Project Type
Faculty Scholarship
Scholarship Domain(s)
Scholarship of Discovery
Presentation Type
Presentation
Abstract
Eighty-five Olivet students (57 women) participated for extra credit in a study focused on the relationship between the accessibility of one's attitudes toward political parties (Democrats vs. Republicans) and political decisions (e.g., likelihood to vote for a given candidate). Participants viewed a series of Democrat-related (e.g., left-leaning, liberal) and Republican-related (e.g., right-leaning, conservative) terms piloted for political orientation. For each, they were asked to indicate as quickly and accurately as possible whether they liked or disliked it. The speed of their response served as a measure of attitude accessibility. Participants then completed a series of questions regarding their political orientation, voting likelihood for various candidates, and attitudes toward Republicans and Democrats. I found evidence that the more accessible participants' positive attitudes toward Democrat terms, the more likely participants were to vote Democrat, and that the more accessible participants' negative attitudes toward Republican terms, the more likely participants were to vote Democrat. Implications will be discussed.
Permission Type
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
The relationship between the accessibility of political attitudes and voting behavior
Reed 330
Eighty-five Olivet students (57 women) participated for extra credit in a study focused on the relationship between the accessibility of one's attitudes toward political parties (Democrats vs. Republicans) and political decisions (e.g., likelihood to vote for a given candidate). Participants viewed a series of Democrat-related (e.g., left-leaning, liberal) and Republican-related (e.g., right-leaning, conservative) terms piloted for political orientation. For each, they were asked to indicate as quickly and accurately as possible whether they liked or disliked it. The speed of their response served as a measure of attitude accessibility. Participants then completed a series of questions regarding their political orientation, voting likelihood for various candidates, and attitudes toward Republicans and Democrats. I found evidence that the more accessible participants' positive attitudes toward Democrat terms, the more likely participants were to vote Democrat, and that the more accessible participants' negative attitudes toward Republican terms, the more likely participants were to vote Democrat. Implications will be discussed.