Causal Illusions in the Service of Political Attitudes in Spain and the United Kingdom

Frontiers in Psychology
Fernando BlancoHelena Matute

Abstract

The causal illusion is a cognitive bias that results in the perception of causality where there is no supporting evidence. We show that people selectively exhibit the bias, especially in those situations where it favors their current worldview as revealed by their political orientation. In our two experiments (one conducted in Spain and one conducted in the United Kingdom), participants who self-positioned themselves on the ideological left formed the illusion that a left-wing ruling party was more successful in improving city indicators than a right-wing party, while participants on the ideological right tended to show the opposite pattern. In sum, despite the fact that the same information was presented to all participants, people developed the causal illusion bias selectively, providing very different interpretations that aligned with their previous attitudes. This result occurs in situations where participants inspect the relationship between the government's actions and positive outcomes (improving city indicators) but not when the outcomes are negative (worsening city indicators).

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Jul 14, 2018·Frontiers in Psychology·Fernando BlancoHelena Matute

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Citations

Jul 14, 2018·Frontiers in Psychology·Fernando BlancoHelena Matute
Feb 18, 2021·Scientific Reports·María Manuela Moreno-FernándezHelena Matute
Apr 22, 2021·PloS One·Ujué Agudo, Helena Matute

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