Suchergebnisse

Voters' selective perception of pol'al candidates' positions is investigated. It is hyp'ed that such a selective perception' is a means of maintaining cognitive consistency between the individual's own position on issues & his candidate preferences, ie, that it is a means of resolving inconsistent pol'al att's. The hypothesis was tested through a mail questionaire admin'ed during the 1968 presidential campaign to S's selected at random from a systematic sample of residents in San Mateo County, Calif. A multiple contingency analysis & a comparison of subgroups with the total sample were carried out. 3-way interactions found in the multiple contingency analysis combined with the signif pattern of deviations in 2 subgroups, & the general trend of deviations in the remaining 3 subgroups support the hypothesis that inconsistent act's toward candidates & issues may be resolved through selective perception of candidates' position. Future studies to confirm this further should gather data at several points in time & note shifts in perceptions of candidates' position as fairly similar to their own position, regardless of how the candidates' positions are seen in the total pop. 3 Tables. Modified HA.