The Cognitive and Affective Determinants of Political Judgments
Ottati, Victor C.
This item is only available for download by members of the University of Illinois community. Students, faculty, and staff at the U of I may log in with your NetID and password to view the item. If you are trying to access an Illinois-restricted dissertation or thesis, you can request a copy through your library's Inter-Library Loan office or purchase a copy directly from ProQuest.
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/69719
Description
Title
The Cognitive and Affective Determinants of Political Judgments
Author(s)
Ottati, Victor C.
Issue Date
1988
Department of Study
Psychology
Discipline
Psychology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Psychology, Social
Political Science, General
Abstract
Recent research in political psychology has emphasized the unique role of beliefs and episodic emotions as determinants of attitude toward a political candidate. A conceptual distinction between "beliefs" and "emotions" has been argued on the basis of the finding that evaluative consistency mechanisms appear to be more pronounced in beliefs than in emotions. The unique role of beliefs and emotions as determinants of attitude has been argued on the basis of the finding that beliefs and emotions operate as unique predictors of attitude. The results of this dissertation suggest that these findings only occur when employing a traditional survey approach in which a common set of items is administered to all respondents. When examining beliefs and emotions that are salient for each particular individual respondent: (1) there was no indication that beliefs are more strongly influenced by evaluative consistency mechanisms than are emotions, (2) respondents were quite capable of generating cognitive explanations for their emotional responses, and (3) these cognitive explanations fully accounted for the role of emotions as predictors of attitude. On the basis of these findings, it is concluded that an individual's beliefs are not more strongly influenced by evaluative consistency mechanisms than are an individual's emotions. And more importantly, it is possible to locate a cognitive basis of emotion that fully accounts for the relation between episodic emotions and attitude toward the candidate.
Use this login method if you
don't
have an
@illinois.edu
email address.
(Oops, I do have one)
IDEALS migrated to a new platform on June 23, 2022. If you created
your account prior to this date, you will have to reset your password
using the forgot-password link below.
