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It's easy to like or dislike Tony Blair: Accessibility experiences and the favourability of attitude judgments
Author(s) -
Haddock Geoffrey
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1348/000712602162571
Subject(s) - politics , psychology , social psychology , law , political science
The present study investigated the circumstances under which accessibility experiences would impact the favourability of political attitudes. Participants who were either interested or uninterested in British politics generated either two (or five) positive (or negative) attributes about Tony Blair before indicating their attitude toward him. The results revealed that politically uninterested participants rated Blair more favourably when they had accessed either a small number of positive attributes or a large number of negative attributes. The favourability ratings of politically interested participants were unaffected by the number and type of accessed attributes. Implications of the findings on the nature of accessibility experiences and attitudes are discussed.