Public policy for thee, but not for me: Varying the grammatical person of public policy justifications influences their support
Past research has shown that people consistently believe that others are more easily manipulated by external influences than they themselves are---a phenomenon called the ``third-person effect'' (Davison, 1983). The present research investigates whether support for public policies aimed a...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2014-09-01
|
| Series: | Judgment and Decision Making |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.sjdm.org/14/14625a/jdm14625a.pdf |
| _version_ | 1827843249115496448 |
|---|---|
| author | James F. M. Cornwell David H. Krantz |
| author_facet | James F. M. Cornwell David H. Krantz |
| author_sort | James F. M. Cornwell |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Past research has
shown that people consistently believe that others are more easily manipulated
by external influences than they themselves are---a phenomenon called the
``third-person effect'' (Davison, 1983). The present research investigates
whether support for public policies aimed at changing behavior using incentives
and other decision ``nudges'' is affected by this bias. Across two studies, we
phrased justification for public policy initiatives using either the second- or
third-person plural. In Study 1, we found that support for policies is higher
when their justification points to people in general rather than the general
``you'', and in Study 2 we found that this former phrasing also improves
support compared to a no-justification control condition. Policy support is
mediated by beliefs about the likelihood of success of the policies (as opposed
to beliefs about the policies' unintended consequences), and, in the
second-person condition, is inversely related to a sense of personal agency.
These effects suggest that the third-person effect holds true for nudge-type
and incentive-based public policies, with implications for their popular
support. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T08:22:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c1d534f511a4445d99561be5d443d84b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1930-2975 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T08:22:01Z |
| publishDate | 2014-09-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Judgment and Decision Making |
| spelling | doaj.art-c1d534f511a4445d99561be5d443d84b2023-09-02T18:23:29ZengCambridge University PressJudgment and Decision Making1930-29752014-09-0195433444Public policy for thee, but not for me: Varying the grammatical person of public policy justifications influences their supportJames F. M. CornwellDavid H. KrantzPast research has shown that people consistently believe that others are more easily manipulated by external influences than they themselves are---a phenomenon called the ``third-person effect'' (Davison, 1983). The present research investigates whether support for public policies aimed at changing behavior using incentives and other decision ``nudges'' is affected by this bias. Across two studies, we phrased justification for public policy initiatives using either the second- or third-person plural. In Study 1, we found that support for policies is higher when their justification points to people in general rather than the general ``you'', and in Study 2 we found that this former phrasing also improves support compared to a no-justification control condition. Policy support is mediated by beliefs about the likelihood of success of the policies (as opposed to beliefs about the policies' unintended consequences), and, in the second-person condition, is inversely related to a sense of personal agency. These effects suggest that the third-person effect holds true for nudge-type and incentive-based public policies, with implications for their popular support.http://journal.sjdm.org/14/14625a/jdm14625a.pdfthird-person effect public policy decision architecture incentives attitudes.NAKeywords |
| spellingShingle | James F. M. Cornwell David H. Krantz Public policy for thee, but not for me: Varying the grammatical person of public policy justifications influences their support Judgment and Decision Making third-person effect public policy decision architecture incentives attitudes.NAKeywords |
| title | Public policy for
thee, but not for me: Varying the grammatical person of public policy
justifications influences their support |
| title_full | Public policy for
thee, but not for me: Varying the grammatical person of public policy
justifications influences their support |
| title_fullStr | Public policy for
thee, but not for me: Varying the grammatical person of public policy
justifications influences their support |
| title_full_unstemmed | Public policy for
thee, but not for me: Varying the grammatical person of public policy
justifications influences their support |
| title_short | Public policy for
thee, but not for me: Varying the grammatical person of public policy
justifications influences their support |
| title_sort | public policy for thee but not for me varying the grammatical person of public policy justifications influences their support |
| topic | third-person effect public policy decision architecture incentives attitudes.NAKeywords |
| url | http://journal.sjdm.org/14/14625a/jdm14625a.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jamesfmcornwell publicpolicyfortheebutnotformevaryingthegrammaticalpersonofpublicpolicyjustificationsinfluencestheirsupport AT davidhkrantz publicpolicyfortheebutnotformevaryingthegrammaticalpersonofpublicpolicyjustificationsinfluencestheirsupport |