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Presentation Type

Open Access Poster Presentation

Keywords

Conservatives--Attitudes; Liberals--Attitudes; Party affiliation--Moral and ethical aspects;

Abstract

People prioritize moral values differently based on political ideology (Graham et al., 2009) and form ideological conclusions based on these values (Haidt, 2001). For example, conservatives have more positive perceptions of police compared to liberals (Stack & Cao, 1998), in part because of the centrality of law and order as a conservative value. People also justify maintaining their political affiliation by defining opposing conclusions as less credible (Bail et al., 2018; Haidt, 2001). In this study, we investigate how ideological values vs. conclusions affect perceived credibility of and interest in headlines. We hypothesize that conservatives and liberals will rate headlines that have a conclusion consistent with their political orientation as more credible and be more likely to report that they would engage with those articles on social media (SM). We also expect that participants will be more interested in reading articles based on headlines where the values emphasized conflict with conclusions. Finally, we anticipate that frequent SM users will rate headlines as more credible and hold more polarized attitudes toward police than low-frequency users.

Start Date

12-4-2021 12:30 PM

End Date

12-4-2021 1:00 PM

Faculty Advisor

Helen Harton

Department

Department of Psychology

Student Type

Graduate Student

Comments

Funding: Intercollegiate Academics Fund

This entry was part of the following session of the event:

  • Session title: Psychopaths, Morality & Negative Behaviors; Monday, April 12, 2021; 12:30 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.; Moderator: Elaine Eshbaugh.

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Apr 12th, 12:30 PM Apr 12th, 1:00 PM

Moral Values and Ideological Conclusions Influence Perceived Credibility for Headlines

People prioritize moral values differently based on political ideology (Graham et al., 2009) and form ideological conclusions based on these values (Haidt, 2001). For example, conservatives have more positive perceptions of police compared to liberals (Stack & Cao, 1998), in part because of the centrality of law and order as a conservative value. People also justify maintaining their political affiliation by defining opposing conclusions as less credible (Bail et al., 2018; Haidt, 2001). In this study, we investigate how ideological values vs. conclusions affect perceived credibility of and interest in headlines. We hypothesize that conservatives and liberals will rate headlines that have a conclusion consistent with their political orientation as more credible and be more likely to report that they would engage with those articles on social media (SM). We also expect that participants will be more interested in reading articles based on headlines where the values emphasized conflict with conclusions. Finally, we anticipate that frequent SM users will rate headlines as more credible and hold more polarized attitudes toward police than low-frequency users.