Political perception and political preference An exploratory study of Swedish political parties

Abstract

Political perception was studied as a function of the perceiver's political viewpoint. The political stimuli used were the names of 9 Swedish political parties or organizations. Political viewpoint was defined by the person's political party preference. The subjects were 105 undergraduate psychology students. Different aspects of political party perception were studied concerning (a) perceived positions of the parties on a Left-Right continuum, (b) perceived similarity among parties, and ( c ) the number and nature of inferred dimensions and categories underlying the perception of the parties. With regard to (a) and (b), the analyses indicated systematic differences among political preference groups, whereas the number and nature of political dimensions seemed to be the same. Thus, for both socialists and nonsocialists the dimensions underlying the perception of Swedish political parties could be interpreted as "left-right", "extremity", and "religiosity".

Political sophistication and political deviance: A structural equation examination of context theory.

“…The moderate, middle of the road category was given a modal deviation score of 0, slightly liberal and slightly conservative were given a score of 1, liberal and conservative were given a score of 2, and very liberal and very conservative were given a score of 3 (Variable 7 in Table 1). extreme response tendency —This variable was defined by use of the S7 Conservatism Scale (see Ekehammar & Sidanius, 1977; Sidanius, 1976a). The S7 Scale has seven response categories ranging from 1 ( very negative ) to 7 ( very positive ).…”

“…extreme response tendency —This variable was defined by use of the S7 Conservatism Scale (see Ekehammar & Sidanius, 1977; Sidanius, 1976a). The S7 Scale has seven response categories ranging from 1 ( very negative ) to 7 ( very positive ).…”

Ideological constraint, political interest and gender: a Swedish‐American comparison

“…Finally, it is also important to note that PEC was found to have a relatively strong correlation with both political party preference and political self-concept. This is important because it implies that not only is PEC a fundamental political dimension in Europe (see Ekehammar and Sidanius 1977,1979, Elster and Capra 1972, Linden 1975, Lund 1974, Holmberg 1978 but also in the USA.…”

Evaluative Perceptions of Swedish Politicians Across Time

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Political psychology is now an accepted label for a research field studying the relationship between psychological and political processes and events. One of the many distinct areas in this rather heterogeneous field can be labelled 'political perception' (see, for example, Ekehammar and Sidanius, 1977;Shikiar, 1974), dealing with individuals' beliefs, perceptions and cognitions of political stimuli.One category of political stimuli which has been the focus of much interest within this area is political parties and party leaders. Quite a few political perception studies have been directed towards exploring the number and nature of dimensions assumed to form the basis for the individual's cognitive structure of these stimuli.

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“…Political psychology is now an accepted label for a research field studying the relationship between psychological and political processes and events. One of the many distinct areas in this rather heterogeneous field can be labelled 'political perception' (see, for example, Ekehammar and Sidanius, 1977;Shikiar, 1974), dealing with individuals' beliefs, perceptions and cognitions of political stimuli.…”