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ECPR Lisbon: Attributions of Responsibility Dynamics and Determinants

Thorsten Faas
Thorsten Faas

This document summarizes a workshop presentation on attributions of responsibility for economic situations during the 2005 German election. It discusses how people attribute responsibility, the determinants of those attributions like political sophistication and media usage, and presents data on changing levels of attributed responsibility over time and the effects of various factors. Logistic regression results show the impacts of individual economic situations, interest, partisanship, and an interaction between media usage and contextualization on attributions of responsibility.

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Attributions of Responsibility Dynamics and Determinants: The Case of the 2005 German Election Lisbon, April 17, 2009 Thorsten Faas University of Mannheim ECPR Joint Sessions, Workshop 16 Political information, public knowledge and perceptions of reality
Attributions of Responsibility 1 Workshop Political Information, public knowledge and perceptions of reality: How do people see (and explain) reality? What is the role of the informational environment? Attributions of responsibility as a crucial element Important from an individuals point of view but also from the point of view of the political system as a whole: what is government / politics responsible for? Studying such attributions their determinants, but also their effects as an important task for political science Here with respect to economic situations: Who is responsible for the state of the economy (and how can we explain that)?
Determinants of Attributions of Responsibility 2 Defensive attributions Morselizing / politically relevant variance Political sophistication Contextualization (real-world cues, front-page news) Information environment Campaigns Partisan rationalizations and cultural predispositions
Data 3 Rolling Cross-Section Survey covering the final 41 days of the 2005 German Federal Election campaign (n=3,583) Items: What do you think, to what extent is the ruling government responsible for the development of this economic situation: to a large extent, to some extent or not at all? this economic situation refers to Individuals own economic situation Situation of the national economy dichotomized
Data 4 Defensive attributions Perceived state of own and national economic situation Morselizing / politically relevant variance Political sophistication Interest in Politics Contextualization (real-world cues, front-page news) Interaction term Media usage (total vs. by source) Campaigns Distance to Election Day Partisan rationalizations and cultural predispositions Party Identification, Left-Right-Placement
Development of Level of Attributed Responsibility 5 1 Mean Level of Attribution .5 0 13.8. 20.8. 27.8. 3.9. 10.9. 17.9. date Individual's economic situation Nation's economic situation
Determinants: National Economic Situation 6 Media use: total Media use: by source Ind. Econ. Ind. Econ. Nat. Econ. Nat. Econ. Interest Interest Left-Right Left-Right PI: SPD PI: SPD PI: Union PI: Union PI: other PI: other day day Media use: total Media use: total Media use: priv. TV Media use: priv. TV Media use: Public TV Media use: Public TV Media use: Tabloid Media use: Tabloid Media use: Quality Media use: Quality interaction interaction -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 logit coefficients logit coefficients
Determinants: Individual Economic Situation 7 Media use: total Media use: by source Ind. Econ. Ind. Econ. Nat. Econ. Nat. Econ. Interest Interest Left-Right Left-Right PI: SPD PI: SPD PI: Union PI: Union PI: other PI: other day day Media use: total Media use: total Media use: priv. TV Media use: priv. TV Media use: Public TV Media use: Public TV Media use: Tabloid Media use: Tabloid Media use: Quality Media use: Quality interaction interaction -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 logit coefficients logit coefficients
Determinants: Individual Economic Situation 8 + Interaction Term Ind. Econ. Nat. Econ. Interest Left-Right PI: SPD PI: Union PI: other day Media use: total Media use: priv. TV Media use: Public TV Media use: Tabloid Media use: Quality interaction -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 logit coefficients
Predicted Probabilities 9 1 .8 probability .6 .4 .2 0 0 .2 .4 .6 .8 1 Individual economic situation National economic situation ... ... very poor ... good ... poor ... very good ... average
Conclusions 10 Information environment affects how people make sense of the world Information can have different sources However, media effects hard to understand without content analysis Contact: Thorsten Faas University of Mannheim A5, 6 68131 Mannheim Germany Thorsten.Faas@uni-mannheim.de www.thorsten-faas.de

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ECPR Lisbon: Attributions of Responsibility Dynamics and Determinants

  • 1. Attributions of Responsibility Dynamics and Determinants: The Case of the 2005 German Election Lisbon, April 17, 2009 Thorsten Faas University of Mannheim ECPR Joint Sessions, Workshop 16 Political information, public knowledge and perceptions of reality
  • 2. Attributions of Responsibility 1 Workshop Political Information, public knowledge and perceptions of reality: How do people see (and explain) reality? What is the role of the informational environment? Attributions of responsibility as a crucial element Important from an individuals point of view but also from the point of view of the political system as a whole: what is government / politics responsible for? Studying such attributions their determinants, but also their effects as an important task for political science Here with respect to economic situations: Who is responsible for the state of the economy (and how can we explain that)?
  • 3. Determinants of Attributions of Responsibility 2 Defensive attributions Morselizing / politically relevant variance Political sophistication Contextualization (real-world cues, front-page news) Information environment Campaigns Partisan rationalizations and cultural predispositions
  • 4. Data 3 Rolling Cross-Section Survey covering the final 41 days of the 2005 German Federal Election campaign (n=3,583) Items: What do you think, to what extent is the ruling government responsible for the development of this economic situation: to a large extent, to some extent or not at all? this economic situation refers to Individuals own economic situation Situation of the national economy dichotomized
  • 5. Data 4 Defensive attributions Perceived state of own and national economic situation Morselizing / politically relevant variance Political sophistication Interest in Politics Contextualization (real-world cues, front-page news) Interaction term Media usage (total vs. by source) Campaigns Distance to Election Day Partisan rationalizations and cultural predispositions Party Identification, Left-Right-Placement
  • 6. Development of Level of Attributed Responsibility 5 1 Mean Level of Attribution .5 0 13.8. 20.8. 27.8. 3.9. 10.9. 17.9. date Individual's economic situation Nation's economic situation
  • 7. Determinants: National Economic Situation 6 Media use: total Media use: by source Ind. Econ. Ind. Econ. Nat. Econ. Nat. Econ. Interest Interest Left-Right Left-Right PI: SPD PI: SPD PI: Union PI: Union PI: other PI: other day day Media use: total Media use: total Media use: priv. TV Media use: priv. TV Media use: Public TV Media use: Public TV Media use: Tabloid Media use: Tabloid Media use: Quality Media use: Quality interaction interaction -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 logit coefficients logit coefficients
  • 8. Determinants: Individual Economic Situation 7 Media use: total Media use: by source Ind. Econ. Ind. Econ. Nat. Econ. Nat. Econ. Interest Interest Left-Right Left-Right PI: SPD PI: SPD PI: Union PI: Union PI: other PI: other day day Media use: total Media use: total Media use: priv. TV Media use: priv. TV Media use: Public TV Media use: Public TV Media use: Tabloid Media use: Tabloid Media use: Quality Media use: Quality interaction interaction -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 logit coefficients logit coefficients
  • 9. Determinants: Individual Economic Situation 8 + Interaction Term Ind. Econ. Nat. Econ. Interest Left-Right PI: SPD PI: Union PI: other day Media use: total Media use: priv. TV Media use: Public TV Media use: Tabloid Media use: Quality interaction -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 logit coefficients
  • 10. Predicted Probabilities 9 1 .8 probability .6 .4 .2 0 0 .2 .4 .6 .8 1 Individual economic situation National economic situation ... ... very poor ... good ... poor ... very good ... average
  • 11. Conclusions 10 Information environment affects how people make sense of the world Information can have different sources However, media effects hard to understand without content analysis Contact: Thorsten Faas University of Mannheim A5, 6 68131 Mannheim Germany Thorsten.Faas@uni-mannheim.de www.thorsten-faas.de