The Politicization of Medical Decision-Making: Consequences of Ideological Beliefs on Individuals’ Interpretations of and Responses to Health Advice, and Policy Approaches to Mitigate These Consequences

Abstract

An abundance of empirical research demonstrates that people’s partisan beliefs influence the ways in which they make decisions in a variety of spheres, many of which are non-political in nature. Despite these findings, a question which has remained vastly understudied is the extent to which ideological views affect how individuals interpret medical information and, consequently, make choices that may affect their own health. Could personal politics affect how trustworthy one perceives medical advice from different sources to be? Do sources that present politically-salient content alongside medical information lose––or gain––credibility amongst ideological segments of their constituents? How do these factors ultimately influence individuals’ likelihood of complying with what may be sound medical guidance? The answers to these questions are, presently, not known, yet insights in this realm could prove to be immensely valuable for a variety of stakeholders––from medical providers to policy-makers to individual patients themselves––and can help inform future policy approaches geared toward mitigating the extraneous effects of this potential influence. In this thesis, I devised a series of three experiments that aimed to study these effects using the context of polarized news media. The first experiment explored how altering the stated partisanship of a source affects the way people interpret the exact same medical information. The second experiment sought to examine these parameters using implicit association, and manipulated the partisanship of advertisements presented alongside the health content. Lastly, the third experiment studied how a source’s initial presentation of politically-polarizing content influences people’s later reception of a neutral medical stimulus from that same source. I find evidence that, when interacting with medical advice in a politically-disagreeable environment, individuals may view that advice as being less trustworthy and less likely to benefit their health, and may be less likely to ultimately comply with the medical recommendation presented. These effects may be mediated by individuals’ views of the content’s credibility, and may be more profound when the environment in which that content is presented is ideologically conservative in nature. Although this study features a number of limitations and further research is warranted, it nevertheless takes a step forward in helping to fill an evident gap in knowledge concerning the ways in which ideological views shape how people make decisions about their health––particularly in the context of increasing rates of partisan polarization in the United States. I close by considering the broader policy implications of these findings, and review and endorse three promising policy approaches involving the implementation of de-polarization interventions targeted at reducing partisan influences on individual decision-making.