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Outcome‐Based Perceptions of Morality and Support for Political Candidates
Author(s) -
Drolet Caroline E.,
Hafer Carolyn L.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
analyses of social issues and public policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.479
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1530-2415
pISSN - 1529-7489
DOI - 10.1111/asap.12166
Subject(s) - morality , competence (human resources) , social psychology , politics , presidential system , perception , psychology , presidential election , voting , social cognitive theory of morality , misfortune , political science , law , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , perspective (graphical) , computer science
During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Trump supporters expressed that they believed Trump was a moral candidate because of his past successes. Such statements are consistent with our argument that people judge others’ morality based on their success and failure‐related outcomes, even though these outcomes are usually associated with judgments of competence. Moreover, we argue that these outcome‐based perceptions of morality play a crucial role in responses to political candidates, independent of perceived competence. In three experiments, we manipulated a hypothetical candidate's outcomes (past successes vs. failures, or success in light of past misfortune vs. good fortune). We examined the effect of the manipulation on perceptions of the candidate's morality and competence, as well as support for the candidate (e.g., voting intentions). Across the three experiments, candidates’ outcomes affected not only perceptions of their competence, but also their morality. In turn, outcome‐based perceptions of competence and morality independently predicted candidate support. Our findings have implications for how people responded to the campaigns in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, especially the campaign run by Donald Trump.