Political Expertise and Open-Minded Cognition

Abstract

Are political experts more or less open-minded than political novices? Traditional research regarding this question commonly defines political expertise in terms of an individual’s actual level of political knowledge. This approach has yielded mixed evidence. Some research suggests that politically knowledgeable individuals are more likely to employ appropriate forms of political reasoning, and are more likely to correct for cues that potentially bias political judgments. These findings suggest that political experts are less likely to engage in biased, closed-minded patterns of political thinking. Other research, however, suggests that politically knowledgeable individuals are uniquely equipped to engage in biased forms of political reasoning that reinforce preexisting expectations and opinions. For example, political experts are more likely to exhibit a party-congruent bias when recalling information pertaining to a political candidate. More contemporary work regarding the relation between political expertise and open-mindedness has examined the influence of self-perceived expertise. This research suggests that self-perceived political expertise leads individuals to believe they are entitled to engage in dogmatic patterns of thinking. In contrast, individuals who perceive themselves to possess lower levels of expertise adopt a more open-minded cognitive style that is less likely to be biased by preexisting expectations and opinions.