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Information, accountability, and political preferences
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Pierce, Douglas R.. Information, accountability, and political preferences. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3W66NGN

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TitleInformation, accountability, and political preferences
NamePierce, Douglas R. (author); Lau, Richard R (chair); Redlawsk, David P (internal member); Zucco, Cesar (internal member); Delli Carpini, Michael (outside member); Rutgers University; Graduate School - New Brunswick
Date Created2015
Other Date2015-01 (degree)
SubjectPolitical Science, Mass media--Political aspects, Voting, Communication in politics
Extent1 online resource (xv, 264 p. : ill.)
DescriptionPolitical scientists have long endorsed a theory of preference formation based on a model of political expertise. According to this line of thinking, optimal political preferences result from reason, logic, and the appraisal of factual evidence. Accordingly, politically sophisticated citizens are assumed to develop political preferences that are more rational, less biased, and more correct than those of the less informed members of the electorate. In this project, I challenge this orthodox view. I argue that most political preferences are rooted in the personality traits, values, and cultural worldviews of people and are formed on the basis of affective reactions to stimuli rather than through the reasoned consideration of information. The affective nature of political judgments implies that information serves primarily to rationalize rather than form opinions. Since political preferences are an important signifier of group and individual identity, I posit that the social need to be accountable for one's opinions is a major explanatory factor in the development of political expertise. I develop a conceptualization of political preferences as affective judgments situated in social reality and hypothesize that political information acquisition serves an important social function. Based on this conceptualization, I contend that what separates political experts from non-experts is not the degree of information used to form a preference, but rather the nature of the social incentives that motivate certain individuals to seek information in order to defend, rationalize, and justify their preferences. I present data from the National Election Surveys and two original experiments to support my claims that increasing the amount of information a subject possesses about politics does not necessarily change their preferences and that the social expectation of accountability significantly influences the way subjects process information about political candidates.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Noteby Douglas R. Pierce
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
Persistent URLhttps://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3W66NGN
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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