Role of representations associated with political ideology in complex decision making

Abstract

From the theoretical framework of political psychology, political ideology (IP) is conceptualized as a system of representations of the world, aligning the subject to his personal perspective of the desired social order and how to get to him. The IP consists of two levels: collective and individual. The first is located as a group symbolic framework to identify the positions of the people of each social group. Regarding the second level, it allows to simplify the political content generating a mediation between the subject and a cognitively complex decision. Here we propose to evaluate the role of the IP as a cognitive shortcut for complex decision making (TDC), as is the choice of a political representative. During the 2023 presidential election period in Argentina, experiments will be carried out in which the symbolic and operational dimensions of the IP will be evaluated in a federal population. The symbolic dimension is individual and accounts for the self -perception of the subject within the political spectrum; while the operation is the positioning of the subjects against specific situational topics. In the first instance, the population will be characterized based on the scales of conservatism and progressivism, according to the scale of political ideology (Brussino, et. Al, 2021). The political climate and economic perception associated with the cultural dimensions expressed by Nekane, Paez and Cols will be controlled. (2002). In a second phase, the degree of agreement of people on different claims relevant to the current political climate will be evaluated, without associating with any candidate or political force; Then, associated with one in particular, and finally, to the main political opponent. The experiment proposes to demonstrate the relationship of the IP with the strength of the representations generated during a political decision and its flexible change of change.