Sticking with Your Vote: Cognitive Dissonance and Political Attitudes
研究发现，投票行为会通过认知失调机制强化选民对候选人的正面评价，投票适龄人群在总统选举两年后的观点极化程度是同龄不适龄人群的两到三倍。
Cognitive dissonance theory predicts that the act of voting for a candidate leads to a more favorable opinion of the candidate in the future. We find support for the empirical relevance of cognitive dissonance to political attitudes. We examine the presidential opinion ratings of voting-age eligibles and ineligibles two years after the president's election. We find that eligibles show two to three times greater polarization of opinions than comparable ineligibles. We find smaller effects when we compare polarization in opinions of senators elected during high turnout presidential campaign years with senators elected during nonpresidential campaign years.