The Key Questions

1
The Key Questions

• !!Glynn Made Easy!!

2
Psychology, Sociology

• Chapter 4
• How far is public opinion determined by
  individual psychology?
• For example, how far are our opinions the result
  of such factors as conditioning, cognitive
  styles, our need to be consistent, our comparison
  with what we think of as normal, the needs that
  we fulfill by holding by certain attitudes. What
  is the relationship between our opinions, our
  attitudes and our behaviors?
• Chapter 5.
• How far is public opinion determined by
  sociological factors?
• For example how far is opinion formed by our
  ideas about other people (attribution theory,
  stereotyping), and by social norms?

3
Public Opinion Perception

• Chapter 6
• How does our way of seeing the world influence
  our notions of how other people think, and how
  does that affect what we say about our own
  opinions?
• How far are our perceptions formed in early
  childhood, or in how we compare ourselves with
  others?
• What do we think of as majority opinion, or
  minority opinion and do we get it right? What
  accounts for us getting it wrong?

4
Democratic Competence (1)

• Chapter 7
• What is the connection between public opinion
  and democracy?
• Is our form of representative democracy
  actually reflective of public opinion?
• Are there basic values in the U.S. that we can
  all agree on, and that provide a basis from which
  we can disagree in relative harmony?

5
Democratic Competence (2)

• Chapter 8
• Is the public too uninformed / stupid to have
  opinions that politicians need concern themselves
  with?
• Do people know enough to form sensible or
  rational opinions? Is there such a thing as
  rational public opinion?
• Even if individual opinions are volatile and
  unreliable, could it be that peoples responses
  to pollsters actually reflect basic latent
  values, rather than conventional ideas about what
  is liberal or conservative.
• How can we account for changes in aggregate
  public opinion over time? Is there an underlying
  logic at work?

6
Public Opinion and Policy

• Chapter 9
• Does public opinion actually have an impact on
  government policymaking?
• If public opinion does have an influence on
  policymaking, is this actually democratic?
• Or, if the government seems to ignore public
  opinion, is this necessarily undemocratic?

7
Opinion, Media and Campaigns

• Chapter 10
• What are the opinions of the U.S. public?
• Chapter 11
• How do the media help shape public opinion?
• Chapter 12
• Do political campaigns work?