The "Big Two" in political communication: The effects of attacking and defending politicians' leadership or morality

Social Psychology

Volumn 44, Issue 2, 2013, Pages 117-128

  Bertolotti, Mauro ^a   Catellani, Patrizia ^a   Douglas, Karen M ^b   Sutton, Robbie M ^b  

^a UNIVERSITÀ CATTOLICA DEL SACRO CUORE   (Italy)

^b UNIVERSITY OF KENT   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Counterfactual communication; Political sophistication; Social perception

Indexed keywords

EID: 84876558342     PISSN: 18649335     EISSN: 21512590     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1027/1864-9335/a000141     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (54)

1. Abele, A. E., & Bruckmüller, S. (2011). The bigger one of the "Big Two"? Preferential processing of communal information. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 935-948.
2. Abele, A. E., Uchronski, M., Suitner, C., &Wojciszke, B. (2008). Toward an operationalization of the fundamental dimensions of agency and communion: Trait content ratings in five countries considering valence and frequency of word occurrence. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38, 1202-1217.
3. Abele, A. E., & Wojciszke, B. (2007). Agency and communion from the perspective of self versus others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 9, 751-763.
4. Barisione, M., & Catellani, P. (2008). L'offerta personalizzata degli sfidanti [The personalized offer of challenging candidates]. In ITANES (Ed.), Il ritorno di Berlusconi. Vincitori e vinti nelle elezioni del 2008 (pp. 137-148). Bologna: Il Mulino.
5. Birch, S., & Allen, N. (2010). How honest do politicians need to be? The Political Quarterly, 81, 49-56.
6. Brambilla, M., Rusconi, P., Sacchi, S., & Cherubini, P. (2011). Looking for honesty: The primary role of morality (vs. sociability and competence) in information gathering. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41, 135-143.
7. Caprara, G.V., Barbaranelli, C., & Zimbardo, P. G. (2002). When parsimony subdues distinctiveness: Simplified public perceptions of politicians' personality. Political Psychology, 23, 77-95.
8. Caprara, G.V., Schwartz, S. H., Vecchione, M., & Barbaranelli, C. (2008). The personalization of politics: Lessons from the Italian case. European Psychologist, 3, 157-172.
9. Caprara, G.V., Vecchione, M., Barbaranelli, C., & Fraley, R.C. (2007). When likeness goes with liking: The case of political preference. Political Psychology, 28, 609-632.
10. Caprara, G.V., & Zimbardo, P. (2004). Personalizing politics. American Psychologist, 59, 581-594.
11. Catellani, P. (2011). Counterfactuals in the social context: The case of political interviews and their effects. In D. Birke, M. Butter., & T. Koeppe (Eds.), Counterfactual thinking-counterfactual writing (pp. 81-94). Berlin: De Gruyter.
12. Cislak, A., & Wojciszke, B. (2006). The role of self-interest and competence in attitudes toward politicians. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 37, 203-212.
13. Cislak, A., & Wojciszke, B. (2008). Agency and communion are inferred from actions serving interests of self or others. European Journal of Social Psychology, 37, 1103-1110.
14. Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
15. Delli Carpini, M. X., & Keeter, S. (1996). What Americans know about politics and why it matters. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
16. Douglas, K.M., & Sutton, R.M. (2006). When what you say about others says something about you: Language abstraction and inferences about describers' attitudes and goals. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 500-508.
17. Elder, T. J., Sutton, R. M., & Douglas, K.M. (2005). Keeping it to ourselves: Effects of audience size and composition on reactions to criticisms of the ingroup. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 8, 231-244.
18. Epstude, K., & Roese, N. J. (2008). The functional theory of counterfactual thinking. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 12, 168-192.
19. Ferrin, D. L., Kim, P. H., Cooper, C. D., & Dirks, K.T. (2007). Silence speaks volumes: The effectiveness of reticence in comparison to apology and denial for responding to integrity-and competence-based trust violations. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 893-908.
20. Fiske, S.T., Cuddy, A. J., & Glick, P. (2007). Universal dimensions of social cognition: Warmth and competence. Trends in cognitive sciences, 11, 77-83.
21. Fiske, S.T., Cuddy, A. J., Glick, P., & Xu, J. (2002). A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: Competence and warmth respectively follow from the perceived status and competition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 878-902.
22. Fiske, S.T., Lau, R. R., & Smith, R. A. (1990). On the varieties and utilities of political expertise. Social Cognition, 8, 31-48.
23. Funk, C. L. (1996). The impact of scandal on candidate evaluations: An experimental test of the role of candidate traits. Political Behavior, 18, 1-24.
24. Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In A. P. Martinich (Ed.), Philosophy of language (pp. 165-175). New York: Oxford University Press.
25. Hornsey, M. J., & Imani, A. (2004). Criticizing groups from the inside and the outside: A social identity perspective on the intergroup sensitivity effect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 365-383.
26. Jones, P., &Hudson, J. (1996). The quality of political leadership: A case study of John Major. British Journal of Political Science, 26, 229-224.
27. Judd, C., James-Hawkins, L., Yzerbyt, V., & Kashima, Y. (2005). Fundamental dimensions of social judgment: Understanding the relations between judgments of competence and warmth. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 899-913.
28. Levi, M., & Stoker, L. (2000). Political trust and trustworthiness. Annual Review of Political Science, 3, 475-507.
29. Lodge, M., & Taber, C. S. (2000). Three steps toward a theory of motivated political reasoning. In A. Lupia, M. McCubbins, & S. Popkin (Eds.), Elements of reason: Cognition, choice, and the bounds of rationality (pp. 183-213). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
30. Luskin, R. (1990). Explaining political sophistication. Political Behavior, 12, 331-361.
31. Markman, K. D., Gavanski, I., Sherman, S. J.,&McMullen,M. N. (1993). The mental simulation of better and worse possible worlds. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 29, 87-109.
32. McGraw, K.M. (1990). Avoiding blame: An experimental investigation of political excuses and justifications. British Journal of Political Science, 20, 119-131.
33. McGraw, K.M. (1991). Managing blame: An experimental test of the effects of political accounts. The American Political Science Review, 85, 1133-1157.
34. McGraw,K.M. (2001). Political accounts and attribution processes. In J.H. Kuklinski (Ed.), Citizens and politics (pp. 160-197). New York: Cambridge University Press.
35. McGraw, K.M. (2003). Political impressions. In D.O. Sears, L. Huddy, & R. Jervis (Eds.), Oxford handbook of political psychology (pp. 394-432). New York: Oxford University Press.
36. McGraw, K. M., Lodge, M., & Jones, J. (2002). The pandering politicians of suspicious minds. Journal of Politics, 64, 362-383.
37. McGraw,K. M., Timpone, R.,&Bruck, G. (1993). Justifying controversial political decisions: Home style in the laboratory. Political Behavior, 15, 289-308.
38. Medvec, V. H., Madey, S. F., Gilovich, T. (1995). When less is more: Counterfactual thinking and satisfaction among Olympic medalists. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 603-610.
39. Mondak, J. J. (1995). Competence, integrity, and the electoral success of Congressional incumbents. Journal of Politics, 57, 1043-1069.
40. Nario-Redmond, M., & Branscombe, N. (1996). It could have been better or it might have been worse: Implications for blame assignment in rape cases. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 18, 347-366.
41. Newman, B. (2003). Integrity and presidential approval, 1980-2000. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 67, 335-367.
42. Peeters, G., & Czapinski, J. (1990). Positive-negative asymmetry in evaluations: The distinction between affective and informational negativity effects. European Review of Social Psychology, 1, 33-60.
43. Redlawsk, D. P., & McCann, J. A. (2005). Popular interpretations of "corruption" and their partisan consequences. Political Behavior, 27, 261-283.
44. Sanna, L. J., Turley-Ames, K. J., & Meier, S. (1999). Mood, selfesteem, and simulated alternatives: Thought-provoking affective influences on counterfactual direction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 543-558.
45. Skowronski, J. J., & Carlston, D.E. (1989). Negativity and extremity biases in impression formation: A review of explanations. Psychological Bulletin, 105, 131-142.
46. Sobel, M.E. (1982). Asymptotic intervals for indirect effects in structural equation models. In S. Leinhart (Ed.), Sociological methodology (pp. 290-312). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
47. Vecchione, M., Gonzalez Castro, J. L., & Caprara G.V. (2011). Voters and leaders in the mirror of politics: Similarity in personality and voting choice in Italy and Spain. International Journal of Psychology, 46, 259-270.
48. Vonk, R. (1999). Impression formation and impression management: Motives, traits, and likability inferred from self-promoting and self-deprecating behavior. Social Cognition, 17, 390-412.
49. Willis, J., & Todorov, A. (2006). First impressions: Making up your mind after a 100-ms exposure to a face. Psychological Science, 17, 592-598.
50. Wojciszke, B. (2005). Morality and competence in person-and self-perception. European Review of Social Psychology, 16, 155-188.
51. Wojciszke, B.,&Abele, A. E. (2008). The primacy of communion over agency and its reversals in evaluations. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38, 1139-1147.
52. Wong, E.M. (2010). It could have been better: The effects of counterfactual communication on impression formation. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 1251-1260 .
53. Zaller, J. (1990). Political awareness, elite opinion leadership, and the mass survey response. Social Cognition, 8, 125-153.
54. Ybarra, O., Chan, E., Park, H., Burnstein, E., Monin, B.,&Stanik, C. (2008). Life's recurring challenges and the fundamental dimensions: An integration and its implications for cultural differences and similarities. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38, 1083-1092.