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Motivated reasoning and culturalcognition theory in the Canadian
contextSimon J. Kiss, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityErick Lachapelle, Universtié de Montréal
Eric Montpetit, Université de Montréal
Cultural Theory
• Not characteristics of nations or ethnicity
• A functionally related pattern of social relations and political values and beliefs about human and physical nature
• roots are in the functionalist sociology of Emile Durkheim
Cultural Theory
• Bureaucracies (hierarchy), markets (individualism) and flat forms of organizations (egalitarianism) ``think’’, produce and then sustained by ways of looking at the world,
• Individuals internalize these external social relations
• Provides a theoretical explanation for where preferences come from
Cultural Cognition Theory• Individuals use psychological heuristics to process
information in variable ways (e.g. biased assimilation of information identity protection)
• This leads to variation in risk perception among populations
• No claims about the origins of beliefs, assumed to be fundamental
Cultural Cognition Theory Applicability in Canada?
• United StatesKahan, D.M., H. Jenkins Smith, and D Braman. 2011. “Cultural Cognition of Scientific
Consensus.” Journal Of Risk Research 14(2): 147–74.
• CanadaDragojlovic, Nick, and Edna Einsiedel. 2014. “The Polarization of Public Opinion on
Biofuels in North America: Key Drivers and Future Trends.” Biofuels 5(3): 233–47.
• QuebecLachapelle, E, É Montpetit, and J P Gauvin. 2014. “Public Perceptions of Expert Credibility
on Policy Issues: the Role of Expert Framing and Political Worldviews.” Policy Studies Journal.
• Waterloo, OntarioPerrella, Andrea, and Simon J Kiss. “Risk Perception, Psychological Heuristics and the
Water Fluoridation Controversy.” Canadian Journal of Public Health 106(4).
Conclusions• Cultural cognition is one variant of broader cultural
theory.
• Serious questions about the reliability and validity of cultural cognition questions applicability in Canada
• We are developing questions that are sensitive to the Canadian context that
• Initial results suggest these are highly correlated in theoretically predicted ways with patterns of risk perception
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