Primacy of Affect in Automatic and Deliberative Processing of Political Persons, Groups, and Issues

在一个采用态度启动范式的早期项目中进行的一系列实验中，研究人员发现，对政治领导人、团体和问题的情感自动性得到了强有力的支持。然后，为了探索先前态度对政治判断的影响，研究人员观察了公民如何评价关于平权行动和枪支管制两项公共政策的争论。他们发现了强有力的证据，特别是在那些对一个问题感觉最强烈、最了解的被试中，发现了先前态度效应、不确认效应和确认偏差，而这三种先前态度效应都会促进态度极化。在调查的第一年，研究人员在展示政治领导人、团体和议题的情感自动性的基础上，测试了情感首要假设的基本前提。他们的第一对研究探索自动影响的产生和更新，其中一个实验使用虚构的政治候选人，另一个实验使用真实但不知名的美国国会议员作为刺激。在第2年和第3年，调查人员转向了“怎么样？”的问题。他们进行研究来检验情感理论的首要性；也就是说，当一个人的情感直接与一个政治对象联系在一起时，无论是领导人、团体还是问题，这种情感计数将是“主要的”，因为它首先进入判断过程，并从头到尾主导后续的判断和评估。研究人员从社会认同理论出发，探讨了一个人的政治认同（从政党、意识形态和象征认同开始，然后转向最普遍的“我们”vs.）是如何影响一个人的自我认同的。“他们”启动)将自发地影响公民如何思考和评估与自我直接或间接相关的新政治信息。采用态度启动范式的潜意识变体（排除有意识的考虑），研究人员预测，自我认同的启动将自动引发强烈的情感反应，这将显著影响一个人的政治态度、取向和判断。

In a series of experiments carried out under an earlier project employing an attitude priming paradigm, the researchers found strong support for the automaticity of affect toward political leaders, as well as for groups, and issues. Then to explore the impact of prior attitude on political judgment the researchers looked at how citizens evaluated arguments about two public policies, affirmative action and gun control. They found strong evidence, especially among those subjects who feel the strongest and are the most knowledgeable about an issue, of a prior attitude effect, a disconfirmation, and a confirmation bias, with all three of these effects of prior attitude promoting attitude polarization. In the 1st year of this investigation, building on the demonstration of the automaticity of affect for political leaders, groups, and issues the researchers test basic premises of the primacy of affect hypothesis. Their first pair of studies explores the creation and updating of automatic affect, with one experiment using a fictitious political candidate and the other using real but unknown U.S. Congressmen as stimuli. In years 2 and 3 the investigators turn to the "so-what?" question. They undertake studies testing the primacy of affect theory; to wit: that when one's affect is directly linked to a political object, be it leader, group, or issue, this affective tally will be "primary" in that it enters the judgment process first and dominates subsequent judgments and evaluations from start to finish. Taking their lead from social identity theory which links one's self identifications to affect the researchers explore how one's political identifications (starting with party, ideology, and symbolic identifications and then turning to the most general "we" vs. "they" primes) will spontaneously impact how citizens think about and evaluate new political information that is directly or indirectly linked to self Employing a subliminal variant of the attitude-priming paradigm (to rule out conscious considerations), the investigators predict that the priming of self-identification will automatically invoke a strong affective response which will significantly impact one's political attitudes, orientations, and judgments.