Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
2-2018
Abstract
The present research examines how warmth communications shape classbased patterns of political candidate support. Drawing on theory and evidence that lower-class individuals are more attuned to others, we predicted that, relative to upper-class individuals, they will modulate their trust and support in response to communications of warmth generated by and about political figures. In Experiment 1, lower-class compared to upper-class participants reported less trust and support for a political candidate who communicated his warmth in a campaign video, while no class differences emerged when he communicated competence or hostility to an opponent instead. In Experiment 2, lower-class compared to upper-class participants reported greater trust and support for a political figure whose warmth was communicated by a lower-class member, but no class difference emerged when the same communication was by an upper-class member. Implications for eliciting trust through warmth communication in cross-class interactions are discussed.
Keywords
social class, socioeconomic status, person perception
Discipline
Applied Behavior Analysis | Personality and Social Contexts | Politics and Social Change | Social Psychology
Research Areas
Psychology
Publication
Social Cognition
Volume
36
Issue
1
First Page
106
Last Page
133
ISSN
0278-016X
Identifier
10.1521/soco.2018.36.1.106
Publisher
Guilford Press
Citation
TAN, Jacinth J. X., & KRAUS, Michael W..(2018). Judgments of interpersonal warmth predict class-based differences in political candidate support. Social Cognition, 36(1), 106-133.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2710
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2018.36.1.106
Included in
Applied Behavior Analysis Commons, Personality and Social Contexts Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Social Psychology Commons