Psychology impacts politics in numerous different ways. Humans are predisposed to particular political beliefs before they even reach their first birthday. Our natural tendencies to follow the lead of others translates to our challenge to form our own political opinions. We are more likely to follow the opinions of others and the media. The biased news that we are exposed to significantly impacts our political opinions. This article will discuss in depth the different ways that our psychology impacts our voting behavior and the way we participate in politics.
Media Bias
It is known that mass opinion sways individual opinion. Citizens in large, modern countries such as the United States depend on political elites for information via news outlets, articles or speeches. Although this may sound harmless, it is clear that not everyone is getting the entirety of the information. Each news source is relaying skewed information, and only hearing from one source results in a lack of information for the viewer. Without hearing from multiple stories and sides on the issue, it makes it much harder to understand the issue in its entirety.
Secondly, the specific items that the media chooses to focus on impact the public’s view of what issues are most important. The media has the power to control what social and political issues are under the spotlight. For example, if an issue is brought up across news channels during a period, more awareness will come to the subject, generating groups of people that are politically active for change. By bringing attention to these issues, they are creating groups of people both for and against it as well as creating traction for each. Essentially, the media controls which issues are most important by deciding whether or not to report on it.
Unfortunately, most news sources, such as FOX or CNN, are biased, and the public do not have a choice but to follow the elite opinion. The psychology of the human brain predisposes us to follow this elite opinion, as the news broadcasters are in a place of power over us. To the viewer, they are an expert on the topic. Their job is solely to report to the community what is going on politically. As humans, we tend to trust this professional opinion and without hearing the other side and opinions, it becomes easy to believe this biased, one-sided information. The spheres of influence that are created by the media inhibit people from forming opinions of their own.
Voting along Partisan Lines:
It is common for individuals to identify with a political party, but it becomes an issue when they vote along party lines without being informed. A highly impactful factor in someone’s political beliefs are the values of their family. For example, growing up in a family of active democrats predisposes one to lean towards democratic candidates. The environment of an individual’s upbringing evidently has large effects on their political beliefs, making their ability to form unbiased political opinions difficult.
In the 2020 election, it was very common to see people voting straight party tickets. Only 4% of voters said they planned on voting for a congressman of the opposite party of the presidential candidate they were voting for.
Psychologists have also discovered that citizens are becoming increasingly callous towards the opposing party. According to a survey done by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, in 1960, only 4% of parents would be disappointed if their child married someone of the opposite political party. A similar study was done in 2018 by the Public Religion Research Institute and the results showed that now 35-45% of parents would be disappointed if their child married someone of the opposite political party. This shows that party divisions are more evident now than in the past, and that the party you belong to is an increasingly important characteristic.
Despite this, there are a few key reasons why people do actually switch political parties. A person’s political attitude may be swayed if a favorable policy they feel passionate about is being addressed by the other party. Converse says that the person has two options, “either a change in attitude towards the party or a change of position on the issue.”
Partisan Divides
People are becoming more and more polarized which results in concern among Americans. According to a study done by the Pew Research Center, 78% of people believe that partisan divisions in the United States are increasing, and an even larger percentage are expressing concern over the issue. This issue has become increasingly important over the past 30 years. In 2000, only 55% of Americans saw major differences between the Democrats and Republicans. Now, 74% of Republicans say that the party differences are extreme.
Second to this, the study also determined that the two parties disagree on more than just politics. Only 26% of people believe that although they disagree on politics, they can agree on “basic facts.” Additionally, both parties believe that little to no good ideas come from the other party. As the world becomes more polarized, humans are only hearing one side of the political field. With the news they watch and the family members they are surrounded with only speaking about issues in their party, the information that comes as a result is significantly skewed.
Negative Effects of Politics on Psychology
It is commonly perceived that being too involved in politics is negative and harmful. This negative view launched a multitude of researchers to investigate why politics is perceived in this way. One main cause of this is negative partisanship. This creates a hateful atmosphere in which the republicans and democrats strongly dislike each other and disagree in almost all aspects of life – not just politics. This negative partisanship fuels Americans and is a binding force for people of the same party. It doesn’t even need to be about politics for republicans and democrats to argue. Rather than bonding over a sense of purpose, they bond over their hatred for the other party. Since 1980, the two parties have grown to dislike each other more and more.
Knowing this, it creates a negative connotation surrounding political conversations. People often avoid bringing up politics to prevent creating controversy or starting a disagreement. Others purposely bring it up just to start something. Overall, it is becoming more challenging for Americans to discuss politics without starting a political feud. Political discussions quickly turn to debate, explaining why politics are perceived so negatively.
Conclusion
Essentially, human psychology shows that we are vulnerable to the political opinions of others. Whether those opinions come from the media, friends or family, the people we surround ourselves with are likely to impact how we view the world politically. The world is becoming increasingly polarized, especially with elections every two years. Along with this polarization, politics are perceived more negatively than in the past, creating a more hostile relationship between Americans on opposite sides of the political spectrum.
