Through the lens of ideology: Asymmetry in expectations of movie quality

Abstract

Studies of political ideology show that liberals and conservatives have contrasting tastes in entertainment media. While most research has focused on the causes (such as personality traits) of these differences in taste, little is known about whether differences extend to judgments of quality. The present study uses an experiment asking participants to evaluate a movie after reading a review that is positive except for a statement about its strong message which varied in its identification of a political outlook. Results show that both liberal and conservative participants are less interested in seeing a movie that promotes a contrary political message. Participants’ responses were less symmetrical on expectations of quality, with conservatives less likely to say the movie would be good. This study’s design avoids differences in social network sizes and signaling. Its results show that liberals are more likely than conservatives to assess a product’s appeal separately from its value.