Supplemental Materials
Solution Aversion: On the Relation Between Ideology and Motivated Disbelief
by T. H. Campbell & A. C. Kay, 2014, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0037963
Study 2
Policy Manipulations: Speech Highlights Conditions From Study 2 (Full Stimuli)
Government regulation solution
The very bold Gary Waltson, a leader in global climate change, delivered a keynote
address in a climate conference on September 15, 2011.
Next you will see some quotes and highlights from his speech. Please read each quote
and advance the slides.
“When choosing a path that fixes the climate, we must also look to fix our world image at
the same time. We do not have a choice. If we don’t have a respectable image, we cannot solve
global climate change.” —Gary Waltson
”If America grows as a leader in restrictive environmental policy, we can improve our
world image.” —Gary Waltson
“Other countries will pass government regulations and ‘pollution taxes.’ America should
make sure we have the most stringent environment regulations and citizen pollution taxes. We
can export our environmental government policies to other countries like we have exported other
policies in the past.” —Gary Waltson
“To my critics I say I am comfortable with saving the climate and improving America’s
world standing. It is what is best for America.” —Gary Waltson
In his speech, Gary Waltson referenced the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC).
The IPCC reported that if mankind does not intervene there will be an approximate
increase of 3.2 degrees Fahrenheit in worldwide temperatures over the 21st century.
Additionally, they concluded that humans are responsible for most of the global change patterns.
Free-market friendly solution
The very bold Gary Waltson, a leader in global climate change, delivered a keynote
address in a climate conference on September 15, 2011.
Next you will see some quotes and highlights from his speech. Please read each quote
and advance the slides.
“When choosing a path that fixes the climate, we must also look to fix our economy at
the same time. We do not have a choice. If we don’t respect our economy, we cannot solve
global climate change.” —Gary Waltson
“If America grows as a leader in environmental friendly technologies, we can profit from
our superior technology in the world economy, plus create a surplus of private sector jobs.” —
Gary Waltson
“Other countries will want powerful, affordable, and environmentally friendly
technologies. America has the world’s most superior engineers, managers, employee work ethic,
and overall technology. We can export our environmental technologies at a very large profit to
other countries like we have exported other goods in the past.” —Gary Waltson
“To the critics I say I am comfortable with saving the world and making profits for
America at the same time. It is what is best for America.” —Gary Waltson
In his speech, Gary Waltson referenced the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC).
The IPCC reported that if mankind does not intervene there will be an approximate
increase of 3.2 degrees Fahrenheit in worldwide temperatures over the 21st century.
Additionally, they concluded that humans are responsible for most of the global change patterns.
Study 3
Policy Manipulations—Viewpoint Conditions From Study 3 (Full Stimuli)
Government regulation
On the next page you will read a short personal blog from writer Carl Stevenson. The
blog is titled: “Why the Government Must Step in to Reduce Pollution.” Carl Stevenson explains
why the Free Market is failing and the government needs to be involved to reduce pollution.
[Page Break]
April 14, 2014
There is a problem with air quality in America. The solution is government regulation.
The government must step in to reduce pollution. The free market is not working to solve this
problem. This would include a restriction on car manufactures that would require them to reduce
pollution. Even if the solution was somewhat costly to the manufacturer, they would still be
required to implement it. An example of how government regulation like this works is the food
recalls issued by the Food and Drug Administration when there is a food-borne disease outbreak.
When a Hepatitis A outbreak in Dallas was traced to a contaminated fruit blend, an FDA recall, a
form of government regulation, prevented more people from falling ill.
Free market friendly
On the next page you will read a short personal blog from writer Carl Stevenson. The
blog is titled: “Why the Free Market Can Reduce Pollution.” Carl Stevenson explains why the
free market is a tool that can help reduce car pollution.
[Page Break]
April 14, 2014
There is a problem with air quality in America. The solution to is the free market and
education. If car buyers are informed about how certain cars cause pollution, they will demand
cars that cause less pollution. Once people learn about how car pollution is causing these
problems, people will begin to demand change from car makers. Consider the case of pesticides
in fruit. Years ago, the public learned about how much harmful pesticides there were in fruit.
Immediately, they started to demand fruit with fewer or no pesticides at all. Today, fruit is much
cleaner and healthier. As you can see, education and the free market together lead to positive
results. So the solution to this car pollution problem is simple: we need to make the public aware
of the car pollution problem so the free market can work its magic through customer demands.
Study 4
Policy Manipulations—Viewpoint Conditions From Study 4 (Full Stimuli)
Anti-gun control condition
The short piece below summarizes a popular viewpoint on this topic.
Main Argument: Intruder violence demonstrates the importance of allowing homeowners
to own guns and protect themselves.
In 2013, a few stories made the news about homeowners who were killed by thieves. The
thieves broke into the houses and ended up killing some homeowners through acts of physical
violence, such as beating or stabbing.
In a few of these instances, local laws prevented the homeowners from obtaining guns in
a timely fashion. Thus, the homeowners had no way to defend themselves when the intruders
broke in.
According to some analysts, restrictive gun control laws prevented the homeowners from
acquiring defense weapons that would have saved their lives. In many of these cases, the
homeowners had moved into new neighborhoods and had just become aware of local
violence. Therefore they wanted guns for home protection but were attacked before the legal
waiting period for the gun was up. An analyst concluded that the law had left homeowners
defenseless.
Gun control friendly condition
Main Argument: Intruder violence demonstrates the dangers of guns and weak gun
control.
In 2013, a few stories made the news about homeowners who were killed by thieves. The
thieves broke into the homeowners’ houses and ended up killing the homeowners, usually with
guns.
In many of those cases, the thieves gained access to guns due to loose gun control laws.
Some analysts have argued that the gun control laws in America are too loose, which allows
guns to fall into the hands of dangerous criminals.
According to some analysts, easy access to guns let these dangerous criminals acquire
guns. Ultimately, this easy access to guns caused the death of the homeowners. The analysts
concluded that if stricter gun control laws had been in place, the intruders may never have
acquired the guns and would have never killed the homeowners.