Seoungin Choi
My Research
My broader research agenda is motivated by questions of how frames and psychological factors, such as emotions influence political behaviors, especially around issues of race, gender, and immigrant rights social movements.
Effects of Frames on Emotions, Information Processing, and Social Movement Participation
​This study conducts three survey experiments to test framing effects on mobilization in the #MeToo movement, immigrant rights movement, and Black Lives Matter, and how psychological elements—identity, emotions, self-interest, prior attitudes—affect the framing effects on movement engagement. Results offer an understanding of the psychological mechanisms behind the effects of various frames on political behaviors and social movement participation.
Issue Dependence of Emotional Outcomes
This study tests whether emotional outcomes vary depending on issues and whether different types of emotions from various issues promote different social movement behaviors. Based on the result of my previous study, I found that positive emotion was more powerful in encouraging movement actions concerning the issue of immigration, which goes against other previous studies that argue negative emotion is more effective in political behavior, such as voting behavior. To fill the research gap, I will investigate the issue dependence of emotions in relation to political behavior, around issues of race and ethnicity, gender, economic policies, and environmental policies.
Effects of Personality and Emotions on Political Attitudes and Behaviors
This project investigates how emotions interact with personality and influence attitudes toward immigrants and immigration policy. I expect that the effect of emotions on attitudes toward immigrants would be weakened or strengthened depending on personality traits, such as extraversion, agreeableness, and openness to experience.
Can We Tell the Difference between Ambivalence and Ignorance? Positive or/and Negative Attitudes toward Immigrants
This research explores whether people can tell the difference between ambivalence and ignorance about immigration issues and policies. When people feel uncertain about an issue because they know both advantages and disadvantages, they are reluctant to say they “know” about the topic even when they actually know about it. I will test whether people can distinguish between this uncertainty based on ambivalent attitudes and ignorance from lack of knowledge and how these psychological statuses influence their attitudes toward immigration policies.
