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Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d

Persuasion in Parallel is now out from ! In this thread: - The three key ideas from the book I
want to put in people's minds - Suggestions for how to include it on a syllabus - Thank yous
to the many scholars whose work I replicated or reanalyzed
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d

Key idea #1: The Persuasion in Parallel pattern is common Here's a schematic instance of the PiP pattern. Suppose on average, red
triangles oppose a policy, blue circles support it. When exposed to persuasive information, both groups update their views "in
parallel"

Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d

Here's a good example from a reanalysis and MTurk replication of Chong and Druckman (2010) treatment: persuasive info for or
against the patriot act outcome: support for the patriot act covariate: partisanship The groups update their support for the
Patriot Act in parallel.

Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d

My claim is: the PiP pattern is common, as long as - The treatment is persuasive information - The outcome is policy support -
the covariate is pre-treatment (I've looked at baseline support, pid, ideology, education, race, age, gender)
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d
The evidence for the claim comes from a meta-analysis 23 persuasion experiments. Some are original experiments, some
are replication studies, and some are reanalyses. Here's all the evidence in the book:
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d
We can look at the PiP pattern in another way by correlating the CATEs, split by many different covariates. These are the
figures that convince me of Key Idea #1.

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Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d

Chapter 4 discusses many design objections like: - What does parallel even mean? - Do we have the right covariate? -
What about measurement error?
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d
If you've clicked through this far -- thank you! I hope you're at least provisionally on board with the idea that the
Persuasion in Parallel pattern is common. On to key idea #2!
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d
Key idea #2: Here is a typology of political communication treatments and outcomes: - two kinds of treatments:
persuasive information and group cues - two kinds of outcomes: policy attitudes and affective evaluations

Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d

People update their policy views "in parallel", but if the info is "counterattitudinal," people *dislike* the message
and the messenger - Group cues (information about which groups in society support which policies) have
effects on attitudes that depend on group attachments

Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d

The upshot is that persuasion comes at an affective cost. People *do not like* being persuaded, even though
they update their views in the direction of info. In other words, those being persuaded will complain about it!
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d

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Key idea #3: Motivated reasoning theory has a problem MR says we have accuracy goals and directional
goals when processing info. If directional goals dominate, then the effects of info should have opposite
signs for groups with opposing directions.
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d
But since the PiP pattern is common, either 1. Accuracy goals dominate when people encounter
persuasive information or 2. Motivated reasoning isn't a good model of information processing (or at
least, the MR-predicted backlash doesn't seem to occur)
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d
Thank you again for reading this far! Those were the three key ideas: 1. PiP pattern is common 2. A
typology of political communication treatments and outcomes 3. Motivated reasoning theory has a
problem
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d
Here are some ways you could incorporate Persuasion in Parallel on your syllabus. It's short at 214
pages, with lots of pictures! 1. In a political psychology class: contrast Lord, Ross, and Lepper (1979)
with Chp. 2, which gives a critique of LRL https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-3514.37.11.2098
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d
2. In a public opinion class: contrast Zaller 92's model of opinion change with theory in Chp. 3 3.
In an "American Politics Through Experiments" class, focus on chp. 4 (design) 4. In a
"controversies" class, contrast Taber and Lodge (2006) with Chp. 7

Motivated Skepticism in the Evaluation of Political Beliefs

We propose a model of motivated skepticism that helps explain when and why citizens
are biased-information processors. Two experimental studies explore how citizens…
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2006.00214.x

Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d

The book is available these places: U Chicago Press:

Persuasion in Parallel
A bold re-examination of how political attitudes change in response to information.  
Many mistakenly believe that it is fruitless to try to persuade those who disagree…
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo181475008.html

Bookshop:
Persuasion in Parallel: How Information Changes Minds about Politics a b…
A bold re-examination of how political attitudes change in response to information.
Many mistakenly believe that it is fruitless to try to persuade those who disagree…
https://bookshop.org/p/books/persuasion-in-parallel-how-information-changes-mind…

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Persuasion-Parallel-Information-Politics-
American/dp/0226821846/ref=asc_df_0226821846/?tag=hyprod-
20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=635906540369&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9678929596726653226&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&
1844645788792&psc=1 Or if you'd rather not buy it, perhaps you could ask your library to
acquire a copy
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d
An enormous thank you to the scholars who collaborated with me or whose work I replicated
or reanalyzed in this book: , , , Charles Lord, Lee Ross, Mark Lepper, Denis Chong, Jamie
Druckman, Ted Brader, Nicholas Valentino, Elizabeth Suhay...
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d
(Thank yous continued!) Michael Hiscox, Christopher D. Johnston, , , Michael Murakami, ,
Geoffrey Wallace, Diana Mutz, ,
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d
Also thank you so much to and for blurbing the book. Your support means so much to
me.
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d
Thank you again for reading this long thread. Here's the first tweet in the thread again
if you're moved to retweet it (thank you!)

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1/18/23, 5:49 PM Thread Reader App

Alex Coppock
@aecoppock · Follow
Persuasion in Parallel is now out from
@UChicagoPress!
In this thread:
- The three key ideas from the book I want to put in
people's minds
- Suggestions for how to include it on a syllabus
- Thank yous to the many scholars whose work I
replicated or reanalyzed

11:11 AM · Jan 17, 2023

Read the full conversation on Twitter
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Thomas Zeitzoff @zeitzoff 1d

Huge congrats, Alex!
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d
thank you!!
Thomas Zeitzoff @zeitzoff 1d
Just ordered ;)
Mark E. Herlihy @MEHerlihy 1d
unroll
Thread Reader App @threadreaderapp 1d
Hola, here is your unroll:

Thread by @aecoppock on Thread Reader App

@aecoppock: Persuasion in Parallel is now out from
@UChicagoPress! In this thread: - The three key ideas from the bo…
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1615381402689900545.html

See you soon. 🤖

Kati Kish Bar-On @kati_kish 1d
I wonder how social identity and group identity affect and are affected by parallel
persuasion. How does openness to arguments from opponents affects ppl feelings
of commitment to their in-group as well as resentment to their out-groups?
Geoff Lorenz 🗳️ @GeoffLorenz 1d
This looks fabulous. Do you have a recommendation for how to include in a syllabus
on political persuasion and advocacy strategy? If it helps for context, I have
students read 's Uninformed and also, for contrast, Cialdini.
Jonne Kamphorst @JonneKamphorst 14h
Available very soon at the . Can't wait to read this :)
LibKey @libkey_io 1d
Paywalls are frustrating! Access the article from your library: https://libkey.io/10.1037/0022-
3514.37.11.2098?utm_source=libkey_twitter_bot Promote scholarly access when tweeting articles
by simply adding https://libkey.io to the DOI URL
John V. Kane @UptonOrwell 1d
Sounds like a great book-looking forward to checking it out! 🙌 Question: is your sense that much of
this is effect is occurring among those with weak priors? Makes sense that directional MR wouldn’t
kick in for those w/o weak prior attitudes re: the policy, right?
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d
Thank you John! Two quick reactions: 1) To the extent that I can proxy "prior strength" with
"baseline attitude extremity" I don't see consistent pattern of who moves more: people on the
extremes move and so do people in the middle. ...
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d

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2) To test Bayesian models of "who moves more" we'd need to measure both priors *and*
likelihood functions -- and I don't know how to do that! Chapter 7 dwells a good bit on this issue...
Thanks!!
John V. Kane @UptonOrwell 1d
Ahh very cool! Thanks so much, Alex! I hope it is read far and wide! Congrats again!
Gijs Schumacher @GijsSchumacher 1d
That's a very interesting take. How did you measure affective cost?

Salma Mousa / ‫@ سلمى موسى‬salma_mousa_ 1d

Such a simple, powerful core insight that actually replicates. I’ve already shared with journalists interested in opinion change on
issues like vaccine hesitancy etc. Bravo!!!
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d
Thank you Salma!

Danielle Thomsen @dmariethomsen 4h

Congrats! Excited for your book talk at UCI soon!
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 4h
Thank you Danielle! See you soon!

Joshua Tucker @j_a_tucker 11h

Thanks for the amazingly helpful (and concise!) tweet thread! Usually takes me longer for a single paper… And congratulations on
the book!
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 9h
Thank you Josh!

Eitan Hersh @eitanhersh 1d

congrats on this. looking forward to reading it.
Alex Coppock @aecoppock 1d
Thank you Eitan!

Chris Karpowitz @ProfKarpo 1d

Can't wait to read this and add it to my syllabi, Alex! It's especially intriguing in light of recent work and I have done on persuasion
and immigration attitudes:

Changing Hearts and Minds? Why Media Messages Designed to Foster Empathy Often Fail | The Journal of Pol…
Politicians and social activists frequently employ media designed to “change hearts and minds” by humanizing out-groups.
These messages, it is assumed, lead to empathic concern, which motivates individuals to reconsider punitive policy attitude…
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/719416

Dr Bob (now on Mastodon) @drbob 1d

unroll
Thread Reader App @threadreaderapp 1d
Salam, you can read it here:

Thread by @aecoppock on Thread Reader App

@aecoppock: Persuasion in Parallel is now out from @UChicagoPress! In this thread: - The three key ideas from the book I
want to put in people's minds - Suggestions for how to include it on a syllabus...…
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1615381402689900545.html

Have a good day. 🤖

Daniel M. Smith @ProfDanSmith 5h

Congrats! 🎉

Alissa Stollwerk @AlissaStollwerk 11h

Congrats! Looks fantastic.

Brian Calfano @BCalfano 21h

Congrats!

Florian Foos @FlorianFoos 1d

Congrats, Alex! Great 🧵 - look forward to reading it soon.

Simon Chauchard @SimonChauchard 1d

Looks great - thanks for the thread and look forward to reading the thing!

Amanda ‫ سحر‬d'Urso @asdurso 1d

Congrats, Alex! Very exciting!!!
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Michael Goldfien @MichaelGoldfien 1d

Congrats!

Dan Ancona 🪓 🌈 ⚔️ @DanAncona 1d

Awesome - looks like a must read. Congratulations!

John Ahlquist @thequister 1d

congrats. looks very intersting.

Vince Hopkins @VinceInSK 1d

This is awesome. Congrats ! I've already ordered my copy.

Johannes Matzat @matzatecon 1d

Very interesting! It fits well to the patterns we observe. Unions shift political preferences to the left of workers AND their
management. Will have a closer look! Thank you

Johannes Matzat
@matzatecon · Follow
New WP with @AikoSchmeisser!
Do unions shape political ideologies at work?
Yes!

9:28 AM · Sep 7, 2022

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Semra Sevi @semrasevi 1d

Congrats, Alex!! Can’t wait to get my copy!

Saad Gulzar ‫@ سعد گلزار‬saadgulzar 1d

Congratulations :D

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