Basic Human Values and Their Contexts: A Multilevel Analysis of Support for the Use of Armed Drones in the United States, United Kingdom, and Turkey

Abstract

Armed drones are now a key component of military strategy; however, little empirical research has explored the phenomenon in terms of psychological processes. Previous research has emphasized the importance of basic human values for structuring understandings of and opinions towards foreign policy issues. Using a social representations approach, we used a multilevel modeling approach to explore the link between values and support for the use of armed drones in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Turkey. In line with our predictions, high priority of self‐transcendence values negatively predicted, and high priority of conservation values positively predicted, support for armed drones. Furthermore, given our theoretical framework, we specified that values should be conceptualized as prioritized or devalued within a particular context, and when values were specified as country‐level, as well as individual predictors, this led to an increase in model fit. These findings are discussed in light of a developing line of research on meta‐representations and their consequences for political opinion, and directions for future research are advanced.

Lay representations of artificial intelligence and autonomous military machines

“…To our knowledge, there are barely any studies about lay people’s beliefs about military AI beyond drones (Aydin, 2019; Clothier et al, 2015; O’Dwyer and Ҫoymak, 2020; Steinbrecher and Westphal, 2022). In fact, it was an incident with a drone that triggered new fears about AI-driven killing (Hambling, 2021).…”