A Single Exposure to the American Flag Shifts Support Toward Republicanism up to 8 Months Later

Psychological Science
August 2011 vol. 22 no. 8 1011-1018
Version of Record - Aug 16, 2011
doi: 10.1177/0956797611414726

Travis J. Carter [1], Melissa J. Ferguson [2] and Ran R. Hassin [3]

[1] Center for Decision Research, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, C74 Harper Center, Chicago, IL 60637
[2] Department of Psychology, 230 Uris Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
[3] Department of Psychology and The Center for the Study of Rationality, Hebrew University

Abstract

There is scant evidence that incidental cues in the environment significantly alter people’s political judgments and behavior in a durable way. We report that a brief exposure to the American flag led to a shift toward Republican beliefs, attitudes, and voting behavior among both Republican and Democratic participants, despite their overwhelming belief that exposure to the flag would not influence their behavior. In Experiment 1, which was conducted online during the 2008 U.S. presidential election, a single exposure to an American flag resulted in a significant increase in participants’ Republican voting intentions, voting behavior, political beliefs, and implicit and explicit attitudes, with some effects lasting 8 months after the exposure to the prime. In Experiment 2, we replicated the findings more than a year into the current Democratic presidential term. These results constitute the first evidence that nonconscious priming effects from exposure to a national flag can bias the citizenry toward one political party and can have considerable durability.

http://pss.sagepub.com/content/22/8/1011