Information, Valence, and Cognitive Complexity in the Political Domain

Summary

Cognitive complexity scores were obtained from 70 male and female undergraduate students who were asked to rate political figures on a series of bipolar scales and to rank order these figures in terms of (a) amount of information and (b) valence. Previous research has found that information and valence are significant determinants of complexity. The present study extended the major hypotheses advanced to explain these findings (frequency of interaction and Pollyana hypotheses) and devised within S and across S s tests of the hypotheses. Results revealed both (a) support for the standard hypotheses (high information candidates and high interst S s were more complex than low information candidates or low interest S s, and low valence candidates were perceived more complexly than medium or high valence candidates) and (b) significant interactions pointing to needed revision of both hypotheses.