Decision-Making in the Political Arena

GVPT’s Kris Miler Partners with UMD Linguistics Researchers to Analyze How and Why Legislators Make Decisions

Associate Professor Kris Miler from the Department of Government and Politics is co-leading a project funded by the National Science Foundation to advance understanding of how decisions are made, particularly in the political arena.

Philip Resnik, a professor of linguistics with a joint appointment in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS), is co-principal investigator on the $430,000 award, which comes from the NSF’s Division of Information and Intelligent Systems.

The two-year project will examine both metadata about individuals and the language they use as sources of information that can help predict when and why two individuals will make the same choice.

“Language offers new insights into the dynamics within existing groups, as well as helps us to identify relationships that are not defined by formal groups,” Miler said. “As a result, this research will develop a better understanding of the dynamics of disagreements within the parties, and the cohesion of other caucuses within Congress. Equally as important, language can identify commonalities and potential areas of agreement between legislators that otherwise might go unnoticed.”

The research team will begin by examining legislative decisions using advanced natural language processing and machine-learning techniques, which will go beyond previous computational models used in political science, which often focus on the properties of the individuals—for example, whether they come from the same political party, or have demographic characteristics in common.

“This is a great opportunity not only to develop new computational techniques, but to bridge the gap between technology and social science,” Resnik said.

What the researchers believe will bring added value to their analyses and comparisons is detailed statistical modeling of the language that legislators use when talking about issues.

If legislators frame issues in similar ways, for example, does that mean they are more likely to make similar decisions where those issues are concerned? Does the use of emotional language magnify persuasive power, or, conversely, might it instead serve to increase polarization?

“Colleagues are an important influence on legislators’ decisions, but these dynamics are hard to observe,” says Miler. “By examining shared language, this research will provide new insight into how legislators work together, how policy ideas can gain momentum, and how legislative relationships are important even in these partisan times.”

—Story by Melissa Brachfeld from UMIACS. Originally posted to the BSOS website on September 18, 2020.

Published on Fri, Sep 18, 2020 - 1:51PM