UCLA

The studies presented in this dissertation explore several covert processes that underlie political attitude formation and development: relational reasoning and emotions evoked by internet memes. Studies 1A and 1B quantitatively demonstrate that some memes on the internet may constitute a form of metaphor. Structural equation modeling was used to demonstrate the structural interrelationships among cognitive and motivational factors that might impact appraisals of the comprehensibility and humor of non-political internet memes. Study 2 extended the initial work to include political content and assessed participants’ propensity to share memes with others. Study 3A demonstrated that some memes on the issue of climate change can serve as conceptual frames that shape judgments of objective data. Study 3B showed that liberal memes on climate change elicited more positive emotions (love and care), relative to conservative memes which elicited more negative emotions (anger and laughing). Structural topic modeling results from study 3B suggested that memes from conservative pages more frequently belittled climate activists and denied the urgency of climate issues, while liberals were more likely to discuss the seriousness of the problem and the need for immediate action.