Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 108, Issue 31, Pages 12653-12656Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1103343108
Keywords
psychology; intervention; field experiment; language and thought
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation [0818839]
- Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie
- Divn Of Social and Economic Sciences [0818839] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Three randomized experiments found that subtle linguistic cues have the power to increase voting and related behavior. The phrasing of survey items was varied to frame voting either as the enactment of a personal identity (e. g., being a voter) or as simply a behavior (e. g., voting). As predicted, the personal-identity phrasing significantly increased interest in registering to vote (experiment 1) and, in two statewide elections in the United States, voter turnout as assessed by official state records (experiments 2 and 3). These results provide evidence that people are continually managing their self-concepts, seeking to assume or affirm valued personal identities. The results further demonstrate how this process can be channeled to motivate important socially relevant behavior.
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