UNDERSTANDING CYNICISM: USING A DISCREPANCY MODEL AS EVIDENCE FOR DOMAIN-SPECIFIC CYNICISM

The construct of cynicism has been used in the field of social science in numerous different ways. However, this has been done with little consistency between studies on how to define and measure the construct. This research takes a closer look at cynicism to show that the construct is actually more complicated than originally believed. The goal is to more fully explore the consequences of a domain-specific cynicism measurement on interpretations and implications of cynicism research. Three domains of cynicism are proposed in this research: interpersonal cynicism, cultural cynicism, and governmental cynicism. These domains are explored with the development of a new domain- specific measure of cynicism. To demonstrate the utility of the domain-specific view of cynicism, this research includes a discrepancy model as a correlate of each domain. The discrepancy model includes measures that assess the difference between how a participant perceives a domain to be and their ideal of what the domain should be like. Results of this study mostly supported the need for domain-specific cynicism, especially when considering interpersonal and government cynicism. Cultural cynicism proved to be the most difficult to study but revealed some interesting results dealing with minority status. Overall this study suggests that separating cynicism into targeted domains gives important information for the interpretation of cynicism as a whole.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Montana

Year

2010

Author dc:creator

• Gornick, L. Janelle

• Cynicism
• Discrepancy
• Domain-Specifics
• Ideology
• Minority Status

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/1145

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.umt.edu:etd-2164