"Leading Roles: The Power of the Storied Person in Policy Attitude
Formation"
Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political
Science Association, Chicago IL, April 27-30, 2000.
Abstract
As social creatures we are highly attentive to
information about other persons. News media often convey political policy
information in a style that features leading actors in touching
dramas. How is our understanding of the political policy
affected? Others have noted mediating influences; this paper reports on
four experiments that were designed to test for a direct influence of the
storied person on one's opinion about an education reform policy. The
evidence suggests that, for all but the most politically informed people,
opinion of the protagonist in a human-interest news story shapes approval
of the policy. Meanwhile, the dramatic narrative form facilitated
comprehension of the policy, and did so whether the story centered on a
person or a thing. Finally, the person-policy connection persisted even
when subjects knew the example in the news story was purely fictional,
suggesting that this influence may be fairly irrepressible. Cognitive
processing styles and implications for journalism and public opinion are
discussed.