Lorand B. Szalay

Political Ideology and Subjective Culture: Conceptualization and Empirical Assessment

Ideology and subjective culture are examined as two systems of behavioral organization well known for their hidden but frequently powerful influences on political choices and behavior. After a brief sketch of a representational theory of behavioral organization, a research strategy based on inferences drawn from the distribution of thousands of free word associations is described and illustrated with results from several international studies. Findings on Slovenian images and frame of reference demonstrate the effects of Marxist doctrines. Korean and American data illustrate differences that are predominantly psychocultural. The analytic method outlined suggests new capabilities for studying ideology and its influence on peoples perceptions, their system of representation of the world, and their organization of behavior. It may be used to assess predispositions to adopt democratic principles and procedures. It might also be used to assess the influence of ideological doctrines and their degree of integration with the cultural views andframe of reference. The most natural use will probably be in research in the field of international understanding and communication. In this paper we present a perceptual-representational theory of behavior and a methodology for studying ideology and culture as two main designs of behavioral organization. We also outline an assessment strategy, present findings that provide support for the theory, and suggest a systematic way to explain ideology and culture and their interrelationship.

Relative influence of linguistic versus cultural factors on free verbal associations.

The extent to which differences in word associations between cultural groups are due to linguistic factors or to word meanings and values determined by culture was examined in the continued free word associations of Koreans in Korean and in English and a U. S. group in English. The influence of cultural background was at least as much as that of language on each of three characteristics examined. Further, much of the difference due to language seems to stem from the milieu of language acquisition.

Comparative Analysis of Words and Pictures through Associations

The investigations focused on a picture-stimulated continued association approach, its information value and analytic potential. Student groups (N = 50), each composed of both sexes, were from the University of Maryland. The study involved a comparative analysis of associations produced to words and pictures. The results show that the two approaches are closely comparable but produced responses which were differently focused. While the word-stimulated responses were somewhat more generic, the picture-stimulated associations were more narrow and specific. All the measures developed previously in the context of word-stimulated associations were found to be equally applicable and informative with picture-stimulated associations as well. From a theoretical viewpoint, the investigations were informative in demonstrating the importance of perceptual semantic and affective-attitudinal factors in the association process. Corresponding words and pictures elicited closely similar response distributions with correlations in the range of .7. As the role of perceptual factors is obvious in picture-stimulated associations, the results of the study have distinct implications for association theory, underlining the importance of centrally mediated mechanisms in the process of elicitation.