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Cited by 588Social and Intergroup PsychologyElectoral Systems and Political ParticipationPsychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 298 of the 307 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

The Automaticity of Affect for Political Leaders, Groups, and Issues: An Experimental Test of the Hot Cognition Hypothesis

Lodge, Milton, Taber, Charles S.·2005·Political Psychology
DOI 10.1111/j.1467-9221.2005.00426.x
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Abstract

We report the results of three experimental tests of the “hot cognition” hypothesis, which posits that all sociopolitical concepts that have been evaluated in the past are affectively charged and that this affective charge is automatically activated within milliseconds on mere exposure to the concept, appreciably faster than conscious appraisal of the object. We find support for the automaticity of affect toward political leaders, groups, and issues; specifically: • Most Ss show significantly faster reaction times to affectively congruent political concepts and significantly slower response times to affectively incongruent concepts; • These facilitation and inhibition effects, which hold for a cross-section of political leaders, groups, and issues, are strongest for those with the strongest prior attitudes, with sophisticates showing the strongest effect on “harder” political issues. • Even semantically unrelated affective concepts (e.g., “sunshine,”“cancer”) have a strong effect on the evaluation of political leaders, groups, and issues. We conclude with a discussion of the “so what?” question—the conceptual, substantive, and normative implications of hot cognition for political judgments, evaluations, and choice. One clear expectation, given that affect appears to be activated automatically on mere exposure to sociopolitical concepts, is that most citizens, but especially those sophisticates with strong political attitudes, will be biased information processors.

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Research works printed but not linked: 23

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Metadata

Authors
Lodge, M., & Taber, C. S.
Affiliations
Stony Brook University (US)
Venue
Political Psychology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2005-06
Volume
26
Issue
3
Pages
455-482
ISSN
  • 0162-895X (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-9221
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-9221.2005.00426.x
OpenAlex
W1978777277
Cited by
588
References
307
Citations by year
2026: 32 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 75 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 38 · 2015: 34 · 2014: 37 · 2013: 29 · 2012: 22
FWCI
32.79
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
doi.wiley.com/10.1002/tdm_license_1.1 (tdm, 3744 d)
Locations
Political Psychology (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
Keywords
hot cognition, political attitudes, political leaders, political groups, political issues, affective priming, reaction time (psychology), political sophistication, biased information processing, political judgment

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