Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 14, 2025
06:42
Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
Published on: September 28, 2018
11.6K
Partisan Bias in Political Judgment
Peter H Ditto1, Jared B Celniker2, Shiri Spitz Siddiqi1
1Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, California, USA;
Annual Review of Psychology
|September 5, 2024
Summary
Political partisans show strong ingroup favoritism, seeking information aligning with their beliefs. Research should focus on understanding the psychological drivers and cognitive mechanisms of this motivated political reasoning.
Area of Science:
- Political Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- Empirical data reveal significant ingroup favoritism in political judgment among partisans.
- Partisans exhibit systematic biases in seeking, believing, and recalling information that confirms their political affiliations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review empirical evidence on partisan ingroup favoritism and its psychological underpinnings.
- To examine the debate surrounding the rationality of partisan bias and motivated reasoning.
- To advocate for a descriptive research approach focusing on predictors and mechanisms of partisan bias.
Main Methods:
- Review of empirical data on political judgment and partisan bias.
- Analysis of psychological literature on motivated reasoning and cognitive biases.
- Characterization of debates on the rationality of political inference.
Main Results:
- Ingroup favoritism is a robust phenomenon in political judgment.
- Both motivational and cognitive factors contribute to partisan bias.
- The consistency of partisan bias with rational inference remains a subject of debate.
Conclusions:
- A descriptive approach is recommended for studying partisan bias, prioritizing identification of predictors and mechanisms.
- Future research should clarify the cognitive processes of motivated political reasoning.
- Political judgment should be evaluated by ecological rationality, considering its impact on individual well-being and democratic governance.
Related Concept Videos
01:22Bias
3.9K
Bias refers to any tendency that prevents a question from being considered unprejudiced. In research, bias occurs when one outcome or answer is selected or encouraged over others in sampling or testing. Bias can occur during any research phase, including study design, data collection, analysis, and publication.
In statistics, a sampling bias is created when a sample is collected from a population, and some members of the population are not as likely to be chosen as others (remember, each member...
In statistics, a sampling bias is created when a sample is collected from a population, and some members of the population are not as likely to be chosen as others (remember, each member...
3.9K
02:13The Representativeness Heuristic
15.8K
The representative heuristic describes a biased way of thinking, in which you unintentionally stereotype someone or something. For example, you may assume that your professors spend their free time reading books and engaging in intellectual conversation, because the idea of them spending their time playing volleyball or visiting an amusement park does not fit in with your stereotypes of professors.
15.8K
01:31Confirmation Biases
5.5K
The confirmation bias is the tendency to focus on information that confirms our existing beliefs and ignore information that is inconsistent with our expectations. For example, if you think that your professor is not very nice, you notice all of the instances of rude behavior exhibited by the professor while ignoring the countless pleasant interactions he is involved in on a daily basis. Have you ever fallen prey to the confirmation bias, either as the source or target of such bias?
5.5K
01:29Bias in Epidemiological Studies
180
Biases can arise at various stages of research, from study design and data collection to analysis and interpretation. Recognizing and addressing these biases is essential to ensure the validity and reliability of epidemiological findings.Broadly speaking, biases in epidemiology fall into three main categories: selection bias, information bias, and confounding. A more detailed description of possible biases is:
180
02:16Stereotype Content Model
14.0K
The Stereotype Content Model (SCM) was first proposed by Susan Fiske and her colleagues (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick & Xu, 2002; see also Fiske, 2012 and Fiske, 2017). The SCM specifies that when someone encounters a new group, they will stereotype them based on two metrics: warmth—or that group’s perceived intent, and how likely they are to provide help or inflict harm—and competence—or their ability to carry out that objective. Depending on the warmth-competence...
14.0K
01:01Group Polarization
34.2K
Group polarization is the strengthening of an original group attitude following the discussion of views within a group (Teger & Pruitt, 1967). That is, if a group initially favors a viewpoint, after discussion the group consensus is likely a stronger endorsement of the viewpoint. Conversely, if the group was initially opposed to a viewpoint, group discussion would likely lead to stronger opposition.
34.2K