First Impressions Are Strongly Influenced By Political Partisanship

This post is from PsyPost’s Laura Staloch. Here is an excerpt : 

As the American population has become politically polarized over recent years, more research has attempted to uncover the causes and consequences of the trend. Prior research has investigated the relationship between first impressions and political party affiliation. These efforts revealed that when the faces were candidates for romantic partnership, knowing political affiliations had a significant effect.

The authors of the current study were curious if first impressions were affected by political party when meeting strangers and secondarily if these impressions could be changed with new, more accurate information about political party affiliation.

“Americans have become increasingly polarized with regard to political beliefs, to the extent that it affects interpersonal relationships beyond disagreements about policy,” said study author Brittany S. Cassidy, an assistant professor and director of the Social Cognition Lab at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Read the full article here.