When Politics Affects the Self: High Political Influence Perception Predicts Civic and Political Participation

The present research examines the relationships between political influence perception and political participation. Classic studies have linked participation to political interest. However, they did not consider that people may become interested in politics especially when they feel it impacts their lives. In this research, we assumed that political participation would be based on the belief that politics affects one's life. This hypothesis was tested among Polish (Study 1, n = 1000 and Study 3, n = 627) and British participants (Study 2, n = 476). We found positive links between political influence perception and various forms of participation (Study 1, Study 2). In Study 3, we experimentally manipulated thoughts about highly effective politics, which increased political influence perception and was further linked to an increased interest in politics and political participation. We discuss the role of the way people perceive politics in political participation. This work was supported by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education [grant number DIALOG 0013/2019; financing period: 2019-2021] and Norface Democratic Governance in a Turbulent Age Research Programme [project Threat, identity, and dissent: Understanding and addressing political polarization in European democracies is financially supported by the NORFACE Joint Research Programme on Democratic Governance in a Turbulent Age and co-funded by National Science Centre, Poland and the European Commission through Horizon 2020 under grant agreement No 822166; National Science Centre, Poland project number 2019/01/Y/HS6/00033]. reviewed acceptedVersion