Political Sciences 212 Lectures
Lecture 2: What are Attitudes?
- Dalton Chapter 2
- Manheim Chapter 2
“The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.” -
Winston Churchill
● The nature of mass/collected beliefs:
○ Debate about the public’s political abilities is important in the study of political behaviour.
○ Normative assumptions about level of sophistication required to fulfil democratic ideals
○ Differences in interpretation of empirical evidence
● Early political theorists felt that “super-citizens” were needed for democracy - core values or civic
virtue (e.g. protection of minority rights) are essential, without which we are vulnerable to
manipulation.
● The unsophisticated citizen:
○ Converse identifies criteria for the individual’s political sophistication:
■ a) Must have basic structure at the core (e.g. Ideology)
■ b) Constraint – relationship between core and opinion on specific issues
■ c) Stable opinions – the result of strong beliefs that guide behaviour and attitudes
○ In some instances (e.g. Nazi Germany), these core values were detrimental and not civic-
minded.
● Converse: findings regarding American voters - those early ideals hold little weight:
○ Little or no ideological structure (only +-10% of voters)
○ Little or no linkage between related issues (e.g. tax and public spending)
○ Opinions change radically over time
○ THUS: “non-attitudes” - public has no informed or sometimes any opinion
○ This challenged the idea that there must be coherent thinking about politics (e.g.
conservative, liberal), that there is a marriage between the ideology and what people care
about, and that these opinions must be stable.
● Voters are “fools”: “The electorate is almost completely unable to judge the rationality of
government actions; knowing little of the particular policies and what has led to them, the mass
electorate is not able either to appraise its goals or the appropriateness of the means chosen to
secure these goals”
● Elitist theory: democracy without the people:
○ For democracy’s sake, we need apathetic citizens - lack of active participation is
beneficial; if everyone contributed to society, it would not function.
, ○ Pessimistic view persists -
■ Elites are politically active.
■ Elites are interested in politics and informed on political issues, therefore remain
in charge.
■ Not everyone can (or should) be active – it keeps the system stable; a good
citizen is not active but potentially active.
■ Passivity of the masses protects the system
○ Elitist theory should be reconsidered - the theory is undemocratic and does not consider
the complexity of political society.
● Rational vs reasonable choice: challenging the elitist theory:
○ New research -> new models of human behaviour; we know much more about how
citizens make reasonable political choices.
○ Three new areas:
■ Political cognition:
● Can’t retain all the knowledge we gather
● ‘Fast-thinking’ vs ‘slow thinking’
● Selective retrieval of information
● Evaluate new info and update a running tally - imperfect but reasonable
retention of information that justify our existing beliefs.
■ Overlapping issue publics:
● People do not follow/ not knowledgeable on all issues.
● People concentrate interest on a few topics that interest them / are
salient to them.
■ Political cues, shortcuts and heuristics:
● People use information ‘short-cuts’ or heuristics to simplify decision
making (e.g. voting for political parties)
● E.g: social group identities (class, religion, ethnicity, gender and sexual
identity, education), party identification (can use the party as an
interpreter of political information), ideology - such a strong social context
mean that we use these “shortcuts” to inform ourselves of where our
interests lie.
● Media and social networks provide important endorsements.
● Reconsider sophistication: cognitive mobilisation:
○ Expansion in public political skills and resources:
■ Education
■ Media exposure
■ Political awareness
, ○ Greater access to information
■ Newspapers, TV, Internet, Radio, Daily life
● Cognitive mobilisation and education:
○ Not a direct relationship between education and political sophistication
○ BUT: research shows some relationship between education and level of political
knowledge, interest and sophistication
○ Stereotype of unsophisticated voter less relevant today than in the 1950s
● So, how will we think about the voter?
○ Doesn’t base decisions on a single source/ method (“pluralistic roots of political belief”)
○ People choose their issue interests
○ Strong use of political cues, e.g. social reference groups or party attachment.
○ Citizen groups can make poor decisions, but democracy is flexible and ever-changing;
though democracy doesn’t fit the theoretical basis that early scholars put forward, but
there is still a strong basis for the model.
//
● What’s an attitude?
○ It is a predisposition to respond to a particular stimulus/messages in a particular manner -
building blocks of political opinion.
○ Attitudes intervene between a stimulus and a reaction / response
○ In the process of receiving a message, you interpret it
● Attitudes intervene between stimulus and response
● Functions of attitudes:
○ “...only in the context of our existing storehouse of beliefs and values can any new
experience, any new information that we encounter while communicating with the world,
take on meaning. Only on the basis of our existing wants, needs, knowledge and
expectations can we hope to interpret and understand our most recent perceptions of
reality.”
○ Create a sense of worth & self; gives us meaning.
○ Structured way of using and acquiring knowledge.
○ Help us cope with situations outside of our control.
○ Psychological protection against a flow of information.
○ Understand our environment and shape our responses - predict behaviour.
● Three components of attitudes:
○ Affective
○ Cognitive
○ Conative
, > Affective:
● Understanding “affect”:
○ Affectional = characterized by emotion.
○ Relating to, resulting from, or influenced by the emotions; emotionally charged.
● Evaluation: affective:
○ How we evaluate things
○ That which we like and dislike
○ That with which we agree or disagree
○ Can be in a positive or negative direction
○ Intensity can vary
> Cognitive:
● Understanding “cognitive”:
○ “Cognition is the scientific term for ‘the process of thought’ to knowing.”
○ “The part of mental functions that deals with logic (as opposed to affective which deals
with emotions).”
○ The way individuals see the factual reality of a situation; about what we think we know.
● Cognitive:
○ Linked to beliefs
■ Something we believe in
■ Beliefs about something
○ Beliefs represent the “way in which a particular individual sees reality [or a factual
situation]”
■ Based on the “facts” you have about a particular situation – what do you know?
● Cognitive mapping:
○ The more individual attitudes are linked with each other in the same direction, the more
intensely they are adhered to and the more predictable they are (attitude cluster).
○ Gathered together = coherent perceptions of the world.
○ “ There is neither good nor bad, but thinking that makes it so.”
> Conative:
● Understanding “conative”:
○ “Pertains to one's basic strivings as expressed in behaviour and actions”
○ “Of or pertaining to a striving action.”
Lecture 2: What are Attitudes?
- Dalton Chapter 2
- Manheim Chapter 2
“The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.” -
Winston Churchill
● The nature of mass/collected beliefs:
○ Debate about the public’s political abilities is important in the study of political behaviour.
○ Normative assumptions about level of sophistication required to fulfil democratic ideals
○ Differences in interpretation of empirical evidence
● Early political theorists felt that “super-citizens” were needed for democracy - core values or civic
virtue (e.g. protection of minority rights) are essential, without which we are vulnerable to
manipulation.
● The unsophisticated citizen:
○ Converse identifies criteria for the individual’s political sophistication:
■ a) Must have basic structure at the core (e.g. Ideology)
■ b) Constraint – relationship between core and opinion on specific issues
■ c) Stable opinions – the result of strong beliefs that guide behaviour and attitudes
○ In some instances (e.g. Nazi Germany), these core values were detrimental and not civic-
minded.
● Converse: findings regarding American voters - those early ideals hold little weight:
○ Little or no ideological structure (only +-10% of voters)
○ Little or no linkage between related issues (e.g. tax and public spending)
○ Opinions change radically over time
○ THUS: “non-attitudes” - public has no informed or sometimes any opinion
○ This challenged the idea that there must be coherent thinking about politics (e.g.
conservative, liberal), that there is a marriage between the ideology and what people care
about, and that these opinions must be stable.
● Voters are “fools”: “The electorate is almost completely unable to judge the rationality of
government actions; knowing little of the particular policies and what has led to them, the mass
electorate is not able either to appraise its goals or the appropriateness of the means chosen to
secure these goals”
● Elitist theory: democracy without the people:
○ For democracy’s sake, we need apathetic citizens - lack of active participation is
beneficial; if everyone contributed to society, it would not function.
, ○ Pessimistic view persists -
■ Elites are politically active.
■ Elites are interested in politics and informed on political issues, therefore remain
in charge.
■ Not everyone can (or should) be active – it keeps the system stable; a good
citizen is not active but potentially active.
■ Passivity of the masses protects the system
○ Elitist theory should be reconsidered - the theory is undemocratic and does not consider
the complexity of political society.
● Rational vs reasonable choice: challenging the elitist theory:
○ New research -> new models of human behaviour; we know much more about how
citizens make reasonable political choices.
○ Three new areas:
■ Political cognition:
● Can’t retain all the knowledge we gather
● ‘Fast-thinking’ vs ‘slow thinking’
● Selective retrieval of information
● Evaluate new info and update a running tally - imperfect but reasonable
retention of information that justify our existing beliefs.
■ Overlapping issue publics:
● People do not follow/ not knowledgeable on all issues.
● People concentrate interest on a few topics that interest them / are
salient to them.
■ Political cues, shortcuts and heuristics:
● People use information ‘short-cuts’ or heuristics to simplify decision
making (e.g. voting for political parties)
● E.g: social group identities (class, religion, ethnicity, gender and sexual
identity, education), party identification (can use the party as an
interpreter of political information), ideology - such a strong social context
mean that we use these “shortcuts” to inform ourselves of where our
interests lie.
● Media and social networks provide important endorsements.
● Reconsider sophistication: cognitive mobilisation:
○ Expansion in public political skills and resources:
■ Education
■ Media exposure
■ Political awareness
, ○ Greater access to information
■ Newspapers, TV, Internet, Radio, Daily life
● Cognitive mobilisation and education:
○ Not a direct relationship between education and political sophistication
○ BUT: research shows some relationship between education and level of political
knowledge, interest and sophistication
○ Stereotype of unsophisticated voter less relevant today than in the 1950s
● So, how will we think about the voter?
○ Doesn’t base decisions on a single source/ method (“pluralistic roots of political belief”)
○ People choose their issue interests
○ Strong use of political cues, e.g. social reference groups or party attachment.
○ Citizen groups can make poor decisions, but democracy is flexible and ever-changing;
though democracy doesn’t fit the theoretical basis that early scholars put forward, but
there is still a strong basis for the model.
//
● What’s an attitude?
○ It is a predisposition to respond to a particular stimulus/messages in a particular manner -
building blocks of political opinion.
○ Attitudes intervene between a stimulus and a reaction / response
○ In the process of receiving a message, you interpret it
● Attitudes intervene between stimulus and response
● Functions of attitudes:
○ “...only in the context of our existing storehouse of beliefs and values can any new
experience, any new information that we encounter while communicating with the world,
take on meaning. Only on the basis of our existing wants, needs, knowledge and
expectations can we hope to interpret and understand our most recent perceptions of
reality.”
○ Create a sense of worth & self; gives us meaning.
○ Structured way of using and acquiring knowledge.
○ Help us cope with situations outside of our control.
○ Psychological protection against a flow of information.
○ Understand our environment and shape our responses - predict behaviour.
● Three components of attitudes:
○ Affective
○ Cognitive
○ Conative
, > Affective:
● Understanding “affect”:
○ Affectional = characterized by emotion.
○ Relating to, resulting from, or influenced by the emotions; emotionally charged.
● Evaluation: affective:
○ How we evaluate things
○ That which we like and dislike
○ That with which we agree or disagree
○ Can be in a positive or negative direction
○ Intensity can vary
> Cognitive:
● Understanding “cognitive”:
○ “Cognition is the scientific term for ‘the process of thought’ to knowing.”
○ “The part of mental functions that deals with logic (as opposed to affective which deals
with emotions).”
○ The way individuals see the factual reality of a situation; about what we think we know.
● Cognitive:
○ Linked to beliefs
■ Something we believe in
■ Beliefs about something
○ Beliefs represent the “way in which a particular individual sees reality [or a factual
situation]”
■ Based on the “facts” you have about a particular situation – what do you know?
● Cognitive mapping:
○ The more individual attitudes are linked with each other in the same direction, the more
intensely they are adhered to and the more predictable they are (attitude cluster).
○ Gathered together = coherent perceptions of the world.
○ “ There is neither good nor bad, but thinking that makes it so.”
> Conative:
● Understanding “conative”:
○ “Pertains to one's basic strivings as expressed in behaviour and actions”
○ “Of or pertaining to a striving action.”
