Cold hearts and bleeding hearts: disciplinary differences in university students' sociopolitical orientations.
Many people believe that a university education leads to the liberalization of students' worldviews. The author aimed to investigate whether such differences occur across disciplines and whether they are due to self-selection or socialization within disciplines. The author conducted 3 correlational studies of university students (N = 223, N = 531) and alumni (N = 143). The results clearly supported the self-selection hypothesis and suggested that students from all disciplines generally endorse liberal or left-wing attitudes. These findings have theoretical implications for the study of belief system development (primarily the impressionable years hypothesis), and they contribute to a greater understanding of how a university education affects the sociopolitical orientations of students.
Hastie
Brianne
B
Murdoch University, Perth, Australia. brianne.hastie@unisa.edu.au
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011057:Politics; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception; D012942:Social Sciences; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities