Unrelated evaluation criteria serve as control conditions in a priming natural experiment

Evidence

We included national economic assessments and race policy views because both are highly relevant to presidential evaluations (e.g., Fiorina, 1981; Kinder, Adams, & Gronke, 1989; Rosenstone, 1983) and because they are utterly unrelated to the Iran- Contra revelation. We expected that the impact of national economic assessments and race policy views on evaluations of President Reagan should either be unaffected by the revelation or should decline, a reflection of the media’s sudden preoccupation with Central America. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1596