ABSTRACT

Bruckmüller and Methner integrate research from political science with (social) psychological research. They address the question how different personal characteristics that citizens ascribe to politicians shape the evaluation of politicians, political communication, and voting behavior. On the one hand, decades of social psychological research into how people form impressions of others have suggested two fundamental dimensions of social perception and judgment (agency and communion, or the “Big Two”). On the other hand, several models have been developed in political science and political psychology to conceptualize voters’ impressions of politicians as important predictors of evaluation and vote choice. Bruckmüller and Methner point out parallels between these models across disciplines. They illustrate how a Big Two framework provides new insights into voters’ perceptions of politicians as well as into political communication. They also exemplify how studying politicians and political communication can enhance social psychologists’ understanding of basic processes of person perception in general, and the Big Two in particular.