ABSTRACT
This study assessed the influence of Stereotypes about Parliamentarians and Behavioral Contagion on Political Participation, comparing two countries: Brazil and Sweden. Stereotypes were admitted to be useful to tell parliamentarians’ groups apart and predict their behavior. Behavioral Contagion was investigated as a possible catalyst of political action. Online questionnaires were administered to 984 Brazilians (37.4% women) and 879 Swedes (46.5% women). Structural Equation Modeling assessed relationships among variables. Behavioral Contagion played a pivotal role on predicting political engagement. Stereotypes predicted participation where they challenged commonsense: Brazilians usually cannot tell the difference among politicians, then those Brazilians who could were more politically engaged; in Sweden, the factor “corruption” predicts non-institutional types of Participation.
Keywords:
Political Participation; Stereotypes about Parliamentarians; Behavioral Contagion