The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between the theorized identity styles and political positions, views, and opinions. Also investigated were the effects of authority on political views, specifically within the normative identity style. Students at a large southeastern metropolitan university (N = 440) took an anonymous online survey in exchange for course credit. Those with a normative identity style, who look to authority figures for answers, were found to have much higher levels of conservatism and held more conservative positions than did those with an informational style, who seek out their own sources for answers. Those with a diffuse-avoidant style, who avoid making identity related decisions, fell between the normative and informational styles on most of these measures. For those with a normative identity style, political views on welfare deservingness were better predicted by news media choice and parental political ideology than by personal political ideology. For those with an informational identity style, most political views were better predicted by personal political ideology than by news media choice, parental political ideology, or parental news media choice. A lack of usage of traditional media in favor of social media may explain some of the results. Further implications are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses-2686 |
| Date | 01 January 2023 |
| Creators | Oefelein, Patrick |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Honors Undergraduate Theses |
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