[Brian D'Agostino (950908)]
This announces the recent publication of my Ph.D. research in
_Political Psychology_ (Vol. 16, no. 2), one of the leading
interdisciplinary journals of its kind. The article is entitled
"Self-Images of Hawks and Doves: A Control Systems Model of
Militarism." An abstract is appended here, and reprints of the
entire article (36 pages) are available from me upon request (be
sure to give your postal address). NOTE: Please communicate with
me via E-mail at 102574.1444@compuserve.com; except for this
posting, I am not a CSGnet participant because of other constraints
on my time.
I presented an earlier form of this research to the CSG several
years ago in Durango, eliciting much hostility, especially
regarding my use of statistical methods. This was particularly
ironic since except for Phil Runkel, who hardly got a word in
edgewise, there was little statistical expertise in the CSG.
Notwithstanding that nobody had an opportunity to read my paper in
advance, and that I could only summarize it in a short
presentation, there were hardly any questions and many polemical
attacks. If anyone who attended that conference feels they may
have unfairly stereotyped my research, is interested in learning
about it, and is willing to spend the time and effort necessary to
read my article, I would be genuinely happy to answer questions and
criticisms via E-mail.
One final point about the article. My purpose was to use control
theory to make sense of what is known about the psychology of
militarism, including my original survey data. Unlike control
system modeling, this was an exploratory exercise. As such, it was
neither more nor less valid than Bill Powers' exploratory
application of control theory to certain structures of brain
anatomy in _Behavior: The Control of Perception_. I am now
planning follow-up psychological interviews to begin testing the
model sketched in my article. I would be grateful for any ideas
you may have about how to do that. (I am familiar with Dick
Robertson's technique of disturbing the subject's self image, but
that may not be socially appropriate for my purposes. Can you
imagine me calling George Bush a wimp in an interview to test my
theory that he controls a macho image of himself? Talk about
starting an interview off on the wrong foot!).
On a more personal note, I finally got my Ph.D. in May, 1993.
Since then I have applied for about a hundred university teaching
positions in the Boston--New York--Washington corridor and have
gotten only one interview and no offer. If anyone knows of a
psychology department in this region looking for a political
psychologist (I have a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia)
please let me know. I am now into my second year teaching high
school social studies, and I will be reading Ed Ford's _Discipline
for Home and School_ with great interest.
I have also been assisting my wife Connie Benson with her lawsuit
against Columbia. She did historical research uncovering anti-
Semitic and racist skeletons in the closet of an eminent Protestant
thinker, Ernst Troeltsch (1865-1923). Her Ph.D. adviser, who held
Troeltsch in high esteem, then turned on her and had his friends on
the committee fail the dissertation during the oral defense.
However, Connie then got widespread public support from professors
at other universities familiar with her research, and the case has
become a major academic scandal. As a result of nationwide
publicity, Connie was recently admitted to Who's Who in the East
and the forthcoming issue of Who's Who in the World. She is
currently working as a legal secretary while revising her
manuscript for publication. Press clippings on this are available
upon request.
Thanks to anyone reading this, and best regards. The abstract of
my article follows.
ABSTRACT:
Political Psychology, Vol. 16, No. 2, 1995
Self-Images of Hawks and Doves:
A Control Systems Model of Militarism
Brian D'Agostino
Center on Violence and Human Survival,
City University of New York
According to prevailing cognitive models, hawk and dove policy
preferences originate in divergent information about the causes of
war, not in divergent motivations. However, data from a June 1990
survey of the Council on Foreign Relations and two attentive
publics indicate divergent motivations. Hawk and dove policy
preferences are associated, for males, with "macho" and
"idealistic" self systems respectively. Female hawks and doves are
also found to maintain distinctive self images.
While the present data support the contribution of personality to
behavior, the contribution of cognition also has some empirical
support. A new control systems model of political behavior is
presented, subsuming the partial truths of cognition-driven and
personality-driven explanations. Origins and dynamics of the hawk
personality are briefly explained in terms of social learning and
psychoanalytic theories. The article concludes with practical
recommendations for reducing militarism at its psychological
sources.
KEY WORDS: androgyny, authoritarianism, belief systems,
Machiavellianism, personality