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Images of politics: A multidimensional analysis of implicit representations of political parties in a newly emerging democracy
Author(s) -
Forgas Joseph P.,
Laszlo Janos,
Siklaki Istvan,
Moylan Stephanie J.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2420250502
Subject(s) - politics , conservatism , democracy , dimension (graph theory) , cognition , cognitive dimensions of notations , space (punctuation) , biology and political orientation , psychology , multidimensional scaling , social psychology , sociology , political science , law , computer science , mathematics , neuroscience , machine learning , pure mathematics , operating system
What sorts of features define people's implicit cognitive representations about the political domain in a newly emerging democracy, with no previous experience of multi‐party politics? This study used a multidimensional scaling (MDS) approach to investigate the dimensional structure of, and individual differences in, cognitive representations of the party political space before the recent first free elections were held in Hungary. It was found that three cognitive dimensions explained subjects' intuitive view of political parties, evaluation, conservatism, and an urban–rural dimension. Significant individual differences in the use of these dimensions linked to gender, education, and city versus country background were also found. The relationship between implicit cognitive representations about parties and political attitudes and behaviour are discussed, and the implications of the findings for our understanding recent political developments in Eastern Europe are considered.