Rationalization and Derivation Processes in Survey Studies of Political Candidate Evaluation

1994 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy M. Rahn ◽  
Jon A. Krosnick ◽  
Marijke Breuning
Keyword(s):  
Candidate Evaluation ◽  
Political Candidate

scholarly journals “I feel your pain”: The effect of displaying empathy on political candidate evaluation

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 767-787
Author(s):  
Randall A. Renstrom ◽  
Victor C. Ottati
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Candidate Evaluation ◽  
Political Candidates ◽  
Female Candidates ◽  
Political Candidate ◽  
Communication Effect ◽  
The Impact

Two experiments demonstrate that highly empathetic messages conveyed by a political candidate produce more favorable attitudes and increase the likelihood individuals will vote for the political candidate. Study 1 revealed this Empathetic Communication Effect is stronger among female political candidates than male. Compared to male candidates, female candidates are evaluated more positively when they engage in empathetic language but are more harshly penalized when they fail to display empathy. An analogous pattern emerged for candidate party in Study 2. Namely, the Empathetic Communication Effect is stronger among Democratic political candidates than Republican political candidates. Results also explore the impact of empathetic rhetoric on perceptions of candidates’ socio-emotionality and instrumentality.

scholarly journals Captatio Benevolentiae: Potential Risks and Benefits of Flattering the Audience in a Public Political Speech

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 706-720
Author(s):  
Nicoletta Cavazza ◽  
Margherita Guidetti
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
Impression Management ◽  
Candidate Evaluation ◽  
Social Category ◽  
Public Speech ◽  
Risks And Benefits ◽  
Political Candidate ◽  
The Social ◽  
Potential Risks ◽  
Practical Implications

Given that flattery is a form of impression management and a persuasive tool in interpersonal communication, two experiments investigated the effect of a (fictitious) political candidate praising the audience during a meeting. The flattery was addressed to the social category to which participants belong (direct flattery condition) or to another social category (observed flattery condition). The flattering message (vs. control condition) employed in the context of a public speech induced a more positive candidate evaluation on both the members of the flattered audience and the observers. The effect was not mediated by degree of message scrutiny, nor by suspicion of source ulterior motives, and it was not moderated by the level of identification with the audience. This suggests that the compliment to the audience leads the members of the flattered category to reciprocate liking and the observers to transfer the source’s attitude recursively (TAR effect). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Motivational underpinnings of support for radical political leaders

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Grzymala-Moszczynska ◽  
Katarzyna Jasko ◽  
Marta Maj ◽  
Marta Szastok ◽  
Arie W. Kruglanski
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Campaign ◽  
Hillary Clinton ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Personal Significance ◽  
Political Candidate ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Willingness To Engage

In three studies conducted over the course of 2016 US presidential campaign we examined the relationship between radicalism of a political candidate and willingness to engage in actions for that candidate. Drawing on significance quest theory (Kruglanski et al., 2018), we predicted that people would be more willing to make large sacrifices for radical (vs. moderate) candidates because the cause of radical candidates would be more personally important and engagement on behalf it would be more psychologically rewarding. We tested these predictions among supporters of Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and Bernie Sanders. Our findings were in line with these predictions, as the more followers perceived their candidates as radical, the more they viewed leaders’ ideas as personally important, gained more personal significance from those ideas, and intended to sacrifice more for the leader.

Ideology and candidate evaluation

Public Choice ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 76 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 59-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Elaine Macdonald ◽  
George Rabinowitz
Keyword(s):  
Candidate Evaluation
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