Various studies over the past few years have highlighted the declining trust many of us have in politics, and even in democracy itself.  Whereas various arguments have been made to find a culprit, from social media to globalization, a new study from Aarhus University suggests that we ourselves may be playing a part too.

“People are better at remembering information about selfish politicians and are better and more motivated to forward that type of information to other people compared to information that focuses on political substance,” the researchers explain.  “This is because there is an inherent bias in human memory that affects the type of political information we pass on in our social network. This means that citizens are part of exaggerating the problem of selfish politicians.”

Gossip matters

The conclusion emerges after a number of experiments with a few thousand participants from across the United States.  The experiments broadly take the form of the “telephone game”, with volunteers asked to first read an entire news article before being required to recount it to someone else, who then recounts it to another person.  This process revealed that it was only generally the information regarded as most important that made it to the end.

“We observed that people pick up and communicate more about strategy and the selfish behavior of politicians than the political content itself,” the researchers explain.  “We can also see that mistrust spreads. When negative information about politicians is overrepresented, people who receive it second and third hand will also have less trust in those politicians and support their political decisions to a lesser extent. That’s the crux of it.”

The researchers suggest that this was once a protective mechanism that would have bestowed us with an evolutionary advantage, as it pays to keep a close eye on leaders who are inclined to line their own pockets at the expense of the wider community.  It would have been a time when no regulatory bodies existed, so people had to protect themselves from such non-cooperative behaviors.

So, as the saying goes, we get the politicians we deserve, as the scandal and lying tends to be what is shared, discussed, and therefore promoted.

Lying pays off

This is particularly so as research from the University of Bath showed that lying actually pays off for political candidates.

The study found that even when voters indicate that things such as trust and legitimacy are important things they look for in a candidate, it’s still the candidates who are most likely to renege on their election promises that get ahead.

The findings emerged after volunteers participated in a game-theory experiment to understand the importance of trustworthiness in various election scenarios.  The “election” was held over two stages, with the first involving individuals vying against each other to secure their party’s candidacy, like with the American primaries, and then a process more reminiscent of the presidential election.