The Phenomenon of Value-Affective Polarization of Large Social Groups and the Methodology for Assessing Implicit Political Attitudes

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Abstract

The phenomenon of value-affective polarization of large social groups has now become relevant in connection with global processes in the modern world and is one of the most important indicators of the psychological and political stability of society. To study this phenomenon in the field of political psychology, methods are needed that evaluate implicit (hidden or unconscious) political attitudes, since at present many citizens are not ready to publicly express their opinions on the most pressing issues of foreign and domestic policy. The article presents a methodology developed on the basis of the IAT (Implicit Association Test). According to the distribution of D-points calculated using the D2 method, it allows to evaluate political attitudes and makes it possible to experimentally study the value-affective polarization of opinions in focus group discussions without violating the principle of anonymity of respondents.

General Information

Keywords: group polarization, value-affective polarization of a social group, social attitude, implicit attitudes, focus group

Journal rubric: Social Psychology

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/exppsy.2023160406

Funding. The reported study was funded by Russian Science Foundation (RSF), project number 23-18-00422.

Received: 13.07.2023

Accepted:

For citation: Lebedev A.N., Gordyakova O.V., Panfilova A.S. The Phenomenon of Value-Affective Polarization of Large Social Groups and the Methodology for Assessing Implicit Political Attitudes. Eksperimental'naâ psihologiâ = Experimental Psychology (Russia), 2023. Vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 88–103. DOI: 10.17759/exppsy.2023160406. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Alexander N. Lebedev, Doctor of Psychology, leading researcher of the laboratory of personality, Institute of psychology RAS, Professor, Department of social psychology, Moscow Institute of psychoanalysis, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1030-9709, e-mail: lebedev-lubimov@yandex.ru

Olga V. Gordyakova, PhD in Psychology, Professor of the Department of Social Psychology, Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3694-0734, e-mail: o_gordyakova@mail.ru

Anastasya S. Panfilova, PhD in Engineering, Researcher, Institute of Psychology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1892-5901, e-mail: panfilova87@gmail.com

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