How Government Stereotypes Affect Life Satisfaction: a Good Government Matters More Than a Government That Does Good

Abstract Many studies have noted the close relationship between the government and people’s life satisfaction. However, little literature has paid attention to the role of government stereotypes. This research fills this gap using two large samples of Chinese residents. In the first-phase study, we explored the content and structure of government stereotypes with a data-driven approach. We found that the content of government stereotypes consisted of four clusters: positive evaluations, negative evaluations, things about government duties, and things about the government system. Further, the content of government stereotypes could be distinguished based on two orthogonal dimensions: the valence (negative vs. positive) and the degree of generality (particularized vs. generalized). In the second-phase study, we examined how various dimensions of government stereotypes were related to life satisfaction. We found that people with more positive government stereotypes were more satisfied with life. This association was more potent when government stereotypes were more generalized (i.e., a good government at a higher construal level) than particularized (i.e., a government that does good at a lower construal level). Both studies of this research were repeatable within the two large samples. This research provided a new perspective for the literature on the relationship between government and life satisfaction and the interventions to improve life satisfaction.