Everyone will appreciate how admirable it is for a ruler to keep his word and be honest rather than deceitful. However, in our own times we’ve had examples of leaders who’ve done great things without worrying too much about keeping their word. Outwitting opponents with their cunning, these men achieved more than leaders who behaved honestly. -Niccolò Machiavelli
Abstract
The psychological literature highlights the dominance of morality in forming social judgments. However, in the political field, recent electoral victories by politicians involved in immoral behavior have shown that immorality does not end careers. Here, we demonstrate a strategy to explain scandalous politicians’ electoral success. In three experiments using both fictional and real politicians in various political settings, we show the effectiveness of a strategy emphasizing different image dimensions in mitigating the negative effects of a scandal. We find that scandal-hit candidates can effectively improve their image by shifting voters’ focus to any image dimension undamaged by scandal, including competence, warmth (studies 1–2), and even morality in undamaged moral foundations (studies 2–3), demonstrating that voters rely on a multi-dimensional model of moral image in appraising politicians. This suggests that politicians who morally transgress can repair their image and avoid accountability using positive messages—as long as they do not scratch the moral itch.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
In all studies, we have tested the effects of the different texts on each of the image dimensions. In study 3, as well as pilot studies which included fictional candidates, we found that the texts managed to primarily increase evaluation of the relevant image dimensions (i.e., the competence text had the greatest effect on perceived competence, and the morality prime had the greatest effect on perceived morality). However, in studies on real-world politicians the effects were less distinguished: we found a halo effect for competence, which improved all three image dimensions, and that warmth and morality affected both the warmth image and morality image (not surprising considering the connection between the warmth and moral image dimension in the literature). Analysis of the effects on all image dimensions are detailed in the supplementary materials.
In recent years, studies have shown that despite common criticism, MTurk samples can provide mostly representative samples for psychological research on political ideology (Clifford, Jewell and Waggoner, 2015). While these samples have ideological differences compared to nationally representative samples in the United States, we believe that with findings that are robust to ideological controls, we can reasonably rely on the MTurk samples in our studies.
References
Abele, A.E., et al. 2008. Fundamental dimensions of social judgment. European Journal of Social Psychology 38: 1063–1065. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.
Basinger, S.J. 2012. Scandals and congressional elections in the post-watergate era. Political Research Quarterly 66 (2): 385–398. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912912451144.
Basinger, S.J. 2018. Judging incumbents’ character: The impact of scandal. Journal of Political Marketing 18 (3): 216–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2018.1525599.
Ben-Nun Bloom, P. 2013. The public’s compass: Moral conviction and political attitudes. American Politics Research 41 (6): 937–964. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X13481842.
Ben-Nun Bloom, P., et al. 2020. Coping with moral threat: Moral judgment amid war on terror. Journal of Conflict Resolution 64 (2–3): 231–260. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022002719854209.
Benoit, W.L. 1995. Accounts, excuses, and apologies: A theory of image restoration strategies. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Benoit, W.L. 1997. Image repair discourse and crisis communication. Public Relations Review 23 (2): 177–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0363-8111(97)90023-0.
Bhatti, Y., K.M. Hansen, and A. Leth Olsen. 2013. Political hypocrisy: The effect of political scandals on candidate evaluations. Acta Politica 48 (4): 408–428. https://doi.org/10.1057/ap.2013.6.
Brambilla, M., et al. 2011. Looking for honesty: The primary role of morality (vs. sociability and competence) in information gathering. European Journal of Social Psychology 41 (2): 135–143. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.744.
Brambilla, M., et al. 2012. You want to give a good impression? Be honest! Moral traits dominate group impression formation. British Journal of Social Psychology 51 (1): 149–166. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8309.2010.02011.x.
Brambilla, M., M. Hewstone, and F.P. Colucci. 2013. Enhancing moral virtues: Increased perceived outgroup morality as a mediator of intergroup contact effects. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 16 (5): 648–657. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430212471737.
Brambilla, M., and C.W. Leach. 2014. On the importance of being moral: The distinctive role of morality in social judgment. Social Cognition 32 (4): 397–408. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2014.32.4.397.
Castelli, L., et al. 2009. The effects of perceived competence and sociability on electoral outcomes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 45 (5): 1152–1155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2009.06.018.
Clifford, S., et al. 2015a. Moral foundations vignettes: A standardized stimulus database of scenarios based on moral foundations theory. Behavior Research Methods 47 (4): 1178–1198. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-014-0551-2.
Clifford, S. 2018. Reassessing the structure of presidential character. Electoral Studies 2: 240–247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2018.04.006.
Clifford, S., R.M. Jewell, and P.D. Waggoner. 2015b. Are samples drawn from mechanical turk valid for research on political ideology? Research and Politics 2 (4): 8. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053168015622072.
Coombs, W.T. 2014. Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Cuddy, A.J.C., P. Glick, and A. Beninger. 2011. The dynamics of warmth and competence judgments, and their outcomes in organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior 2: 73–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.riob.2011.10.004.
Druckman, J.N., L.R. Jacobs, and E. Ostermeier. 2004. Candidate strategies to prime issues and image. Journal of Politics 66 (4): 1180–1202. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3816.2004.00295.x.
Eriksson, G., and M. Eriksson. 2012. Managing political crisis: An interactional approach to “image repair.” Journal of Communication Management 16 (3): 264–279. https://doi.org/10.1108/13632541211245776.
Fischle, M. 2000. Mass response to the Lewinsky scandal: Motivated reasoning or Bayesian updating? Political Psychology 21 (1): 135–159. https://doi.org/10.1111/0162-895x.00181.
Fiske, S.T., A.J.C. Cuddy, and P. Glick. 2007. Universal dimensions of social cognition: Warmth and competence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 11 (2): 77–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2006.11.005.
Funk, C.L. 1996a. The impact of scandal on candidate evaluations: An experimental test of the role of candidate traits. Political Behavior 18 (1): 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01498658.
Funk, C.L. 1996b. Understanding trait inferences in candidate images. In Research and micropolitics, vol. 5, ed. M.X. Delli Carpini, L. Huddy, and R. Shapiro, 97–123. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Funk, C.L. 1997. Implications of political expertise in candidate trait evaluations. Political Research Quarterly 50 (3): 675–697. https://doi.org/10.1177/106591299705000309.
Funk, C.L. 1999. Bringing the candidate into models of candidate evaluation. The Journal of Politics 61 (3): 700–720. https://doi.org/10.2307/2647824.
Giebler, H., et al. 2017. Priming Europe: Media effects on loyalty, voice and exit in European Parliament elections. Acta Politica 52 (1): 110–132. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41269-016-0025-x.
Goodwin, G.P., J. Piazza, and P. Rozin. 2014. Moral character predominates in person perception and evaluation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 106 (1): 148–168. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034726.
Goodwin, G. P., J. Piazza, and P. Rozin. 2015. Understanding the importance and perceived structure of moral character. In Character: New directions from philosophy, psychology, and theology., ed. C. Miller, et al. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004.
Graham, J., J. Haidt, and B.A. Nosek. 2009. Liberals and conservatives rely on different sets of moral foundations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 96 (5): 1029–1046. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015141.
Haidt, J. 2012. The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion. New York: Vintage. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004.
Hayes, D. 2005. Candidate qualities through a partisan lens: A theory of trait ownership. American Journal of Political Science 49 (4): 908–923. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2005.00163.x.
Iyengar, S., and D.R. Kinder. 1987. News that matter: Television and American opinion. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Kinder, D.R., et al. 1980. Presidential prototypes. Political Behavior 2 (4): 315–337. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00990172.
Kinder, D.R. 1983. ‘Presidential Traits’ Pilot Study Report to the 1984 NES Planning Committee and NES Board. Washington DC.
Kinder, D.R. 1986. Presidential character revisited. In Political cognition: The 19th annual Carnegie Mellon symposium on cognition, ed. R.R. Lau and D.O. Sears, 233–255. Hillsdale, NJ: Psychology Press.
Kinder, D.R., and S. Iyengar. 1987. News that matters: Television and American opinion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kleinnijenhuis, J., W. van Atteveldt, and V. Dekkers. 2018. Partial priming: How issue news shapes issue saliency, which shapes turnout but not the vote. Acta Politica 53 (4): 569–589. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41269-018-0104-2.
Krosnick, J.A., and D.R. Kinder. 1990. Altering the foundations of support for the president through priming. American Political Science Review 84 (2): 497–512. https://doi.org/10.2307/1963531.
Kuhne, R., et al. 2011. Affective priming in political campaigns: How campaign-induced emotions prime political opinions. International Journal of Public Opinion Research 23 (4): 485–507. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edr004.
Kunda, Z. 1990. The case for motivated reasoning. Psychological Bulletin 108 (3): 480–498. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.480.
Machiavelli, N. 2009. The prince. Translated by T. Parks. New York: Penguin Group.
Miller, A.H. 1999. Sex, politics, and public opinion: What political scientists really learned from the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal. PS: Political Science and Politics 32 (4): 721. https://doi.org/10.2307/420161.
Miller, A.H., and W.E. Miller. 1976. Ideology in the 1972 election: Myth or reality–a rejoinder. American Political Science Review 70 (3): 832–849. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055400174271.
Miller, A.H., M.P. Wattenberg, and O. Malanchuk. 1986. Schematic assessments of presidential candidates. American Political Science Review 80 (2): 521–540. https://doi.org/10.2307/1958272.
Mondak, J.J. 1995. Competence, integrity, and the electoral success of congressional incumbents. Journal of Politics 57 (4): 1043–1069. https://doi.org/10.2307/2960401.
Newman, B. 2002. Bill Clinton’s approval ratings: The more things change, the more they stay the same. Political Research Quarterly 55 (4): 781–804. https://doi.org/10.1177/106591290205500403.
Nyhan, B. 2015. Scandal potential: How political context and news congestion affect the President’s vulnerability to media scandal. British Journal of Political Science 45 (2): 435–466. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123413000458.
Nyhan, B. 2017. Media scandals are political events: How contextual factors affect public controversies over alleged misconduct by U.S. governors. Political Research Quarterly 70 (1): 223–236. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912916684034.
Peters, J.G., and S. Welch. 1980. The effects of charges of corruption on voting behavior in congressional elections. American Political Science Review 74 (3): 697–708. https://doi.org/10.2307/1958151.
Petrocik, J.R. 1996. Issue ownership in presidential elections, with a 1980 case study. American Journal of Political Science 40 (3): 825. https://doi.org/10.2307/2111797.
Rahat, G., R.Y. Hazan, and P. Ben-Nun Bloom. 2016. Stable blocs and multiple identities: The 2015 elections in Israel. Representation 52 (1): 99–117. https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2016.1190592.
Riker, W.H. 1990. Heresthetic and rhetoric in the spatial model. In Advances in the spatial theory of voting, ed. J.M. Enelow and M.J. Hinich, 46–65. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Rundquist, B.S., G.S. Strom, and J.G. Peters. 1977. Corrupt politicians and their electoral support: Some experimental observations. The American Political Science Review 71 (3): 954–963. https://doi.org/10.2307/1960100.
Shah, D.V., et al. 2002. News framing and cueing of issue regimes. Public Opinion Quarterly 66 (3): 339–370. https://doi.org/10.1086/341396.
Sheldon, C.A., and L.M. Sallot. 2008. Image repair in politics: Testing effects of communication strategy and performance history in a faux pas. Journal of Public Relations Research 21 (1): 25–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/10627260802520496.
Von Sikorski, C. 2018. The aftermath of political scandals: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Communication 12: 3109–3133.
Taber, C.S., and M. Lodge. 2006. Motivated skepticism in the evaluation of political beliefs. American Journal of Political Science 50 (3): 755–769. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2006.00214.x.
The American National Election Studies (ANES: www.electionstudies.org). 2012. The ANES 2012 Time Series Study ’. Stanford University and the University of Michigan [producers].
Todorov, A. 2005. Inferences of competence from faces predict election outcomes. Science 308 (5728): 1623–1626. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1110589.
Wallace, D., and S.B. Green. 2002. Analysis of repeated measures designs with linear mixed models. In Modeling intraindividual variability with repeated measures data, ed. D.S. Moskowitz and S.L. Hershberger, 103–134. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Walter, A.S., and D.P. Redlawsk. 2019. ‘Voters’ partisan responses to politicians’ immoral behavior. Political Psychology 40 (5): 1075–1097. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12582.
Welch, S., and J.R. Hibbing. 1997. The effects of charges of corruption on voting behavior in congressional elections, 1982–1990. The Journal of Politics 59 (1): 226–239. https://doi.org/10.2307/2998224.
Wells, C., et al. 2016. How Trump drove coverage to the nomination: Hybrid media campaigning. Political Communication 33 (4): 669–676. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2016.1224416.
Wojciszke, B. 2005. Morality and competence in person- and self-perception. European Review of Social Psychology 16 (1): 155–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463280500229619.
Wojciszke, B., R. Bazinska, and M. Jaworski. 1998. On the dominance of moral categories in impression formation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 24 (12): 1251–1263.
Funding
Funding was provided to the second author by Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 676/13).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Elkayam Shalem, H., Ben-Nun Bloom, P. Don’t scratch the moral itch: restoring political image following a scandal. Acta Polit 58, 36–56 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41269-022-00231-0
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41269-022-00231-0