Negativity bias in welfare policy feedback effects on mass publics
利用中国最低生活保障计划的面板数据，研究发现福利减少比增加更能显著影响低收入群体的政策认知和政治参与，证实了心理学中的负面偏见效应。
Abstract Extant studies on policy feedback effects have examined how a welfare increase, rather than a decrease, might shape policy attitudes or political engagement. Nevertheless, exploring the effects of welfare decrease on the mass public is significant because of its increasingly crucial relevance to public policy practices worldwide. Using a unique longitudinal national panel survey dataset (2015–2017) related to China's Minimum Living Standard Guarantee Program, this study examines how welfare program benefits influence the policy perceptions and political participation of more than 10,000 economically disadvantaged respondents. A series of analyses showed that all else being equal, starting to receive program benefits in a year does not necessarily produce a positive effect on policy perceptions or on political participation. However, being deprived of program benefits in a year has a significantly negative effect on policy perceptions and political participation. These findings concur with the negativity bias proposed in the psychology literature and contribute to the understanding of the micro‐level foundations of welfare policy feedback effects on the mass public.