Conrique, Beverly Gracie
(2024)
The Divided Selves of America: Examining the Psychological Underpinnings of Inconsistent Self-Perceptions Among American Partisans.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
Drawing from philosophical perspectives and social psychological theories, this work explores self-knowledge and questions a profound ambiguity: How well do we know ourselves? Contemporary research on U.S. political conflict typically investigates how inaccurate perceptions of outgroup partisans aggravate interparty hostility. However, understudied is the role of inaccurate self-views—how people believe one thing about themselves but behave differently. This dissertation examines inconsistencies in self-perceptions within contemporary American sociopolitical discourse. Data were collected on Prolific from 2020 to 2024, spanning two U.S. presidencies. In Study 1, I developed and validated the Relativist-Absolutist Mindset (RAM) scale, which measures self-reported relativism and absolutism. The RAM scale demonstrated strong psychometric properties, including discriminant validity, predictive validity, and internal consistency. This study found that while Democrats and Republicans exhibited self-view consistency in apolitical contexts, significant inconsistencies emerged in political contexts. Democrats were more hostile than expected, whereas Republicans were less hostile. Study 2 replicated these findings using additional political and apolitical topics. Study 3 extended the findings by exploring additional political topics and examining identity relevance and moral convictions as potential mechanisms. Across various policy issues, moral convictions consistently mediated the relationship between party affiliation and self-view inconsistency. Democrats, reporting higher moral convictions, exhibited greater hostile inconsistencies in reactions to disagreement compared to Republicans. The findings reveal that while Democrats and Republicans are consistent in their self-views on apolitical topics, inconsistencies occur in political contexts, making the former more hostile in disagreements. Mechanistically, moral convictions, rather than identity relevance, appeared to drive these inconsistencies. Increased hostility among Democrats may be partly due to the current U.S. political climate. Events like gun violence, threats to reproductive rights, climate change, and attacks on LGBTQ+ rights are more threatening for Democrats, while Republicans may see a return to traditionalism as a gain. This research highlights the importance of understanding partisan blind spots in self-views. Practical implications include informing interventions to reduce polarization. This dissertation enhances understanding of self-knowledge and political discourse by showing how self-view inconsistencies influence partisan reactions, highlighting the role of moral convictions in shaping political attitudes and behaviors.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
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| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
27 August 2024 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
25 July 2024 |
| Approval Date: |
27 August 2024 |
| Submission Date: |
8 August 2024 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
142 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Psychology |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Self-perception Inconsistency; Political Identity; Moral Convictions; Political Disagreements; American Partisanship |
| Date Deposited: |
27 Aug 2024 12:54 |
| Last Modified: |
27 Aug 2024 12:54 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/46887 |
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