title: A neural basis for the effect of candidate appearance on election outcomes.
abstract: Election outcomes correlate with judgments based on a candidate's visual appearance, suggesting that the attributions viewers make based on appearance, so-called thin-slice judgments, influence voting. Yet, it is not known whether the effect of appearance on voting is more strongly influenced by positive or negative attributions, nor which neural mechanisms subserve this effect. We conducted two independent brain imaging studies to address this question. In Study 1, images of losing candidates elicited greater activation in the insula and ventral anterior cingulate than images of winning candidates. Winning candidates elicited no differential activation at all. This suggests that negative attributions from appearance exert greater influence on voting than do positive. We further tested this hypothesis in Study 2 by asking a separate group of participants to judge which unfamiliar candidate in a pair looked more attractive, competent, deceitful and threatening. When negative attribution processing was enhanced (specifically, under judgment of threat), images of losing candidates again elicited greater activation in the insula and ventral anterior cingulate. Together, these findings support the view that negative attributions play a critical role in mediating the effects of appearance on voter decisions, an effect that may be of special importance when other information is absent.
authors.affiliation: Scripps College, 1030 Columbia Avenue, Claremont, CA 91711, USA. mspezio@scrippscollege.edu
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Spezio
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rangel
authors.forename: Ramon Michael
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Alvarez
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: O'Doherty
authors.forename: Kyle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mattes
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Todorov
authors.forename: Hackjin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Adolphs
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011057:Politics; D012938:Social Perception; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen