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Physiological Responses and Partisan Bias: Beyond Self-Reported Measures of Party Identification

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  • Michael Bang Petersen
  • Ann Giessing
  • Jesper Nielsen

Abstract

People are biased partisans: they tend to agree with policies from political parties they identify with, independent of policy content. Here, we investigate how physiological reactions to political parties shape bias. Using changes in galvanic skin conductance responses to the visual presentation of party logos, we obtained an implicit and physiological measure of the affective arousal associated with political parties. Subsequently, we exposed subjects to classical party cue experiments where the party sponsors of specific policies were experimentally varied. We found that partisan bias only obtains among those exhibiting a strong physiological reaction to the party source; being a self-reported party identifier is not sufficient on its own. This suggests that partisan bias is rooted in implicit, affective reactions.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Bang Petersen & Ann Giessing & Jesper Nielsen, 2015. "Physiological Responses and Partisan Bias: Beyond Self-Reported Measures of Party Identification," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-10, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0126922
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0126922
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anthony Downs, 1957. "An Economic Theory of Political Action in a Democracy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(2), pages 135-135.
    2. Druckman, James N. & Peterson, Erik & Slothuus, Rune, 2013. "How Elite Partisan Polarization Affects Public Opinion Formation," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 107(1), pages 57-79, February.
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