we place our own work. We hope to fit our own results into the both specific context of the studies we have read on the subject and the overarching theories such as connectionism which attempt to link the various distinct disciplines.

3. Interdisciplinary Approach
The role of emotions in the decision and learning process is a complex topic. Different perspectives offer useful insight into the topic. Social, cultural and scientific perspectives could be considered.
Social motives, both personal and in the individualÕs relationship to groups, may influence peopleÕs learning and decision-making process. People seek justification of their positions and their relationship to the group. An individual may selectively retain information that best supports his or her existing stance. These positions and confirming information influences decisions. "Finding evidence" that supports the preexistent beliefs and then acting accordingly bolsters the personÕs sense of justification in their position. Learning and acting according to the belief system also signifies to a group of fellow believers that the person is a standing, cohesive and vital member of the group. Conversely, learning and acting according to preexistent bias sets the individual apart from non-believers. A personÕs social situation may influence their learning and decision-making process.

Culture may influence peoples learning and decision-making process. A competitive culture like that of the United States may influence peopleÕs learning and decision process to always to all ways support their side. A non-competitive society may lead to a more unbiased learning and decision process. People maybe culturally nurtured to learn and decide in a certain manner.

Science has produced voluminous insights into the role of emotion and decision-making. Connectivist theory suggests that the environment causes variation in the learning process. Preexistent emotion could act as the environment that influences people to have a selective learning process. Psychological studies that give evidence to a general bias towards confirm rather than falsification suggest that people would learn and behave in a way that confirms their preexistent belief. Other insights could be revealed upon further research.
This experiment will focus primarily on the scientific aspects of the role of emotion and the decision-making process. Although social and cultural perspectives are potentially equally valid, practical constraints limit their applicability to this experiment. There is not time or resources to analyze many individuals social situation in relation to their learning and decision making process. Nor is there time or resources to run a cross-cultural study to see the effects culture on the processes. A generally scientific approach is the only practical approach for this experiment.

4. Specific Research Design

For our project, we are focusing on collecting empirical data, so with that in mind we have created an experimental study. We plan to use a short reading, followed by a series of 20 questions. The short reading will concern a group of former prisoners who were tortured. These prisoners now are seeking reparations from the government of the country that tortured them. The first paragraph of the reading will serve as the independent variable. In one version of the reading, the first paragraph informs the reader that the prisoners are US pilots and soldiers captured during the first Iraq conflict. In the second version, the first paragraph states that the prisoners are Iraqis detained during the second Iraq conflict. Other than that first paragraph, the two versions will be completely identical.

The questions serve several purposes. The first set of questions measure both whether the subject would or would not grant reparations and how strongly they feel, showing the subjectÕs judgment. The second set measures the subjectÕs predetermined biases concerning the American military, politics, the current administration, the use of torture, and the Geneva Convention. The third set of questions measures how well the subject remembers details from the reading. By comparing results from these sets of questions, we can see how ideology, judgment, and memory interact.

We feel that a large random sample group consisting of both students and non-students would give us the best results. We are hoping that we can have a sample size of at least 100 individuals. However, we recognize that our test takes longer than the average survey given to random people at places such as dining halls, and that we may not find such a large group willing to take our test pro bono. Therefore, we are submitting a request for funding in order to provide some kind of incentive, be it food, cash, or something else. If adequate funding is not available, we may have to shrink our sample size and/or make our sample group all students.

5. Materials and Methods

a. This study will be conducted with a paper test, including one situation to be read and 20 questions. Enclosed is a copy of the test.

b. Because of the tight time limits and a large planned sampling group, all three of us will be very active organizing the actual test and gathering our sample group. After our data has been collected, we will need to analyze the data together, and then divide up the writing of the draft and final papers. Although the specifics of this division are still flexible, it is most likely that we will use the method we used for this proposal, with each of us working on a specific portion of the text and then combining to organize and streamline the entire paper.

c. After completing our tests, we will tabulate the data and statistically analyze it using T test, ANOVA, and possibly MANOVA methods.

A rough timeline of our project follows, starting Monday, February 21:

Week One - Have sampling organized an all materials prepared for test.

Week Two - Have conducted tests and collected data.

Week Three Ð Have data analyzed and organized.

Week Five Ð Have project draft written.

Week Eight Ð Have project report finalized and ready to turn in.

Test Draft

SITUATION I
One political and moral issue which is extremely controversial is the use of torture. The following report concerns the torture of captured American soldiers and pilots in a prison in Iraq during the conflict with Iraq in 1991.

SITUATION II
One political and moral issue which is extremely controversial is the use of torture. The following statement concerns the torture of captured Iraqis in an American held prison during the current conflict with Iraq.

Read the following situation carefully, then turn the page. Do not return to a previous page for any reason.

[INSERT SITUATION I OR II HERE]
During the Iraq conflict, many combatants were captured and held as prisoners. While they were imprisoned, they were subjected to severe physical, emotional, and psychological abuse. There is nearly irrefutable evidence of this abuse, consisting of the accounts of prisoners, the accounts of witnesses, pictures, video, and even some audio recordings. The abuse in question has since stopped.
However, several of the abused prisoners are stepping forward seeking monetary reparations from the government that abused them. A bill passed in 1996 by the US government lifting the prohibition on lawsuits against sovereign governments supports their desire to receive reparations for the past abuse and torture. Despite this, some representatives from both the current Iraqi and American governments oppose such reparations. Their justification for the opposition is that money spent on reparations would be much better spent on rebuilding the newly democratic Iraq. The current prediction of the monetary amount of the reparations is $653 million in compensatory damages and $306 million in punitive damages. However, the total dollar amount could easily exceed $1 billion.

On a scale of 1-7, with one meaning "highly agree" and 7 meaning "highly disagree", circle the number corresponding with how you feel about the following statements:

1) In this situation, the former prisoners should be given reparations.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2) In all situations of torture, prisoners who have been tortured deserve reparations.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

3) All released prisoners, tortured or not, deserve reparations

1 3 4 5 5 6 7

4) Torture is justifiable if it is used to save lives

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

5) Suspects taken by the United States in the continuing conflict against terrorism in Iraq and elsewhere in the world deserve the same legal rights as US citizens have.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

6) The Geneva Convention is an important historical document, but it is not appropriate for modern times

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

7) American soldiers do not receive enough recognition in todayÕs society

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8) I consider myself a liberal

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

9) We are winning the conflict in Iraq

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

10-13) President Bush is doing a good job with:

Foreign Policy

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Domestic Policy

1 2 3 4 5 6 7