Date of Award
1-1-2021
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A. in Political Science
First Advisor
Conor Dowling
Second Advisor
Miles T. Armaly
Third Advisor
Jonathan Klingler
Relational Format
dissertation/thesis
Abstract
Affective polarization is on the rise, which makes understanding the origins of it increasingly important. Some work finds that partisan sorting is associated with increased polarization, due to a lack of exposure to conflicting opinions as well as the ease of making generalizations about the opposing side (Iyengar2019-zg). Individuals with more closely aligned ideological and partisan identities are more likely to exhibit hostility towards the other party, and react more emotionally to information that threatens their party or issue stance (Mason2015). The aim of this paper is to analyze how contextual factors, specifically the partisan distribution of an area, can influence affective polarization. Building off of the loss aversion literature, I theorize that individuals in the majority party are likely to exhibit lower levels of out-party affect, and therefore greater affective polarization, than individuals in the minority party. Using electoral returns from presidential elections to proxy state party identity and American National Elections Studies data from 2008-2016, I find a modest, but statistically significant, association between party status and affective polarization and out-party affect.
Recommended Citation
Cutler, Austin, "THE BIGGEST WINNER: HOW LOSS AVERSION AND NEGATIVITY BIAS CAN INCREASE AFFECTIVE POLARIZATION" (2021). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2094.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/2094