Snap Judgments: Candidate Likeability or Productivity?

Katherine Casey
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Katherine Casey: Stanford University

Research Papers from Stanford University, Graduate School of Business

Abstract: Individuals draw inferences from thin slices of information--a glance at a photo, a twenty second audio clip--that have been shown to predict real world outcomes of interest in a variety of markets. This paper presents results from a series of lab-in-the-field experiments that elicit these inferences in political labor markets by asking voters to evaluate candidates based on short exposure to photos and video clips. Participants were registered voters in a low income, limited information environment, where ballot photos may be both the first and last visual impression many voters have of candidates. I find that these snap judgments predict election outcomes with accuracy greater than chance, reproducing results from leading studies of American elections in a markedly different empirical context. I then test whether these judgments predict differences in the professional qualifications of candidates and the performance of elected politicians. I find little evidence that snap judgments discriminate along measures of politician productivity.

Date: 2015-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-exp and nep-pol
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ecl:stabus:3360

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