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Perceptions of political leaders

Demonstrating the effect of evolved psychological mechanisms on partisan identification using perceptions of political leaders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2017

J. David Schmitz  and
Gregg R. Murray
J. David Schmitz
Affiliation:
University of Texas of the Permian Basin
Gregg R. Murray*
Affiliation:
Augusta University
*
Correspondence: Gregg R. Murray, Department of Political Science, Augusta University, 1120 15th St., AH-N312, Augusta, GA 30912. Email: gmurray@augusta.edu
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Abstract

Partisan identification is a fundamental force in individual and mass political behavior around the world. Informed by scholarship on human sociality, coalitional psychology, and group behavior, this research argues that partisan identification, like many other group-based behaviors, is influenced by forces of evolution. If correct, then party identifiers should exhibit adaptive behaviors when making group-related political decisions. The authors test this assertion with citizen assessments of the relative physical formidability of competing leaders, an important adaptive factor in leader evaluations. Using original and novel data collected during the contextually different 2008 and 2012 U.S. presidential elections, as well as two distinct measures obtained during both elections, this article presents evidence that partisans overestimate the physical stature of the presidential candidate of their own party compared with the stature of the candidate of the opposition party. These findings suggest that the power of party identification on political behavior may be attributable to the fact that modern political parties address problems similar to the problems groups faced in human ancestral times.

Keywords

Leader evaluationscandidate drawingsgroup-based behaviorpartisan identificationevolved psychological mechanismsphysical formidability
Type
Articles
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , Fall 2017 , pp. 60 - 79
Copyright
© Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 2017 

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