The Structure of Affect and Trait Judgments of Political Figures

Abstract

The roles of affective and cognitive processes in judgment have been the focus of much recent research and theoretical debate. This study was designed to investigate the structure of voters' affective reactions and trait attributions to national political figures. Three-mode factor analysis was used to determine the structure of the affect and trait scales. Politician factors and subject types were also derived, as were the interrelationships among these modes. Positive and negative affect factors, and affect and trait factors, were distinct but correlated; Democratic and Republican politician factors were uncorrelated. Information on the subject types moderated these relationships.