With Sampada Karandikar, Hansika Kapoor
Abstract: Most work assessing political ideology and its underpinnings has used primarily western samples. Given India’s unique position as the world’s largest parliamentary democracy with a multiparty system, the present research aimed to develop a scale to measure political ideology in India. Pilot work indicated that the social and economic bifurcation of the conception of political ideology was inadequate in assessing Indians’ stance on political issues. Therefore, in Study 1, 48 items were written relevant to the complex context of political ideology in India. Three factors were extracted based on a sample of 541 Indians (Mage = 24.80, SD = 8.44): purity-based cultural norms, obedience to hierarchy, and economic ideology, highlighting the importance attributed to social concerns. In Study 2, 382 Indians responded to a revised scale (Mage = 26.15 years, SD = 9.00). Based on a confirmatory factor analysis, the three-factor structure was retained. Measurement invariance revealed expected differences between men and women in a few gendered issues such as dowry. Across both studies, economic ideology had poor fit, indicating unreliability of economic issues constituting a consistent ideology in India. Implications, especially with respect to temporal contexts and economic ideology, are discussed.
With Hansika Kapoor
Abstract: The relationship between ideology and partisanship is understudied in India. Using secondary data, we ask whether ideology predicts party preferences, and whether Indians can be clustered with respect to their ideological positions. To do so, we define ideology as differing along two dimensions: adherence to social norms and obedience to hierarchies. We find that a preference for hierarchies significantly determines which party is preferred compared to NOTA, whereas adherence to social norms significantly predicts voting for a number of left- and right-positioning parties. Second, a cluster analysis shows three clusters, which have been named “social reformists” for individuals who are left leaning on both dimensions, “disguised traditionalists” for those who are left leaning in terms of social norms, but right leaning in terms of adherence to hierarchies, and “traditionalists,” for those who are right leaning in terms of both dimensions. Implications and future directions are discussed.
With: Nikita Mehta, Hansika Kapoor, Sarah Rezaei, Nishta Lamba
Abstract: The Dark Triad (DT) is associated with maladaptive interactions in their social and interpersonal relationships as well as defection in social situations. However, it is unclear how DT traits perceive helpfulness. We conducted a two part study to understand whether individuals high on DT traits are able to perceive help from others. DT traits were measured using the Short Dark Triad scale. In Study 1, vignettes were presented to the participants (N = 679) to assess perception of help which depicted situations that differentially benefitted them. Findings revealed that situations wherein others were objectively unhelpful, those with high levels of psychopathy and Machiavellianism uniquely perceive others as helpful and when others are objectively helpful, those with high psychopathy perceive others as less helpful. Study 2 explored the perception of helpfulness and defection through an ultimatum game at different levels of helpfulness (high- and low- help condition). Data from 1059 participants showed that individuals with high scores on psychopathy are less likely to recognize others' helpfulness towards them. High scores on narcissism predicted a greater likelihood of accepting a high help offer. Machiavellianism did not predict perception of help and defection in either of the conditions. Limitations and future scope are discussed
With: Sampada Karandikar, Hansika Kapoor
Abstract: Reality television is a social experiment and interactions observed among contestants reflect a microcosm of real-life exchanges. In the present study, we inspected gossip in the eleventh season of Bigg Boss, an Indian reality show fashioned after UK’s Big Brother. Specifically, two independent raters coded the frequency of conversations, how many of them were gossip, who the targets were, and how much each contestant contributed to the exchange. The connotation, content, and purpose of gossip was investigated for the top three contestants and those who were evicted in earlier episodes. We found that the winners engaged in and were targets of more conversations than those evicted. Consistent with theories of group and sexual selection, women spoke more about physical appearance and reputation, and the only male contestant investigated discussed status and prestige more than other topics. Information sharing was primarily motivated by social comparisons and intrasexual competition, but not so much to compare groups. Limitations are discussed.