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An Impression-Driven Model of Candidate Evaluation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Milton Lodge ,
Kathleen M. McGraw  and
Patrick Stroh
Milton Lodge
Affiliation:
State University of New York, Stony Brook
Kathleen M. McGraw
Affiliation:
State University of New York, Stony Brook
Patrick Stroh
Affiliation:
State University of New York, Stony Brook
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Abstract

We describe and test two process models of candidate evaluation. The memory-based model holds that evaluations are dependent on the mix of pro and con information retrieved from memory. The impression-driven model holds that evaluations are formed and updated “on-line” as information is encountered. The results provide evidence for the existence of stereotyping and projection biases that render the mix of evidence available in memory a nonveridical representation of the information to which subjects were exposed. People do not rely on the specific candidate information available in memory. Rather, consistent with the logic of the impression-driven processing model, an “on-line” judgment formed when the information was encountered best predicts candidate evaluation. The results raise both methodological and substantive challenges to how political scientists measure and model the candidate evaluation process.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 83 , Issue 2 , June 1989 , pp. 399 - 419
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1989

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