The use of mass media and decision making processes in the 1980 presidential election : application of the accumulated information model

Author

Steven Hendricks Swindel

Date of Award

12-1985

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Communication

Major Professor

M. Mark Miller

Committee Members

Herbert H. Howard

Abstract

Much of the literature devoted to studies of the cognitive processes involved in making political decisions has attributed the close proximity of the voters' stands on the issues with their perceptions of the stands of their preferred candidate to perceptual distortion. However, none of those studies has investigated the possible mitigating influence of political information on those processes. This study examined the relationship between attention to political information in the mass media and the cognitive processes of decision making. The fundamental issue addressed in this study is whether attention to political information in the mass media contributes to rational decision making by voters during a political campaign. The study was conceptualized within the theoretical framework of the accumulated information model.

The data employed in this study were gathered by the Center for Political Studies of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan as part of the 1980 American National Election Study. The data are part of a four-wave panel study of a nationwide sample of citizens during the 1980 presidential campaign. The data were analyzed with a multivariate analysis of variance for repeated measures procedure.

The results indicated that political information in the mass media serves as an inhibiting factor for perceptual distortion of candidate's positions on the issues. Those voters who paid the most attention to political information in the media were the least likely to distort their perceptions of proximity with the issue positions of their preferred candidate. To the extent that perceptual distortion was indicated, it was found only among those who had recently made a voting decision and were at the lower levels of attention to political information in the media.

Recommended Citation

Swindel, Steven Hendricks, "The use of mass media and decision making processes in the 1980 presidential election : application of the accumulated information model. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1985.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/12646