American Psychological Isolationism

Uhlmann, Eric Luis

doi:10.1037/a0027702

Cited by 14 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Theories developed to explain polarized reactions to political cues have been largely developed within, and thus tend to focus on, the United States ( 9 , 11 , 12 ). We contend that such American exceptionalism ( 13 ) is unwarranted and that these polarizing processes should occur wherever people form political ingroups and outgroups. We gauged public support for COVID-19 policies after manipulating whether policies were attributed to liberal or conservative political elites, with the experiment conducted simultaneously in Brazil, Israel, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Politicians polarize and experts depolarize public support for COVID-19 management policies across countries

Flores

Cole

Dickert

et al. 2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Political polarization impeded public support for policies to reduce the spread of COVID-19, much as polarization hinders responses to other contemporary challenges. Unlike previous theory and research that focused on the United States, the present research examined the effects of political elite cues and affective polarization on support for policies to manage the COVID-19 pandemic in seven countries (n = 12,955): Brazil, Israel, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Across countries, cues from political elites polarized public attitudes toward COVID-19 policies. Liberal and conservative respondents supported policies proposed by ingroup politicians and parties more than the same policies from outgroup politicians and parties. Respondents disliked, distrusted, and felt cold toward outgroup political elites, whereas they liked, trusted, and felt warm toward both ingroup political elites and nonpartisan experts. This affective polarization was correlated with policy support. These findings imply that policies from bipartisan coalitions and nonpartisan experts would be less polarizing, enjoying broader public support. Indeed, across countries, policies from bipartisan coalitions and experts were more widely supported. A follow-up experiment replicated these findings among US respondents considering international vaccine distribution policies. The polarizing effects of partisan elites and affective polarization emerged across nations that vary in cultures, ideologies, and political systems. Contrary to some propositions, the United States was not exceptionally polarized. Rather, these results suggest that polarizing processes emerged simply from categorizing people into political ingroups and outgroups. Political elites drive polarization globally, but nonpartisan experts can help resolve the conflicts that arise from it.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Politicians polarize and experts depolarize public support for COVID-19 management policies across countries

Flores

Cole

Dickert

et al. 2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…First, when cultural researchers make a call to further examine the extent to which Americans are similar (or dissimilar) to the rest of the world, the latter can also include people living in different Western societies (Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, 2010). Second, it has often been argued that the United States foster values that are partially grounded in a Puritan heritage (e.g., Protestant work ethic, traditional religiosity), as well as a strong sense of individualism (e.g., individual merit), exceptionalism, and patriotism that may single them out from other economically prosperous Western countries (Uhlmann, 2012; Uhlmann, Poehlman, & Bargh, 2009; Uhlmann, Poehlman, Tannenbaum, & Bargh, 2011). Third, for many years, the cultural comparison between Canada and the United States has been the subject of heated debates and much controversy in the social sciences (e.g., Adams, 2003; Lipset, 1986).…”

Section: Cultural Differences In Popular Songsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Songs as a way of listening to cultures across generations? A comparison of Canada and the United States through their famous songs from 1975 to 2017.

Blais-Rochette¹,

Miranda²,

Goulet³

et al. 2022

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts

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This study examined if there are cross-cultural and cross-generational similitudes and differences between Canada and the United States through their famous songs across 5 decades. We used the software Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC2015;Pennebaker, Boyd, Jordan, & Blackburn, 2015a) to analyze the evolution of lyrics for songs that were nominated at the Canadian Juno Awards and the American Grammy Awards from 1975 to 2017. We targeted songs that were nominated for "bestselling single/single of the year" at the Juno and "song of the year" at the Grammy as they represent some of the most popular and respected cultural products in their respective countries. We analyzed markers of self-focus, group-focus, social connectedness, emotions (positive and negative), religion, and explicit lyrics (swearing and sexuality). Results consistently revealed more cross-cultural similarities than differences between the lyrics of Juno's and Grammy's songs on all our markers. However, subtle generational variations unfolded over the years. Notably, self-focus words followed different patterns in the Juno's songs compared to the Grammy's songs, but reached similar levels in the 2010s. Group-focus words increased in Juno's songs but decreased in Grammy's songs. Social connectedness words were the most present in famous songs and remained relatively stable. Song lyrics became darker as emotional words became less positive and more negative. Religious words tended to remain rare in famous songs. Swear words and sexual words tended to remain rare and to increase slightly over the decades. Findings are discussed through a Cultural ϫ Generational perspective.

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“…Is puritanism steeped in the cultural and religious histories of specific groups of people, or a general characteristic of human moral cognition? Some years ago, drawing on research on automatic and unconscious mental processes (Bargh, 1997;Greenwald & Banaji, 1995), as well as cross-disciplinary scholarship on American exceptionalism (Baker, 2005;de Tocqueville, 1840de Tocqueville, / 1990Landes, 1998;Lipset, 1996), we proposed a theory of implicit puritanism in American moral cognition (Poehlman, 2007;Uhlmann, 2012;Uhlmann, Poehlman, & Bargh, 2008. We posited that because of a unique history of religious migration and settlement, contemporary Americans harbor automatic and intuitive responses that reflect traditional Protestant-Puritan mores.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moral disciplining: The cognitive and evolutionary foundations of puritanical morality

Fitouchi

André²,

Baumard³

2022

Behav Brain Sci

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Why do many human societies morally condemn apparently victimless and pleasurable behaviors, such as lust, gluttony, drinking, drugs, gambling, or even music and dance? Why do they morally praise temperance, chastity, sobriety, decency, and piety? While this puritanical morality often appears as an exception to the cooperative function of moral cognition, we propose that it stems, like other moral concerns, from moral judgements targeting cooperative challenges. Specifically, we propose that it consists of preemptive moralizations of behaviors perceived as risk factors for uncooperative self-control failures, impeding people's ability to resist the short-term temptations naturally conflicting with cooperative motivations.

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American Psychological Isolationism

Cited by 14 publications

References 36 publications

Politicians polarize and experts depolarize public support for COVID-19 management policies across countries

Politicians polarize and experts depolarize public support for COVID-19 management policies across countries

Songs as a way of listening to cultures across generations? A comparison of Canada and the United States through their famous songs from 1975 to 2017.

Moral disciplining: The cognitive and evolutionary foundations of puritanical morality

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