Partisans' receptivity to persuasive messaging is undiminished by countervailing party leader cues

Bibliographic Data

ID4650967
AuthorsBen M Tappin (0000-0002-3826-8016, Royal Holloway University of London, corresponding author), Adam J Berinsky (0000-0001-7827-9396, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), David Rand (0000-0001-8975-2783, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Year2023
Volume7
Issue4
Pages568-582
Publication date2023-03-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNature Human Behaviour (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2397-3374 • E-ISSN: 2397-3374
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1038/s41562-023-01551-7
PMID36864137
OpenAlexW4322765933
LanguageEN
Citations received34
References cited44

It is widely assumed that party identification and loyalty can distort partisans’ information processing, diminishing their receptivity to counter-partisan arguments and evidence. Here we empirically evaluate this assumption. We test whether American partisans’ receptivity to arguments and evidence is diminished by countervailing cues from in-party leaders (Donald Trump or Joe Biden), using a survey experiment with 24 contemporary policy issues and 48 persuasive messages containing arguments and evidence (N = 4,531; 22,499 observations). We find that, while in-party leader cues influenced partisans’ attitudes, often more strongly than the persuasive messages, there was no evidence that the cues meaningfully diminished partisans’ receptivity to the messages—despite them directly contradicting the messages. Rather, persuasive messages and countervailing leader cues were integrated as independent pieces of information. These results generalized across policy issues, demographic subgroups and cue environments, and challenge existing assumptions about the extent to which party identification and loyalty distort partisans’ information processing. In a study examining 24 US policy issues and 48 persuasive information treatments, the authors find no evidence that US partisans’ receptivity to persuasive information is diminished by countervailing cues from favoured party leaders

Biology · Loyalty · Persuasion · Persuasive communication · Political science · Receptivity · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology

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