CAS 145
(Political) Attitudes are Interdependent
Speaker:
Dr. Mark Brandt - MSU Department of Psychology
Abstract:
The scientific study of attitudes typically treats attitudes individualistically. There are individual attitudes (e.g., preference for burritos) that vary in strength (e.g., central to the self), resistance to change (e.g., unwavering in the face of dietary information), and their relationship with relevant behaviors (e.g., purchasing of burritos). This approach misses a key property of attitudes: Attitudes are interdependent. In this talk, I focus on recent research from my lab that studies how attitudes are depend on other attitudes, identities, and values within a political belief system. We find that (1) central attitudes of a political belief systems are stronger, being more stable overtime and more resistant to change and (2) that attitudes become moralized when they are connected with other moralized attitudes in the belief system. In combination, these findings suggest that the interdependence of attitudes matters for attitude change and moralization.
Bio:
Mark Brandt is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Michigan State University. The goal of his research is to understand the causes and consequences of political, religious, and moral beliefs that can ultimately be leveraged to reduce conflict and promote a more fair, just, and free society. He studies ideological and moral beliefs – such as political ideology, racism, religious fundamentalism, and moral conviction – and how they structure attitudes and behaviors, how they become moralized, and why people adopt them in the first place.