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People are surprisingly susceptible to the influence of
others and the voting booth is no exception. In fact, one classic paper in
political psychology (Cohen, 2003) shows that what other Democrats or Republicans think
influences our opinions much more than the actual content of a policy. The
paper has a few important lessons we should all keep in mind as we begin to
formulate our opinions about candidates and policies.
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1. It doesn't matter what the policy is, we tend to vote how our party votes.
What other Democrats or Republicans think about a policy
makes the largest impact on attitudes. When participants in several studies were
presented with two different welfare policies (one very generous and one very
stringent) they tended to vote along party lines, as one would expect.
Republicans preferred the stringent policy and Democrats preferred the generous
policy.
What is surprising, is that when participants received
information about how other members of their party voted, the content of the
policy mattered very little. Republicans far preferred a very generous welfare
policy, when they thought other Republicans did so too. Democrats far preferred a very stringent welfare policy, when they though other Democrats preferred it. It seems that in light
of new social information, individuals’ attitudes changed enough to vote
counter to the overall philosophy of their party.
2. It doesn’t matter how knowledgeable you are.
Knowledge about welfare policies in general did not dampen
this effect. It was not the case that only those people without knowledge of
the topic looked to their peers and in-group to help them shape their
attitudes. Everyone did so.
3. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican.
Yes, it may be easy to say that this is something “those
other people” do, but both sides of the aisle were guilty.
4. We don’t know we’re doing it.
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5. We think other people are doing it.
People thought that other participants in this study were
influenced by social information about how other members of their party voted.
6. It's not that we're less attentive.
If we know that all Republicans like
this policy, then we might not even have to read it too carefully or think
about its details. Surprisingly, this was not the case. Participants were no
worse at remembering the details of each policy when they were given additional
information about other Republicans/ Democrats than without this information.
Furthermore when asked to write their reactions to the policies, they wrote
equally long and well-thought-out explanations in both conditions. People aren’t just spacing out and using party preferences as a shortcut.
7. Knowing how others vote focuses our attention on
different details and alters which personal values seem important.
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Additionally learning that other Democrats supported the mandatory job training component shifted Democratic participants' emphasis from values of universal humanitarianism to individualism.
As you shape your political opinions in the next few months, be careful about the sources of your information and how you formulate your attitudes. Ask yourself, "Would I still vote for this, if I heard that a member of the opposite party supported it?" Try your best to stay objective and true to your own personal values.
Excellent Post, Olga! We are so convinced that we are the "ones" who are objective and not easily influenced by rhetoric and emotional arguments like "those other guys."
ReplyDeleteI wonder, what purpose is served by humans evolving to a stage where we are more likely to make deeply intellectual judgments on external events without balancing those judgments against our own internal emotional and intellectual dynamics (schemas/reactive responses, etc.)? Is there some evolutionary benefit, or is this some maladaptive response to an underlying pathology in the society we've established?
Great, now you've got me worried and it's not even 10AM.
:)
D
I can see how this would lead to stress and emotions. if a person is concemplating on who to vote for, it might eventually cause stress. Not to mention, people from both party sides are trying to persuade that subject to vote a certain person so its up to that person to decide which group he/she is going to conform to.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post. As someone who used to be big into party politics, I've been guilty of this behavior, both as a Democrat and as a Republican. So I agree that it doesn't matter which party you're a part of. I've seen firsthand that both sides do it.
ReplyDeleteI do think I had a way bigger blind spot to the behavior when I was a Democrat though, because as a Democrat one of the central conceits in how I viewed myself was that I was part of the "party of the tolerant." "Tolerance" was a key component of my idealized, self image, and the media and general pop culture reinforced that image for me, so it became really hard to consider that Republicans didn't have a monopoly on close-mindedness.
When I engaged in your described behavior as a Republican, I did find it harder to avoid opposing viewpoints or construct echo chambers as well as I could as a Democrat, so I was able to self-correct and deprogram easier when in that camp.
D.K.M. - Great question. I think we are probably wired to perceive information in a similar way as our in-group. I think this does and has served us so well in the past that it's a strong motivation.
ReplyDeleteLuke - This is a good point. However, many of the subjects saw only one side or the other and the results were similar.
Ricky - That's a very very interesting point. I wonder if someone has tested this. I do wonder if identifying as "tolerant" actually makes one less tolerant! Could it be the reason we often hear about Republicans switching camps and rarely about Democrats doing so?