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Where Does The Buck Stop? Applying Attribution Theory To Examine Public Appraisals Of The President, Cigdem Sirin, José Villalobos

Selected Works Temporary Series

This study applies attribution theory to examine public appraisals of the president. To date, most political science research on attribution theory has focused on domestic policy and no work has considered both domestic and foreign policy domains in tandem. To fill this gap, we formulate and experimentally test a series of hypotheses regarding the level of responsibility and credit/blame that individuals attribute to the president in both policy domains across varying policy conditions. We also consider how party compatibility affects people’s attribution judgments. Our findings provide a new contribution to the literature on political attributions, executive accountability, and public perceptions …

Where Does The Buck Stop? Applying Attribution Theory To Examine Public Appraisals Of The President, Cigdem Sirin, José Villalobos

Departmental Papers (PS)

This study applies attribution theory to examine public appraisals of the president. To date, most political science research on attribution theory has focused on domestic policy and no work has considered both domestic and foreign policy domains in tandem. To fill this gap, we formulate and experimentally test a series of hypotheses regarding the level of responsibility and credit/blame that individuals attribute to the president in both policy domains across varying policy conditions. We also consider how party compatibility affects people’s attribution judgments. Our findings provide a new contribution to the literature on political attributions, executive accountability, and public perceptions …

The Giffords Shooting: Who’S The Fall Guy?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author explores the concept of ‘the fall guy’ from a political philosophical perspective.

“I Would Feel Uncomfortable If My Child’S Teacher Were Gay”: Examining The Role Of Symbolic Homophobia And Political Affiliation, Michael Moore, Amy C. Moors

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Symbolic homophobia is a general negative disposition towards lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals, which is demonstrated in symbolic forms of prejudice rather than overt actions. Stigma towards lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals has transformed from overt forms of prejudice to slightly less blatant more subtle forms in recent years (Schafer & Shaw, 2009). Based on previous research, it is has also been shown that conservatives will have higher levels of symbolic homophobia. (Linneman, 2004), Thus, in order to assess the more nuanced forms of prejudice in relation to political affiliation, Study 1 created a scale to assess symbolic homophobia. …

The November 2010 Elections: Verification And Nuclear Weapons Reduction, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses the results of the November 2010 elections in the United States (US), the transition of power between two very different Senates, and US participation in international treaties pertaining to nuclear weapons. Of note, are the roles of and problems with the idea of verification as per modern logical positivism.

In Drag On Drugs, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

Since commentators generally assert that the war on illegal and illicit drugs has been a failure, we should evaluate the assertion and, then, opine on why there is a war, winnable or not.

Fool For Love: The Psychology Of Security Violation, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses why Pfc. Bradley Manning, United States (US) Army, who has been accused of illegally disclosing classified material—more than 150,000 diplomatic cables, 90,000 intelligence reports, and at least one video – allegedly performed the actions in question.

Are You Down With Ppp? A Look At Prohibited Personnel Practices In The United States Government, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses the prevalence of identified proscribed personnel practices, and the power dynamics of such identifications among federal employees.

The Political Personality Of U.S. President Barack Obama, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of U.S. president Barack Obama, from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Information concerning Obama was collected from biographical sources and media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM–IV.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed on the basis of interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. Obama’s primary personality patterns were found to be Ambitious/confident …

Spot Off: The Gao Takes On The Tsa’S Behavior Detection Program, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recently Issued Efforts to Validate TSA’s Passenger Screening Behavior Detection Program Underway, but Opportunities Exist to Strengthen Validation and Address Operational Problems (May 2010, GAO-10-763). This IBPP article will describe and comment on the main GAO findings and additional data on which the findings are based. The article will end with some basic challenges to behavior detection as a useful security measure.

The Politics Of Immigration: A Representation Of The Unconscious Mind, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses the concept of an illegal immigrant from different psychological perspectives.

To Think Nuclear, To Go Nuclear, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The article discusses three of the many psychological problematics about nuclear weapons, weapons employment, and war underlying the language of policies, programs, plans, treaties, and one’s support or rejection of them.

Barack Obama, Implicit Bias, And The 2008 Election, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski, Gregory S. Parks

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The election of Barack Obama as the forty-fourth president of the United States suggests that the United States has made great strides with regard to race. The blogs and the pundits may laud Obama’s win as evidence that we now live in a “post-racial America.” But is it accurate to suggest that race no longer significantly influences how Americans evaluate each other? Does Obama’s victory suggest that affirmative action and antidiscrimination protections are no longer necessary? We think not. Ironically, rather than marking the dawn of a post-racial America, Obama’s candidacy reveals how deeply race affects judgment.

The Coevolution Of Networks And Political Attitudes, David Lazer, Brian Rubineau, Carol Chetkovich, Nancy Katz, Michael Neblo

Working Papers

How do attitudes and social affiliations co-evolve? A long stream of research has focused on the relationship between attitudes and social affiliations. However, in most of this research the causal relationship between views and affiliations is difficult to discern definitively: Do people influence each other’s views so that they converge over time or do they primarily affiliate (by choice or happenstance) with those of similar views? Here we use longitudinal attitudinal and whole network data collected at critical times (notably, at the inception of the system) to identify robustly the determinants of attitudes and affiliations. We find significant conformity tendencies: …

The Political Personality Of 2008 Republican Presidential Nominee John Mccain, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of Arizona senator John McCain, Republican nominee in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Psychodiagnostically relevant data regarding Sen. McCain was extracted from biographical sources and published reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the second edition of the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM–IV.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed in accordance with interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC manual. McCain’s …

The Political Personalities Of 2008 Republican Presidential Contenders John Mccain And Rudy Giuliani, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of indirect assessments of the personalities of Arizona senator John McCain and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, contenders for the Republican Party nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Information concerning Sen. McCain and Mayor Giuliani was collected from biographical sources and published reports and synthesized into personality profiles using the second edition of the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM–IV.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed on …

The Political Personality Of 2004 Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry, Aubrey Immelman, Adam Beatty

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of Sen. John Kerry, Democratic Party nominee in the 2004 U.S. presidential election, from the conceptual perspective of Theodore Millon.

Psychodiagnostically relevant information regarding Sen. Kerry was extracted from biographical sources and media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the second edition of the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM–IV.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed on the basis of interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon …

Political Psychology And Personality, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

Following a brief overview of historical approaches to personality-in-politics inquiry, this book chapter reviews the current state of the field – specifically, psychodynamic approaches, trait/motivational perspectives, and cognitive models – and argues that Theodore Millon’s personological model offers an integrative framework for assessing personality in politics and building a conceptual bridge between personality patterns and political leadership styles.

Millon’s model accounts for structural and functional personality attributes at the behavioral, phenomenological, intrapsychic, and biophysical levels of analysis and provides a theoretically coherent framework for studying personality in politics consonant with established principles in the adjacent sciences and integrative with respect …

The Personality Of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Aubrey Immelman, Jamie Thielman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of U.S. Supreme Court associate justice Clarence Thomas, from the conceptual perspective of Theodore Millon.

Information concerning Justice Thomas was collected from biographical sources, speeches, and published reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the second edition of the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM-IV.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed on the basis of interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. Justice …

Lewdness, Sex, And Terrorism, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses the idea of punishing supervisory personnel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for sexual behavior.

What’S Special About Special Registration?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses reasons why the Special Registration Program of the United States (US) Department of Homeland Security that required the fingerprinting, photographing, and interviewing of Muslim and Arab non-citizens within the US was problematic, evaluating the potential efficacy of the program in the process.

Commentary On Department Of Energy Polygraph Policy, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article provides commentary on recent revisions in the United States Department of Energy’s polygraph policy.

Trends. Commentary On “The Influence Component Of Counterterrorism: A Systems Approach, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses the guiding principles for and challenges to a conceptual framework for deterring terrorism against the United States and its interests as presented by Paul Davis and Brian Jenkins in the Spring 2003 issue of Rand Review.

Announcements, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

IBPP announcements pertaining to reader requests, editor nominations, and relevant conferences, as well as online and print publications.

Trends. The Federal Bureau Of Investigation Reform Act Of 2003 (S.1440): A Polygraph Update, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses The Federal Bureau of Investigation Reform Act of 2003 (S.1440), and the continuing popularity of the polygraph with security bureaucracies.

Trends. Intelligence, Weapons Of Mass Destruction, And Truth: A Philosophical Perspective, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Tends article discusses the issue of the possibility of Bush administration policymakers lying about the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Trends. Intelligence And Weapons Of Mass Destruction In A World With No Truth, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses questions surrounding whether the Bush administration intentionally did not tell the truth about the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Lying And Logic On Iraqi Weapons Of Mass Destruction And Linkages To Al Qaeda, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author examines the following question in this article: Did the Bush administration lie in asserting that Iraq had operational weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and linkages to al Qaeda?

Homeland Security Policy: Deportment On Deportation, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article provides commentary on the appropriateness of deporting illegal aliens in support of homeland security policy.

An Apocryphal Discourse: Iraqi Weapons Of Mass Destruction, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article contests a global, public discourse wherein the United States Government’s (USG) foreign policy credibility will be severely damaged without the discovery of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) developed by the Saddam Hussein government.