Shaping voting intentions: An experimental study on the role of information in the Scottish independence referendum

In a context of expanded media choice, understanding how voters select and interpret information to make voting decisions acquires substantial relevance. Drawing on former research in political psy-chology and political behaviour, the present study explores how provision of information affects voting intentions in the context of the Scottish independence referendum, by adopting a between-subjects experimental design. Results show that provision of information a) reduces indecision about how to vote, especially when subjects are able to select the arguments to read; b) increases the likelihood to vote Yes, especially when subjects are confronted with a balanced set of arguments; c) interacts with individual-level elements and increases the likelihood to vote Yes especially among those who are more politically active and more emotionally involved in the issue of independence. Provision of information also slightly increases the likelihood to vote No, but this occurs in general only when subjects are able to select the arguments to read and only in a very few cases. At the the-oretical level, results provide further evidence supporting the mechanism of selective exposure and the so-called ‘prior attitude effect’, but highlight the need to interpret these mechanisms within a broader framework which takes into account individual-level mediating factors.