The Origins of Information Processing Preferences in Politics: Examining Parental Influence
Cognitive motivations (e.g., need for cognition and need to evaluate) and decision strategies (e.g., rational choice vs. heuristic-based) importantly shape political understanding, evaluations, and vote choice. Despite the importance of these cognitive factors, few studies have examined their origin...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology
2020-04-01
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| Series: | Journal of Social and Political Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://jspp.psychopen.eu/article/view/1057 |
| _version_ | 1797973032395866112 |
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| author | Lori D. Bougher Richard R. Lau |
| author_facet | Lori D. Bougher Richard R. Lau |
| author_sort | Lori D. Bougher |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Cognitive motivations (e.g., need for cognition and need to evaluate) and decision strategies (e.g., rational choice vs. heuristic-based) importantly shape political understanding, evaluations, and vote choice. Despite the importance of these cognitive factors, few studies have examined their origins. Adopting an exploratory framework with a primary focus on parental influence, we uniquely address this research gap by identifying potential pathways through which parents can affect this development. Using a convenience sample of college students who participated in a 10-week panel study with their parents, we reveal that, unlike many other political characteristics, there is little parent-child similarity in cognitive motivations and decision strategies. We, however, find some similarity in the information search behaviors parents and children exhibit during the mock election campaign. The findings highlight the need to further investigate not only additional parenting behaviors, but also the socializing role of the information environment itself. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T03:57:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-892f6ad4f6d64d5591e0d3ae27ec2d75 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2195-3325 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T03:57:31Z |
| publishDate | 2020-04-01 |
| publisher | PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Social and Political Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-892f6ad4f6d64d5591e0d3ae27ec2d752023-01-02T00:10:00ZengPsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for PsychologyJournal of Social and Political Psychology2195-33252020-04-018128429910.5964/jspp.v8i1.1057jspp.v8i1.1057The Origins of Information Processing Preferences in Politics: Examining Parental InfluenceLori D. Bougher0Richard R. Lau1Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USAPolitical Science Department, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USACognitive motivations (e.g., need for cognition and need to evaluate) and decision strategies (e.g., rational choice vs. heuristic-based) importantly shape political understanding, evaluations, and vote choice. Despite the importance of these cognitive factors, few studies have examined their origins. Adopting an exploratory framework with a primary focus on parental influence, we uniquely address this research gap by identifying potential pathways through which parents can affect this development. Using a convenience sample of college students who participated in a 10-week panel study with their parents, we reveal that, unlike many other political characteristics, there is little parent-child similarity in cognitive motivations and decision strategies. We, however, find some similarity in the information search behaviors parents and children exhibit during the mock election campaign. The findings highlight the need to further investigate not only additional parenting behaviors, but also the socializing role of the information environment itself.http://jspp.psychopen.eu/article/view/1057socializationinformation processingdecision makingpolitical cognitionneed for cognitionneed to evaluate |
| spellingShingle | Lori D. Bougher Richard R. Lau The Origins of Information Processing Preferences in Politics: Examining Parental Influence Journal of Social and Political Psychology socialization information processing decision making political cognition need for cognition need to evaluate |
| title | The Origins of Information Processing Preferences in Politics: Examining Parental Influence |
| title_full | The Origins of Information Processing Preferences in Politics: Examining Parental Influence |
| title_fullStr | The Origins of Information Processing Preferences in Politics: Examining Parental Influence |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Origins of Information Processing Preferences in Politics: Examining Parental Influence |
| title_short | The Origins of Information Processing Preferences in Politics: Examining Parental Influence |
| title_sort | origins of information processing preferences in politics examining parental influence |
| topic | socialization information processing decision making political cognition need for cognition need to evaluate |
| url | http://jspp.psychopen.eu/article/view/1057 |
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