Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-03T19:28:37.588Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 13 - Political Belief Formation: Individual Differences and Situational Factors

from Economics and Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2022

By
Lala Muradova  and
Kevin Arceneaux
Edited by
Julien Musolino ,
Joseph Sommer  and
Pernille Hemmer
Julien Musolino
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Joseph Sommer
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Pernille Hemmer
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Get access

Summary

This chapter reviews research at the intersection of psychology and political science that studies how people form political beliefs. We discuss the degree to which people’s motivations shape the beliefs that they form, paying particular attention to the extent to which people’s political beliefs are generated through reflection. Both individual differences and situational factors affect the extent to which people are reflective in political domains. As always, more questions remain than researchers have answered, and we conclude with some thoughts about the most pressing ones that future research should tackle.

Keywords

reflectionpolitical reasoningindividual differencesempathymotivated reasoningopinion formationdispositionsdeliberation
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cognitive Science of Belief
A Multidisciplinary Approach
 , pp. 279 - 297
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achen, C. H. & Bartels, L. M. (2016) Democracy for realists. Why elections do not produce responsive government. Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arceneaux, K. & Vander Wielen, R. J. (2017) Taming intuition. how reflection minimizes partisan reasoning and promotes democratic accountability. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Arendt, H. (1992) Lectures on Kant’s political philosophy. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Bächtiger., A., Dryzek, J. S., Mansbridge, J., et al. (2018) The Oxford handbook of deliberative democracy. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Barabas., J. (2004) How deliberation affects policy opinions. The American Political Science Review, 98(4), 687–701. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055404041425Google Scholar
Bakker, B. N., Lelkes, Y., & Malka, A. (2020) Understanding partisan cue receptivity: tests of predictions from the bounded rationality and expressive utility perspectives. The Journal of Politics, 82(3), 1061–1077. https://doi.org/10.1086/707616Google Scholar
Barker, D. C. (2018) Cognitive deliberation, electoral decision making, and democratic health. Social Science Quarterly, 99(3), 962–976. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12475Google Scholar
Baron, J. (2018) Individual mental abilities vs. the world’s problems. Journal of Intelligence, 6(2), 23. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence6020023Google Scholar
Baron, J. (2019) Actively open-minded thinking in politics. Cognition, 188 (August), 8–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.10.004Google Scholar
Bessette, J. (1994) The mild voice of reason: deliberative democracy and american national government. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Birch, S., Allen, N. J., & Sarmiento-Mirwaldt, K. (2017) Anger, anxiety and corruption perceptions: evidence from France. Political Studies, 65(4), 893–911. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321717691294CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bisgaard, M. (2015) Bias will find a way: economic perceptions, attributions of blame, and partisan-motivated reasoning during crisis. Journal of Politics, 77(3): 849–860. https://dx.doi.org/10.1086/681591Google Scholar
Bisgaard, M. (2019) How getting the facts right can fuel partisan-motivated reasoning. American Journal of Political Science, 63(4): 824–839. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12432Google Scholar
Bohman, J. (1996) Public deliberation: pluralism, complexity, and democracy. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Bohman, J. & Rehg, W. (1997) What sort of equality does deliberative democracy require? Deliberative democracy: essays on reason and politics. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Bolsen, T. & Palm, R. (2019) Motivated reasoning and political decision making. In Oxford research encyclopaedia of politics. Oxford University Press. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.923.Google Scholar
Bolsen, T., Druckman, J. N., & Lomax, F. (2014) The influence of partisan motivated reasoning on public opinion. Political Behavior, 36, 235–262. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-013-9238-0.Google Scholar
Brader, T. (2005) Striking a responsive chord: how political ads motivate and persuade voters by appealing to emotions. American Journal of Political Science, 49(2): 388–405. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0092-5853.2005.00130.xGoogle Scholar
Bullock, J. G., Gerber, A. S., Hill, S. J., et al. (2015) Partisan bias in factual beliefs about politics. Quarterly Journal of Political Science, 10, 519–578. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/100.00014074CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cacioppo, J. T. & Petty, R. E. (1982) The need for cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42(1): 116–131. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.42.1.116Google Scholar
Chambers, S. (1996) Reasonable democracy. Jürgen Habermas and the politics of discourse. Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Clifford, S. & Simas, E. N. (2019) How dispositional empathy influences political ambition. The Journal of Politics, 81(3), 1043–1056. https://doi.org/10.1086/703381Google Scholar
Cohen, A. R., Stotland, E., & Wolfe, D. M. (1955) An experimental investigation of need for cognition. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 51(2), 291–294. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0042761CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, G. L. (2003) Party over policy: the dominating impact of group influence on political beliefs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(5), 808–822. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.5.808Google Scholar
Colombo, C. (2018) Hearing the other side? – Debiasing political opinions in the case of the Scottish independence referendum. Political Studies, 66(1), 23–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321717723486Google Scholar
Dahl, R. (1971) Polyarchy: participation and opposition. Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Davis, M. H. (1980) A multi-dimensional approach to individual differences in empathy. JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 10(85). https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.44.1.113Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1910) How we think. D.C.Heath & Co Publishers.Google Scholar
Delli Carpini, M. X. & Keeter, S. (1996) What Americans know about politics and why it matters. Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Druckman, J. N. & McGrath, M. C. (2019) The evidence for motivated reasoning in climate change preference formation. Nature Climate Change, 9(February), 111–119. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0360-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enns, P. K., & McAvoy, G. E. (2012) The role of partisanship in aggregate opinion. Political Behavior, 34(4), 627–651. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-011-9176-7Google Scholar
Fishkin, J. S. (2009) When the people speak: deliberative democracy and public consultation. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fishkin, J. S. (2018) Democracy when the people are thinking: revitalizing our politics through public deliberation. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fishkin, J. S. & Luskin, R. (2005) Experimenting with a democratic ideal: deliberative polling and public opinion. Acta Politica 40, 284–298. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.ap.5500121.Google Scholar
Frederick, S. (2005) Cognitive reflection and decision making. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(4), 25–42.Google Scholar
Gadarian, S. K. & Albertson, B. (2014) Anxiety, immigration, and the search for information. Political Psychology. 35(2), 133–164. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12034Google Scholar
Gastil, J. (2008) Political communication and deliberation. SAGE Publications.Google Scholar
Gastil, J. (2018) The lessons and limitations of experiments in democratic deliberation. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 14(June), 271–291. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-110316-113639CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerber, M., Bächtiger, A., Fiket, I., et al. (2014) Deliberative and non-deliberative persuasion: mechanisms of opinion formation in EuroPolis. European Union Politics, 15(3), 410–429. https://doi.org/10.1177/1465116514528757Google Scholar
Goodin, R. E. (2000) Democratic deliberation within. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 29(1): 81–108.Google Scholar
Groenendyk, E. W. (2013) Competing motives in the partisan mind. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Groenendyk, E. & Krupnikov, Y. (2021) What motivates reasoning? A theory of goal-dependent political evaluation. American Journal of Political Science, 65(1), 180–196. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12562Google Scholar
Grönlund, K., Herne, K., & Setälä, M. (2017) Empathy in a citizen deliberation experiment. Scandinavian Political Studies, 40(4), 457–480. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9477.12103Google Scholar
Gutmann, A. & Thompson, D. (1996) Democracy and disagreement. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Habermas, J. (1981) Theory of communicative action, volume 1: reason and the rationalization of society. Polity Press.Google Scholar
Habermas, J. (1987) The theory of communicative action: volume 2: lifeworld and system: a critique of functionalist reason. Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Habermas, J. (1996) Between facts and norms. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Huddy, L., Mason, L., & Aarøe, L. (2015) Expressive partisanship: campaign involvement, political emotion, and partisan identity. American Political Science Review, 109(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055414000604Google Scholar
Iyengar, S. & Hahn, K. S. (2009) Red media, blue media: evidence of ideological selectivity in media use. Journal of Communication, 59(1), 19–39. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2008.01402.xGoogle Scholar
Jennstål, J. (2019) Deliberation and complexity of thinking. Using the integrative complexity scale to assess the deliberative quality of minipublics. Swiss Political Science Review, 25(1), 64–83. https://doi.org/10.1111/spsr.12343Google Scholar
Johnston, C. D., Lavine, H., & Woodson, B. (2015) Emotion and political judgment: expectancy violation and affective intelligence. Political Research Quarterly, 68(3), 474–492. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912915593644Google Scholar
Kahan, D. M. (2012) Ideology, motivated reasoning, and cognitive reflection. Judgment & Decision Making, 8(4), 407–424.Google Scholar
Kahan, D. M., Landrum, A., Carpenter, K., et al. (2017) Science curiosity and political information processing. Political Psychology, 38( Supplement 1), 179–199. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12396Google Scholar
Kalla, J. L. & Broockman, D. E. (2020). Reducing exclusionary attitudes through interpersonal conversation: evidence from three field experiments. American Political Science Review 114(2), 410–425. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055419000923Google Scholar
Kam, C. D. (2006) Political campaigns and open-minded thinking. Journal of Politics, 68(4), 931–945. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2508.2006.00481.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, N., Fishkin, J. S., & Luskin, R. C. (2018) Intergroup contact in deliberative contexts: evidence from deliberative polls. Journal of Communication, 68(6), 1029–1051. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqy056Google Scholar
Klar, S. (2014) Partisanship in a social setting. American Journal of Political Science, 58(3), 687–704. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12087Google Scholar
Kunda, Z. (1990) The case for motivated reasoning. Psychological Bulletin, 108(3), 480–498. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.480Google Scholar
Leeper, T. J. & Slothuus, R. (2014) Political parties, motivated reasoning, and public opinion formation. Political Psychology, 35(SUPPL.1), 129–156. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12164CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindell, M., Bächtiger, A., Grönlund, K., et al. (2017) What drives the polarisation and moderation of opinions? Evidence from a Finnish citizen deliberation experiment on immigration. European Journal of Political Research, 56(1), 23–45. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12162Google Scholar
Luskin, R. C., Fishkin, J. S., Jowell, R., et al. (2002) Considered opinions: deliberative polling in Britain. British Journal of Political Science, 32, 455–487. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123402000194Google Scholar
MacKuen, M., Wolak, J., Keele, L., et al. (2010) Civic engagements: resolute partisanship or reflective deliberation. American Journal of Political Science, 54(2), 440–458. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2010.00440.xGoogle Scholar
Mansbridge, J. (1983) Beyond adversary democracy. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Marcus, G. E. (2000) Emotions in politics. Annual Review of Political Science, 3, 221–250.Google Scholar
Marcus, G. E. & MacKuen, M. B. (1993) Anxiety, enthusiasm, and the vote: the emotional underpinnings of learning and involvement during presidential campaigns. American Political Science Review, 87(3), 672–685. https://doi.org/10.2307/2938743Google Scholar
Mason, L. (2015) “I disrespectfully agree”: the differential effects of partisan sorting on social and issue polarization. American Journal of Political Science, 59(1), 128–145. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12089Google Scholar
Mason, L. (2018) Uncivil agreement: how politics became our identity. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Morrell, M. E, (2010) Empathy and democracy. Feeling, thinking and deliberation. Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Mullinix, K. J. (2016) Partisanship and preference formation: competing motivations, elite polarization, and issue importance. Political Behavior, 38(2), 383–411. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-015-9318-4Google Scholar
Mullinix, K. J. (2018) Civic duty and political preference formation. Political Research Quarterly, 71(1), 199–214. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912917729037Google Scholar
Muradova, L. (2021a) Seeing the other side? Perspective-taking and reflective political judgements in interpersonal deliberation. Political Studies 69(3), 644–664. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321720916605Google Scholar
Muradova, L. (2021b) Reasoning Across the Divide: Interpersonal Deliberation, Emotions and Reflective Political Thinking. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Leuven (Belgium). https://lirias.kuleuven.be/3377939?limo=0Google Scholar
Muradova, L. & Arceneaux, K. (2021) Reflective Political Reasoning: Political Disagreement and Empathy. European Journal of Political Research. Online https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12490Google Scholar
Mutz, D. C. (2002) Cross-cutting social networks: testing democratic theory in practice. The American Political Science Review, 96(1), 111–126.Google Scholar
Mutz, D. C. (2006) Hearing the other side. Deliberative versus participatory democracy. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nir, L. (2011) Motivated reasoning and public opinion perception. Public Opinion Quarterly, 75(3), 504–532. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfq076Google Scholar
Parkinson, J. & Mansbridge, J. (2012) Deliberative systems. Deliberative democracy at the large scale. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pennycook, G. & Rand, D. G. (2019) Lazy, not biased: susceptibility to partisan fake news is better explained by lack of reasoning than by motivated reasoning. Cognition, 188 (July), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.06.011Google Scholar
Price, V., Cappella, J. N., & Nir, L. (2002) Does disagreement contribute to more deliberative opinion? Political Communication, 19, 95–112.Google Scholar
Prior, M., Sood, G. & Khanna, K. (2015) You cannot be serious: the impact of accuracy incentives on partisan bias in reports of economic perceptions. Quarterly Journal of Political Science, 10(4), 489–518. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/100.00014127Google Scholar
Redlawsk, D. P. (2002) Hot cognition or cool consideration? Testing the effects of motivated reasoning on political decision making. Journal of Politics, 64(4), 1021–1044.Google Scholar
Redlawsk, D. P., Civettini, A. J. W., & Emmerson, K. M. (2010) The affective tipping point: Do motivated reasoners ever “get it”? Political Psychology, 31(4), 563–593. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2010.00772.xGoogle Scholar
Robison, J. (2020) Does social disagreement attenuate partisan motivated reasoning? A test case concerning economic evaluations. British Journal of Political Science, 50(4), 1245–1261. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123418000315Google Scholar
Robison, J., Leeper, T. J., & Druckman, J. N. (2018) Do disagreeable political discussion networks undermine attitude strength? Political Psychology, 39(2), 479–494. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12374Google Scholar
Setälä, M., Grönlund, K., & Herne, K. (2010) Citizen deliberation on nuclear power: a comparison of two decision-making methods. Political Studies, 58(4), 688–714. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2010.00822.xGoogle Scholar
Simas, E. N., Clifford, S., & Kirkland, J. H. (2019) How empathic concern fuels political polarization. American Political Science Review 114(1), 258–269. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055419000534Google Scholar
Stanovich, K. E. (2011) Rationality and reflective mind. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stanovich, K. E. & West, R. F. (1997) Reasoning independently of prior belief and individual differences in actively open-minded thinking. Journal of Educational Psychology 89(2), 342–357.Google Scholar
Stanovich, K. E. & West, R. F. (2000) Individual differences in reasoning: implications for the rationality debate? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23 (5), 645–726. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00003435Google Scholar
Suiter, J., Farrell, D. M., & O’Malley, E. (2016) When do deliberative citizens change their opinions? Evidence from the Irish Citizens’ Assembly. International Political Science Review, 37(2), 198–212. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512114544068Google Scholar
Taber, C. S. & Lodge, M. (2016) The illusion of choice in democratic politics: the unconscious impact of motivated political reasoning. Political Psychology. Supplement: Advances in Political Psychology, 37 (S1), 61–85. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12321Google Scholar
Tappin, B. M., Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2020) Rethinking the link between cognitive sophistication and politically motivated reasoning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 150(6), 1095–1114. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000974CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vegetti, F. & Mancosu, M. (2020) The impact of political sophistication and motivated reasoning on misinformation. Political Communication, 37(5), 678–695. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2020.1744778Google Scholar
Wojcieszak, M. E. (2010) “Don’t talk to me”: effects of ideologically homogeneous online groups and politically dissimilar offline ties on extremism. New Media & Society 12(4), 637–655. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444809342775Google Scholar
Wojcieszak, M. E. & Price, V. (2010) Bridging the divide or intensifying the conflict? How Disagreement Affects Strong Predilections. Political Psychology, 31(3),315–339. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2009.00753.xGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×