Party Over Policy: The Dominating Impact of Group Influence on Political Beliefs.
Abstract
Four studies demonstrated both the power of group influence in persuasion and people's blindness to it. Even under conditions of effortful processing, attitudes toward a social policy depended almost exclusively upon the stated position of one's political party. This effect overwhelmed the impact of both the policy's objective content and participants' ideological beliefs (Studies 1-3), and it was driven by a shift in the assumed factual qualities of the policy and in its perceived moral connotations (Study 4). Nevertheless, participants denied having been influenced by their political group, although they believed that other individuals, especially their ideological adversaries, would be so influenced. The underappreciated role of social identity in persuasion is discussed.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
People were more favourable towards a policy proposal when it was described as coming from the in-party rather than the out-party, suggesting that general group-based attitudes drove issue preferences.
“For instance, people were more favourable towards a policy proposal when it was described as coming from the in-party rather than the out-party85, suggesting that general group-based attitudes drove issue preferences, thereby leading to issue polarization.”
From Cognitive–motivational mechanisms of political polarization in social-communicative contexts (2022) · cites this paper as [85]
Identity-protective cognition is a mechanism by which individuals conform their appraisals of information to buttress beliefs associated with belonging to particular groups.
“Accordingly, as a means of identity self-defense, individuals conform their appraisals of information in a manner that buttresses beliefs associated with belonging to particular groups (Cohen, Aronson & Steele, 2000;Cohen, 2003;Cohen, Sherman, Bastardi, Hsu, McGoey & Ross, in press).”
From Culture and Identity‐Protective Cognition: Explaining the White‐Male Effect in Risk Perception (2007) · cites this paper as Cohen, 2003
Cites
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.51.6.1173 · Cited by 91,542 · see citing works
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1173 · Cited by 91,532 · see citing works
The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.
Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037//0033-2909.117.3.497 · Cited by 23,245 · see citing works
Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation.
Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.98.2.224 · Cited by 21,995 · see citing works
Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes.
Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.84.3.231 · Cited by 11,317 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Second, people have limited insight into the true sources of their beliefs and behavior, and they tend to base their causal self-analysis on widely held but error-prone folk theories (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977; Petty, Wegener, & White, 1998; Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
BackgroundThe Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion
Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60214-2 · Cited by 8,822 · see citing works
The Psychology of Self-Affirmation: Sustaining the Integrity of the Self
Steele, C. M. (1988) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60229-4 · Cited by 3,697 · see citing works
Mental contamination and mental correction: Unwanted influences on judgments and evaluations.
Wilson, T. D., & Brekke, N. (1994) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.116.1.117 · Cited by 1,157 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Second, people have limited insight into the true sources of their beliefs and behavior, and they tend to base their causal self-analysis on widely held but error-prone folk theories (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977; Petty, Wegener, & White, 1998; Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
BackgroundWhen beliefs yield to evidence: Reducing biased evaluation by affirming the self
Cohen, G. L., Aronson, J., & Steele, C. M. (2000) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672002611011 · Cited by 584 · see citing works
Dissonance and the pill: An attribution approach to studying the arousal properties of dissonance.
Zanna, M. P., & Cooper, J. (1974) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0036651 · Cited by 577 · see citing works
Accepting threatening information: Self‐affirmation and the reduction of defensive biases
Sherman, D. K., & Cohen, G. L. (2002) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00182 · Cited by 435 · see citing works
Self-citationMotivated Heuristic and Systematic Processing
Chen, S., Duckworth, K., & Chaiken, S. (1999) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1207/s15327965pli1001_6 · Cited by 356 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Cultural cognition of scientific consensus.
Kahan, D. M., Jenkins‐Smith, H., & Braman, D. (2011) · Journal of Risk Research · doi:10.1080/13669877.2010.511246 · Cited by 1,686 · see citing works
The psychology of self-defense: Self-affirmation theory
Sherman, D. K., & Cohen, G. L. (2006) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(06)38004-5 · Cited by 1,614 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Influence of Partisan Motivated Reasoning on Public Opinion
Bolsen, T., Druckman, J. N., & Cook, F. L. (2014) · Political Behavior · doi:10.1007/s11109-013-9238-0 · Cited by 891 · see citing works
Motivated numeracy and enlightened self-government
KAHAN, D. M., PETERS, E., DAWSON, E. C., & SLOVIC, P. (2017) · Behavioural Public Policy · doi:10.1017/bpp.2016.2 · Cited by 883 · see citing works
Elite Influence on Public Opinion in an Informed Electorate
BULLOCK, J. G. (2011) · American Political Science Review · doi:10.1017/s0003055411000165 · Cited by 777 · see citing works
The Partisan Brain: An Identity-Based Model of Political Belief
Van Bavel, J. J., & Pereira, A. (2018) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2018.01.004 · Cited by 743 · see citing works
Tracing the threads: How five moral concerns (especially Purity) help explain culture war attitudes
Koleva, S. P., Graham, J., Iyer, R., Ditto, P. H., & Haidt, J. (2012) · Journal of Research in Personality · doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2012.01.006 · Cited by 682 · see citing works
Gollwitzer, A., Martel, C., Brady, W. J., Pärnamets, P., Freedman, I. G., Knowles, E. D., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2020) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-020-00977-7 · Cited by 609 · see citing works
Fielding, K. S., & Hornsey, M. J. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00121 · Cited by 561 · see citing works
Mere Belonging: The Power of Social Connections
Walton, G. M., Cohen, G. L., Cwir, D., & Spencer, S. J. (2012) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0025731 · Cited by 543 · see citing works
Nisbet, E. C., Cooper, K. E., & Garrett, R. K. (2015) · The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science · doi:10.1177/0002716214555474 · Cited by 437 · see citing works
Misconceptions, Misinformation, and the Logic of Identity-Protective Cognition
Kahan, D. M. (2017) · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2973067 · Cited by 423 · see citing works
Discrimination in the Age of Algorithms
Kleinberg, J., Ludwig, J., Mullainathan, S., & Sunstein, C. R. (2018) · Journal of Legal Analysis · doi:10.1093/jla/laz001 · Cited by 401 · see citing works
Zou, X., Tam, K.-P., Morris, M. W., Lee, S.-L., Lau, I. Y.-M., & Chiu, C.-Y. (2009) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0016399 · Cited by 369 · see citing works
The polarizing impact of science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change risks
Kahan, D. M., Peters, E., Wittlin, M., Slovic, P., Ouellette, L. L., Braman, D., & Mandel, G. (2012) · Nature Climate Change · doi:10.1038/nclimate1547 · Cited by 352 · see citing works
Ideology, Motivated Reasoning, and Cognitive Reflection: An Experimental Study
Kahan, D. M. (2012) · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2182588 · Cited by 331 · see citing works
Kahan, D. M. (2016) · Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1002/9781118900772.etrds0417 · Cited by 341 · see citing works
Moral reframing: A technique for effective and persuasive communication across political divides
Feinberg, M., & Willer, R. (2019) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/spc3.12501 · Cited by 302 · see citing works
Cognitive–motivational mechanisms of political polarization in social-communicative contexts
Jost, J. T., Baldassarri, D. S., & Druckman, J. N. (2022) · Nature Reviews Psychology · doi:10.1038/s44159-022-00093-5 · Cited by 276 · see citing works
Cohen, G. L., Sherman, D. K., Bastardi, A., Hsu, L., McGoey, M., & Ross, L. (2007) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.93.3.415 · Cited by 239 · see citing works
Self-citationAustralian politicians’ beliefs about climate change: political partisanship and political ideology
Fielding, K. S., Head, B. W., Laffan, W., Western, M., & Hoegh-Guldberg, O. (2012) · Environmental Politics · doi:10.1080/09644016.2012.698887 · Cited by 235 · see citing works
Polarization in the contemporary political and media landscape
Wilson, A. E., Parker, V. A., & Feinberg, M. (2020) · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.07.005 · Cited by 220 · see citing works
Boomerangs versus javelins: how polarization constrains communication on climate change
Zhou, J. (2016) · Environmental Politics · doi:10.1080/09644016.2016.1166602 · Cited by 208 · see citing works
Bloom, P. (2012) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100334 · Cited by 218 · see citing works
Childhood Origins of Adult Resistance to Science
Bloom, P., & Weisberg, D. S. (2007) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1133398 · Cited by 210 · see citing works
Haidt, J., & Graham, J. (2009) · Social and Psychological Bases of Ideology and System Justification · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320916.003.015 · Cited by 207 · see citing works
The Bias That Divides Us: The Science and Politics of Myside Thinking
Stanovich, K. E. (2021) · doi:10.7551/mitpress/13367.001.0001 · Cited by 152 · see citing works
Political partisanship influences perception of biracial candidates' skin tone
Caruso, E. M., Mead, N. L., & Balcetis, E. (2009) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0905362106 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
Culture and Identity‐Protective Cognition: Explaining the White‐Male Effect in Risk Perception
Kahan, D. M., Braman, D., Gastil, J., Slovic, P., & Mertz, C. K. (2007) · Journal of Empirical Legal Studies · doi:10.1111/j.1740-1461.2007.00097.x · Cited by 136 · see citing works
Clark, C. J., & Winegard, B. M. (2020) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1080/1047840x.2020.1721233 · Cited by 128 · see citing works
The Social Dimension of Political Values
Connors, E. C. (2020) · Political Behavior · doi:10.1007/s11109-019-09530-3 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Bowes, S. M., Costello, T. H., Lee, C., McElroy-Heltzel, S., Davis, D. E., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2022) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167221997619 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
How Public Opinion Information Changes Politicians’ Opinions and Behavior
Sevenans, J. (2021) · Political Behavior · doi:10.1007/s11109-021-09715-9 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Rogers, N., & Jones, J. J. (2021) · Journal of Social Computing · doi:10.23919/jsc.2021.0002 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
A Negativity Bias in Reframing Shapes Political Preferences Even in Partisan Contexts
Boydstun, A. E., Ledgerwood, A., & Sparks, J. (2019) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550617733520 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Partisan Bias in Political Judgment
Ditto, P. H., Celniker, J. B., Siddiqi, S. S., Güngör, M., & Relihan, D. P. (2025) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-030424-122723 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Toeing the Party Lie: Ostracism Promotes Endorsement of Partisan Election Falsehoods
Garrett, R. K., Sude, D., & Riva, P. (2020) · Political Communication · doi:10.1080/10584609.2019.1666943 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Cohen, G. L. (2012) · Ideology, Psychology, and Law · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199737512.003.0015 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Self-citationMasters of suspicion: A Bayesian decision model of motivated political reasoning
Rigoli, F. (2021) · Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour · doi:10.1111/jtsb.12274 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Combs, A., Tierney, G., Guay, B., Merhout, F., Bail, C. A., Hillygus, D. S., & Volfovsky, A. (2022) · doi:10.31235/osf.io/cwgu5 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Levy, N. (2021) · Bad Beliefs · doi:10.1093/oso/9780192895325.003.0005 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
- Authors
- Cohen, G. L.
- Affiliations
- Yale University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cohen, Geoffrey L.
- ORCID
- Cohen, Geoffrey L.
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 2003-11
- Volume
- 85
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 808-822
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2151318005
- Cited by
- 1,400
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 102 · 2025: 92 · 2024: 89 · 2023: 114 · 2022: 121 · 2021: 126 · 2020: 108 · 2019: 120 · 2018: 95 · 2017: 76 · 2016: 52 · 2015: 53 · 2014: 41 · 2013: 42 · 2012: 41
- FWCI
- 19.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Psychology of Social Influence
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Keywords
- group influence, party identification, social identity, persuasion, social policy attitudes, ideological beliefs
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Awareness, Denial, Psychological, Female, Humans, Male, Persuasive Communication, Philosophy, Politics, Public Policy, Social Conformity, Social Facilitation, Social Identification, Social Welfare, Students
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
