Doctoral Dissertation: An Experimental Exploration of Information Processing Focusing on Attitude Accessibility, Cross-Activation, and Informational Context

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This doctoral dissertation research examines the ways in which individuals process political information. While the literature clearly establishes that political attitudes affect political evaluations and behavior, the ways in which political attitudes are formed is not well understood. This research uses a set of laboratory experiments to explain what happens when subjects receive political information and how attitudes are formed or updated. The experimental design uses a computerized survey device that measures both the attitudinal response as well as the subject's reaction time to answering questions. All manipulations are administered by the computer. The research has interesting implications for the ways in which people process political information and for the ways in which the media is perceived by voters.