Reaction Paper (Political Psychology)- Perceptions & Attributions Essay

Reaction Paper (Political Psychology)- Perceptions & Attributions - Essay Example ons are not contrived in vacuum, but have a lot to do with the past held beliefs and prejudices, recent alterations motivated by the framing of political issues and the persuasion techniques used by the vested interests. Granberg aptly defines political perception as the â€Å"process by which people develop impressions of the characteristics and positions of political candidates, parties, and institutions (p.70).† I personally feel that political perceptions do play a vital role in determining outcomes and consequences in a democratic society. The perceptions of the masses towards political candidates and parties do often have a key role in the determination of the vital factors like the levels of satisfaction with the political institutions; trust in the state and the ensuing responses and actions by the citizens (Gadot, 2006). It seems that both the external features and the perceiver’s internal orientation tend to affect the ultimate nature and potency of such perceptions (Granberg, p.70). Moreover, an astute political candidate is often aware of the power that perceptions command in the overall process of the determination of the final political outcomes in a society. That is why it has been seen that political candidates do often tailor their messages to suit the audience they intend to address. For example, Lyndon Johnson often resorted to delivering fiery speeches, when faced with a highly stimulated audience (Granberg, p.71). Pragmatically speaking, political perception is an unpredictable entity determined and influenced by an array of factors that happen to be both subjective and rational at the same time. Still a thorough observance of the political campaigns facilitated by the developments in the digital media has established that persuasion by the political candidates does often have a crucial role in influencing the political perceptions. The paper by Iyengar establishes convincingly that the vantage point from which people perceive a particular