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At present, the field of political psychology lacks an effective framework to conceptually organize the findings from the voluminous literature assessing whether interpersonal political interaction makes democracy better or worse. Historically, the scholarship examining various styles of interactions has remained siloed; scholars have not designed their studies to facilitate comparisons across different styles, so the accumulation of knowledge about one style often fails to influence how knowledge is accumulated about other styles. Moreover, the approaches used to study interpersonal political interaction bundle together constituent facets of discussion in a way that makes it difficult to unpack the relationship between the structural features and attitudinal outcomes of that interaction. In this review, I seek to develop a conceptual framework with two goals: (1) to encourage research design that intentionally examines why and how particular features of interpersonal interactions are linked to particular kinds of attitudinal outcomes, regardless of the style of interaction and (2) to facilitate communication between academic researchers and practitioners in order to strengthen the theory‐to‐practice pipeline for interpersonal political interaction research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most Americans are sorted into social networks that are largely politically homogeneous. A large body of political science research has explored the behavioral implications of being embedded in a politically homogeneous or heterogeneous network, but substantially less attention has been given to explaining why some people find themselves in politically homogeneous or heterogeneous social networks. In this article, we explore the psychological and physiological underpinnings of political network homogeneity. We use social network data from an original survey of 129 undergraduates paired with lab experimental evidence that measures individuals' physiological reactivity to an anticipated political discussion. Using our original survey and a separate nationally representative survey, we find suggestive evidence that individuals who are more socially anxious are more likely to share partisanship with their social network ties. Moreover, we find that individuals who experienced a greater increase in heart rate when anticipating a political discussion were more likely to be in homogeneous discussion networks, but we do not find a relationship between electrodermal activity and network homogeneity. Aversion to psychological and physiological discomfort induced by political discussions could contribute to social polarization in the American public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent genopolitics and political psychology research suggests individuals' biological differences influence political participation. The interaction between individual differences and environments has received less attention, not least because of the confound of self-selection into environments. To test the interaction between innate predispositions and an exogenous environmental influence, we conducted a field experiment during the 2010 California midterm elections. We randomly assigned subjects to receive a postcard mobilization treatment designed to induce an emotional response to the degree of political contention in the election. We tested the possibility that subjects who are genetically predisposed toward negative affectivity will be less likely to vote after treatment exposure. To our knowledge, this is the first field experiment in political science to measure genetic moderation of a treatment, and it suggests experimental approaches can benefit from the inclusion of genetically and other biologically informative covariates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While everyone deals with stressful situations on a daily basis, individuals have different behavioral reactions to that stress. We argue that life stress also affects individuals' political behavior, but this effect is contingent on their past political involvement. While individuals familiar with and engaged in the political process are unaffected when confronted with stress in life, individuals who are not routinely involved in the electoral process are more likely to disengage from politics. To test the differential effects of stress on the likelihood of political involvement, we fielded two experiments, one preceding the U.S. presidential election of 2012 and the second preceding the 2013 municipal election in a small Midwestern American town. We find that when triggered to consider life stressors unrelated to politics, individuals without a history of past participation in politics are less likely to vote while individuals who are habitual voters are unaffected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Politics & Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Until recently, presidential job approval has been positively correlated with a healthy economy. Despite pre‐COVID‐19 sanguine macroeconomic indicators, President Donald Trump's job approval numbers appear to be quite low relative to those of his predecessors. Using a Bayesian model to infer latent presidential approval, we regress approval on consumer sentiment, finding strong evidence of a structural break commencing with the inauguration of President Barack Obama. We also find that the positive associations between presidential approval and consumer sentiment have weakened. Finally, we posit that a polarized political landscape may contribute to the changing of the meaning of presidential approval, which now appears to be a proxy for partisanship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: We investigate how the life satisfaction of migrants is affected by life satisfaction in their background country and in their new country of residence. In particular, we contribute to the literature by differentiating between first‐ and second‐generation immigrants and by differentiating between types of background country. Using data from the European Social Survey on 30,000 immigrants from 200 countries in 32 European countries, we find that for first‐generation immigrants, the effect of the average life satisfaction of the background country is strong for migrants from developed countries, smaller for migrants from developing countries and zero for migrants from post‐communist countries. Moreover, the effect from the country of residence is strong for all groups, indicating that while most of these immigrants retain ties to or are still under the influence of the culture of the old country, they develop important ties to the new country. However, second‐generation immigrants are not influenced by the life‐satisfaction of the background country at all, indicating that they are strongly attuned to life in the country in which they were born. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Xi Jinping era, a key focus of the Communist Party of China (CPC), in terms of exchanges with Taiwan, is to attract young Taiwanese people to mainland China, and various policies exist to encourage their willingness to integrate. The "31 Preferential Policies for Taiwan" ("31 Measures") is an influential guiding policy for this focus. Given that the negative impact of China's "sharp power" on liberal democracy has become an international point of focus, issues such as the impact of these policies on Taiwanese youths' willingness to seek employment (or entrepreneurship) opportunities on mainland China, and factors influencing this willingness, have become major concerns for supporters of democracy globally. In order to address these questions, this study proposes four hypotheses based on theories of rational choice and political socialization. An analysis of surveys of Taiwanese students found that the mean value of students' willingness to work on mainland China was 3.22, indicating that the overall willingness of students had shifted from "neutral" towards "willing." Students perceived favor‐granting benefits and comparative benefits significantly enhanced their willingness to work on mainland China, while the life risks involved in doing so significantly reduced such willingness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Research on political socialization has shown that political and civic experiences during high school can impact later political engagement. However, political scientists are increasingly realizing that nonpolitical experiences, dispositions, and attributes in childhood and adolescence can play a role in shaping political participation. Building on recent studies in developmental psychology, we examine whether and how student characteristics and behaviors in adolescence are related to political engagement in adulthood. Methods: Using data from the Project Talent study, a national longitudinal study of a representative sample of high school students in the United States, we find that several behaviors and attributes related to one's high school experience have long‐term effects on voter turnout. Results: Responsible students and those with high levels of interest in school are more likely than their counterparts to vote when they reach adulthood. Conclusion: The effects of the school‐related measures we examine (1) persist for more than a decade after high school ends, (2) are similar in magnitude to the effects of classic predictors of political engagement such as parental political activism, and (3) hold even in the presence of controls for general personality traits, cognitive ability, resources such as parental socioeconomic status, socialization experiences, and demographic variables. Our results have implications for how to increase political participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the more robust fields of study in American politics is presidential approval. The influence of rally events, the economy, political sophistication, and partisanship on political attitudes began with explorations into the dynamics of presidential approval. Despite this, we lack a complete understanding of the processes through which people evaluate presidential performance. This article proposes a theoretical model that explains how presidential performance evaluations are strongly influenced by one's genetic makeup. The model is tested using twin data to estimate the genetic heritability of presidential performance evaluations and finds that presidential approval has a strong genetic component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. This study aims to evaluate the adolescent political socialization processes that predict political participation in young adulthood, and whether these processes are different for children of immigrants compared to white third-plus-generation adolescents. We focus on socialization agents based in the family, community, and school. Methods. We use a nationally representative longitudinal survey of adolescents to evaluate the predictors of three measures of political participation--voter registration, voting, and political party identification--and whether the process leading to political participation varies by immigrant status and race/ethnic group. Results. We find that the parental education level of adolescents is not as predictive for many minority children of immigrants compared to white children of native-born parents for registration. Additionally, the academic rigor of the courses taken in high school has a greater positive estimated effect on the likelihood of registration and party identification for Latino children of immigrants compared to white third-plus-generation young adults. Conclusions. The process of general integration into U.S. society for adolescent children of immigrants may lead to differing pathways to political participation in young adulthood, with certain aspects of their schooling experience having particular importance in developing political participation behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Politics & Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective Group identity is a central concept in many social science disciplines. We investigate why people identify with groups and show favoritism to in-group members. We anticipate group identifications are substantially influenced by genes and social environments, likely working through stable personality traits. Methods Using twin study data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States ( MIDUS I), we investigate the heritability of in-group identification and favoritism, as well as the extent to which the genetic bases of these orientations are shared with genetic underpinnings of personality traits, primarily focusing on the 'Big Five': openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability/neuroticism. Results Group identification is largely attributable to genetic factors. However, environments also affect group identification. The heritability of personality traits accounts for a modest portion of the genetic variation of group identification. Conclusion Our findings have implications for the study of collective action, identity politics, and the growing research program investigating social and political behavior genetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]