Cross-cultural Multilevel Examination of Power and Influence
Principal Investigator: Jasmin Cloutier, University of Delaware
Co-Investigators: Jennifer Kubota, University of Delaware
Years of Award: 2023-2026
Managing Service Agency: Air Force Office of Scientific Research
Project Description:
In this new era of interconnectedness, diverse ideologies, and geopolitical recalibration, it is vital to examine how an actor exerts or succumbs to influence. Researchers have long conflated status and power and focused almost exclusively on North American and European perspectives. This proposal will refine and expand on existing scientific frameworks and examine, from a cross-cultural perspective, how status and power influence preference, cooperation, competition, and national elections. The overarching goal of this proposal is to develop a rigorous theoretical framework supported by multilevel empirical evidence to examine (1) the distinct and overlapping dynamics of status, power, and influence among individuals harboring authoritarian and democratic hierarchical ideologies in Brazil and the United States (U.S.) and (2) the implications of these dynamics for strategic cooperation, competition, and national elections. We will employ a multilevel approach to establish this framework, combining psychological, political science, sociological, behavioral, neuroscientific, and social media research. Understanding the antecedents, mechanisms, and consequences of status and power and how they propel influence is critical for the operational competitiveness of protocols, policies, and interventions. This proposal includes an advisory board with experts in Brazilian politics and culture to increase the feasibility and assess the eventual application of the research findings.