Seen one, seen ‘em all? Do reports about law violations of a single politician impair the perceived trustworthiness of politicians in general and of the political system?
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Halmburger, Anna
Baumert, Anna
Rothmund, Tobias
Abstract / Description
By bringing together a sophisticated conceptualization of political trustworthiness (integrated model of trust) with theorizing from information processing (trait inferences, inclusion-exclusion model), our research aimed at investigating the impact of a politician’s unlawful behavior on political trust. In four experimental studies, we investigated how laypersons draw inferences from media reports about a politician’s law violation to the trustworthiness of (a) that politician, (b) politicians in general, and (c) the political system as a whole. Participants who read a bogus newspaper report about a violation of law (child pornography or financial fraud) ascribed lower integrity, benevolence, and competence to the respective politician compared to those in a control condition (Study 1, 3, & 4). The perceived trustworthiness of politicians in general and the political system was also found to be decreased in one study (Study 2), which did not include items asking for the trustworthiness of the law-violating politician. By contrast, two studies including such items revealed only indirect effects through the perceived trustworthiness of the politician in question (Study 3 & 4). Our results suggest that law violations negatively affect the responsible politicians. In line with the inclusion-exclusion model, the impact from the wrongdoing of one politician to all politicians or the political system seems to be highly influenced by boundary conditions.
Keyword(s)
trustworthiness of politicians trustworthiness of the political system law violation trait inferences assimilation effects Vertrauenswürdigkeit von Politiker*innen politisches Vertrauen Gesetzesverletzung Trait-Inferenzen Assimilations-EffektPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2019-06-18
Journal title
Journal of Social and Political Psychology
Volume
7
Issue
1
Page numbers
448–477
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Halmburger, A., Baumert, A., & Rothmund, T. (2019). Seen one, seen ‘em all? Do reports about law violations of a single politician impair the perceived trustworthiness of politicians in general and of the political system?. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 7(1), 448-477. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v7i1.933
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jspp.v7i1.933.pdfAdobe PDF - 1.02MBMD5: a64cb4b5e003bfcf24cd908fd5912296
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There are no other versions of this object.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Halmburger, Anna
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Baumert, Anna
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Rothmund, Tobias
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2022-04-14T11:23:02Z
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Made available on2022-04-14T11:23:02Z
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Date of first publication2019-06-18
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Abstract / DescriptionBy bringing together a sophisticated conceptualization of political trustworthiness (integrated model of trust) with theorizing from information processing (trait inferences, inclusion-exclusion model), our research aimed at investigating the impact of a politician’s unlawful behavior on political trust. In four experimental studies, we investigated how laypersons draw inferences from media reports about a politician’s law violation to the trustworthiness of (a) that politician, (b) politicians in general, and (c) the political system as a whole. Participants who read a bogus newspaper report about a violation of law (child pornography or financial fraud) ascribed lower integrity, benevolence, and competence to the respective politician compared to those in a control condition (Study 1, 3, & 4). The perceived trustworthiness of politicians in general and the political system was also found to be decreased in one study (Study 2), which did not include items asking for the trustworthiness of the law-violating politician. By contrast, two studies including such items revealed only indirect effects through the perceived trustworthiness of the politician in question (Study 3 & 4). Our results suggest that law violations negatively affect the responsible politicians. In line with the inclusion-exclusion model, the impact from the wrongdoing of one politician to all politicians or the political system seems to be highly influenced by boundary conditions.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationHalmburger, A., Baumert, A., & Rothmund, T. (2019). Seen one, seen ‘em all? Do reports about law violations of a single politician impair the perceived trustworthiness of politicians in general and of the political system?. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 7(1), 448-477. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v7i1.933en_US
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ISSN2195-3325
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/5581
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.6185
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v7i1.933
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Is related tohttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.2467
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Keyword(s)trustworthiness of politiciansen_US
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Keyword(s)trustworthiness of the political systemen_US
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Keyword(s)law violationen_US
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Keyword(s)trait inferencesen_US
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Keyword(s)assimilation effectsen_US
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Keyword(s)Vertrauenswürdigkeit von Politiker*innende_DE
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Keyword(s)politisches Vertrauende_DE
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Keyword(s)Gesetzesverletzungde_DE
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Keyword(s)Trait-Inferenzende_DE
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Keyword(s)Assimilations-Effektde_DE
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleSeen one, seen ‘em all? Do reports about law violations of a single politician impair the perceived trustworthiness of politicians in general and of the political system?en_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue1
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Journal titleJournal of Social and Political Psychology
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Page numbers448–477
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Volume7
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Visible tag(s)Version of Recorden_US