How Motivation Influences Political Decision Making
How Motivation Influences Political Decision Making
- Brian J. GainesBrian J. GainesDepartment of Political Science, University of Illinois
- and Benjamin R. KantackBenjamin R. KantackDepartment of Political Science, Georgia Gwinnett College
Summary
Although motivation undergirds virtually all aspects of political decision making, its influence is often unacknowledged, or taken for granted, in behavioral political science. Motivations are inevitably important in generic models of decision theory. In real-world politics, two crucially important venues for motivational effects are the decision of whether or not to vote, and how (or, whether) partisanship and other policy views color information-collection, so that people choose and then justify, rather than studying options before choosing. For researchers, motivations of survey respondents and experimental subjects are deeply important, but only just beginning to garner the attention they deserve.
Subjects
- Political Behavior
- Political Psychology
- Quantitative Political Methodology
