PSI And Attitude Certainty With Trump

Attitudes held with certainty may serve as powerful determinants of relevant political behavior, such as voting in an election. Despite a large body of research in attitude certainty, very little work has been done to explore two of its distinct components: attitude correctness and attitude clarity. This study investigated how parasocial interaction (PSI) with former President Trump influences perceived correctness and clarity of attitudes toward him. Over 400 Amazon MTurk workers from all over the United States completed a survey. Data revealed that the more the participants engaged in PSI with Trump, the more they reported having negative attitudes toward him. PSI with Trump also predicted perceived attitude correctness and attitude clarity. Analysis suggested that as participants engaged in cognitive activities such as evaluation and observation, perceived attitude correctness and clarity toward Trump became stronger. Conversely, as participants experienced positive affect toward Trump, perceived attitude correctness and clarity weakened. Behavioral PSI responses, although not the strongest influence, predicted perceived correctness but did not predict attitude clarity.

拥有高度确信度的态度，可作为选举投票等相关政治行为的强力决定因素。尽管学界已围绕态度确信度开展了大量研究，但针对其两个独特组成部分——态度正确性（attitude correctness）与态度清晰度（attitude clarity）——的探索却寥寥无几。本研究探讨了与前总统特朗普的拟社会互动（parasocial interaction, PSI）如何影响受众对其态度的感知正确性与感知清晰度。本研究招募了来自全美各地的400余名亚马逊机械 Turk（Amazon MTurk）平台众包工作者完成问卷。数据分析结果显示，参与者与特朗普的拟社会互动程度越高，其报告的对特朗普的负面态度就越强。与特朗普的拟社会互动同时也可预测受众对其态度的感知正确性与感知清晰度。分析表明，当参与者开展评估、观察等认知活动时，其对特朗普态度的感知正确性与感知清晰度会显著提升；反之，当参与者对特朗普产生正向情感时，其对特朗普态度的感知正确性与感知清晰度则会下降。尽管行为层面的拟社会互动反应并非最强影响因素，但它可预测态度感知正确性，却无法有效预测态度清晰度。