Elites are people, too: The effects of threat sensitivity on policymakers' spending priorities.

Kevin Arceneaux,Johanna Dunaway,Stuart Soroka

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0193781

Kevin Arceneaux, Johanna Dunaway + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193781

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Abstract

Recent research suggests that psychological needs can influence the political attitudes of ordinary citizens, often outside of their conscious awareness. In this paper, we investigate whether psychological needs also shape the spending priorities of political elites in the US. Most models of policymaking assume that political elites respond to information in relatively homogeneous ways. We suggest otherwise, and explore one source of difference in information processing, namely, threat sensitivity, which previous research links to increased support for conservative policy attitudes. Drawing on a sample of state-level policymakers, we measure their spending priorities using a survey and their level of threat sensitivity using a standard psychophysiological measure (skin conductance). We find that, like ordinary citizens, threat sensitivity leads even state-level policymakers to prioritize spending on government polices that are designed to minimize threats.

Highlights

Democracies are supposed to produce policies that align with the public’s preferences
The ideal form of democracy provides ordinary citizens direct control over policy and governance, in most modern democracies policy making is left to politicians and their staffs
Rather than treating policymakers as well-honed machines who process information in a uniform way, we look to the study of how ordinary citizens form political preferences to gain insight into the psychology of policymaking

Summary

OPEN ACCESS

Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Recent research suggests that psychological needs can influence the political attitudes of ordinary citizens, often outside of their conscious awareness. We investigate whether psychological needs shape the spending priorities of political elites in the US. Explore one source of difference in information processing, namely, threat sensitivity, which previous research links to increased support for conservative policy attitudes. Drawing on a sample of state-level policymakers, we measure their spending priorities using a survey and their level of threat sensitivity using a standard psychophysiological measure (skin conductance). Like ordinary citizens, threat sensitivity leads even state-level policymakers to prioritize spending on government polices that are designed to minimize threats

Introduction

Data and results

Threat Sensitivity

Findings

Author Contributions