Gerber et al., 2016: Representing voting as an identity had no effect on the 2014 primary election voter turnout
Reference:
Gerber, A. S., Huber, G. A., Biggers, D. R., & Hendry, D. J. (2016). A field experiment shows that subtle linguistic cues might not affect voter behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(26), 7112-7117.
Download PDFSummary:
A diverse sample of eligible voters completed a 10-item survey up to 4 days before 2014 primary elections, most of which were not competitive. Referring to voting in survey items using nouns—as an opportunity to become “a voter”—rather than as verbs—as a task to be completed, “to vote”—had no effect on voter turnout.
Psychological Process:
What Desired Meaning is At Stake?
What is the Person Trying to Understand?
Selves (My Own and Others')Psychological Question Addressed
Who could I become?Psychological Process 2:
Psychological Process 3:
Heading
Who could I become?Social Area:
Civic behavior
Intervention Technique:
Prompting with leading questions