Rm. Alvarez et J. Brehm, AMERICAN AMBIVALENCE TOWARDS ABORTION POLICY - DEVELOPMENT OF A HETEROSKEDASTIC PROBIT MODEL OF COMPETING VALUES, American journal of political science, 39(4), 1995, pp. 1055-1082
Theory: Using elaboration-likelihood models and insights from the rece
nt core beliefs literature, we show that conflicting core beliefs lead
to ambivalence about policy choices. Hypotheses: Policy choices about
abortion are heterogeneous. This heterogeneity across individuals is
a function of the underlying conflict in their beliefs about the role
of women and the sanctity of human life. Methods: A heteroskedastic pr
obit model is developed to test the hypotheses. Results: Heterogeneity
is observed for six of seven abortion policy choices; when core value
s conflict, respondents are more ambivalent in their policy responses
and more difficult for our standard models to predict.