Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Heise's Affect Control Theory'

This study argues for the need of a testable general symbolic interactionist theory of criminal behavior. I look to affect control theory, a structural symbolic interactionist theory of behavior focused on the cybernetic maintenance of affective meanings shared within a linguistic group and extrapolate from its statements and equations using a large hypothetical event simulation. Employing a novel story-telling interview method to uncover the process of definition of the situation, I interview twenty-five paroled offenders and describe a typical view of criminal actions in both violent and property crime events. I examine this view for criminogenic potential. Next, I investigate the popular view that identity controls behavior in interaction by asking parolees about themselves, and comparing their self perspectives to those of undergraduate students. No support for this view is found. Implications of different culturally-based meaning systems are then examined by measuring affective meanings of criminal events as they are perceived by three different aggregate groups: paroled offenders, probationary offenders, and undergraduate student non-offenders. Affect control predictions about the likelihood of criminal events given these perspectives are found to be in accordance with the relative surmised likelihood of criminal behavior for these groups, as extrapolated from their past behavior. This supports arguments of a culturally based explanation of criminal behavior. I argue that affect control theory presents criminology with the novel potential for a generative theory of crime that integrates micrological and macrological levels of analysis. Finally I outline a proposed affect control theory of crime for further testing.

Nonverbal behaviors impact our perceptions of interaction. Many sociological theories have attempted to understand how perceptions work in interaction. Affect Control Theory is one which has had particular success in understanding the ways in which people perceive events generally; with this research I hope to be able to make that theory even stronger and more predictive by including nonverbal behaviors in its scope. A four-study research design is presented. The first study collected the affective meanings of nonverbal behaviors independent of event contexts. Study two paired nonverbal behaviors with other behaviors to see how they combine in people's perceptions to create new affective meanings. The third and fourth studies required performing two experiments (one with paper stimuli and one with videotaped stimuli) to see what effects the inclusion of nonverbal behaviors has on impressions people form of events and event elements. I found that single nonverbal elements each have distinct meanings and create distinct impressions in those who view them; that nonverbal behaviors work in combination with behaviors to create modified impressions of situations; that nonverbal behaviors play as important a role as behaviors in those combinations; and that nonverbal behavior ratings are essential to understanding the meaning of behaviors in event contexts. This project has increased our understanding of the relationship between nonverbal behaviors and impressions that are formed in the context of interpersonal interaction. In addition, it increased the utility of Affect Control Theory in predicting event perceptions by allowing for more accurate understanding of the complex situations in which people interact.

This dissertation examines predictors of juror-determined damage awards among 377 juror eligible mock jurors. Citizens reporting for jury duty in a large metropolitan county on five days when the study was conducted were invited to participate. Scenarios were created that varied both case facts and witness emotion during trial testimony. Results indicate that Affect Control Theory can be applied to the situation of juror-determined damage awards and is helpful in scientifically explaining some of the variation of both compensatory and punitive damage awards.

In his short paper “Postscript on Control Societies” (Deleuze 1995: 177-82), Gilles Deleuze offered one of the most searing diagnoses of contemporary society critical theory has produced. Three decades later, this essay remains remarkable for its prescience, especially when one considers that the World Wide Web was not in existence at the time that Deleuze wrote his essay, let alone smart phones and social media. Now that we’re beginning to understand the impact of global corporations such as Facebook and Alphabet (Google’s parent company), it could be argued that the essay speaks to today’s technological reality even more incisively than it did thirty years ago. Deleuze identified some of the key principles and logics at work.

Whether the initiators are government states or rebel groups, sustained and systematic violence against civilians is a regular feature of intrastate warfare. However, especially in recent years, the barbaric atrocities of rebel groups such as ISIS, Al Shabaab, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, and the Al Nusra Front have largely overshadowed the ruthless massacres initiated by so-called “legitimate” states. Even though such actors may at times find independent sources of revenue from external patrons, trans-border outlets, or ethnic kin, civilian support (e.g., food, shelter, weapons, refuge, and recruits) is often necessary to sustain a military effort in a civil war. The question, then, is if civilian support is important, why would states – seemingly irrationally – kill the goose that lays the golden egg?

This study seeks to answer this question. In this research, I argue that “social control” over the population offers the potential to dramatically change the environment in which all of the actors (the government, rebel groups, and civilians) live, facilitating an end to the civil war, or at least alleviating some of its negative consequences. Ever-growing surveillance and dataveillance practices make this social control possible. When civilians believe that they are being closely watched by their government (and might be punished for real or perceived disobedience), they instinctively refrain from behaviors they believe might incite the government to use violence, which in turn leads states to perpetrate less violence against civilians. For the state, this environment of constant surveillance and the information it yields substantially affect the level of virtual control that can be exerted, thereby reducing the amount of violence the state needs to initiate.

Social identities, the labels we use to describe ourselves and others, carry with them stereotypes that have significant impacts on our social lives. Our stereotypes, sometimes without us knowing, guide our decisions on whom to talk to and whom to stay away from, whom to befriend and whom to bully, whom to treat with reverence and whom to view with disgust. Despite these impacts of identities and stereotypes on our lives, existing methods used to understand them are lacking. In this thesis, I first develop three novel computational tools that further our ability to test and utilize existing social theory on identity and stereotypes. These tools include a method to extract identities from Twitter data, a method to infer affective stereotypes from newspaper data and a method to infer both affective and semantic stereotypes from Twitter data. Case studies using these methods provide insights into Twitter data relevant to the Eric Garner and Michael Brown tragedies and both Twitter and newspaper data from the “Arab Spring”. Results from these case studies motivate the need for not only new methods for existing theory, but new social theory as well. To this end, I develop a new sociotheoretic model of identity labeling - how we choose which label to apply to others in a particular situation. The model combines data, methods and theory from the social sciences and machine learning, providing an important example of the surprisingly rich interconnections between these fields.

Social media offers a powerful outlet for people's thoughts and feelings -- it is an enormous ever-growing source of texts ranging from everyday observations to involved discussions. This thesis contributes to the field of sentiment analysis, which aims to extract emotions and opinions from text. A basic goal is to classify text as expressing either positive or negative emotion. Sentiment classifiers have been built for social media text such as product reviews, blog posts, and even Twitter messages. With increasing complexity of text sources and topics, it is time to re-examine the standard sentiment extraction approaches, and possibly to re-define and enrich sentiment definition. Thus, this thesis begins by introducing a rich multi-dimensional model based on Affect Control Theory and showing its usefulness in sentiment classification. Next, unlike sentiment analysis research to date, we examine sentiment expression and polarity classification within and across various social media streams by building topical datasets. When comparing Twitter, reviews, and blogs on consumer product topics, we show that it is possible, and sometimes even beneficial, to train sentiment classifiers on text sources which are different from the target text. This is not the case, however, when we compare political discussion in YouTube comments to Twitter posts, demonstrating the difficulty of political sentiment classification. We further show that neither discussion volume or sentiment expressed in these streams correspond well to national polls, putting in question recent research linking the two. The complexity of political discussion also calls for a more specific re-definition of "sentiment" as agreement with the author's political stance. We conclude that sentiment must be defined, and tools for its analysis designed, within a larger framework of human interaction.

The primary focus of this thesis was to examine the relationship of reward sensitivity and outcome expectancies, variables traditionally associated with alcohol use, to cannabis use behaviour and to explore the relationship of affect and locus of control to alcohol and cannabis use. It was hypothesised that hazardous alcohol and cannabis use would be related to higher levels of reward sensitivity and to the endorsement of more positive outcome expectancies. It was also hypothesised that positive outcome expectancies would mediate the relationship between reward sensitivity and cannabis use, and that the relationship between reward sensitivity and both alcohol and cannabis use would be moderated by punishment sensitivity. No specific hypotheses were formulated for the relationship of negative outcome expectancies, affect and locus of control of reinforcement to substance use. A total of 465 young adults aged between 18 and 35 years completed a questionnaire which assessed substance use patterns, reward and punishment sensitivity, outcome expectancies, locus of control, and affect. Results indicated that higher levels of reward sensitivity reliably distinguished hazardous from non-hazardous alcohol and cannabis users as well as cannabis users from cannabis non-users. The relationship between reward sensitivity and substance use was partially mediated by outcome expectancies, but not moderated by punishment sensitivity. An exploratory factor analysis demonstrated a high rate of concordance between alcohol and cannabis outcome expectancies. Locus of control of reinforcement was found to be unrelated to alcohol and cannabis use behaviour. There was little commonality in the relationship of sensitivity to punishment, negative outcome expectancies, and affect to alcohol and cannabis use. The second focus of this thesis was to pilot an intervention aimed at reducing alcohol use via the challenging of expectations regarding the rewarding outcomes associated with alcohol use in a group of young adult Australian males. A three session intervention was completed by three males aged between 19 and 31 years. The results demonstrated no reduction in hazardous alcohol use or global positive alcohol outcome expectancies at the completion of the intervention program or at a 3-month follow-up. Furthermore, there was no reduction in expectancies of increased sexual interest for any of the participants at the 3-month follow-up compared to baseline, despite a reduction in these expectancies for one of the three participants at the completion of the intervention. A reduction in monthly drinking levels and in expectancies of increased confidence compared to baseline was noted for two of the three participants at the 3-month follow-up. It was concluded overall that there is consistency between the relationships of reward sensitivity and positive outcome expectancies to alcohol and cannabis use and that outcome expectancies may be a proximal mechanism through which reward sensitivity influences alcohol and cannabis use. It was further concluded that whilst causal inferences regarding the effectiveness of the intervention could not be made, the results provide some evidence for the usefulness of this treatment in changing a proportion of the studied outcomes. This potentially provides an incentive for future controlled design research in larger samples and with alternate substances.

The role of grievances in drawing public concern and activist support is a surprisingly understudied topic in modern social movement literature. This research is the first to parse grievances into core components to understand whether some grievances are more successful than others in evoking mobilizing, affective and cognitive reactions that can ultimately benefit social movements. I find that not all grievances are created equal when it comes to concern, support and interest in activism, and that the content of grievances can be studied in systematic ways to identify the types of grievances likely to be more powerful injustice events.

This dissertation bridges social psychology and social movements by applying concepts from Affect Control Theory (such as evaluation ratings and deflection) to grievance evaluations. To understand the differential effects of grievances, I break grievances into three basic building blocks—a Perpetrator (Actor), the act itself (Behavior), and the victim (Object). I then use measures of cultural perceptions of the goodness or badness of behaviors and identities to investigate how people react to different configurations of good or bad perpetrators, behavior and victims in injustice events. I posit that two mechanisms—concern about the wellbeing of others and desire for consistency in meanings about the world—drive reactions to the goodness or badness of elements in a grievance. I test hypotheses using an experimental design, specifically a vignette study.

I find strong support, across outcomes, that bad behavior, particularly when directed toward good victims, constitutes a form of grievance that promotes strong mobilizing, affective and cognitive reactions. I also find that the perpetrator matters for many outcomes, but that the effect of perpetrator is weaker than the effect of behavior and its target, tends to be insignificant for measures specific to behavioral activism, and largely disappears in cases of bad behavior toward good victims. In general, bad perpetrators produce higher levels of concern and emotion than do good perpetrators. The results also show that while concerns about the wellbeing of others dominate grievance evaluations, expectations about how the world should be (and deflection from those expectations) are useful for understanding reactions to perpetrators and to injustice events involving good behavior.

The conclusions from this dissertation contribute to a number of social movement arenas, including participation, movement outcomes, framing and emotions. Further, it has the real world implications of suggesting how well particular social issues might fare in attracting public concern and activist attention. This provides insights into both the types of movements more likely to be successful as well as the types of social problems less likely to draw public attention, increasing the chances that such problems persist.

The guiding orientation of the present research was whether two conflicting positions, (1) that sentencing in a criminal case is a complex decision-making process, and (2) that sentencing is a judgment based upon few offence and/or offender details, could be reconciled. The competing claims lend support to the opposing viewpoints on sentencing guidelines, and are explicitly or implicitly utilised by each side in the law and order' debate, but each is deficient in current empirical or theoretical investigation. Archival research was undertaken on assault occasioning bodily harm cases from the Queensland District Court. Study 1 (N = 244) investigated the correlations between 27 offence, offender, victim and sentencer characteristics (e.g., use of a weapon in the assault, offender's prior convictions, victim's gender and sentencer's expertise), five theorised preliminary decisions (e.g., whether to impose a tariff versus individualised penalty, to set a utilitarian versus retributive punishment), and five sentencing decisions (e.g., to record or not record a conviction, to impose a lenient or a harsh penalty). Results favoured the conclusion that sentencing is a complex decision-making process. Numerous correlations between the variables were initially indicated, although the effects on the sentencing decisions decreased when the offence seriousness and the offender's prior criminal history were controlled for. Guided by the results from Study 1, five increasingly complex legal and theoretical models were developed. The models were arranged hierarchically, initially including only legal variables and then expanded to incorporate concepts from Schubert's (1965;1974) Attitudinal Model of Supreme Court decision-making, and from Heise's (1988) Affect Control Theory. These were evaluated in Study 2 (N=393) using structural equation modelling. Model comparisons revealed that while the Simple Legal Model, (the first model presented including the harm caused by the offence, the offender's prior criminal history, and prescribed aggravating features of the attack) explained almost half of the variance in the sentencing decision, the model offered a poor fit to the data. While each of the three succeeding models improved the model fit, it was the fifth model, incorporating legal variables, preliminary decisions, attitudes, and particularly the sentencer's evaluation of the `character' of the offender, which best represented the data, without sacrificing parsimony, in addition to accounting for almost two-thirds of the variance in the sentencing decision (65.3%). It was concluded that sentencing is a complex decision-making process, and that the judgment is based upon few offence and/or offender details. Firstly, a relatively small number of offence and offender characteristics accounted for the greater part of the variance in the sentencing decision. Judges however, appeared to organise the information provided in order to make assessments about the offender, in the manner predicted by Affect Control Theory. The overall result therefore, supported the complex decision-making process subscribed to by judges. Limitations of the research and the implications of these results for the main players in the process, the inclusion of psychological theory in the courtroom, and the community's understanding of the system, are discussed.

This project examines attitude change between 1981 and 2001 for a population of young, well educated Canadians, employing evaluation, potency and activity (EPA) semantic differential ratings of approximately 800 social identities. This comprises my larger data set. I also employ a smaller subset of 102 social identities drawn from the larger data set to explore changes across three points in time (1981, 1995, and 2001) for 102 social identities, supplementing my analysis across two points in time (1981 and 2001) for 800 social identities. The objectives for this dissertation are: (1) to assess stability of attitudes for social identities over time; (2) to identify and describe patterns of change in identity attitudes and to connect observed changes in identity attitudes to historical events, and to social and cultural change in Canadian society; (3) to explore the extent to which identities that cluster together in EPA space define social institutions; and (4) to explore how changes in identity attitudes affect role expectations over time. Despite significant shifts in attitudes for a number of identities, approximately 80% of identity attitudes remained stable over time, confirming findings from past research that cultural sentiments are slow to change. Observed changes could be connected to social and cultural structure. Specifically, dramatic changes occurred for religious and sexual preference/orientation identities. Numerous religious identities decreased on evaluation for male respondents between 1981 and 1995 and then were restored to earlier levels by 2001. Female respondents were not as forgiving and 1995 decreases in evaluation were sustained. These changes are connected to increased secularization and earlier sexual scandals in religious institutions. Sexual preference/orientation identities increased significantly on evaluation for both males and females. However, increases for females were more dramatic and occurred across all three points in time while changes in attitudes for males occurred between 1981 and 1995 and then changed little between 1995 and 2001. These changes can be connected to numerous factors, including the increased visibility of gay/lesbian culture in mainstream media and the absence of a strong anti-gay counter movement. Although social identities clustered in interesting ways, cluster analysis was not very successful in defining social institutions. Computer simulations revealed how role and behaviour expectations change with changes in identity attitudes. For example, there is obvious increase in evaluation between 1981 and 2001 for the behavior of a police officer toward a homosexual. This dissertation concludes by addressing methodological issues such as sample size and generalizability. It is suggested that the corpus of identities should be continually updated to include identities that are emerging from pop culture. Finally, four areas of future research are suggested: (1) a continual monitoring of cultural sentiments; (2) a more detailed focus on individual social institutions; (3) a confirmation of computer predictions with qualitative interview data; and (4) identifying the implications of this research for trend analysis. Practical implications of this dissertation research include the use of computer simulations of identity-role processes in the areas of education and policy research.

碩士
中國文化大學
社會福利學系碩士班
97
Due to rapid societal changes, adolescents are in confusing environments involving personal physical and mental changes, and interlocking conflicts among family, school, society, and culture. Adolescent crime has become an issue emphasized by modern society. In order to dispel adolescent criminal tendencies, in 1997 Taiwan’s amended and implemented Law Governing the Disposition of Juvenile Cases finds support from the American placement system, using community treatment as a method to punish adolescents. Indeed, according to the Department of Statistics, Judicial Yuan, since implementation of the diversion system, adolescent recidivism rates are still high. Based on Hirschi’s social control theory, adolescent crime occurs due to a weak connection to society; the inability to strengthen social control ability results in adolescent delinquent behavior. Therefore, the question is whether the service efficacy of Taiwan’s diversion system placement institutions can promote a positive social connection with adolescents, resulting in recidivism? However, because when adolescents are in diversion system placement institutions, their behavior is monitored by experts, thus it is less likely for them to exhibit bad behavior or break laws. Thus, it can be known that whether adolescents still have delinquent behavior while in the institutions is an important factor that allows for predictions about whether there will be recidivism after the placement concludes or within the institution. Thus the purpose of this study is to verify the connection between social control theory and placement institutions service efficacy, as well as the influential factors of the connection to adolescent delinquent behavior in diversion system placement institutions. The purposes are: (1) To understand current adolescent recidivism in diversion system placement institutions in Taiwan, and welfare needs of adolescents placed by the diversion system, as well as the service efficacy of placement institutions in Taiwan. (2) To use differential tests to explore background variables of adolescents in diversion system placement institutions with delinquent behavior, social control variables, and placement institution service efficacy. (3) To verify the connection between service efficacy and social control variables of placement institutions and delinquent behavior. (4) To understand the joint effective predictive power of background variables of adolescents of diversion system placement institutions, social control variables, and placement institution service efficacy on delinquent behavior. (5) Based on the exploration of studies that affect adolescent delinquent behavior in diversion placement systems, programs suitable for adolescents in diversion system placement are proposed for reference. This study uses the questionnaire method as a quantitative research tool with purposive sampling. At four placement counseling institutions that currently accept court diversions, and is currently accepting adolescents placed in accordance to Clause 42 of the Law Governing the Disposition of Juvenile Cases; the adolescents are used as research samples. 130 questionnaires were released, 111 were retrieved, and the retrieval rate is 85%. After discarding six samples that do not conform to the study, miss too many questions, or have excessively consistent answers, there were 105 valid questionnaires. After retrieving the questionnaires, data reliability and consistency are tested using factor analysis, and Cronbacha α coefficient. The statistical methods are instance distribution, K-S test, T-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation, stepwise regression analysis, in order to understand factors that affect adolescent delinquent behavior in diversion system placement institutions. After data analysis and organization, this study finds the following conclusions and discoveries: 1. Adolescent delinquent behavior in diversion system placement institutions does not show differences due to different background variables. 2. In terms of procedural education service efficacy, male adolescents are higher than female adolescents in diversion system placement institutions. 3. In terms of structural education service efficacy, 15~16 year old adolescents are better than 12~14 year old adolescents in diversion system placement institutions. 4. In terms of family reunion service efficacy, 15~16 year old adolescents are higher than 17~18 year old adolescents in diversion system placement institutions. 5. In terms of behavioral correction service efficacy, first offense adolescents are better than recidivist adolescents in diversion system placement institutions; in terms of individual counseling service efficacy, recidivist adolescents are higher than first offense adolescents. 6. In terms of attachment to the school, male adolescents are higher than female adolescents in diversion systemplacement institutions. 7. In terms of boredom, 15~16 year old adolescents are higher than 12~14 year old adolescents in diversion system placement institutions. 8. In terms of faith in legal, social, and ethical norms, first offense adolescents are higher than recidivist adolescents in diversion system placement institutions. 9. There is a negative correlation between the attachment of adolescents in diversion system placement institutions and their delinquent behavior, the most significant of which is attachment to the original family and peers, and services provided by placement institutions can best enhance the attachment of adolescents. 10.In terms of leisure service efficacy and participation of adolescents, the means are second lowest and lowest, the two variables show a positive correlation, and both are negatively correlated to delinquent behavior. 11.In terms of education service efficacy and effort of adolescents, the means are lowest and second lowest, the two variables show a positive correlation, and both are not negatively correlated to delinquent behavior. 12.Usage of faith-neutralization techniques has the strongest predictive power for adolescent delinquent behavior in diversion system placement institutions, and shows a positive correlation with behavioral correction, daily life assistant services, family reunion services, individual counseling, and leisure services of placement institutions. 13.Hirschi’s social control theory was only partially verified by this study; usage of neutralization techniques may be important factors that affect adolescent delinquent behavior in diversion system placement institutions. Based on the above research conclusions and discoveries, the following suggestions are provided: 1.Diversion system placement institutions should be able to promote a positive connection between adolescents and society, using social control forces to quell adolescent delinquent behavior. 2.Diversion system placement institution service efficacy should be able to promote the emotional attachment of adolescents, providing adolescents with a warm space for rehabilitation. 3.Diversion system placement institutions should emphasize the connections and interactions between adolescents and their original families and peers. 4.Diversion system placement institutions should enhance the efficacy of leisure services, cultivating good habits of leisure in adolescents. 5.Attachment and cultivation mechanisms should simultaneously be in operation, so that adolescents in diversion system placement institutions might identify with the developmental mechanisms, so that adolescents do not use so many neutral techniques. 6.Schools, communities, the government, and diversion system placement institutions should work together to assist adolescents in school and employment. 7.Diversion system placement institutions should use leisure services, legal services, behavioral correction, and daily life assistance to prevent adolescent delinquent behavior.

Subjective cultural meanings were once central to occupational stratification research. However, attempts to operationalize cultural meanings associated with occupations have been widely criticized, leading contemporary stratification scholars to largely abandon subjective measures in favor of objective characteristics. This leaves a gap in our understanding of how inequality is generated and maintained because Weber ([1958]) theorized that status, a form of social symbolic power based on cultural beliefs, represents one of the fundamental bases of inequality. Without an adequate method of operationalizing occupational symbolic meanings, the extent to which cultural beliefs influence stratified life outcomes remains largely unknown.

To address this, I used affect control theory, a quantitative general theory of

social action, and its measurement model, the semantic differential scale, to examine three issues regarding the relationship between cultural beliefs and stratified outcomes. Symbolic meaning was quantified into EPA ratings that measure three universal, affective dimensions: evaluation (good versus bad), potency (powerful versus weak), and activity (lively versus quiescent). Despite extensive support within structural social psychology, this approach has not been widely used in the field of stratification. In addition to providing a quantitative framework, because symbolic meanings are comprised of multiple dimensions, affect control theory's multidimensional construction allows for novel approaches not possible using unidimensional measures. The three chapters that follow use affect control theory and ratings of occupational meanings from a newly collected dictionary of affective meaning to address the occupational gender wage gap, the effect of occupational status on life chance outcomes, and the development and testing of a new measure of occupational status.

Dissertation

Vocational psychologists have theorized that the congruence between self and occupations is the key to find fulfilling careers for individuals (Vondracek & Porfeli, 2011). However, the typical use of vocational interests to capture information about the self has been limited because it does not disentangle identity and work preferences in people’s responses in vocational assessments. People cannot be fully informed of careers most fitting to them if the vocational assessment does not capture distinct information about their identity. In this study, we strive to disentangle identity from preferences by including affective identity, which is sentiments that people hold towards themselves, as a predictor for career intent. Focusing on the context of entrepreneurship as a career, we examine how the congruence of affective identity and affective ratings of entrepreneurs provide additional information in predicting entrepreneurial intent beyond work preferences congruence. We invited undergraduate students from a Canadian University to complete an online-survey for an extra credit in their psychology course. We examined the impact of different congruence form of intent by including linear and polynomial terms of self and entrepreneur ratings when conducting a hierarchical linear regression. In general, we found support for the validity of our developed measure and demonstrated that contemporary congruence forms based on factors of affective identity brings new information in career choice perception. Affective identity accounts for unique predictability of self perception beyond vocational preference, which suggests the potential use of affective identity for career search feedback.

A strong model of culture should capture both the structured and negotiated elements of cultural meaning, allowing for the fluidity of social action and the agency of social actors. Although cultural meanings often reproduce societal structures, supporting stability and consensus, culture is constitutive of and not merely produced by structural arrangements. It is therefore essential to establish clear mechanisms which guide how individuals interpret social events and apply cultural meanings in making sense of the social world. As such, this dissertation focuses on the model of culture forwarded by affect control theory, a sociological theory linking culturally shared meaning with identity, behavior, and emotion in interpersonal interaction (for reviews, see Heise 2007; Robinson and Smith-Lovin 2006).

While many theories have attempted to deal with components of the cultural model separately, affect control theory provides a unifying multi-level framework, which rectifies many shortcomings of earlier models by simultaneously accounting for individual cognition and emotion, situational and institutional context, and cultural meaning. The dissertation begins by introducing affect control theory, which considers cultural meanings to be societally bound, based on consensual and widely shared sentiments, and stable over long periods of time. We advocate several refinements to the theory's assumptions about culture, proposing that cultural sentiments are dynamic and structurally contingent, and that mechanisms operating within social networks serve as important sources of meaning consensus and change.

The remainder of the dissertation presents empirical evidence in support of our propositions. First, we draw upon primary survey data to show how social position and patterns of social connectedness relate to inculcation into the dominant culture and commonality with the affective meanings of others. Respondents' demographics, social position, social connectedness, network composition, and experiences in close relationships are explored as predictors of inculcation and commonality in meaning. Second, through an experimental study, we explore social influence processes as a mechanism of cultural consensus and change. Analyses examine both conditionally manipulated features of the group structure and respondents' emergent assessments of social influence as predictors of change in task-related attitudes and affective meanings.

Our results identify structural sources of normative differentiation and consensus, and introduce social networks methodologies as a means of elaborating affect control theory's explanatory model. More broadly, the findings generated by this project contribute to an ongoing academic discussion on the origins of cultural content, exploring the complex and dynamic relationship between patterns of social interaction and cultural affective meaning. We close by introducing research in progress, which examines predictors of clustering in affective meaning and explores how values, self, and identity condition the effects of social influence on decision-making.

Dissertation