Talks
Forthcoming talks
Past talks
From Political Behaviour to Political Psychology
Where: PhD Colloquium, University of Hamburg Dates: 20th June 2009 - 20th June 2009 When: 20th June 2009, 11am - 1pm
LikeScarily Running Towards The Centre: Political centrism adherence as an effect of mortality salience.
Where: University Of Essex Department of Psychology Dates: 15th May 2009 - 15th May 2009 When: 15th May 2009, 11am - 12pm
A study was conducted to assess the relationship between Need for Closure (NFCS; Kruglanski, Webster, & Klem, 1993) and evaluations of politicians ideology changes, as a function of mortality salience (MS). Based on terror management theory (TMT; Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1986) and previous research (e.g., Cozzolino, 2006; Jost et. al., 2003), we hypothesized that abstract reminders of death would activate the facet of NFC that seeks group consensus and stability (as opposed to deviation and persuasion). Following an MS or control induction, 161 participants evaluated politicians who switched political ideologies. I explored this further in a second study (N=107) that had participants evaluate political parties (rather than individual politicians), that either moved toward the centre of the political spectrum in one condition or that did not move from their historic positions in the second condition. Results from Study 1 and Study 2 will be presented, along with a discussion of theoretical and practical implications.
How existential and epistemic motives influences reactions to perceived threaten personal liberty.
Where: Annual Scientific Meeting. “Building Bridges: Political Psychology and Other Disciplines, Political Psychology and the World”, International Society of Political Psychology Dates: 9th July 2008 - 12th July 2008
Co-presented with Dr. Philip J. Cozzolino.
A recent model of why individuals adopt certain political ideologies has focused, in part, on the satisfaction of existential motives (Jost et al., 2003). Accordingly, terror management theory (TMT; Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1986) states that fears of death generate existential crises that individuals assuage by adopting ‘cultural worldviews’ and by adhering to dictates of those worldviews; this is typically demonstrated via an experimental manipulation called ‘mortality salience’ (MS). A new perspective suggests that individuals considering mortality in a more specific and individuated manner, via a manipulation called ‘death reflection’ (DR), are less likely to defend worldviews and more likely to pursue paths that promise autonomy (Cozzolino, 2006, 2008). Desires for autonomy as a function of this dual-existential perspective, then, should reflect in reactions to policies that threaten personal freedom. Consequently, we predicted that - to the extent that individuals express pride in their nation’s ideals (i.e., patriotism) - we would observe greater concern for threats to civil liberties among participants in a DR condition, but not an MS condition. Participants (N=90) were exposed to a mock BBC news article that suggested Governmental policies were restricting UK citizens’ liberty; we then assessed the participants’ disapproval of those policies. As predicted, moderated regressions revealed a significant, positive relationship between patriotism and disapproval of the policies among DR participants, not among MS or control participants. We will also present findings with implications for epistemic motives (i.e., need for closure) and for reduced trust in the State as a function of threatened liberty.
Does party identification in Great Britain really exist?
Where: University Of Essex., Centre for Psychoanalytical Studies. When: 8th December 2007, 4pm - 5pm
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