Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Processing Facial Emotions: An Eeg Study Of The Differences Between Conservatives And Liberals And Across Political Participation, Karl Evan Giuseffi

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Behavioral differences have been reported between conservatives and liberals when categorizing facial expressions, yet no study explores potential differences in the manner in which the two groups process facial expressions, let alone how partisanship contributes or how political engagement may vary with brain processing of facial expressions. In this context, processing refers to brain patterns following exposure to a facial expression and participants’ subsequent attention to the presented facial expressions. This thesis addresses the question of whether political temperament is associated with differences in neural processing. Research subjects participated in an emotion discrimination task while event-related potentials (ERP) were captured …

Understanding Africa’S China Policy: A Test Of Dependency Theory And A Study Of African Motivations In Increasing Engagement With China, Nkemjika E. Kalu

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

African states are increasingly engaging with China--politically, socially and economically--especially through the machinations of the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). This dissertation asserts that Africans are willing partners of the Chinese, motivated by their state-centric belief that engagement with China is in their national interest. This assertion contradicts the assumption of most literature to date that appears to borrow from the logic of dependency theory and presents African nations as pawns, subject to the demands of a dominant and exploitative China, who is benefiting at Africa’s expense. Economic trends from the decade before the launch of the FOCAC and the …

A Sanctuary For Discussion: Liberal Religion And Foreign Policy Attitudes, Madeline M. Hoffer

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Through a series of focus groups conducted in liberal churches, I find that people who attend liberal churches have matching liberal political views. I also find that these liberal congregations do not look to their ministers to dictate acceptable foreign policy views, but that ministers do sometimes discuss foreign policy with their congregations. Most importantly, I find that members of liberal churches have many opportunities to discuss foreign policy issues among themselves, and that members often gain information by participating in these discussions.

Adviser: Alice J. Kang

Terrorism Warnings As Strategic Appeals: An Analysis Of Press Reporting And Public Reactions, Eric Whitaker

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Do politicians appeal to fear, and if so, how does the public respond to potentially fear-inducing messages? I reason that changes in the political environment necessitate entrepreneurial efforts if politicians hope to maximize positive attention. Scholarship indicates that presidents can often shape press coverage or move public opinion, particularly in the domain of foreign policy or during national crises. In this dissertation I conceptualize government-issued terrorism warnings as a type of fear appeal. Specifically, I examine the relationship between changes in aggregate presidential approval and the timing of terrorism warnings over the two and one-half years after the 9/11 attacks, …

Examining The Covariance Of Political And Religious Beliefs Within Individuals And Across Generations, Amanda Balzer

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The political and religious are demonstrably intertwined in American politics and within the preferences of individual citizens. This dissertation has attempted to examine possible theoretical reasons for the overlap and sources of development of these belief systems within individuals and across generations. In sum, different Moral Foundations are associated with different preferences for organizing society and approaching religion; grandparents, parents and children share many political and religious beliefs, though not all Moral Foundations; and genetics influence part of the variance on religious and political preferences and part of their overlap is due to a shared genetic path. Most scholarship exploring …

Patronage Politics And Public Goods Provision In Africa, Alex M. Kroeger

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Many prevailing views contend that African politics are strongly influenced by vertical networks of dyadic patronage relationships that have a damaging effect on political systems, economies, and civil society. Since independence, the increasing size of many African cabinets would, following the literature, indicate a growth in political patronage networks. While these networks may increase the likelihood of leadership survival, it is expected, ceteris paribus, that growing patronage coalitions would diminish government revenue allocated toward the provision of public goods. This study goes beyond previous research by quantitatively examining the relationship between cabinet size and public goods provision that has …

Reluctance Or Power Hunger: Whom Do Voters Prefer? A Test Of The Wary Cooperator Theory And Evolutionary Political Behavior, Timothy Collins

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Do voters prefer political candidates who express reluctance to seek office, or do voters prefer candidates who express great ambition and an implicit hunger for power? This study uses an experimental design to test overall support of reluctant or power-hungry candidates, and discusses which people would select which candidate and why. While limited by the survey design, the evidence suggests that there is no significant overall mean difference for overall support of either candidate. However, personality traits and the degree to which participants perceived certain descriptive attributes of the candidates both play a role in vote likelihood and candidate favorability …

Neural Basis Of Egalitarian Behavior, Christopher T. Dawes, Peter John Loewen, Darren Schreiber, Alan N. Simmons, Taru Flagan, Richard Mcelreath, Scott E. Bokemper, James H. Fowler, Martin P. Paulus

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Individuals are willing to sacrifice their own resources to promote equality in groups. These costly choices promote equality and are associated with behavior that supports cooperation in humans, but little is known about the brain processes involved. We use functional MRI to study egalitarian preferences based on behavior observed in the “random income game.” In this game, subjects decide whether to pay a cost to alter group members’ randomly allocated incomes.Wespecifically examinewhether egalitarian behavior is associated with neural activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the insular cortex, two regions that have been shown to be related to social preferences. …

From Boon To Bust: State Lottery Policy & How Stakeholder-Created Beneficiary Fund Structure Determines Vulnerability To Future Legislative Grabs, Lisa Mathews

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Funding K-12 education is one of the largest public expenditures for most states in the U.S., and Nebraska is no exception (Nebraska Department of Administrative Services, 2011). Since the 1960s, the policy of state-enacted lotteries has slowly but steadily spread throughout the country with all but seven states now operating a lottery to benefit a range of community and social programs with Education being the most common beneficiary (Novarro, 2002). Since the Nebraska lottery’s inception in 1993, about $400 million has been raised for these primary beneficiaries and other beneficiaries on a smaller scale. Legislative and Constitutional changes have left …

Human Rights And U.S. Foreign Policy In The Multilateral Development Banks, Daniel Braaten

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Promoting human rights is an important foreign policy goal for the United States. There are many foreign policy areas through which the U.S. promotes human rights including voting against countries which violate human rights in the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). Promoting human rights, however, is not the only foreign policy goal of the U.S. in the MDBs. The U.S. also seeks strategic goals such as supporting allies and promoting domestic economic prosperity as well in the MDBs. Realist international relations theory posits that strategic interests will trump promoting human rights in the MDBs. For the U.S. however liberal international relations …