Reward devaluation of the 2024 U.S. presidential election

Abstract

This study investigated how expectations regarding the relationship between positivity and negativity, via reward devaluation theory (RDT), may have informed election behaviors for registered Democrats during the 2024 U.S. presidential election. We also explored related cognitive/affective processes by collecting information regarding participants’ social identities (e.g., race, class, gender), experiences (e.g., activism participation), depression symptoms, and beliefs (e.g., political cynicism, social justice orientation). Participating Democrats were gathered via social media ads ( N = 106, 80.2% white, 42.5% cis‐female). We found that those likely to devalue reward (measured via fear of happiness (FHS; Joshanloo, 2013)) reported having been less likely to vote for Biden‐Harris but more likely to vote for Harris‐Walz, Δ R ² = .03, F (1, 102) = 7.58, 𝛽 = –.030, SE = .011, t = ‐2.75, p = .007. We also found that FHS was positively associated with likelihood of voting third‐party before Biden stepped down, rho = .243, p = .012. We discuss unpredicted findings and exploratory analyses. Overall, these findings suggest reward devaluation offers a promising avenue for future research to explore how aversions to positivity can shape democratic participation.