Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T06:42:19.011Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Perceptions of political leaders

Demonstrating the effect of evolved psychological mechanisms on partisan identification using perceptions of political leaders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2017

J. David Schmitz  and
Gregg R. Murray
J. David Schmitz
Affiliation:
University of Texas of the Permian Basin
Gregg R. Murray*
Affiliation:
Augusta University
*
Correspondence: Gregg R. Murray, Department of Political Science, Augusta University, 1120 15th St., AH-N312, Augusta, GA 30912. Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Partisan identification is a fundamental force in individual and mass political behavior around the world. Informed by scholarship on human sociality, coalitional psychology, and group behavior, this research argues that partisan identification, like many other group-based behaviors, is influenced by forces of evolution. If correct, then party identifiers should exhibit adaptive behaviors when making group-related political decisions. The authors test this assertion with citizen assessments of the relative physical formidability of competing leaders, an important adaptive factor in leader evaluations. Using original and novel data collected during the contextually different 2008 and 2012 U.S. presidential elections, as well as two distinct measures obtained during both elections, this article presents evidence that partisans overestimate the physical stature of the presidential candidate of their own party compared with the stature of the candidate of the opposition party. These findings suggest that the power of party identification on political behavior may be attributable to the fact that modern political parties address problems similar to the problems groups faced in human ancestral times.

Keywords

Leader evaluationscandidate drawingsgroup-based behaviorpartisan identificationevolved psychological mechanismsphysical formidability
Type
Articles
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , Fall 2017 , pp. 60 - 79
Copyright
© Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 2017 

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

Brewer, M. B., “In-group identification and intergroup conflict: When does in-group love become outgroup hate?” in Social Identity, Intergroup Conflict, and Conflict Reduction, Ashmore, R., Jussim, L., and Wilder, D., eds. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 17–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewer, M. B., “The many faces of social identity: Implications for political psychology,” Political Psychology , 2001, 22(1): 115–125.Google Scholar
Campbell, D. T., “Legal and primary-group social controls,” Journal of Social and Biological Structures , 1982, 5(4): 152–166.Google Scholar
Efferson, C., Lalive, R., and Fehr, E., “The coevolution of cultural groups and in-group favoritism,” Science , 2008, 321(5897): 1844–1849.Google Scholar
Lopez, A. C., McDermott, R., and Bang Petersen, M., “States in mind: Evolution, coalitional psychology, and international politics,” International Security , 2011, 36(2): 48–83.Google Scholar
Tooby, J., Cosmides, L., and Price, M. E., “Cognitive adaptations for n-person exchange: The evolutionary roots of organizational behavior,” Managerial and Decision Economics , 2006, 27(2–3): 103–129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tajfel, H., “Experiments in intergroup discrimination,” Scientific American , 1970, 223(5): 96–102.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H. and Turner, J. C., “An integrative theory of intergroup conflict,” in The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, Austin, W. G. and Worchel, S., eds. (Monterey, CA: Brooks-Cole, 1979), pp. 33–47.Google Scholar
Turner, J. C., “Social comparison and social identity: Some prospects for intergroup behavior,” European Journal of Social Psychology , 1975, 5(1): 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinkle, S. and Brown, R., “Intergroup comparisons and social identity: Some links and lacunae,” in Advances in Social Identity Theory, Abrams, D. and Hogg, M. A., eds. (New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990), pp. 48–70.Google Scholar
Levin, S. and Sidanius, J., “Social dominance and social identity in the United States and Israel: In-group favoritism or outgroup derogation?” Political Psychology , 1999, 20(1): 99–126.Google Scholar
Sidanius, J., “The psychology of group conflict and the dynamics of oppression: A social dominance perspective,” in Explorations in Political Psychology, Iyengar, S. and McGuire, W., eds. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1993), pp. 183–219.Google Scholar
Smith, T. W., “Social identity and socio-demographic structure,” International Journal of Public Opinion Research , 2007, 19(3): 380–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, D., Palmquist, B., and Schickler, E., Partisan Hearts and Minds: Political Parties and the Social Identities of Voters (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004).Google Scholar
Campbell, A., Converse, P. E., Miller, W. E., and Stokes, D. E., The American Voter (New York: Wiley, 1960), p. 133, 141.Google Scholar
Iyengar, S. and Westwood, S. J., “Fear and loathing across party lines: New evidence on group polarization,” American Journal of Political Science , 2015, 59(3): 690–707.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, C., “Intergroup differentiation in a political context,” British Journal of Social Psychology , 1988, 27(4): 319–332.Google Scholar
Kuklinski, J. H. and Hurley, N. L., “On hearing and interpreting political messages: A cautionary tale of citizen cue-taking,” Journal of Politics , 1994, 56(3): 729–751.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huddy, L., “From social to political identity: A critical examination of social identity theory,” Political Psychology , 2001, 22(1): 127–156.Google Scholar
Blaker, N. M., Rompa, I., Dessing, I. H., Vriend, A. F., Herschberg, C., and van Vugt, M., “The height leadership advantage in men and women: Testing evolutionary psychology predictions about the perceptions of tall leaders,” Group Processes and Intergroup Relations , 2013, 16(1): 17–27.Google Scholar
Little, A. C., Burriss, R. P., Jones, B. C., and Craig Roberts, S., “Facial appearance affects voting decisions,” Evolution and Human Behavior , 2007, 28(1): 18–27.Google Scholar
McCann, S. J., “Height, societal threat and the victory of margin in presidential elections (1824–1992,” Psychological Reports , 2001, 88(3): 741–742.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murray, G. R., “Evolutionary preferences for physical formidability in leaders,” Politics and the Life Sciences , 2014, 33(1): 33–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murray, G. R. and David Schmitz, J., “Caveman politics: Evolutionary leadership preferences and physical stature,” Social Science Quarterly , 2011, 92(5): 1215–1235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Re, D. E., DeBruine, L. M., Jones, B. C., and Perrett, D. I., “Facial cues to perceived height influence leadership choices in simulated war and peace contexts,” Evolutionary Psychology , 2013, 11(1): 89–103.Google Scholar
Sorokowski, P., “Politicians’ estimated height as an indicator of their popularity,” European Journal of Social Psychology , 2010, 40(7): 1302–1309.Google Scholar
Stulp, G., Buunk, A. P., Verhulst, S., and Pollet, T. V., “Tall claims? Sense and nonsense about the importance of height of U.S. presidents,” Leadership Quarterly , 2013, 24(1): 159–171.Google Scholar
Chagnon, N. A., The Yanomamo (London: Wadsworth, 1997).Google Scholar
van Vugt, M., Hogan, R., and Kaiser, R. B., “Leadership, followership, and evolution,” American Psychologist , 2008, 63(3): 182–196.Google Scholar
Bang Petersen, M., Delton, A. W., Robertson, T. F., Tooby, J., and Cosmides, L., “Politics of the evolved mind: Political parties and coalitional reasoning,” paper presented at the Midwest Political Science Association Annual Conference (Chicago, 2008).Google Scholar
Brewer, M. B., “On the social origins of human nature,” in The Message of Social Psychology: Perspectives on Mind in Society, McGarty, C. and Haslam, S. A, eds. (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1997), pp. 54–62.Google Scholar
Neuberg, S. L. and Cottrell, C. A., “Evolutionary bases of prejudices,” in Evolution and Social Psychology, Schaller, M., Simpson, J. A., and Kenrick, D. T., eds. (New York: Psychology Press, 2006), pp. 163–187.Google Scholar
Wilson, E. O., The Social Conquest of Earth (New York: W. W. Norton, 2012).Google Scholar
Patton, J. Q., “Reciprocal altruism and warfare: A case from the Ecuadorian Amazon,” in Adaptation and Human Behavior: An Anthropological Perspective, Cronk, L., Chagnon, N. A., and Irons, W., eds. (New York: Transaction Publishers, 2000), pp. 417–436.Google Scholar
Cikara, M., van Bavel, J. J., Ingbretsen, Z. A., and Lau, T., “Decoding ‘us’ and ‘them’: Neural representations of generalized group concepts,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General , 2017, 146(5): 621–631.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, D. E., Human Universals (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991).Google Scholar
Pratto, F., Sidanius, J., Stallworth, L. M., and Malle, B. F., “Social dominance orientation: A personality variable predicting social and political attitudes,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 1994, 67(4): 741–763.Google Scholar
Wrangham, R. W. and Peterson, D., Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1996).Google Scholar
Wilson, E. O., On Human Nature (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004).Google Scholar
Fiske, S. T. and Neuberg, S. L., “A continuum of impression formation, from category-based to individuating processes: Influences of information and motivation on attention and interpretation,” Advances in Experimental Social Psychology , 1990, 23: 1–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cairns, E. and Mercer, G. W., “Adolescent social identity in Northern Ireland: The importance of denominational identity,” unpublished manuscript (New University of Ulster, 1978).Google Scholar
Haidt, J., The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion (New York: Pantheon Books, 2012).Google Scholar
Pratt, M. G., Rockmann, K. W., and Kaufmann, J. B., “Constructing professional identity: The role of work and identity learning cycles in the customization of identity among medical residents,” Academy of Management Journal , 2006, 49(2): 235–262.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H. and Wilkes, A. L., “Classification and quantitative judgment,” British Journal of Psychology , 1963, 54: 101–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, V. L. and Wilder, D. A., “Categorization, belief similarity, and intergroup discrimination,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 1975, 32(6): 971–977.Google Scholar
Billig, M. and Tajfel, H., “Social categorization and similarity in intergroup behavior,” European Journal of Social Psychology , 1973, 3(1): 27–52.Google Scholar
Brewer, M. B. and Silver, M., “In-group bias as a function of task characteristics,” European Journal of Social Psychology , 1978, 8(3): 393–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doise, W. and Sinclair, A., “The categorisation process in intergroup relations,” European Journal of Social Psychology , 1973, 3(2): 145–157.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H., Billig, M. G., Bundy, R. P., and Flament, C., “Social categorization and intergroup behavior,” European Journal of Social Psychology , 1971, 1(2): 149–178.Google Scholar
Hogg, M. A., “A social identity theory of leadership,” Personality and Social Psychology Review , 2001, 5(3): 184–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwin, C., The Descent of Man and Selection in Relations to Sex vol. 1, (London: John Murray, 1871).Google Scholar
Goette, L., Hufman, D., and Meier, S., “The impact of group membership on cooperation and norm enforcement: Evidence using random assignment to real social groups,” American Economic Review , 2006, 96(2): 212–216.Google Scholar
Greenwald, A. G. and Pettigrew, T. F., “With malice toward none and charity for some: Ingroup favoritism enables discrimination,” American Psychologist , 2014, 69(7): 669–684.Google Scholar
Choi, J.-K. and Bowles, S., “The coevolution of parochial altruism and war,” Science , 2007, 318(5850): 636–640.Google Scholar
John Zizzo, D., “You are not in my boat: Common fate and discrimination against outgroup members,” International Review of Economics , 2011, 58(1): 91–103.Google Scholar
Yamagishi, T., Jin, N., and Kiyonari, T., “Bounded generalized reciprocity: Ingroup boasting and ingroup favoritism,” Advances in Group Processes , 1999, 16: 161–197.Google Scholar
Balliet, D., Wu, J., and De Dreu, C. K. W., “In-group favoritism in cooperation: A meta-analysis,” Psychological Bulletin , 2014, 140(6): 1556–1581.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayr, E., What Evolution Is (New York: Basic Books, 2001).Google Scholar
Westen, D., Blagov, P. S., Harenski, K., Kilts, C., and Hamann, S., “Neural bases of motivated reasoning: An fMRI study of emotional constraints on partisan political judgment in the 2004 U.S. presidential election,” Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience , 2006, 18(11): 1947–1958.Google Scholar
Greene, S., “Understanding party identification: A social identity approach,” Political Psychology , 1999, 20(2): 393–403.Google Scholar
Iyengar, S., Sood, G., and Lelkes, Y., “Affect, not ideology: A social identity perspective on polarization,” Public Opinion Quarterly , 2012, 76(3): 405–431.Google Scholar
Alford, J., Funk, C., and Hibbing, J. R., “Are political orientations genetically transmitted?” American Political Science Review , 2005, 99(2): 154–167.Google Scholar
Bartels, L. M., “Beyond the running tally: Partisan bias in political perceptions,” Political Behavior , 2002, 24(2): 117–150.Google Scholar
Mondak, J. J., “Public opinion and heuristic processing of source cues,” Political Behavior , 1993, 15(2): 167–192.Google Scholar
Lau, R. R. and Redlawsk, D. P., “Advantages and disadvantages of cognitive heuristics in political decision making,” American Journal of Political Science , 2001, 45(4): 951–971.Google Scholar
Gerber, A. S., Huber, G. A., and Washington, E., “Party affiliation, partisanship, and political beliefs: A field experiment,” American Political Science Review , 2010, 104(4): 720–744.Google Scholar
Smidt, C. D., “Polarization and the decline of the American floating voter,” American Journal of Political Science , 2017, 61(2): 365–381.Google Scholar
Jacoby, W. G., “The impact of party identification on issue attitudes,” American Journal of Political Science , 1988, 32(3): 643–661.Google Scholar
Mondak, J. J., “Source cues and policy approval: The cognitive dynamics of public support for the Reagan agenda,” American Journal of Political Science , 1993, 37(1): 186–212.Google Scholar
Popescu, G., “Partisan differences in evaluations of the economy,” Economics Management and Financial Markets , 2013, 8(1): 130–135.Google Scholar
Jones, J. M., “Obama approval ratings still historically polarized,” Gallup, February 6, 2015, http://www.gallup.com/poll/181490/obama-approval-ratings-historically-polarized.aspx.Google Scholar
Schmitz, J. D., “Sarah it ain’t so! Evolutionary effects on party leadership perception,” paper presented at the Midwest Political Science Association Annual Conference (Chicago, 2009).Google Scholar
Nicholson, S. P., Coe, C. M., Emory, J., and Song, A. V., “The politics of beauty: The effects of partisan bias on physical attractiveness,” Political Behavior , 2016, 38(4): 883–898.Google Scholar
Fiorina, M. P. and Abrams, S. J., Disconnect: The Breakdown of Representation in American Politics (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2009).Google Scholar
de Waal, F., Our Inner Ape (New York: Riverhead Books, 2005).Google Scholar
de Waal, F., Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex Among Apes (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007).Google Scholar
Ellis, L. J., “The high and the mighty among man and beast: How universal is the relationship between height (or body size) and social status?” in Social Stratification and Socioeconomic Inequality, Reproductive and Interpersonal Aspects of Dominance and Status, Ellis, L., ed. (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1994), vol. 2, pp. 92–111.Google Scholar
Just, W. and Morris, M. R., “The Napoleon complex: Why smaller males pick fights,” Evolutionary Ecology , 2003, 17(5–6): 509–522.Google Scholar
Parker, G. A., “Assessment strategy and the evolution of fighting behavior,” Journal of Theoretical Biology , 1974, 47(1): 223–243.Google Scholar
Boix, C. and Rosenbluth, F., “Bones of contention: The political economy of height inequality,” American Political Science Review , 2014, 108(1): 1–22.Google Scholar
Judge, T. A. and Cable, D. M., “The effect of physical height on workplace success and income: Preliminary test of a theoretical model,” Journal of Applied Psychology , 2004, 89(3): 428–441.Google Scholar
Mazur, A., Mazur, J., and Keating, C., “Military rank attainment of a West Point class: Effects of cadets’ physical features,” American Journal of Sociology , 1984, 90(1): 125–150.Google Scholar
van Vugt, M. and Ronay, R., “The evolutionary psychology of leadership: Theory, review, and roadmap,” Organizational Psychology Review , 2014, 4(1): 74–95.Google Scholar
Dannenmaier, W. D. and Thumin, F. J., “Authority status as a factor in perceptual distortion of size,” Journal of Social Psychology , 1964, 63(2): 361–365.Google Scholar
Higham, P. A. and William Carment, D., “Rise and fall of politicians: The judged height of Broadbent, Mulroney, and Turner before and after the 1988 Canadian federal election,” Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science , 1992, 24(3): 404–409.Google Scholar
Roberts, J. V. and Peter Herman, C., “The psychology of height: An empirical review,” in Physical Appearance, Stigma, and Social Behavior: The Ontario Symposium, Herman, C. P., Zanna, M. P., and Higgins, E. T., eds. (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1986), pp. 113–140.Google Scholar
Lindeman, M. and Sundvik, L., “Impact of height on assessments of Finnish female job applicants’ managerial abilities,” Journal of Social Psychology , 1994, 134(2): 169–174.Google Scholar
Cernerud, L., “Height and social mobility,” Scandinavian Journal of Social Medicine , 1995, 23(1): 28–31.Google Scholar
Gregor, T., “Short people,” Natural History , 1979, 88(2): 14–19.Google Scholar
Handwerker, W. P. and Crosbie, P. V., “Sex and dominance,” American Anthropologist , 1982, 84(1): 97–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillis, J. S., Too Tall, Too Small (Champaign, IL: Institute for Personality and Ability Testing, 1982).Google Scholar
Persico, N., Postelwaite, A., and Silverman, D., “The effect of adolescent experience on labor market outcomes: The case of height,” Journal of Political Economy , 2004, 112(5): 1019–1053.Google Scholar
Lord, R. G. and Emrich, C. G., “Thinking outside the box by looking inside the box: Extending the cognitive revolution in leadership research,” Leadership Quarterly , 2000, 11(4): 551–579.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, D. E. and Chia-yun, Y., “‘Big man’ in universalistic perspective,” unpublished manuscript, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1993.Google Scholar
Sommers, P. M., “Is presidential greatness related to height?” College Mathematics Journal , 2002, 33: 14–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leblanc, S. A. and Register, K. E., Constant Battles: The Myth of the Peaceful, Noble Savage (New York: Macmillan, 2013), p. xii.Google Scholar
van Vugt, M., Johnson, D. D. P., Kaiser, R. B., and O’Gorman, R., “Evolution and the social psychology of leadership: The mismatch hypothesis,” in Leadership at the Crossroads, Forsyth, D., Goethals, G. R., Hoyt, C. L., Genovese, M. A., Han, L. C., and Ciulla, J. B., eds. (New York: Praeger, 2008), pp. 267–282.Google Scholar
Briffa, M. and Sneddon, L. U., “Physiological constraints on contest behavior,” Functional Ecology , 2007, 21(4): 627–637.Google Scholar
Nesse, R. M., “Maladaptation and natural selection,” Quarterly Review of Biology , 2005, 80(1): 62–70.Google Scholar
Cordain, L., Eaton, S. B., Sebastian, A., Mann, N., Lindeberg, S., Watkins, B. A., O’Keefe, J. H., and Brand-Miller, J., “Origins and evolution of the Western diet: Health implications for the 21st century,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , 2005, 81(2): 341–354.Google Scholar
Hoddinott, J. and Kinsey, B., “Child growth in the time of drought,” Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics , 2001, 63(4): 409–436.Google Scholar
Douglas, J. W. B., “The height of boys and girls and their home environment,” in Modern Problems in Pediatrics, Merimond, A., ed. (New York: Karger, 1962), pp. 178–192.Google Scholar
Haviland, W. A. and Maholy-Nagy, H., “Distinguishing the high and mighty form the hoi polloi at Tikal, Guatemala,” in Mesoamerican Elite, Chase, D. and Chase, A., eds. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), pp. 50–60.Google Scholar
Malhotra, M. S., “People of India including primitive tribes: A survey on physiological adaptation, physical fitness and nutrition,” in The Biology of Human Adaptability, Baker, P. T. and Weiner, J. S., eds. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966), pp. 329–355.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey; Unemployment rate, age 16 yrs and over; series LNS14000000,” https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics, “Anthropometric reference data for children and adults: United States, 2007–2010,” Vital Health Statistics , 2012, 11(252):, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/body-measurements.htm.Google Scholar
Dawkins, R., The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design (New York: W. W. Norton, 1986).Google Scholar
Druckman, J. N. and Kam, C. D., “Students as experimental participants: A defense of the ‘narrow data base’,” in Handbook of Experimental Political Science, Druckman, J. N., Green, D. P., Kuklinski, J. H., and Lupia, A., eds. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011), pp. 41–57.Google Scholar
Buss, D. M., “The future of evolutionary psychology,” Psychological Inquiry , 1995, 6: 81–87.Google Scholar
Saad, L., “Trump’s diplomatic tour not lifting his job approval at home,” Gallup, May 25, 2017, http://www.gallup.com/poll/211061/trump-diplomatic-tour-not-lifting-job-approval-home.aspx.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center, “Partisanship and political animosity in 2016,” June 22, 2016, http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2016/06/06-22-16-Partisanship-and-animosity-release.pdf.Google Scholar