Identifier

128

Date

2018

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Major

Psychology

Concentration

Cognitive Science

Committee Member

Stephanie Huette

Abstract

The current study investigated potential shifts in opinion due to modal verbs used in politically-sided newspaper articles on climate change. The political ideology (conservative or progressive) of the participants was measured as a way to explore opinion changes. Memory was also tested as it could have been an indicator for a major covariance for the study - bias and prior knowledge. College students (N = 85) took an ideology pretest and posttest, read articles manipulated to contain either should or must, and answered memory questions. Overall, results showed there was no significant change in opinion, with most participants responding as progressive. As for memory, there was a slight yet significant negative correlation between the strength of conservative response and memory; the more conservative they participant was the less likely he or she was to correctly remember information. The inconclusive and unexpected results are discussed, and possible explanations are considered.

Comments

Undergraduate Honor's Thesis

Library Comment

Honors thesis originally submitted to the Local University of Memphis Honor’s Thesis Repository.

Notes

Data is provided by the student.

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