Understanding Mass Behavior in Taiwan in a New Era

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Over the past years, Taiwan has entered a new era after experiencing several critical events, such as the outbreak of COVID-19, escalating cross-strait tensions, and both the presidential and mayoral elections. Since these events reflect and further structure the patterns of political competition and representation in Taiwan, it is therefore of great importance to take a closer look at Taiwanese politics in the new era. Focusing on mass behavior, the proposed panel attempts to answer a central question as to how citizens respond to these critical events by adjusting their attitudes and behavior.

To answer the above question and enhance our understanding of citizens’ behavior and attitudes in Taiwan in this new era, the proposed panel brings together four papers that examine mass behavior from different perspectives, as briefly described below.

The first paper, titled “Why People Comply with COIVD Policy? An Explanation of Authoritarian Personality,” attempts to explain why citizens in Taiwan comply with COIVD-related policies. The second paper, “The Ineffectiveness of Reassuring Signals During Crisis: Experimental Evidence from Taiwan,” explores Taiwanese citizens’ perceived trustworthiness of China. The third paper, “Overreporting in Referendum? An Investigation on The Effects of Referendum Results on Responses to Survey Questions”, investigates whether voters overreport their participation in the 2018 referendum. The fourth paper, titled “Electoral Consequences of Voters’ Perceived Party Ambiguity on the Unification-Independence Issue in Taiwan,” studies whether and how voters’ perceptions of party ambiguity are associated with their voting behavior in the upcoming elections. Finally, the last paper, titled "Long-Term Influences of Misinformation on Taiwan Independent Voters," illustrates how disinformation impacts public opinion in Taiwan.

Sub Unit

• Related Groups / Conference Group on Taiwan Studies

Chair

• Tongyi Huang National Chengchi University

Discussants

• Yao-Yuan Yeh University of St. Thomas

• Greg Chih-Hsin Sheen Academia Sinica

Individual Presentations

• Why People Comply to COIVD Policy? An Explanation of Authoritarian Personality - Yi-Chang Lai; Wei-hao Huang, National sun-yat sen university

• The Ineffectiveness of Reassuring Signals during Crisis: Evidence from Taiwan - Elaine I-lien Lee, Academia Sinica; Ronan Tse-min Fu, Academia Sinica; Wei-hao Huang, National sun-yat sen university

• Over-Reporting in Referendum? Effects of Referendum Results on Survey Responses - Tsung-han Tsai, Academia Sinica; Chuan-Hsien Chang, Academia Sinica

• Electoral Consequences of Voters’ Perceived Party Ambiguity in Taiwan - Nick Lin, Academia Sinica

• Long-Term Influences of Misinformation on Taiwan Independent Voters - Ting-Wei Weng, University of St. Thomas; Shu-An Tsai, Tunghai University