Deliberation and attitude changes : examining the effects of encountering diverse opinions
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The collection of essays in this dissertation examines the underlying mechanisms of deliberation on attitude changes at the individual level. In the first study, I focus on two important variables in deliberation groups: opinion heterogeneity and opinion difference to examine whether and how deliberating with dissimilar views leads to opinion changes. With the data from the Deliberative Polls in Europe and Korea, my analyses show that: (1) opinion heterogeneity and opinion difference within groups are positively associated with opinion changes; (2) although the pre-deliberation group mean opinions significantly affect individuals' post-deliberation opinions, the opinion heterogeneity significantly reduce such group influences on post-deliberation opinions; (3) participants with more extreme attitudes before deliberation tend to be more easily influenced by the dissimilar views. In the second study, combining the theories on ideological identifications with the promise of deliberative practices in promoting informed political decision, I examine the extent to which ideological identifications influence policy attitudes in deliberative settings. I analyzed the Deliberative Poll data from Australian Referendum and EuroPolis 2009, which included deliberation groups and control groups. The results show that: (1) individuals' ideological identification exerts significant influences on political attitudes for both deliberation participants and nonparticipants; (2) deliberation significantly enhances the influence of ideological identifications on issue attitudes. It suggests that deliberation enhances the consistency between ideological identification and issue attitudes; (3) attitudes changes show different patterns depending on the participants' ideological identifications. The moderates who do not have strong ideological identifications changed attitudes the most, while the liberals and conservatives did not show consistent significant attitude changes in deliberation. In the third study, based on the theories of Elaboration Likelihood Models (Petty & Cacioppo, 1981; 1986), I examine whether deliberation leads to polarization at the individual level. I analyzed the Deliberative Poll data from Europe and Denmark. This study finds that: (1) although individuals' attitudes have significantly changed after deliberation, there is no significant evidence for attitude polarization at the individual level; (2) pre-deliberation extremity negatively associated with polarization. That is, deliberation help participants with extreme opinion become moderate. It suggests that the deliberation may help individuals avoid biased elaboration; (3) the heterogeneity of opinions within discussion groups significantly reduces polarization at the individual level; (4) however, the group influence on polarization still exists. When group mean attitudes are more extreme than a participant's attitude before deliberation, his/her attitudes would go more extreme after deliberation.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2019; ©2019 |
| Publication date | 2019; 2019 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Zhou, Yushu |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Fishkin, James S |
| Thesis advisor | Fishkin, James S |
| Thesis advisor | Iyengar, Shanto |
| Thesis advisor | Krosnick, Jon A |
| Thesis advisor | Luskin, Robert C |
| Degree committee member | Iyengar, Shanto |
| Degree committee member | Krosnick, Jon A |
| Degree committee member | Luskin, Robert C |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Communication. |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Yushu Zhou. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Communication. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2019. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2019 by Yushu Zhou
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Also listed in
Loading usage metrics...