The standard approach in positive political theory posits that action choices are the consequences of preferences. Social psychology—in particular, cognitive dissonance theory—suggests the opposite: preferences may themselves be affected by action choices. We present a formal framework that applies this idea to three models of political choice: (1) one in which partisanship emerges naturally in...

The U.S. Census Bureau projects that racial minority groups will make up a majority of the U.S. national population in 2042, effectively creating a so-called majority-minority nation. In four experiments, we explored how salience of such racial demographic shifts affects White Americans' political-party leanings and expressed political ideology. Study 1 revealed that making California's majorit...

The U.S. Census Bureau projects that racial minority groups will make up a majority of the U.S. national population in 2042, effectively creating a so-called majority-minority nation. In four experiments, we explored how salience of such racial demographic shifts affects White Americans’ political-party leanings and expressed political ideology. Study 1 revealed that making California’s majorit...

globalization is a powerful and progressive process that challenges the power of governments in all political, economic, technological, and cultural aspects and provides them with opportunities and threats in their policy making. globalization theoreticians believe that information revolution has made the cultural aspect of globalization as its most powerful and widespread aspect challenging cu...

Recent studies of American politics evidence that political polarization of both the electorate and the political elite have moved “almost in tandem for the past half century” (McCarty et al., 2003, p.2), and that party polarization has steadily increased since the 1970s. However, existing theoretical models of political competition are not manifestly compatible with these observations. This pa...

This research addressed theoretical approaches in political science arguing that the American electorate is either poorly informed or dependent on party label cues, by assessing performance on political judgment tasks when party label information is missing. The research materials were created from the results of a national opinion survey held during a national election. The experiments themsel...

This research addressed theoretical approaches in political science arguing that the American electorate is either poorly informed or dependent on party label cues, by assessing performance on political judgment tasks when party label information is missing. The research materials were created from the results of a national opinion survey held during a national election. The experiments themsel...

Introduction This progress report proceeds from a political ecology vantage point to explore the engagement by political ecologists with human health. Literature in political ecology, with an explicit interest in issues of health, remains a somewhat recent and narrow field of enquiry within the discipline. This paper explores this body of literature within its broader intellectual terrain along...