All we need is the candidate’s face: the irrelevance of information about political coalition affiliation and campaign promises

Recent research has indicated that judgments of competence based on very short exposure to political candidates' faces reliably predict electoral success. An unexplored question is whether presenting written information of the kind to which voters are typically exposed during an election alongside candidates' faces affects competence judgments. We conducted three studies using photographs of 16 pairs of competing politicians in 16 medium-sized towns of northeast Italy as stimuli. Study 1 confirmed the external validity of earlier research in which participants were exposed to candidates' faces without providing any other information. Study 2a showed that competence judgments were not subject to in-group favoritism: candidates' faces were presented alongside information about the political coalition to which they belonged (center left; center right) to participants who declared a left or right political orientation. Finally, Study 2c compared the competence inferences made in Study 1 (face-only condition) with those of Study 2a (face plus political coalition label) and with new inferences (Study 2b) based on candidates' faces plus information about campaign promises (greater equality; lower taxes). The results showed that automatic competence inferences are not substantially modified when relevant written information is presented alongside candidates' faces

Malleability of the self: electrophysiological correlates of the enfacement illusion

Self-face representation is fundamentally important for self-identity and self-consciousness. Given its role in preserving identity over time, self-face processing is considered as a robust and stable process. Yet, recent studies indicate that simple psychophysics manipulations may change how we process our own face. Specifically, experiencing tactile facial stimulation while seeing similar synchronous stimuli delivered to the face of another individual seen as in a mirror, induces 'enfacement' illusion, i.e. the subjective experience of ownership of the other’s face and a bias in attributing to the self, facial features of the other person. Here we recorded visual Event-Related Potentials elicited by the presentation of self, other and morphed faces during a self-other discrimination task performed immediately after participants received synchronous and control asynchronous Interpersonal Multisensory Stimulation (IMS). We found that self-face presentation after synchronous as compared to asynchronous stimulation significantly reduced the late positive potential (LPP; 450-750 ms), a reliable electrophysiological marker of self-identification processes. Additionally, enfacement cancelled out the differences in LPP amplitudes produced by self- and other-face during the control condition. These findings represent the first direct neurophysiological evidence that enfacement may affect self-face processing and pave the way to novel paradigms for exploring defective self-representation and self-other interactions

Need for cognitive closure modulates how perceptual decisions are affected by task difficulty and outcome relevance

The aim of this study was to assess the extent to which Need for Cognitive Closure (NCC), an individual-level epistemic motivation, can explain inter-individual variability in the cognitive effort invested on a perceptual decision making task (the random motion task). High levels of NCC are manifested in a preference for clarity, order and structure and a desire for firm and stable knowledge. The study evaluated how NCC moderates the impact of two variables known to increase the amount of cognitive effort invested on a task, namely task ambiguity (i.e., the difficulty of the perceptual discrimination) and outcome relevance (i.e., the monetary gain associated with a correct discrimination). Based on previous work and current design, we assumed that reaction times (RTs) on our motion discrimination task represent a valid index of effort investment. Task ambiguity was associated with increased cognitive effort in participants with low or medium NCC but, interestingly, it did not affect the RTs of participants with high NCC. A different pattern of association was observed for outcome relevance; high outcome relevance increased cognitive effort in participants with moderate or high NCC, but did not affect the performance of low NCC participants. In summary, the performance of individuals with low NCC was affected by task difficulty but not by outcome relevance, whereas individuals with high NCC were influenced by outcome relevance but not by task difficulty; only participants with medium NCC were affected by both task difficulty and outcome relevance. These results suggest that perceptual decision making is influenced by the interaction between context and NC

Differenze di genere nell'uso dei media tradizionali e dei Social Network

Obiettivo di questa ricerca è evidenziare eventuali differenze, in relazione al genere, nell’uso dei media tradizionali e dei media digitali e le specifiche motivazioni all’uso dei Social Network (SN) e di Facebook (FB) in particolare. A tal scopo è stato somministrato online ad un campione di 189 studenti un questionario per rilevare a) tempi e frequenza di esposizione ai media tradizionali e ai SN; b) modalità di utilizzo di FB; c) motivazioni all’uso di FB. Allo scopo di fornire una visione integrata dei pattern di esposizione ai media tradizionali e ai SN, è stata utilizzata inizialmente una strategia di analisi che utilizza l’analisi dei cluster e l’analisi discriminante, individuando tre gruppi di soggetti: i connessi, i tradizionali e i ritirati. Dalle ulteriori analisi sono emerse significative differenze di genere: a) le donne leggono più spesso libri rispetto agli uomini e vedono più spesso la TV e passano in media più tempo sui social rispetto agli uomini; b) dichiarano di avere un numero maggiore di amici su FB e passano in media più tempo degli uomini su FB; c) ottengono punteggi più alti rispetto agli uomini nella curiosità e nel ricercare persone che non vedevo da tempo, mentre gli uomini ottengono punteggi più elevati in motivazioni come flirtare. Anche il nostro campione conferma, in linea con la letteratura, un utilizzo di FB da parte delle donne che comprende numerose attività, con un orientamento a mantenere e creare un più ampio numero di relazioni interpersonali.The objective of this research is to highlight potential gender differences in relation to the use of traditional and digital media, with a specific focus on the motivations behind the use of Social Networks (SN), in particular Facebook (FB). We administered an online survey to a sample of 189 students aimed at monitoring a) time and frequency of exposure to traditional media and SN; b) the use respondents make of FB; c) the reasons why they use FB. In order to provide an integrated view of the exposure pattern to the traditional media and to SN, we have adopted a cluster analysis and discriminant analysis, identifying three groups of users: the connected, the traditional and the detached. The subsequent analysis demonstrated significant gender differences: a) women read a higher number of books than men, they watch more TV and they spend more time on social media; b) women claim to have a greater number of friends on FB and spend on average more time than men on FB; c) women get higher scores than men on motivation like curiosity for browsing or to search for people who they have not seen for some time. In contrast, men get higher scores in motivations like flirting. Our results are in line with the findings of previous studies, showing how women use FB for a plethora of activities, with a higher orientation to maintain and create a larger number of interpersonal relationships

Trust and expected costs as antecedents of citizens’ motivation to participate in public policymaking

Objectives. The present study aimed at testing whether costs, trustworthiness of government, and expected voice could predict citizens' willingness to get involved in participatory governance processes. Participants and setting. Research participants were one-hundred and ninety-two volunteer students of Sapienza University of Rome, 66% female. Hypotheses. We hypothesized both main effects of trust (positive) and expected costs (negative) and an interactive effect of the two variables on citizens' willingness to participate. We also expected voice to be a mediator of such an interaction effect on willingness to participate. Statistical analyses. A 2 (costs) by 2 (trust) ANOVA was applied both to manipulation checks and to motivation to participate. Following this, we performed a bootstrap mediated moderation analysis (Hayes, 2013). Results. Motivation to participate was significantly affected by trust, in fact participants in the high trust condition, were more willing to participate (M= 3.84, SD = .91) rather than those in the low trust condition (M = 3.31, SD = .99). Also, a main effect of costs emerged, with low costs inducing higher motivation to participate (M = 3.73, SD = .92) than high costs (M = 3.41, SD = 1.03). More importantly, these effects were qualified by the predicted interaction between costs and trust: while in the high trust condition costs did not affect willingness to participate, in the low costs condition they made a significant difference. Finally, mediated moderation analysis showed that that expected voice was responsible for the impact of the trust by costs interaction on motivation to participate. Limitation. The main limitation of the study concerns generalizability of its results across populations of different ages and occupation

Comunicare la crisi nella pubblicità. Analisi dell’influenza di framing proattivi e difensivi nella valutazione del prodotto

In periodi di recessione e crisi economica i consumi, specialmente quelli di beni durevoli, tendono a calare. Le aziende da una parte e la ricerca accademica dall’altra hanno cercato di fare luce su quali processi portassero a prendere decisioni di acquisto in periodi di incertezza economica e se una minore o maggiore investimento nella comunicazione pubblicitaria potesse influenzare tali processi. La presente ricerca ha come obiettivo quello di fare il punto sull’evoluzione della comunicazione pubblicitaria in Italia e testare empiricamente se diversi approcci al comunicare la crisi attraverso la pubblicità possano rivelarsi più o meno efficaci. In particolare, si è voluto testare se suggerire un approccio più “proattivo” verso la crisi (con un claim come “SUPERA LA CRISI”) possa avere maggiori benefici di un approccio “difensivo” (con un claim come “SCAPPA DALLA CRISI”). I risultati confermano come i consumatori valutino meglio il prodotto pubblicizzato nel caso di un approccio proattivo da parte dell’azienda rispetto a quello difensivo. Nelle conclusioni, gli autori presentano possibili scenari applicativi e potenziali direzioni per futuri filoni di ricerc

Framing Political Messages to Fit the Audience’s Regulatory Orientation: How to Improve the Efficacy of the Same Message Content

This research investigates how the impact of persuasive messages in the political domain can be improved when fit is created by subliminally priming recipients’ regulatory focus (either promotion or prevention) and by linguistic framing of the message (either strategic approach framing or strategic avoidance framing). Results of two studies show that regulatory fit: a) increases the impact of a political message favoring nuclear energy on implicit attitudes of the target audience (Study 1); and b) induces a more positive evaluation of, and intentions to vote for, the political candidate who is delivering a message concerning immigration policies (Study 2)

Framing Political Messages to Fit the Audience’s Regulatory Orientation: How to Improve the Efficacy of the Same Message Content

This research investigates how the impact of persuasive messages in the political domain can be improved when fit is created by subliminally priming recipients’ regulatory focus (either promotion or prevention) and by linguistic framing of the message (either strategic approach framing or strategic avoidance framing). Results of two studies show that regulatory fit: a) increases the impact of a political message favoring nuclear energy on implicit attitudes of the target audience (Study 1); and b) induces a more positive evaluation of, and intentions to vote for, the political candidate who is delivering a message concerning immigration policies (Study 2)

Framing Political Messages to Fit the Audience’s Regulatory Orientation: How to Improve the Efficacy of the Same Message Content

This research investigates how the impact of persuasive messages in the political domain can be improved when fit is created by subliminally priming recipients’ regulatory focus (either promotion or prevention) and by linguistic framing of the message (either strategic approach framing or strategic avoidance framing). Results of two studies show that regulatory fit: a) increases the impact of a political message favoring nuclear energy on implicit attitudes of the target audience (Study 1); and b) induces a more positive evaluation of, and intentions to vote for, the political candidate who is delivering a message concerning immigration policies (Study 2)

Framing Political Messages to Fit the Audience’s Regulatory Orientation: How to Improve the Efficacy of the Same Message Content

This research investigates how the impact of persuasive messages in the political domain can be improved when fit is created by subliminally priming recipients’ regulatory focus (either promotion or prevention) and by linguistic framing of the message (either strategic approach framing or strategic avoidance framing). Results of two studies show that regulatory fit: a) increases the impact of a political message favoring nuclear energy on implicit attitudes of the target audience (Study 1); and b) induces a more positive evaluation of, and intentions to vote for, the political candidate who is delivering a message concerning immigration policies (Study 2)