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The Impact of Scandal On Candidate
The Impact of Scandal On Candidate
1, 1996
Carolyn L. Funk
Correlational studies have found candidate traits to be an important determinant of
vote preferences but cannot rule out reverse causality processes in explaining these
findings. The present study demonstrates the independent impact of trait inferences
on candidate evaluations using experimentally controlled candidate proFdes of hypo-
thetical U.S. congressmen. Using the scandal situation as a testing ground, this exper-
iment examines whether task-relevant, competence traits actually have greater im-
pact on political judgments than the more general, warmth-related trait qualities.
Two types of scandals are considered (marital infidelity and tax evasion), both imply-
hag negative trustworthiness characteristics of the officeholder. Results demonstrate
that trait inferences do have a causal impact on global evaluations. Consistent with
past survey studies, competence qualities appear to be more important than warmth
qualities but only for those with greater political information levels.
Along with the rise in candidate-centered voting has come a renewed inter-
est in candidate images. Candidate images are formed on the basis of the
same kinds of information used to evaluate all sorts of persons. One of the
most basic content categories of these images consists of trait inferences
about the candidate. Once formed, trait judgments about others tend to last
in memory long after the details on which they were based have been forgot-
ten. Snippets of behavior such as Ed Muskie's tears in 1972 or Richard
Nixon's sweaty brow during the 1960 debates lead to specific and lasting im-
pressions about the trait qualities of politicians. It is particularly important,
then, to examine the implications of these trait judgments for candidate eval-
uations.
Candidate characteristics were first treated as an important determinant of
voting preferences in the works by Campbell and his colleagues (Campbell,
Gurin, and Miller, 1954; Campbell et al., 1960). The candidate factor, how-
ever, was given relatively little attention in the voting literature at first. Atten-
tion was focused on more normative bases for evaluation such as ideological
or issue distance from the candidate. Vote preferences based on candidate
characteristics were considered superficial, inappropriate, and less "rational"
than issue-based voting. Since then, more recognition has been given to the
idea that preferences based on candidate characteristics are not necessarily
any less rational than issue or party-based voting. And perhaps more impor-
tantly, the weakening of partisan ties coupled with the increased reliance on
primaries in the presidential nomination process helped spark greater interest
in the role of candidates in the voting literature. Perceived candidate traits
have proven to be an important link in models of global evaluations or vote
preference (e.g., Markus, 1982; Rahn et al., 1990). While most of this litera-
ture has concerned presidential candidates, candidate characteristics are
proving important in the congressional voting literature as well as in evalua-
tions of party leaders in parliamentary systems.
Survey research helped establish the importance of trait judgments in
global candidate evaluations. While these correlational studies have been sug-
gestive, they cannot provide conclusive evidence of a causal role for trait
judgments on candidate evaluations. Markus (1982) suggests strong reciprocal
relations between judgments of candidate traits and global evaluations of
presidential candidates. He finds that changes in perceived candidate compe-
tence, for example, are best predicted by changes in overall evaluations of the
candidate. Only controlled comparisons of politicians can fully address
whether trait inferences have a causal'role in global evaluations. There are no
real world politicians where one can be equally certain that summary evalua-
tions are not driving trait judgments or even of the basic content of those trait
judgments. The present study uses experimental methods to demonstrate that
inferences made about a candidate's trait qualities have a causal impact on
global evaluations of the candidate.
Politicians involved in personal scandal provide a useful context in which to
study the role of candidate traits. The term scandal is used here as a short-
hand for publicized behaviors by a politician that are in conflict with society's
moral standards. In a scandal situation, these behaviors, disseminated through
the media, constitute negative integrity information about the politician.
Scandals, then, have clear trait implications for the politicians involved in
them.
Abramowitz (1988, 1991) has found a significant negative impact of scandal
on the electoral margins of House incumbents. Whether citizen reactions play
a direct role in this outcome is not clear, It is possible that elite factors such
as the presence of strong challengers and voluntary retirements explain the
electoral connection with scandal rather than voter reactions. Only an experi-
mental comparison will allow us to adequately address how voters take ac-
count of scandal in their evaluations of political officeholders.
SCANDALAND CANDIDATEEVALUATIONS 3
The present study addresses the relative importance of specific trait dimen-
sions in candidate images and mimics the dynamic process that occurs as
sequential pieces of information are integrated into global evaluations. In this
paper, I first review the literature on the content of candidate trait judgments
and the impact of scandal on candidate evaluations. I then describe the
method and results of an experimental analog of the scandal situation.
CANDIDATE TRAITS
Information about a candidate's traits comes from many sources. People
are quick to infer traits from even minimal information about others; clues
about a person's trait qualities are taken from such things as physical appear-
ance, verbal and nonverbal behaviors, group membership such as sex, race,
geographic origin, and partisan affiliations. Even ideological and issue-posi-
tion information can serve as a basis for trait judgments about politicians.
News coverage of political candidates often includes direct information on
personal qualities as well.
issue were more likely to continue support for a corrupt candidate with a
preferred position on this issue than were individuals with less intense posi-
tions on this issue.
Stokers (1993) analysis of change in public opinion toward Gary Hart, be-
fore and after his relations with Donna Rice became widely known, demon-
strated that the negative effects of scandal can be moderated by policy con-
cerus. Negative reactions to Hart after the scandal were muted for issue
voters, in general, and for those who based more of their initial support for
Hart on policy criteria.
Both correlational and experimental studies have demonstrated that reac-
tion to politicians involved in scandal is negative. Reaction is not uniformly
negative, however. Past studies suggest that other information about an of-
ficeholder can offset the impact of negative trustworthiness information. No
direct explorations have been done to test the role of trait inferences in this
process. The present study tests whether judgments of candidate character on
dimensions other than trustworthiness might moderate the negative impact of
scandal.
Given the importance of warmth-related qualities in general person per-
ception, it seems likely that warmth is also important in citizen evaluations of
politicians. Whether survey respondents indicate warmth qualities as impor-
tant or not, the public seems to respond favorably to charismatic politicians.
One interpretation of Ronald Reagan's popularity despite numerous gaffes
focused on his charisma as the "great communicator" (Weisman, 1984). Simi-
lar arguments have been offered to explain Bill Clinton's success despite clear
reservations about his trustworthiness. It is plausible, then, that candidate
warmth might serve to offset the negative integrity information implied by
news of a scandal.
Normative prescriptions for evaluating political officeholders, on the other
hand, ask that citizens evaluate politicians according to competence criteria
(see Page, 1978; Popkin, 1991). Public representatives to government need to
be more than just warm, likable people. They especially need to show that
they are qualified for the job, perform the job well, and make decisions in the
public interest. As reported above, correlational studies and self-reports sug-
gest that competence qualities are particularly important in predicting candi-
date evaluations and vote choice. A content analysis of expert opinions about
congressional incumbents suggests that officeholders considered to be highly
competent are more likely to win reelection than those judged to be less
competent (Mondak, 1994).
The bulk of the evidence suggests that competence qualities are more im-
portant than warmth qualities in candidate evaluations. Consequently, the
negative impact of personal scandal should be buffered for candidates who
are high in competence qualities compared to those high in warmth qualities.
6 FUNK
Past research based on correlational evidence cannot rule out the reciprocal
influences on trait judgments from overall evaluations. Some experimental
evidence has shown, for example, that perceived effectiveness as a leader
depends on agreement with the candidate's issue stands (Wyer et aL, 1991).
The present study is the first of its kind to test whether there is a direct
causal relationship between judgments of candidate traits and overall evalua-
tions.
METHOD
Subjects
A total of 86 undergraduate students (42 male, 44 female) from the Univer-
sity of California, Los Angeles, served as subjects. 3 All were enrolled in an
introductory psychology course and received course credit for their participa-
tion. College students are a rather special group of citizens; they have only
limited experience in evaluating and voting for politicians. While college stu-
dents tend to have weaker partisan attachments than older adults, there is no
8 FUNK
and two alternate scenarios of the scandal absent information (real estate
investment and shopping).
A diagram of the design and main hypotheses can be found in Figure 1.
The entries refer to the level of overall evaluation of the politician, from very
positive (high) to quite negative (low). While politicians involved in a scandal
are expected to be evaluated more negatively than those not in a scandal, trait
configuration is expected to interact with scandal presence such that compe-
tent politicians involved in scandal are expected to be evaluated less nega-
tively than warm politicians involved in scandal. No differences in impact
between versions of the scandal information are hypothesized. It should be
borne in mind, however, that the two different versions of the scandal present
condition were expected to vary in strength as well as in the nature of the
scandal. The results of a pilot experiment suggested that the tax evasion scan-
dal was more negative than the marital infidelity scandal. The two scandal
absent conditions were more comparable. This difference in reaction to the
two types of scandal is not limited to college student populations. A CBS/New
York Times poll conducted January 17-21, 1988, found that 80 percent of
registered voters considered cheating on taxes to be something the public was
entitled to know about a presidential candidate, while only 9-8 percent
thought having been unfaithful to his wife was something the public was
entitled to know.
Materials
Instructions
Written instructions informed subjects that they would be reading about
several hypothetical U.S. congressmen from California and asked to form an
impression of each. The instructions stressed the importance of forming an
overall impression rather than memorizing the material presented. Subjects
were not allowed to look back at the written descriptions when filling out
their evaluations of each congressman.
10 FUNK
Stimulus Materials
Each of four politicians was initially described by a paragraph of political
background information and three additional paragraphs of warmth and com-
petence-related information. These descriptions were presented in a news-
paper column format and resembled a profile article. The format and length
of these descriptions aimed to establish the context of political evaluation in a
rich and realistic fashion within the limitations of the methodology. While
specific details vary in each description, the chief experimental manipulation
is found in the trait terms used to describe each politician. The trait-related
information described what political colleagues thought of the congressman
in trait terms and gave some examples of his actions related to the trait infor-
mation. As noted above, two of the vignettes portrayed a highly warm but not
very competent officeholder and two vignettes portrayed a highly competent
but not very warm officeholder (see Appendix A).
The political background information suggested a moderately liberal politi-
cian in terms of issue interests in each case; no party affiliation information
was provided, however. This provides an experimental control for partisan
reactions to politicians. Each version of political background information was
pilot tested for equivalence in evaluative implications and in any partisan
cues; each politician was as likely to be perceived as a Democrat as a Republi-
can.
The scandal information vignettes described a congressman in one of four
situations. One politician was described as currently involved in a marital
infidelity situation and another was involved in a tax evasion situation; these
politicians represented the two versions of negative integrity, or scandal pres-
ent, information. Two other politicians were depicted in the neutral integrity,
or scandal absent, conditions; one was seen on a shopping outing with his
wife and the other was described by some recent real estate investments he
had made. Each of these four conditions was portrayed in a single paragraph
of information that was presented in a newspaper column format with a sub-
heading of IN THE NEWS.
It should be noted that each manipulation embedded in these materials
was pilot tested in a separate series of experiments. The order of the experi-
mental conditions was counterbalanced using a Latin-square design. 6
Measures
After each description of a politician, there was a series of questions about
that politician. These included 7-point bipolar ratings on competence,
warmth, and trustworthiness traits, perceived party affiliation, likelihood of
voting for, general favorability, and affective reactions toward the congress-
SCANDAL A N D CANDIDATE EVALUATIONS I1
man. After each of the four politicians was evaluated, subjects completed a
background questionnaire. These questions included items on the perceived
morality of marital infidelity and tax evasion in general, as well as demo-
graphic and party affiliation information about the subject. In addition, there
was a series of items on knowledge of state and national politics.
Impression Crystallization
After the initial trait and background information was presented, subjects
were asked to list five things that came to mind when they thought about that
politician. This task helped establish positive impressions on the basis of the
trait information prior to encountering the more negative scandal informa-
tion.
Procedure
Prior to evaluating the individual congressmen vignettes, subjects rated the
warmth, competence, and trustworthiness traits of a typical U.S. congress-
man. These ratings served to set the stage for the trait descriptions of the
individual congressman against the backdrop of the typical ease. After the
typical congressman ratings were completed, the experimental materials were
randomly distributed to the subjects. The experimenter read the written in-
structions aloud. Subjects then completed the materials at their own pace.
These materials first presented the initial background and trait information
about a congressman. In order to crystallize initial attitudes, subjects then
listed five things that came to mind when thinking about that congressman.
Subjects then read the scandal present or absent information. Next, subjects
rated the congressman on the trait scales and dependent measures. After all
four politicians had been presented and rated, subjects completed the back-
ground questionnaire.
RESULTS
The results are presented for the sample as a whole and then by differ-
ences in political knowledge levels. First, while the impact of a scandal rela-
tive to no scandal was clearly negative, consistent differences in the impact of
the two versions of the scandal information were found. Politicians involved
in the tax evasion scandal were evaluated more negatively than those in the
marital infidelity scandal (as had been expected on the basis of pilot study
results and public opinion surveys). Second, the highly competent but not
very warm politicians were evaluated more favorably, on average, than the
highly warm but not very competent conditions. This provides support for the
12 FUNK
hypothesis that competence qualities are more important than warmth quali-
fies in our evaluations of political figures and does not appear to be solely a
product of the experimental manipulations. Third, while competence qualities
did not attenuate the impact of scandal in general, some support for the
competence attenuation hypothesis did emerge among the more politically
informed subjects. Those higher in political knowledge appeared to discount
the marital infidelity information for the highly competent politicians but not
for the highly warm politicians. Those low in political knowledge rated both
the highly warm and the highly competent politicians in the marital infidelity
scandal more negatively than the no scandal comparisons.
Overall Evaluations
The results of a 2 Trait Configuration • 2 Scandal Presence • 2 Scandal
Version repeated measures MANOVA indicated, first, a significant main ef-
fect for scandal presence. The dependent measure was an overall evaluation
index where a high score indicated more favorable evaluations. The index
averaged two 7-point bipolar ratings of likely vote and favorable impression
(average alpha = .87). Collapsing across all trait conditions and scandal ver-
sions, politicians associated with a scandal were evaluated more negatively
than were those connected with a more neutral situation (F (1, 83) = 128.25,
p < .0001). 7 As seen in Table 1, the mean overall evaluation for scandal
present conditions was 3.4 while the mean rating for scandal absent condi-
tions was 4.8. This finding is consistent with the intended manipulations of
scandal present and absent conditions as well as with expectations about the
negative impact of scandal information.
Second, there was a significant main effect of trait configuration. Averaging
across all scandal conditions, the high competence politicians were rated
more favorably than the high warmth politicians (F (1, 83) = 9.70, p < .01).
Those depicted as highly competent but not very warm had a mean overall
rating of 4.4 compared to 3.8 for the politicians high in warmth but not very
competent (see Table 1). This finding is consistent with the results of pilot
experiments where, in the absence of any scandal-related information, highly
competent politicians were rated more favorably than highly warm ones.
These findings lend support to the notion that competence qualities, in gen-
eral, are more important in our evaluations of political figures than are
warmth ones.
Third, there was a significant three-way interaction indicating that the tax
evasion scandal had a stronger negative impact than the marital infidelity
scandal (F (1, 83) = 18.61, p < .0001). The mean overall evaluation for the
eight trait configuration by scandal (presence and version) conditions can be
seen in Table 2. The impact of the marital infidelity scandal was negative, but
the impact of the tax evasion scandal was even more strongly negative (.8
lower for marital infidelity and 2.0 lower for tax evasion than a no scandal
comparison). This finding is also consistent with the results of a pilot experi-
ment where evaluations of politicians involved in the tax evasion situation
were more negative than for those involved in a marital infidelity situation in
the absence of any other information.
These results show an asymmetrical impact of the two scandals, with politi-
cians involved in the tax evasion scandal evaluated more negatively than those
in the marital infidelity scandal. While the main effect favoring competent
politicians over warm ones supports the competence-based attenuation hy-
pothesis, no additional interaction effect between trait and scandal presence
is evident here. Politicians in the martial infidelity scandal were evaluated
more negatively compared to a no scandal situation regardless of the trait
basis for their impressions (.8 lower for both warmth and competence condi-
tions). Similarly, politicians in a tax evasion scandal were evaluated more neg-
atively compared to a no scandal situation regardless of the trait basis for
their impressions (on average, 2.0 lower).
No No
Scandal Scandal Difference Scandal Scandal Difference
(Real Estate) (Shopping)
No No
Scandal Scandal Average Scandal Scandal Average
Political K n o w l e d g e Differences
The pattern of overall results changes when analyzed by a median split into
groups with higher and lower levels of political knowledge. Political knowl-
edge was measured by summing correct responses to 21 items reflecting gen-
eral political knowledge (alpha = .88).
The mean overall evaluations in Table 4 show that competence attenuated
the negative effects of scandal under limited conditions. For those high in
political knowledge, evaluations of highly competent politicians were not af-
fected by the marital infidelity scandal (mean ratings were 4.8 for both scan-
dal and no scandal conditions). However, evaluations of highly warm politi-
cians were significantly damaged by involvement in the marital infidelity
scandal (mean 8.5, scandal vs. 4.5, no scandal). The four-way interaction be-
tween trait configuration, scandal presence, scandal version, and knowledge
showed a trend toward significance (F (1, 81) = 2.34, p < .13). '~ While this
evidence is not as strong as desired, we will see below that it is bolstered by
findings on measures of trustworthiness and felt sympathy that follow the
same pattern and reach statistical significance levels.
For those low in political knowledge, the marital infidelity scandal was
damaging to either kind of politician. The highly competent politicians were
evaluated significantly more negatively if they were involved in the marital
infidelity scandal compared to those not in a scandal (8.6 vs. 5.2). Highly
warm politicians were also hurt by the marital infidelity scandal (3.4 vs. 4.1),
although this difference was not statistically significant (p < .16).
It is important to note that the marital infidelity information was not simply
considered less important by the high knowledge group. If this had been the
ease, the unfaithful warm politicians should have been regarded as favorably
by the high knowledge group as politicians in the no scandal and the compe-
tent but unfaithful conditions. This finding is corroborated by a general rating
16 FUNK
No No
Scandal Scandal Difference Scandal Scandal Difference
(Real Estate) (Shopping)
No No
Scandal Scandal Difference Scandal Scandal Difference
(Real Estate) (Shopping)
Note: A high score indicates more favorableevaluations;n ranges from 20 to 23 per cell.
the competent politician in the marital infidelity scandal (r = .43, p < .01).
In no other condition was the association between knowledge and overall
evaluations significant.
Evidence of Discounting
Clearer differences between the high and low knowledge groups emerged
on ratings of trust and sympathy. The four-way interaction was significant on a
four-item index of trustworthiness (F (i, 81) = 4.80, p < .04) and on a one-
item rating of felt sympathy (F (1,81) = 5.10, p < .03). Consistent with their
overall evaluations, the more knowledgeable perceived the competent but
untCaithful politicians as higher in trustworthiness and felt more sympathy to-
ward them. The less knowledgeable did not differentiate between warm and
competent politicians who were unfaithful; both evoked less sympathy and
less trust than no scandal comparisons.
Comparisons between higher knowledge and lower knowledge groups
show that differential perceptions of warmth and competence per se were not
responsible for the differences on overall evaluations. One crude indicator
was provided by a content analysis of the thoughts listed after reading the
initial trait information. Results showed no differences between knowledge
groups in the type of comments made; both groups made comments consis-
tent with the intended trait manipulations. In addition, both knowledge
groups evaluated the politicians involved in the marital infidelity scandal sim-
ilarly in terms of both their warmth and competence. Most importantly, the
more negative overall evaluations of the competent politicians in the marital
infidelity condition were not due to any perception of less warmth or of any
less competence among the less knowledgeable.
DISCUSSION
CONCLUSIONS
There are a number of issues to be addressed in further studies. These
results suggest that people at least broadly follow civic norms in their judg-
ments of politicians. It is not clear to what extent the public can or does make
finer-grained distinctions between the different role responsibilities of execu-
tive and legislative officeholders or national vs. state or local level of-
ficeholders (see Huddy and Terkildsen, 1993a; Stein, 1990). Arthur Miller
(1990) has compared public opinion of House and Senate members and ar-
gued that evaluations of each tend to be based on different trait dimensions.
It is also possible that different types of behaviors may contribute to images
of competence appropriate to the substantive domain of the office while judg-
ments of competence remain important for all.
This study highlights the direct role of candidate traits in evaluations of
politicians and suggests that perceptions of competence may help explain why
some politicians are able to retain fairly high levels of public support after a
personal scandal. Clinton appeared to emphasize competence rather than
charisma with some success during the 1992 presidential campaign despite
his involvement in a number of scandals. Clinton's campaign emphasized his
ability to handle problems in the economy rather than his warm and charis-
matic personality.
Clinton's success overcoming the negative implications of scandal was
greater during the primary phase of the election than the general election
campaign. Primary election voters are likely to hold more political informa-
tion than general election voters. Results of this study suggested that those
with more political knowledge are better able to differentiate between differ-
ent types of information; their opinions seem more likely to depend on the
exact nature of the scandal and on prior impressions of the politician in-
volved. Those with lower levels of political knowledge are likely to be more
distracted by the media circus surrounding a scandal; their opinion seems
more strongly determined by the valence of salient information about the
politician. The negative trustworthiness implied by the scandal situation
clearly impacted candidate evaluations for all; competence qualities seemed
to be given more weight in overall evaluations by those with more political
knowledge. Judgments of candidate traits play an important and direct role in
candidate evaluations.
and John Zaller for helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper. Thanks als0 to
Victoria Ramlow for her help conducting the experiment. An earlier version of this
paper was presented at the 1992 annual meeting of the Southern Political Science
Assoeiation, Atlanta, GA.
of the nation, On a key bill to protect the California parks from commercial develop-
ment, Ryan could be found at all hours of the day or night hammering out the details
of the legislation. After months of negotiation, the bill passed with a clear majority
from both sides of the aisle.
While Doug Ryan is admired for his contributions to important legislation, he is not
seen as a particularly sociable man. Ryan tends to be serious and dedicated to his
work, which leaves others with the impression that he is a cold fish. Though Ryan is
often an invited speaker at benefit dinners in and around Washington, his speaking
style also tends to be serious and dry.
NOTES
1. Reaction to complex scandals such as Watergate and the Iran-Contra affair may be quite
different from that to the type of scandals considered here. Those scandals, for example,
involved (1) multiple behaviors, (2) acts that bear more directly on professional roles rather
than personal ones, and (3) implications of a large number of actors. Several studies have
examined public opinion to these scandals (see, e.g., Lang and Lang, 1983; Schudson, 1992,
on Watergate; Krosnick and Kinder, 1990, on the Iran-Contra affair).
2. A wide array of indicators and labels has been used to separate out the more politically
sophisticated including expertise, sophistication, involvement, awareness, interest, attention,
media exposure, and information or knowledge levels. While the present study is concep-
tually linked to an underlying dimension of sophistication or expertise, information or knowl-
edge levels best represent the measure used here. Zaller (1990; see also Fiske, Lau, and
Smith, 1990) has found general political knowledge measures to be the most important de-
terminants for a number of criterion variables, especially attitude stability and consistency
(but see also Krosniek, 1990).
3. One subject was dropped from the MANOVA analyses due to missing data. Those unac-
customed to experimental research may be concerned about basing conclusions on a sample
of this size. The use of repeated measures and the relatively homogeneous subject popula-
tion both serve to increase the power of the present analysis. Master power tables in
Kraemer and Thiemann (1987) indicate that for 80 percent power using a .05 critical p-value
and a two-tailed test, analyses based on approximately 83 subjects would detect a critical
effect size of about .30. For subgroup analyses based on half that number, the critical effect
size that could be detected at the 80% power level would be about .40. The critical effect
size represents the minimum difference needed to detect a true difference between groups.
It is calculated from a measure of quantitative difference, such as the difference between
means of two groups, divided by a measure of variability such as the standard deviation. So,
while the power of the tests here could be improved with additional subjects, it is not
unreasonably low.
4. A fourth variable was included as a replication variable of the trait information. There were
two versions of each trait configuration. Pilot tests indicated that the different trait configura-
tion versions led to only minor and generally nonsignificant differences on overall evaluation
and trait ratings. Analyses with a four-factor model in the present experiment found no
significant effects of trait version. Trait version was dropped from all subsequent analyses,
5. Pilot tests indicated that valenced information on a single trait dimension did lead to the
anticipated halo effects and that the present combination of mixed valence and trait informa-
tion was successful in reducing those effects.
6. A total of 16 different orders were used to fully vary the order of presentation for all factors.
22 FUNK
7. All MANOVAanalyses used the Wilks' lambda statistic, F, and a significance level ofp < .05.
8. The warmth ratings consisted of a four-item index that averaged 7-point bipolar ratings on
warm, charisma, personable, and sociable. A high score on the index indicates greater per-
ceived warmth (average alpha = .86).
9. The competence ratings consisted of a four-item index that averaged 7-point bipolar ratings
on doing a good job, competent, makes few mistakes, and informed. A high score on the
index indicates greater perceived competence (average alpha = .82).
10. This finding is consistent with results from four pilot studies of the trait information that
consistently showed greater differentiation between trait configuration conditions on the
warmth rfitings than on the competence ratings.
11. The trustworthiness index was formed from the average of four 7-point bipolar ratings on
reliable, moral, trustworthy, and means what says (average alpha = .82).
12. Note that while there tends to be an association between political knowledge and gender, an
earlier test found no significant effects of gender on overall evaluations.
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