RUNNINGHEAD: THE SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON VOTING PREFERENCES

The Social Influences on Voting Preference

Samantha Shiner
Community College of Baltimore County
Ms. Dillella Ms. Allen
Psychology 101 (H) English 101 (H)

THE SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON VOTING PREFERENCES

Social Influences on Voting Preferences

The first thought that goes through someones head when first meeting someone is most
likely whether they think the person is good looking or not, right? This seems to be the case for
when able individuals go to cast their votes for the elections. Social factors of the presidential
candidates help to determine the outcomes of elections today. It is not so much based on who
will do the best job helping our country and who has the best ideas and plans but on who looks
the best standing up there in their nice expensive suits with their big smiles. The following topics
contribute to what voters look at when casting their votes for elections: personal perception,
candidate attractiveness, conformity, attribution styles, and the persuasion by the Republican and
Democratic parties.
Personal perception plays a role in voters decisions on whom to vote for during
elections. Personal perception is the process of forming impressions of others to the extent to
which peoples expectations and stereotypes color their impressions of others. Stereotypes have a
dramatic effect on the process of personal perception. Stereotyping is the belief that people have
certain characteristics because of their membership in a particular group. The common
stereotypes are based on gender, ethnicity, and occupation. Voters usually place the presidential
candidates into different groups based on the stereotypes. For example, in this past presidential
election, Sarah Palin was one of the first women to run for Vice President. Everyone thought that
because she is a woman, and all past presents have been males, that she was not the right fit for
the job. Voters were stereotyping her based on gender. When Palins campaign was announced,
everyones first impression was that she is a woman; therefore, she should not be president.

THE SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON VOTING PREFERENCES

Over time, the conceptual forefront featured attempts to uncover the reasoning of individual
voters, the unique organization of their motives, beliefs, and habits (Caprara, Zimbardo, 2004).
Voters expected to see a male president, so they cast their votes based on that expectation. This
affected Palin by not getting many votes in her favor and not winning the election. The
impressions that we form about people at first have a very dramatic effect on how we see them.
We rapidly evaluate others based on their appearance, an effect that has been well
demonstrated in social psychology (Spezio, Rangel, Alvarez, ODoherty, Mattes, Kim, Adolphs,
& Todorvo, 2008). Candidate attractiveness also has an effect on the outcome of elections.
People who do not really follow the elections and who do not know a lot about the candidates
most likely cast their votes on superficial things like candidate attractiveness. The good looking
candidates are going to grab the attention of voters and make them more prone to voting for
them. New research from MIT political scientists shows that the appearances of politicians do
indeed strongly influence voters and that people around the world have similar ideas about
what a good politician looks like (Richards, 2010). A well dressed, clean-cut, attractive
candidate is going to get more votes cast in their favor based on their appearance because they
appear competent and fit for the job. This should not be the reason that a voter votes for a certain
candidate, but unfortunately it commonly is. From a rational perceptive, information about the
candidates should override any fleeting initial impressions (Spezio, Rangel, Alvarez,
ODoherty, Mattes, Kim, Adolphs, & Todorvo, 2008). A good example of this was in this past
presidential election when Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were both running for President.
Obama was the younger of the two and who caught the eye of voters based on his big smile and
good looks. He got more votes than Romney, an older man who was not considered to be
attractive to todays voters. As stated above, people also tend to view good looking people as

THE SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON VOTING PREFERENCES

more competent. Specifically, we show that inferences of competence, based solely on the facial
appearance of political candidates and with no prior knowledge about the person, predict the
outcomes of elections for the U.S. Congress (Todorvo, Mandisodza, Goren, & Hall, 2005). If
the candidates are dressed well and look nice, they are seen to be more successful and efficient to
voters. Voters want a good-looking, successful person as their president, dont they?
Voters conform to what others are doing during the election. Conformity occurs when
people give into either real or imagined social pressure. Social pressure can greatly affect a
persons decision making. Strong pressure from others can persuade voters to vote for who
everyone else is voting. This social pressure could come from friends, family, and the media. If a
person sees that everyone is voting for the same person, he/she are more likely to vote for that
candidate too. This may not be the case in other situations though. The size of groups determines
the amount of social pressure put on a person. If it is a small group of people, all doing the same
thing, people are more likely to say or do the same thing that their group members are. If its a
larger group, people tend to stray away from going with the crowd because others are too. An
extremely large number of citizens vote in the election. Because there are so many people voting,
citizens are more likely to vote for who they want rather than for whom everyone else is voting.
The explanation of behavior is the attribution process. These are the inferences that
people draw about the causes of events, others behaviors, and their own behaviors. People tend
to attribute ones success to personal factors and ones failure to situational factors. There are two
different types of attributions. There are internal and external attributions. Internal attributions
ascribe the causes of behavior to personal dispositions, traits, abilities, and feelings. External
attributions ascribe the causes of behavior to situational demands and environmental constraints.
In the election, people observe the candidates and make attributions based on what they see.

THE SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON VOTING PREFERENCES

Because attributions are based on observation, voters usually arrive at inaccurate explanations.
They look at their behaviors based on the situations and different environments they are in and to
their personal feelings. Just seeing the candidates in an election doesnt provide enough
information, about them and the reasoning for their behaviors, on which to base a vote.
The Republican and Democratic parties attempt to persuade us that their candidates are
the best choice and that a vote for their rivals would lead the country down the wrong path. The
parties do this through the media, magazine and newspaper articles, and other forms of social
media. Each party tries to persuade voters to vote for their candidate based on the negative things
about the other parties candidate. The media makes false accusations based on the candidates
trying to persuade you to vote for the other candidate. They make false accusations and
assumptions about the candidates based on their statements and word choices during speeches
and debates. The parties show the bad of the other candidate and the good of the candidate they
are supporting. The parties want voters to be aware of the negative things about the other partys
candidate rather than the good so that you will form better conclusions about their candidate and
vote in their favor. This could also relate to conformity. People are conforming to what the media
is saying about each candidate. They are giving in to the statements and beliefs of the media
based on what they are saying. The media is a very big social factor that contributes to the
outcome of elections.
Social factors really do have a dramatic impact on the outcome of elections. Voters today
are basing their votes on the physical properties and behaviors of candidates rather than on what
the candidates are really going to do for our country. Voters should not base their votes on the
appearances but rather on the candidates plans and ideas. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Good looks and big smiles really do work in a candidates favor dont they?

THE SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON VOTING PREFERENCES

THE SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON VOTING PREFERENCES

References
Caprara, G., Zimbardo, P. (October, 2004). In A Congruency Model of Political Preference.
Personalizing Politics. Retrieved October, 2004, from http://psycnet.apa.org/?
fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/0003-066X.59.7.581.
Dizikes, P. (July 27, 2010). MIT researchers demonstrate how much candidate appearances affect
election outcomes. In Massachusetts Institute of Technology News Article. Retrieved July 27,
2010, from http://web.mit.edu/press/2010/candidagte-looks.html.
Spezio, M., Rangel, A., Alvarez, R., O'Doherty, J., Matters, K., Todorov, A., Kim, H., Adolphs,
R. (October 6, 2008). A neural basis for the effect of candidate appearance on election outcomes.
In Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. Retrieved October 17, 2008, from
http://scan.oxfordjournals.org/content/3/4/344.abstract.
Todorov, A., Mandisodza, A., Goren, A., Hall, C. (June, 2005). Inferences of competence from
faces predict election outcomes. In Science. Retrieved June, 2005, from
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/308/5728/1623.full.

THE SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON VOTING PREFERENCES