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Strong Candidate, Nurturant Candidate: Moral Language in Presidential Television Advertisements
Author(s) -
Moses Jennifer Filson,
Gonzales Marti Hope
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
political psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.419
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1467-9221
pISSN - 0162-895X
DOI - 10.1111/pops.12160
Subject(s) - ideology , presidential election , psychology , presidential system , social psychology , politics , political science , law
Presidential television advertisements from 1980 through 2012 were examined to test empirically G eorge L akoff's descriptions of A merican moral ideology. Advertisements were coded for instantiations of the moral themes that Lakoff asserts underlie liberal and conservative ideology ( S trict F ather versus Nurturant Parent). Candidates' political‐party affiliation, election year, and policy issue(s) addressed in the television advertisement were assessed for their covariance with the use of these moral‐metaphorical instantiations. Findings support many of Lakoff's arguments. Republicans and D emocrats generally differed in their use of these moral themes, both S trict F ather and Nurturant Parent. There were no significant associations between election years (1980–2012) and instantiations of moral metaphors, with the exception of 2008, an anomalous year. Of particular import, we found that although Republicans rely on S trict F ather dimensions, and D emocrats rely more on Nurturant Parent, the most pronounced difference between parties was on the Nurturant Parent dimension. Implications for Lakoff's work and current moral psychology are discussed.