ORIGINAL PAPER
On-line and Memory-based: Revisiting the Relationship
Between Candidate Evaluation Processing Models
Young Mie Kim
•
Kelly Garrett
Published online: 22 February 2011
Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011
Abstract Reexamining the relationship between the on-line and memory-based
information processing models, this study presents a theoretical basis for the
co-occurrence of on-line and memory-based processes and proposes a hybrid model.
The study empirically tests the hybrid model by employing real-time tracking of
participants’ reactions to two candidates in a US presidential primary election
debate. The findings confirm an independent, but complementary relationship
between on-line and memory-based information processing in an individual’s
candidate evaluation and vote choice. The co-occurrence of the two modes applies
to an individual’s comparison of candidates as well. The implications of the hybrid
model for the functioning of democracy are discussed.
Keywords Hybrid model Á On-line information processing Á Memory-based
information processing Á Candidate evaluation Á Vote choice Á
Presidential election debate
Scholarly perspectives on information processing are diverse, but two contrasting
models are most prominent in political psychology: the memory-based and on-line
processing models. The memory-based model asserts that individuals form their
opinions at the time of judgment, retrieving relevant information from long-
term memory (Kelley and Mirer 1974; Zaller 1992; Zaller and Feldman 1992).
Y. M. Kim (&)
University of Wisconsin-Madison, 5115 Vilas Hall, 821 University Avenue, Madison,
WI 53706, USA
e-mail: ymkim5@wisc.edu
K. Garrett
Ohio State University, 3016 Derby Hall, 154 N. Oval Mall, Columbus, USA
e-mail: garrett.258@osu.edu
123
Polit Behav (2012) 34:345–368
DOI 10.1007/s11109-011-9158-9
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