Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: The Role of Political Attitudes in Social Interaction Dyads

University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

Investigators

Abstract

After 60 years of studying human behavior, political scientists have concluded that Americans are not well-informed about politics, interested in political affairs, engaged in political behavior, or constrained ideologically. Yet, scholarship on interpersonal dyads shows that these same Americans seem to use explicitly political criteria when selecting social networks and picking discussion partners. Why do Americans, who appear to be politically ignorant and disinterested when answering survey questions, use their political attitudes when pursuing social interactions? This research project is designed to answer this question. The researchers expect to show and explain that political phenomena influence the social interactions humans pursue. Uncovering an important role for politics in these interpersonal processes will show that politics is much more fundamental to human behavior than political scientists currently assume, and that we would be wise to reconsider the way we study and measure political attentiveness and importance. Intellectual Merit This research offers a comprehensive theory that delineates the interaction dyad development process, from initial formation to maintenance or dissolution. The theory explains why we should expect interaction partners to be politically similar and offers three testable hypotheses: H1 Social homogamy (passive sorting on political variables) H2 Assortative networking (active sorting on political variables) H3 Convergence (increasing similarity on political variables over time) To test these rival hypotheses, the researchers will conduct the first longitudinal multi-wave panel study based on actual interaction dyands on interaction formation, maintenance, and/or dissolution, comparing political factors to other factors known to influence these dyads. This study will be supplemented by two survey experiments analyzing interpersonal attraction. Scholars from both political science and psychology have noted that longitudinal measures are the most appropriate type of data to explain social interaction development. However, most studies looking at such development rely on cross-sectional data because panel datasets containing measures of political attitudes and interactions from all dyad partners are nonexistent. NSF support makes it feasible to develop a novel, longitudinal dataset necessary to directly test the convergence hypothesis and to test the social homogamy hypothesis against the assortative hypothesis -- not just behavioral intentions (such as can be explored using survey experiments). Understanding how politically similar interaction dyads develop is important to political scientists for several reasons. First, discovering that interactions between politically similar dyads are more enduring (than between politically dissimilar dyads) demands that political scientists seriously reconsider their assumptions about the importance of politics. Second, if politically similar individuals help socialize others, their social network influence would spread. Third, unlike studies focusing on a specific setting (e.g., neighborhood, school, workplace), one's political interaction partners are a key contextual source of interpersonal influence across political environments. Broader Impacts This research will produce three novel datasets, to be made publicly available: (1) a first-of-its-kind longitudinal study of political interaction dyads, and (2) two separate experimental studies. This dyadic panel study will serve as a research design roadmap for other scholars seeking to collect additional longitudinal datasets that are essential but absent from their fields. By using a multi-method approach, this project will determine the validity of testing social interaction hypotheses with one-shot experiments compared to panel data. Finally, these analyses will advance scholarly knowledge by providing a theoretical and empirical explanation of the mechanism causing political congruency within interaction dyads. Findings would be of interest not only to political scientists but also psychologists and sociologists.