Models of making a decision about a television debates winner

Abstract

Two factors determine making a decision about televised debates winner: a viewer’s position on the issue debated and a viewer’s attitude to debates participants. The empirical study (N = 120) shows that the decision about a winner is made easier if there is cognitive coherence between a viewer’s position on the issue debated and a viewer’s attitude the speakers (a viewer both shares position of one the speakers and has a great liking for him/her). Cognitive coherence is reached in one of the following ways: the position on the issue debated changes the attitude to the speakers or the attitude to the speakers changes the position on the issue debated. If the decision is made in a situation of conflict (a viewer shares position of one the speakers but has a great liking for another one), a barrier of dissent from opinion is overcome easier than a barrier of antipathy for a speaker. The speaker whom a viewer likes best is higher evaluated for positivity criterion (a good man, a man of good morals). The debates winner unlike the debates looser has higher scores for brightness (he or she speaks emotionally, shows a good sense of humor).