Attitude Change in an Electoral Context as a Function of Expectations Not Being Fulfilled

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Attitudes toward Carter and Reagan before and after the 1980 election were analyzed in relation to several hypotheses regarding attitude change. The results supported the hypothesis, derived from the theory of cognitive dissonance, that people whose expectations are not fulfilled by the electoral outcome are likely to change their attitudes. Another hypothesis from dissonance theory, that people show a larger differentiation in their attitudes toward the candidates after the election, was sustained only among Reagan supporters. Overall, people in the national sample did change their preelection attitudes after the election, becoming somewhat more favorable toward Reagan, the winner, and slightly less favorable toward Carter, the loser.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: