Cognition and Collective Conservatism:  A Choice-Theoretic  Approach
{'Code': '04050100', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'SBE', 'LongName': 'Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'SES', 'LongName': 'Divn Of Social and Economic Sciences'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Daniel H. Newlon', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
The overall objective of this project is to explore                             systematically the link between individual cognition and the                    evolution of social policies and institutions.  Important as it                 is, this link has received little attention, although many                      influential thinkers have called attention to it.                                                                                                               The framework of analysis will be a collective choice model                     developed in earlier work, a key feature of which is a                          distinction between the individual's privately held and publicly                declared preferences.  This framework will be extended and                      refined through the incorporation of some major findings of                     psychology.  These include the individual's proclivity to                       separate interrelated issues; his inability to identify the                     status quo; his resistance to changing his beliefs; and his                     readiness to reduce his cognitive dissonance.  The focus will be                on the role of these cognitive phenomena in blocking social                     change.  Among the particular issues addressed are preference and               belief polarization; cultural persistence; the persistence of                   inconsistencies among collective decisions; the long-term social                benefits of controversy; and finally, feedback from collective                  decisions to the belief systems that underlie individual choices.                                                                                               Another related goal of this project is to reconcile the                        observation that societies cling to the status quo with the                     seemingly contradictory fact that they are capable of immense                   change.  One explanation rests on the idea that changes in                      people's preferences concerning a collective issue might remain                 hidden from view because of preference falsification - until,                   that is, a relatively small shock puts in motion a bandwagon                    process that generates a massive shift in the distribution of                   public preferences.                                                                                                                                             This is a very ambitious and important research agenda.  The                    project could produce a new school of thought based on a                        synthesis of economics, cognitive psychology, history, sociology                and political science.  At the very least it provides new                       insights into the dynamics of social and economic change.  For                  example, a theory of cognitive limitations could explain why                    social change is often undesigned, unwanted, and unannounced.
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{'Name': 'University of Southern California', 'CityName': 'LOS ANGELES', 'ZipCode': '90033', 'PhoneNumber': '2137407762', 'StreetAddress': '3720 S FLOWER ST FL 3', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'California', 'StateCode': 'CA', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '34', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'CA34', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'G88KLJR3KYT5', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
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{'Code': '132000', 'Text': 'Economics'}
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