The Effects of Social Group Issue Authority

• In Event: Poster Session: Political Psychology

Abstract

Both social psychologists and political scientists have explored the links that form between groups and issues. However, I argue that a combination of positive affect and competence on a specific issue domain, rather than affect exclusively, influences the degree to which the public regards the group as having authority on an issue. Similar to partisan Issue Ownership Theory, I argue that issue authority allows groups to produce expert source cues, which differ from identity-based cues, as they can motivate out-group members to trust the groups who have authority. In the first chapter of my dissertation, I used a nationally representative public opinion survey to reveal the groups that have authority on gun control, immigration, and the #MeToo Movement. In this second chapter, I examine how issue authority functions as a source cue. I argue that the public should view these groups as more credible sources of information than groups who do not enjoy issue authority. Additionally, I argue that people should deem issue domains as more important and worthier of government action when they are linked to expert groups. In this project, I construct a survey experiment that varies the groups linked to each of the three issues in order to evaluate whether the inclusion of an expert group influences how the public perceives the issue domain.

Author

• Amy Sentementes, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill