Political Cognitive Maps
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3 elements that make up our PCM?
Cognitive orientation (facts) + Affective orientation (feelings) + Judgments
what are our political actions (and PCM) determined by?
our beliefs: personality and thoughts
What are cognitive maps?
method used to construct and accumulate spatial knowledge, allowing the “mind’s eye” to visualize images in order to reduce cognitive load, enhance recall and learning of information
What is a PCM?
It is a mental picture of what political worlds are to us and how we relate to them that defines how we receive, order and interpret political information, signals and stimuli.
What are some pitfalls of PCMs?
As the information we receive in distorted/misguided, so is usually our political perspective (gap of info, wrong info, biases…). And we still act as if we had all the info!
what determines our intake of information?
How dense (detailed) our “filter” or “velcro” is determines what is important to us (influence how we receive, interpret and use the info) and what we ignore.It is also situational (ex: interest in politics during elections only)
PCM is a dynamic process
Orientation (and PCM) develops over time = our opinion is more persistent thanks to knowledge, learning, experiences etc. Doesn’t mean we have all the answers!
What is cognitive orientation? give examples
facts that we know (or think we know) about politics. Ex: who is the PM of Japan, how federal liberals differ from provincial liberals
What is affective orientation? give examples
how we feel about aspect of the political world (“gut feeling”)Ex: what do you think of a tax increase? About war?
What are judgments? give examples
how we assess the political world. It merges facts and feelings into political judgment.Ex: should we legalize gay marriage? Does voting matter?
what are the consequences of distortion?
negative outcome if lack/wrong knowledge + excessive trust in politicians
What is alienation proportional to?
the unmapibility of a system (a city, politics…) Ex: London’s subway
what is the political culture’s dilemma?
nature VS nurture
what is the human nature argument?
we are born with innate knowledge, attitudes and opinions (in DNA).Ex: violence is innate in humans
what is the nurture argument?
we are born “tabla rasa” (blank state) and learn everything we know/do/feel
what is political socialization?
central values of a political culture transmitted from 1 generation to the other by agents of socialization
who are the agents of socialization?
people, institutions, family, friends, media, education, religion, peers
what are 6 factors that influence our political culture? (and PCM)
agents of socialization, life-cycle effect, period effect, cohort effect, socio-demographic influence and political advances
what is the life-cycle effect?
as one gets older his/her political views change and become + conservative and traditional (change resistant)
what is the period effect?
people who grow up in the same time period share similar values due to events that occurred during this period. Ex: new tech generation, war …
what is the cohort effect?
people participate in some political actions or experience them together. Ex: was in Vietnam, 9/11
what are some socio-demographic elements?
Education, region, race, gender …
what are political advances
marking political events share by a group of peopl. Ex: Tian’ anmen
what is political alienation?
The feeling of being powerless about politics and political decisions and excluded from the political system.