Heuristics: Lupia
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Transcript Heuristics: Lupia
Political Psychology:
Citizen Behaviors and Opinions
Lecture 5
Cognition 1: Three models of
opinion formation
Program
Citizens’ political information
The heuristics model
The online model
The belief-sampling model
Citizens’ political information
Lecture 5
Cognition 1: Three models of
opinion formation
Theoretical starting point
Traditional
democratic theory
asserts that a strong and
healthy democracy requires
an alert, attentive, informed,
and reactive electorate.
Empirical reality
Most citizens are generally
little informed about politics.
However, they are not
completely ignorant nor
severely misinformed.
Debates in the literature
The low level of information
is undeniable.
Arguments rage over the
capacity of citizens to
develop quality opinions.
The heuristics model
Lecture 5
Cognition 1: Three models of
opinion formation
The heuristics model
Citizens use affective and cognitive
shortcuts that allow them to simplify
political choices and to develop
reasonable opinions.
Shortcuts are efficient because they
require little information and generate
reliable solutions to complex dilemmas.
Heterogeneity
The type of heuristics used varies by
the level of political sophistication.
The reliance on affect is more likely
among less sophisticated people.
The reliance on cognition is more
likely among more sophisticated
people.
Heterogeneity
Heuristics: Sniderman,
Brody & Tetlock
‘likability’
‘availability’
‘desert’
Heuristics: Lupia
California, 1988
Referendum on the reform of
the auto-insurance system
5 technical and complex
proposals
Heuristics: Lupia
Informational shortcut:
People who know the identity
of the referendum proposals’
sponsors should make the
right choices.
Heuristics: Lupia
Weaknesses of
the heuristics model
Lecture 5
Cognition 1: Three models of
opinion formation
Do heuristics lead to the
right choices?
partisan labels
‘availability’ (SBT)
‘likability’ (SBT)
‘cue’ (Lupia)
Do heuristics lead to the
right choices?
Politics :
requires responses to difficult
questions,
does not make the relevant
information easily accessible,
does not encourage reflection and
deliberation,
and rarely offers feedback.
Do heuristics lead to the
right choices?
Biases in political judgments :
Reliance on stereotypes
Excess of confidence
Resistance to correction
Influence of easy arguments
Biased interpretation of messages
Biased interpretation of messages
Conclusion of
Kuklinski and Quirk
Citizens are not very
informed, but they also
tend to bias and errors
when they use this little
amount of information.
Conclusion of
Kuklinski and Quirk
Inferences based on long-term
factors will tend to work well.
Inferences based on short-term
factors will tend to be more
problematic.
The online model
Lecture 5
Cognition 1: Three models of
opinion formation
The online model
When the goal is to form an impression,
one evaluates information when it is
encountered and integrates it into a
rolling judgment.
The information that contributed to the
judgment is quickly forgotten.
When an opinion is expressed, it is this
judgment that is recalled.
The judgment is constantly updated.
The online model
Experiment :
– 2 fictitious candidates
– Profile of their issue positions
– Measures of impressions
– Time delay
– Measures of impressions & recall
The online model
Results :
– Failing recall of information
– Recall of information degrades rapidly
– Recall of impressions remains stable
– Recall weakly related to impressions
– Messages more related to impressions
The online model
The online model
The online model
Criticisms :
– Plausible? Convincing?
– Existing impressions or reactions to
party identification?
– What is the measure of messages?
– Actual vote models versus authors’
views versus authors’ model?
The belief-sampling model
Lecture 5
Cognition 1: Three models of
opinion formation
Observations
There
is a lot of instability in opinions
over time.
There
is a lot of instability in opinions
related to variations in questionnaire
construction.
People
express opinions about
fictional issues and fictional persons.
The belief-sampling model
Citizens
do not possess preexisting
opinions.
They
hold a mix of partially coherent
considerations.
When
asked, they survey a sample
of the most salient considerations,
and chose a response on the spot.
The belief-sampling model
Consideration
: reason to
support one side of an issue
Axiom
1 : ambivalence
Axiom
2 : response
Axiom
3 : accessibility
Results
Signs
of ambivalence among
considerations (axiom 1).
Correlation
between the balance of
considerations and choice (axiom 2).
More
interest and engagement leads
to more accessible considerations
(axiom 3).
Explanations of the
observations
Instability of opinions
Questionnaire effects
Opinions on fictional issues
and fictional people
Implications
People
don’t have real opinions.
Opinion
change is simply a
modification of the mix of
accessible considerations.
Persuasion
comes from the
manipulation of salient
considerations.
Conclusion
Lecture 5
Cognition 1: Three models of
opinion formation
Conclusion
Which model is right ... ?
Heterogeneity ... ?