Incidental Emotions, Provisional Priming, and Political Trust: Survey Experiments on the Robustness of Political Trust among Chinese College Freshmen

43 Pages Posted: 18 Aug 2014 Last revised: 25 Oct 2014

See all articles by Xuchuan Lei

Xuchuan Lei

School of Publica Administration

Jie Lu

American University; American University - School of Public Affairs

Date Written: August 10, 2014

Abstract

This paper examines the robustness of Chinese college freshmen’s self-reported trust in their political incumbents and institutions, as well as their support to the Chinese political system, under different experimental conditions. More specifically, this paper scrutinizes the possible “carryover effects” (driven by incidental emotions like happiness and anger) and “provisional priming effects” (driven by provisionally manipulated perceptions of the salience of corruption and political reforms) in their self-reported political trust using randomized experiments embedded in a probability sampling survey of a Chinese national university’s freshmen. Experimental data show little support for “carryover effects” and limited support for “provisional priming effects.” Moreover, the effectiveness of provisional priming is highly contingent upon (1) the population distribution features of the political attitude under examination and (2) related attitude extremity of each respondent. Overall, at least among the Chinese college freshmen under examination, self-reported political trust is quite robust against the influence of incidental emotions and provisional priming that are not integral to political dynamics under examination.

Suggested Citation

Lei, Xuchuan and Lu, Jie, Incidental Emotions, Provisional Priming, and Political Trust: Survey Experiments on the Robustness of Political Trust among Chinese College Freshmen (August 10, 2014). American University School of Public Affairs Research Paper No. 2014-0003, APSA 2014 Annual Meeting Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2454133 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2454133

Xuchuan Lei

School of Publica Administration ( email )

No. 111, Sec. North 1, Er-Huan Rd.
Chengdu
Chengdu, Sichuan 610031
China

Jie Lu (Contact Author)

American University ( email )

4400 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20016
United States

American University - School of Public Affairs ( email )

Washington, DC 20016
United States

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