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Agenda control in legislative bodies is an important and complicated topic.Frequently, the discussion of agenda control is limited to procedures that restrictwhat may be considered on the floor, as exemplified by "closed rules" in theUnited States House of Representatives. In this paper, we expand the discussionof agenda control by considering the effects of predetermining part of an amendmentagenda. Empirically, this type of agenda control is practiced through the useof an "open" rule that provides a privileged position on the voting agenda to oneor more amendments. By defining a binary relation for general collective choicesituations, the needing relation, we characterize the feasibility of agenda control underopen rules with sophisticated legislators. We demonstrate an equivalence betweena notion ofmajoritarianism and outcomes that do not depend upon agendamanipulation to be selected under an open rule. Specifically, we demonstrate thatthis set of outcomes is the "Banks set of the Banks set." ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When people think of an ingroup to which they belong, they tend to think of the prototypical member of the group. And people tend to think of themselves as prototypical members. What this means is that people tend to think of ingroup members as ?people like me.? This process of establishing ingroup boundaries, boundaries that place the person firmly within the group, is an important one, especially when considering national groups. By establishing national group boundaries, Americans include some people, marginalize others, and fully exclude still others. Those who are marginalized or excluded are objectively members of the ingroup (i.e., the American people) lose out on the benefits of being an ingroup member. This paper explores the issue of establishing boundaries and national identity by drawing heavily on political theory and social psychology. I find that national identity is significantly related to feeling an obligation toward fellow Americans, that national identity is strongly related to setting exclusionary boundaries for the national group, and that for those who strongly identify with the American people, those who are excluded are denied the benefits of being part of the national group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social Psychology research suggests that emotions influence attitude formation and perceptions of reality. Building upon the theories of Affective Intelligence, this paper seeks to empirically test previous assumptions concerning the relationship between emotion and cognition. Analyzing the 2004 American National Election Studies survey data, this paper seeks to understand the extent to which significant emotional responses to Presidential candidates mediate political cognition leading to the formulation of political attitudes and vote choice. Preliminary results indicate that respondents that do not associate with a political party express stronger affective responses, suggesting a correlation between emotion and cognition. This paper builds upon a growing body of knowledge examining the role emotions play in the formation of political attitudes. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are survey items comparable across linguistic groups? As the largest minority in the U.S., Latinos are the focus of increasing attention from survey researchers interested in understanding their political attitudes and behavior. To that end, scholars have relied on a growing repository of survey data to measure a wide array of constructs among Latinos, including political identity, political sophistication, policy attitudes, and political values. However, because these constructs and their attendant measures were primarily developed and tested on English-speaking populations, it is reasonable to expect discrepancies in the performance of these items among a bilingual population like Latinos. In particular, survey items may not capture the same political construct across English-speaking and Spanish-speaking Latinos because the same items may mean different things to both language groups. Using structural equations modeling (SEM), this paper tests the invariance of political constructs across English-speaking and Spanish-speaking Latinos. By relying on commonly used data sets, such as the Latino National Political Survey (1989-1990), the Multi-City Survey of Urban Inequality (1992-1994), and the National Survey of Latinos (2004), this paper tests whether survey measures in English are equivalent to survey measures in Spanish. In this way, the paper aims to facilitate the development of constructs and survey items that more faithfully reflect the linguistic parameters of an increasingly diverse U.S. society. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores group identification among older Americans, using NES data between the years 1976 and 2000 to identify trends in group identification among the elderly. Data gathered on print media coverage is then used to map those trends onto interest group activity, positing that the growth of age-based interest groups has led to the growth of an in-group identity among aging Americans. While recent scholarship suggests that among the elderly, self-interest motivates attitudes and participation on age-based policy issues (Chong, Citrin and Conley 2001; Campbell 2002), this paper explores theories of group identification and group consciousness as an alternative to understanding the motivations behind political attitudes and behavior. This social psychological approach has been applied more extensively to African Americans (Dawson 1994; Tate 1993) and women (Gurin 1985) but has not been applied as widely to older adults. The findings of this paper contribute to a larger project that seeks to differentiate between self-interest and a broader concern for the well-being of one’s group in an effort to better understanding the political behavior of an increasingly important segment of the American electorate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted a randomized field experiment in Japan prior to the 2007 upper house election. Our experimental treatment consisted of 2 pieces of mail, which were mailed to reach voters 5 days and 3 days before the election. Drawing from studies of descriptive norms in psychology, which find people adjust their behaviors to conform to what others typically do, we created two messages. One emphasized the descriptive norm of a high rate of citizen participation, which we call "high turnout message", or HTO. The other message suggested non-voting was common, which we call "low turnout message", or LTO. Voters assigned to one treatment group received 2 pieces of HTO mails, while those assigned to the other treatment group received 2 pieces of LTO mails. Consistent with our expectation, the effect of HTO mails on voter turnout was positive and statistically significant. The LTO mails were positively associated with turnout, yet the effect was not statistically significant. While there have been many field experiments measuring the effect of voter mobilization efforts in the United States, this method of research has been employed only rarely in other countries. This is one of the first studies in the Japanese context. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prosocial behavior is common in international politics, but states’ reaction to help has received scant attention. When a state’s territory is invaded and occupied by another state, it is common for third countries to intervene to liberate the first state’s territory. States intervene in other states to impose or defend regimes. In fact, these behaviors result in a key feature of the contemporary international system: the system eliminates domestic political regimes much more than it eliminates states. Also, some states give aid that amounts to a significant part of the recipient’s gross national product. If these forms of help succeed in dealing with the problem better than the recipients could have by themselves, then one would expect that the recipient state?s leaders, and perhaps the public too, would be pleased and grateful. But sometimes, they are not. Iraqis’ discontent has surprised their U.S. liberators and occupiers. Negative reaction to help may have disrupted alliances between major powers, as between China and the Soviet Union, or between France and the United States. I explain negative reaction to help with two social psychological conditions. First, according to attribution theory, people want to understand why they need help. If state agents can attribute their state?s need to external forces, then they will be able to maintain positive self-esteem. If not, their attribution of the need to an internally caused failure would threaten their self-esteem. Second, according to social exchange theory, unreciprocated giving signals material hierarchy between the donor and the recipient, and naturalizes it into a moral hierarchy of generosity and gratitude. These two costs should be highest for major powers. Moreover, major powers have the greatest freedom from material constraints to assert their independence from the donor through negative reciprocity. I integrate these two mechanisms in terms of the sociometer theory of self-esteem, in which people care about their self-esteem not for its own sake, but because it is a subjective monitor of their eligibility for lasting, desirable relationships, including membership in desirable groups. Another psychological theory, called reactance theory, and structural realism explain reaction to help similarly, and provide an alternative hypothesis. According to reactance theory, people value their freedom for its own sake, and any perceived reduction in freedom results in the unpleasant psychological state of reactance, which motivates them to restore the lost freedom. According to structural realism, states value freedom of choice because they are uncertain about other states’ future intentions. If the recipient state’s leaders perceive that the donor’s conditions for help restricts their freedom, then they are likely to respond with negative reciprocity, if the distribution of material capabilities allows them to do so. I test my explanation and the alternative for their ability to explain the variation in policies of major powers toward states that have liberated them from foreign occupation, imposed or defended their regimes, or given them significant economic aid. In this way, I can help explain another undertheorized issue: the prestige motive in international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there has been much research on social desirability effects, most of this discussion has been confined to methodological issues related to survey design and implementation. However, social desirability effects and the willingness to express “true” attitudes is a phenomenon that plagues pubic opinion absent of survey research, especially when it comes to articulating attitudes about race. Since the 1960s, it has become taboo to discuss race and racism and to convey ideas that do not conform to equality among all people. We argue, however, that the unwillingness to discuss these ideas does not mean that they do not exist. We believe that racist ideologies are just below the surface of many whites who, for fear of ridicule, do not express them freely. We also believe that, when people have their beliefs validated, i.e. when they encounter others who share in their beliefs, they will express their true racial attitudes. Finally, we believe that the willingness to express these beliefs will be greater when the racial attitudes of the individual have been validated by an African American. To test our assumptions, we first conduct a content analysis of debates surrounding several racial issues. We find that the media have a tendency to over represent the views of black conservatives. We argue that the overrepresentation of black conservatives in the news leads to a distortion of the true public opinion of African Americans. As a result, the public encounters a view of African American public opinion that is much more conservative than it is in actuality. We hypothesize that the over representation of black conservatives enables whites to feel comfortable about expressing their true racial attitudes since many of their beliefs have been validated by (prominent) blacks. Thus, the second part of the study experimentally tests the above hypothesis. Specifically, we examine whether encountering a black conservative espousing a racially conservative ideas causes an individual to be more likely to express racially conservative attitudes. Moreover, we examine what impact this has on attitudes towards public policies aimed at racial equality. This study allows us to explore the dynamics and boundaries of social desirability using an example individuals encounter in everyday life. Moreover, this study illustrates the role the media play in enabling individuals to express their true beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to formulate a new model to explain Taiwanese movement in the US by analyzing a transnational network established among intellectual communities in the US and the island to sustain the force of the movement. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American flag is a prominent symbol in American politics, yet this prominence has not translated into considerable research attention. Of those who have considered the American flag in political science, it is generally thought that the flag is important because it conveys a candidate's patriotism, which causes voters to consider the candidate to be more desirable. In this way, the American flag is similar to other valence issues, which give candidates an added advantage that is separate from his/her issue stances. In this study, I contend that the flag's valence component is only part of the story. Specifically, social psychology literature suggests that the American flag is influential because it increases the salience and vividness of a given campaign message, which increases the amount of viewer attention. Using NES data I have found evidence that is consistent with the theory outlined above, which I plan on supplementing with an experiment of undergraduate students, in which the American flag is added to political ads taken from 2006 Congressional campaigns. If additional statistical support is found, it would add considerable depth to our understanding of the importance of valence issues and the American flag. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognizing the fluidity of racial boundaries for Latinos in the US, we explore the basis and construction of Latino racial identities hypothesizing that Latino racial identity construction is negotiated both through external forces and more social psychological factors. Using the 2006 Latino National Survey, we test a theorectical framework that can be used to predict Latino racial choices and find that Latino racial identity is strongly influenced by several factors including national origin, socioeconomic status, gender, and experiences with discrimination. Further we find that phenotype is an important component of how Latinos negotiate their identity. This is important because these results help us speak to larger debate about the changing nature of the US racial hierarchy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do happier people participate more? Controlling for a variety of determinants, whichcandidates do happier people tend to support when they do participate? The literature on turnoutand vote choice in the American context is one of the most theoretically and methodologicallyrich in political science. Observable, or easily measurable, traits like education, income, partyidentification, and race have all been shown to bear heavily on the decision to turn out andsubsequent vote choice. Latent attitudinal characteristics, including levels of interpersonal trustand internal efficacy, have also been incorporated into individual-level models of politicalbehavior. Yet within the voting behavior literature generally, and within studies that considerlatent attitudinal traits more specifically, very little research has sought to incorporate subjectivelife satisfaction into models of turnout and vote choice. This may be due largely to the nearlyexclusive study of life satisfaction as a dependent variable - i.e., to this point political scientists,economists, and sociologists have concentrated on how institutional performance and otherpolitical arrangements bear on individuals' life satisfaction, or happiness. By turning tohappiness as an independent variable, we hope to add nuance to the literatures on both votingand life satisfaction. We find that individuals who are more satisfied with their lives are morelikely to participate politically, and in the 2000 election were more likely to vote for George W.Bush for President, controlling for a variety of intervening factors. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]