EPRC Seminar: Flying the flag for Europe: The effect of exposure to the EU flag on public attitudes.

On 9 November, EPRC hosted a seminar by Prof Laura Cram and Dr Stratos Patrikios from the School of Government and Public Policy. They presented the results of their ESRC-funded research on real-life impact of subliminal exposure to EU symbols on political attitudes. They carried out online experiments with 4,350 participants in England, Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland and concluded that exposure to EU symbols does indeed affect attitudes. However, this effect only occurs when respondents consider the EU flag instrumentally/ functionally, the flag has no symbolic/ affective effect. Furthermore, it only occurs amongst Welsh and Scottish respondents. Amongst these respondents the EU flag does have a polarisation effect: an already existing positive attitude towards the EU will become even more positive, while negative attitudes will in turn become more negative. The presentation slides of the seminar are available http://www.eprc.strath.ac.uk/news/Flying_the_Flag_for_Europe_EPRC9NOv.pdf