This dissertation seeks to further understand the relationship between nativism, the opinion that the American way of life needs to be protected against foreign influence, and the immigration policy preferences of the American public. It is argued that nativism is theoretically distinct from immigration policy preferences and should be operationalized and modeled accordingly. Disentangling nativism from its related policy preferences is essential for better understanding the role of nativism in driving immigration policy attitudes in comparison to other important factors such as economic threat, racism, and ideological conservatism. A variety of methods are employed in this analysis, including cross-sectional survey data analyses, an implicit association test, and a nation-wide survey list experiment. Using these methods, this project examines the determinants of nativism (including psychological factors), the nature of the relationship between nativism and immigration policy preferences, and how nativism might distinctly affect immigration policy preferences among Latinos and African-Americans. The conclusion discusses the implication of these results for the current public debate regarding the degree and effect of foreign influence on American society.

<p>Challenges to or criticisms of existing social arrangements often result in individuals bolstering the status quo rather than becoming inspired to consider avenues for improvement - a phenomenon known as system justification. However, it is not yet known whether characteristics of the individual challenging the system might magnify (or alleviate) system-defensive responding. New entrance into a system might be one such characteristic to heighten defensiveness because new entrants likely have had fewer opportunities to prove their commitment to the system’s values. Thus, I conducted three initial studies to develop experimental paradigms testing whether recommendations for change are particularly repudiated when advocated by newcomers. Study 1 examined responses to proposals by a freshman congressperson (vs. senior or control) to change an obscure U.S. policy (<i>N </i>= 540). Study 2 examined responses to a proposal by a new employee (vs. senior or control) to change a workplace policy (<i>N </i>= 515), and Study 3 investigated student responses to a proposal by a junior transfer student (vs. junior continuing student) to change a proudly-held university policy (<i>N </i>= 309). Together, findings across these three paradigms suggest mixed evidence that both newcomers themselves, and their policy ideas, are derogated more than are full members when advocating change, particularly among individuals higher on dispositional system justification. Future, sufficiently-powered research should continue to examine impacts of proposer’s membership status on resistance to system change in order to provide insight into the actors most likely to successfully advocate for social progress. </p>

Research on public responses to climate change mitigation policies is proliferating. Therefore, a need to critically review the existing research practice arises. Studies published over the last 15 years (n=164) and focusing on public attitudes and responses to climate policies are reviewed in this thesis with respect to a) measures and operational definitions of policy support, acceptability, acceptance, and other types of responses and b) factors related to such responses. A great diversity of measures and measured constructs, frequent lack of theoretical embedding, and conceptual vagueness are currently pervasive in the field. Such state leads to uncertainty of what is being measured, ambiguity, and greater diversity and lower comparability of results. In response to this state, the thesis proposes a construct of policy attitudes and responses as an overarching concept comprising the diversity of measures and constructs already in use, and a theoretical framework, based on the Value- Belief-Norm theory, as a heuristic tool for measurement, analysis, and interpretation of survey results. Additionally, the thesis discusses the interlinkage of public opinion on climate policies and policy-making process to argue the relevance and the role of the reviewed research. Three original studies are part of...