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Position, Preference and Personality: A Microlevel Explanation of Negativity in Day‐To‐Day Politics
Author(s) -
Ketelaars Pauline
Publication year - 2019
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.12566
Subject(s) - negativity effect , politics , preference , personality , social psychology , position (finance) , psychology , negativity bias , focus (optics) , political science , economics , law , finance , microeconomics , physics , optics
While many scholars investigate the determinants of negativity in the political sphere, it remains largely unclear why some politicians are more negative than others. Studies thus far lack explanations at the individual level, and they almost exclusively focus on negativity during electoral races. Surveying national and regional representatives in Belgium ( N = 228), this study seeks to explain individual politicians’ willingness to go negative during everyday politics. The results show that negativity is not so much related to institutionally driven differences between representatives but more to politicians’ personal characteristics and preference roles. Negative politics, hence, is not an inevitable result of institutional structures, rules, and norms, but rather depends on the characteristics and motivations of the individual representatives citizens elect.