(iPoster) How Power, as a Psychological State, Influences Political Attitudes and Behavior

• In Event: Poster Session: Political Psychology I & II
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Political Psychology II

Abstract

To what extent, if any, does power shape political attitudes and beliefs? Psychologists conceptualize power as a psychological state – a suite of affective, behavioral, and cognitive processes – activated by control over valued resources. Treatments that manipulate this psychological state have proven valid and reliable experimentally. By integrating this experimental tool from social psychology with insights within international relations, this study seeks to address critical gaps in past research, including consistent differences in elite and public opinion toward state use of force. This study proposes that the psychological state of power – rooted in rule-making authority, strategic positions, and / or geopolitical dynamics – helps explain U.S. elite and public opinion gaps in areas of foreign policy and domestic policing. These are topics where the state’s monopoly of violence takes center-stage. By presenting original survey experiment results, we seek to illustrate how experimentally manipulating power can aid political scientists in gaining additional traction on issues prominent in international relations.

Authors

• Justin Michael Zyla, Arizona State University

• WanTing Lee, Arizona State University