In this study (N=129) we predicted and found that an experimentally manipulated reassuring proright political message had the potential of reducing fear of COVID-19 contagion, via uncertainty reduction, in politically pro-center and pro-right but not left-oriented participants. As predicted, using a bootstrapping procedure (5,000 resamples) with SPSS code (Hayes 2013), we found that experimentally reduced uncertainty fully mediated the effect of the pro-right political message (vs. no message) on fear of COVID-19 contagion (indirect effect, ab= -.17, 95% CI [-.36, -.02]). Notably, we also found that the manipulation significantly reduced uncertainty in politically proright (ab= -.20, 95% CI [-.44, -.01]) and pro-center prospective voters (ab= -.18, 95% CI [-.36, - .04]), but not in pro-left people (ab= -.16, 95% CI [-.37, .04]). These findings have implications for political communication, as the effect of the political message was strictly tied to the audience political orientation. Future research may confirm and extend these results by testing also the (reverse) effect of a pro-left political message in reassuring the corresponding target audience.
A strong pro-right political message can reduce uncertainty and fear of Covid-19 contagion among right- and center- but not left-oriented voters / Contu, Federico; Pantaleo, Giuseppe. - (2021). (Intervento presentato al convegno 2021 Virtual Annual Convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) tenutosi a Virtually Hosted).
A strong pro-right political message can reduce uncertainty and fear of Covid-19 contagion among right- and center- but not left-oriented voters
Federico Contu;
2021
Abstract
In this study (N=129) we predicted and found that an experimentally manipulated reassuring proright political message had the potential of reducing fear of COVID-19 contagion, via uncertainty reduction, in politically pro-center and pro-right but not left-oriented participants. As predicted, using a bootstrapping procedure (5,000 resamples) with SPSS code (Hayes 2013), we found that experimentally reduced uncertainty fully mediated the effect of the pro-right political message (vs. no message) on fear of COVID-19 contagion (indirect effect, ab= -.17, 95% CI [-.36, -.02]). Notably, we also found that the manipulation significantly reduced uncertainty in politically proright (ab= -.20, 95% CI [-.44, -.01]) and pro-center prospective voters (ab= -.18, 95% CI [-.36, - .04]), but not in pro-left people (ab= -.16, 95% CI [-.37, .04]). These findings have implications for political communication, as the effect of the political message was strictly tied to the audience political orientation. Future research may confirm and extend these results by testing also the (reverse) effect of a pro-left political message in reassuring the corresponding target audience.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.