Conformity and Individuals’ Response to Information About Aggregate Turnout

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7351505
AutoresAndré Blais (0000-0003-4292-110X, Université de Montréal), Rafael Hortala-Vallve (London School of Economics and Political Science, autor de correspondencia)
Año2020
Volumen43
Número4
Páginas1395-1409
Fecha de publicación2020-02-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPolitical Behavior (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0190-9320 • E-ISSN: 1573-6687
EditorialSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s11109-020-09595-5
OpenAlexW3003976229
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas37

How do voters react to information about aggregate turnout? Do high turnout levels mobilize or discourage citizens to vote? We argue that it depends on individuals’ degree of conformity. We argue that in addition to the classic calculus of voting , conformist voters have an added incentive to ‘follow the pack’ and vote when turnout is high while abstain when turnout is low. We conduct two separate experiments, the first a survey experiment with a representative sample of the UK population and the second a lab experiment in Canada. Both studies confirm our hypothesis. These findings highlight the importance of taking individuals’ level of conformity into account when explaining their decision to vote or abstain

Anticipation (artificial intelligence · Conformist · Conformity · Demographic economics · Economics · Incentive · Microeconomics · Political science · Population · Sociology · Turnout · Voting · Computer Science · Demography · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies · Law · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology