When it comes to politics, reactions are often instant

A study published in the latest issue of Political Psychology reports on "hot cognition." The authors find that citizens instantly, in the milliseconds after being exposed to a political concept that they have previously been introduced to, feel a negative or positive affect. Their research posits that all political leaders, groups, issues, symbols and ideas that have been evaluated in the past become affectively charged (negatively or positively) to the point that the mere exposure to them brings a reaction that is appreciably faster than a conscious appraisal. "At the moment one realizes that the letters B-U-S-H in a news headline refer to the president and not to a plant, one's affect toward "W" Bush comes to mind along with his strongest cognitive associations" authors Milton Lodge and Charles S. Taber explain.