Technology in Society 62 (2020) 101279

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Technology in Society
journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/techsoc

Determinants of political behavior and the role of technology in the

classroom: An empirical investigation in Brazil
Francisco Antonio Coelho Junior a, *, Helga Hedler b, Cristiane Faiad c,
Pedro Marques-Quinteiro d
a
Department of Administration, University of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil
b
Master in Strategic Management of Organizations, Institute of Higher Education of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil
c
Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil
d
William James Center for Research, ISPA- Instituto Universit� ario, Lisboa, Portugal

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: University professors face numerous challenges, especially when teaching issues related to political behavior.
Political attitudes Recent studies in Brazil have shown that technology, clarity of information and impartial debates in the class­
Social representations room have led to the development of more frequent political behaviors among Brazilian students. However, this
Political behavior
research subject remains poorly addressed in Brazil. We investigated the development of political attitudes and
Brazil
Genesis of attitudes
political behavior of undergraduate students in Brasília, Brazil. We applied questionnaires to students (N ¼ 349)
in undergraduate courses (social, exact and health sciences) of a public university in Brasília (Federal District),
capital of Brazil. Principal Components Analysis was used and three dimensions of political attitudes were
created: (i) Degree of political knowledge Factor (PK), (ii) Positive Feelings about Politics Factor (PFP) and (ii)
Negative Feelings about Politics Factor (NFP). The results suggest that students from social sciences under­
graduate courses have a higher PK average in comparison to other student groups. Moreover, a linear regression
model was developed for PFP factor. For PFP and NFP, the students from the social sciences areas were statis­
tically significant (p < 0.05). Based on the outcomes of this study, we argue that it is essential for teachers to be
aware of the importance of introducing themes related to political behavior in the classroom, considering the
influence that political attitudes have on political behavior. It is the professor’s role to stimulate impartial
debate, free of personal preferences while presenting arguments from the students’ arguments, in order to
promote the scientific understanding of these subjects.

1. Introduction The development of the research area concerning political attitude

In 2018, the level of electoral abstention reached the highest record
since 1998: 20.3% [1]. Such high levels suggest the Brazilian society’s
disengagement from the democratic process. This is a phenomenon also
observed in other countries in South America and Europe.
Studies on the relationship between the factors of individual differ­
ences and political behavior are rare [2], with most studies examining
what variables influence political behavior, namely personality traits,
political interest, adherence to democratic values and its effects on
human behavior [3,4]. In the particular case of Brazil, little research has
been carried out to identify the influence of political attitudes on the
political behavior of university students [5,6].
has been characterized by dominant paradigms of social psychology,
philosophy, political psychology and political science. The influence of
virtual social media on the behavior of young Brazilians is decisive. The
political behavior of young people has been expressed virtually through
their social media network technology.
The role of technology has determined the formation of political
behaviors among young Brazilians. Several undergraduate courses are
offered in the hybrid mode (Massive Open Online Course, Mooc) in
which in the online discussion forums students express their opinion
about values, policies and other variables discussed in the virtual
forums.
Hence, the study of the mechanisms related to the formation of

* Corresponding author. Campus Universit� ario Darcy Ribeiro, Faculdade de Administraç~

ao, Economia, Contabilidade e Gest~ ao de Políticas Públicas (FACE),
Departamento de Administraç~ ao, Programa de P�
os-Graduaç~
ao em Administraç~ao, CEP: 70910900, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil. ,
E-mail addresses: fercoepsi@gmail.com, acoelho@unb.br (F.A. Coelho Junior).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101279
Received 4 June 2019; Received in revised form 19 May 2020; Accepted 22 May 2020
Available online 1 June 2020
0160-791X/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
F.A. Coelho Junior et al.
attitudes, values and political behavior is a necessary and interdisci­
plinary research topic [5,7]. An attitude refers to a set of emotions,
beliefs, and behaviors towards a particular object, person, thing, or
event, and they are often the result of experience or upbringing that can
have a powerful influence over behavior [8].
Attitudes are abstract concepts deriving from unconscious and
conscious processes of attitude formation and change [9], including
cognitive processes, communication, motivation, personal judgments,
affective components and the influence of the attitude on behavior (e.g.
Refs. [10,11]. Attitude is key to the formation of stereotypes and prej­
udice [12], and drive the behavior of individuals and social groups [10,
13].
Regarding political attitudes, these are a permanent disposition to
behave and think in a certain way about a political phenomenon. Ac­
cording to Kahne and Sporte [14]; the engagement and participation in
some type of political movement should be considered as
attitudes-forming variable in accordance with the individuals’ under­
graduate course. We believe that the role of education is fundamental in
the development of political attitudes, especially considering the trou­
bled phase (adolescence and early adulthood) of student development
when students are faced with the development of ethical and moral is­
sues [15].
Following Pasek, Feldman, Romer and Jamieson [16]; and Campbell
[17]; we argue that discussions in undergraduate classrooms about
politics and political behavior are likely to influence differences in stu­
dents’ perceptions, and will be decisive in shaping their political atti­
tudes. We believe that the culture of academic disciplines will stimulate
the development (or change) of political attitudes among Brazilian un­
dergraduate students [18,19].
There is strong evidence which indicate that the education level [20,
21] and the field of study [22,23] influence student’s political attitudes.
For Miguel, Kremer and Thornton [24]; education broadens horizons
beyond family, provides access to media and information and empowers
people to act collectively to make demands on the state. Accordingly, in
this study our goal is to examine the effect that the education level and
the field of study may have on the political attitudes of Brazilian un­
dergraduate students.
When debate is more frequent and encourages students’ critical
thinking, students will probably develop more sophisticated categories
of thought than students who rarely do so [7]. Dialectics in the pre­
sentation of arguments [25] that are favorable or against the importance
of politics in our lives will surely influence the formation of more
complex mental models of political thinking [26]. Those who argue little
tend to develop little empathy, and do not form relevant and scientific
critical judgment in relation to the point studied are more likely to
develop stronger political attitudes.
Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to measure political
attitudes of Brazilian students and possible empirical relationships with
their political behaviors. We consider the premise that the political
behavior of the researched sample of students will be influenced by the
type of attitudes they manifest towards politics.
In the specific context of this work, we intend to investigate how
attitudes of Brazilian undergraduate students are stimulated by debates
and discussions held in their undergraduate classrooms. We argue that
the maintenance of legitimacy of Brazilian democracy involves the
students’ awareness about politics [27,28].
Considering the overall objective, we will present evidence of in­
ternal validity and Brazilian scale construct that we use to measure
political attitudes and political behaviors. We will present evidence of
factor analysis regarding the accuracy, reliability and internal consis­
tency of the measurement. As our overall objective presupposes a
comparison between student group perceptions, tests of differences
between means will also be performed to verify the pattern of intra and
intergroup responses.
The role of the undergraduate classrooms, in our vision, is imperative
in aiding the maintenance of democratic systems. Stimulating
2
Technology in Society 62 (2020) 101279
discussions, there will probably be greater social participation in poli­
tics, as will be discussed below.
2. Theoretical background
2.1. Social participation in politics
Social participation derives from the development of the concept of
active citizenship. It is difficult to reflect on experiences of social
participation without interpreting it together with the political culture
and the structures of socioeconomic inequality of each context in Brazil
[28,29]. Thus, the role of education is fundamental.
Another important factor is that the Brazilian democracy is very
recent achievement (since 1985, as [2,6]. We point to some limitations
related to the little transparent debate about political behavior in the
context of undergraduate classrooms [30,31]. Students are not encour­
aged to reflect on politics in Brazil. Political debate is surrounded by
various influences, and students confuse politics with political parties
[32].
The type of information students receive will certainly influence
their social categorization in relation to what ‘political behavior’ means.
Students will rank their social attitudes to politics on the basis of their
degree of clarity and discernment on the subject. Their political mental
models should be influenced by the complexity and nature of the in­
formation they receive [33,34] in the classroom environment.
The teachers’ encouragement needs to be continuous. The informa­
tion needs to be more reliable [35], discussed thoroughly among stu­
dents. Without discussions, students may form misconceptions or
limited views about politics. It will be up to high-level education to
unravel barriers and facilitate understanding, thus allowing unrestricted
access to knowledge.
In Brazil undergraduate courses are based on higher education sys­
tems inspired by the French model, and usually refer to the student’s
first university degree. Undergraduate courses are also associated with
the idea of higher education and technical-scientific training. It is
through an undergraduate course, in Brazil, that the individual has the
possibility to pursue his/her chosen profession, or to go further with a
master’s and doctoral degree. The plural formation, therefore, is widely
desired in undergraduate courses, showing the student the diverse optics
to analyze the same problem. In Brazil, higher education is mainly an
instrument of professional training. It seeks higher level professionalism
or prepares students to start an academic career. Higher education is
developed in public and private universities. In the case of this study, the
locus of research was done at the University of Brasília, one of the most
important public universities in Brazil, as shown below.
2.2. Higher education, in Brazil
The University of Brasília is one of the largest and most influential in
Brazil, and has more than 60 undergraduate courses, offered in face-to-
face classes or distance education modalities. We believe that depending
on the undergraduate course the student chooses, social attitudes will be
less or more developed and stimulated in the classroom. It is expected
they will have different political and social attitudes towards politic
behavior.
It is not our intention here to simplify or exhaust the subject. But, as
new arguments against what they think are presented, students are
encouraged to reflect on the subject, cognitively perfecting their judg­
ment on the subject [9]. It will be up to the teacher, in the daily routine
of the classroom, to encourage the transparent debate on the subject,
given that as a human being, political behavior is an essential part of our
personality [36,37].
The culture of education needs to bring this debate to the forefront.
In Brazil, according to Carneiro et al. [36]; with a relatively recent de­
mocracy (since 1985, when the Brazil had its first direct presidential
election), this need becomes even more important. Our point is that the
F.A. Coelho Junior et al. Technology in Society 62 (2020) 101279

Brazilian pedagogy, in general, still encounters limitations imposed by
retrograde ideas. Although autonomous, the Brazilian public univer­
sities still lack more transparency to discuss, without biases, political
ideologies. It is important not to take sides - either one side or the other
(whether republican or democrat, for example), developing the capacity
for empathy. It is indispensable to conduct this discussion without
precipitated judgment.
The distinction between politics and political parties must always be
at the center of the debate. The concept of political, cultural and psy­
chological attitudes is essential in this context. As discussed by See, Petty
and Fabrigar [38]; Maxwell-Smith and Esses [39]; and Albarracín and
McNatt [40]; some characteristics regarding the formation of social
groups, such as the identification/projection of feelings and values
among its members, social structure and the role of leadership must be
taken into consideration in the analysis of variables related to the for­
mation of political attitudes. Other variables (according to Refs. [41] are
related to individual behavior, implicit and explicit behavioral norms,
common interests and values and their social purpose, among other
variables. These variables should be studied in the light of concepts of
political attitudes considering the role played by political discussions in
the classroom between teachers and students.
We believe that in Brazil the political-pedagogical projects in fact
need to incorporate the political debate in the classrooms of under­
graduate courses. Considering different ways in order to articulate the
need to fit multiple creeds [42]. The present paper aims to raise stu­
dents’ opinions about how much they are encouraged to develop po­
litical attitudes, and how much classroom discussion influences their
political behavior.
As we stated earlier, the main objective was to identify and analyze
students’ political attitudes related to politics and their relationship with
their political behaviors. More specifically, we wanted to explore if the
type of undergraduate course the student is involved in influences the
development of his/her political attitudes. We believe that courses in the
social sciences will develop more political skills than courses in the
health sciences and exact sciences. The scientific disciplines, in courses
of the social area, should contemplate political debate in the planning of
the classes and other curricular activities. This takes place because the
content of their subjects is expected to be more in line with this dis­
cussion about politics.
3. Materials and methods
3.1. The University of Brasília
Located in Brazil, the University of Brasília is one of the most
outstanding and recognized Brazilian higher education institutions. It
has a great standing in the educational Brazilian reality. Its physical
structure consists of various laboratories, colleges, departments, in­
stitutes, and research centers. It is estimated that, every day, almost 50
thousand people (among workers, teachers and students) circulate
around UnB’s campus.
Specifically, this research was carried out with a sample of 349
students distributed in three great undergraduate courses, differentiated
a list of emails given by the departments of the undergraduate courses
researched, at University of Brasília.
We received answers from students from over 80 different under­
graduate courses. In order to facilitate the statistical analyses carried
out, we classified and recodified each of the courses in three major areas
of knowledge: undergraduate courses in the area of social sciences,
health sciences and exact sciences.
3.2. The participating students
The total sample (N ¼ 349) consisted of, in general, men (50.8%).
The majority were undergraduate students from the social sciences (N ¼
188), followed by the exact sciences (N ¼ 105) and, finally, health sci­
ences (N ¼ 56).
It was also verified, considering the total sample, that 48.3% re­
ported talking sporadically about politics. Only 11.5% affirmed a daily
dialogue. An overwhelming majority (87%) considered that it is through
politics that there is democracy, and people can access their rights as
citizens.
Of the 349 participants, 83.3% stated that they are not currently
engaged in any Brazilian political movement. For 76.1% of the partici­
pants, the main source of access to political news is through various
websites, especially Brazilian non-scientific journals. For 77.9% of the
respondents politics is very important to their life. Another 83%
considered that politics in Brazil is in a scenario far removed from the
real interests of Brazil civil society.
To illustrate the arguments presented here, it was also verified that
the great majority affirm that the function of politics is to meet the
welfare needs of the population. In Brazil, people confuse politics with
political party. For instance, only 23% affirmed that the Brazilian po­
litical scenario lives a moment of respect and appreciation of Ethics.
In Table 1 the results are demonstrated by differentiating students by
area of undergraduate courses (social sciences, health sciences and exact
sciences).
According to Table 1, students in health and exact science under­
graduate courses are related to discussing less policy-related issues in
comparison with students in social sciences courses. There is, in
particular, a clearly positive perception of the role of politics in life in
society; however, there is a negative feeling of disbelief and negative
attitudes towards politics and public managers [36]. The Brazilian
population complies with the norms, in which codes and sanctions
determine the social behavior in society. The historical culture of
conformism [43] is changing very slowly according to Brazilian citi­
zenship, and thus asserts traces stemming from a culture of historically
instituted exploration since the times of colonization.
Table 1
Students’ sex, age, and perceptions about school context and mandatory votinga.
social health exact
sciences (N sciences (N sciences (N
¼ 188) ¼ 56) ¼ 105)

by area (social, health and exact undergraduate courses). They were Sex Male 47,3 44,6 71,4
invited to spontaneously participate in the research. The research in­ Female 52,7 55,4 28,6
Age 16–19 17,6 35,7 41,9
strument was digitalized in electronic format and made available on the
20–23 50 37,5 46,8
googledocs platform. 24–27 23,4 16,2 8,6
An individual e-mail was sent to the likely respondents of the 28–31 4,7 7,2 1,7
research, containing a link to the attitudes instrument accompanied by a 32 or more 4,3 3,4 1
letter of awareness whose content was intended to motivate their How often do you Daily 18,6 7,1 3,8
talk or debate Often 38,3 39,3 32,4
participation. This letter of awareness described the research objectives, about politics in Sporadically 39,9 50 61
also emphasizing the importance of spontaneous participation and the the classroms? Never 3,2 3,6 2,9
relevance and necessity of the responses to be consistent with the re­ Is it favorable to the Yes 22,3 16,1 10,5
spondent’s sincere opinion. Another essential aspect of the awareness- mandatory voting, No 77,7 83,9 89,5
in Brazil?
raising letter was the assurance of confidentiality of the opinions
expressed by the respondents. The e-mails were sent to the students from a
Total: 100%.

3
F.A. Coelho Junior et al.
3.3. Aspects about the brazilian measure
We used the Brazilian social attitude of students’ scale towards
politics, by Coelho Junior, Faiad, Baesse, Castro, Haddad-Alves and
Alves [44]. The psychometric indicators of the first factorial validation
are presented below.
The KMO was 0.81, with psychometric indicators considered
adequate to the measurement of political attitudes. Three empirical
factors were identified: degree of political knowledge (factorial loads
between 0.31 and 0.82, alpha ¼ 0.82, eigenvalue ¼ 5.07 and explained
variance ¼ 18.78%), feelings about politics (factorial loads between
0.41 and 0.58, alpha ¼ 0.72, eigenvalue ¼ 3.17 and explained variance
¼ 11.73%) and intentions of political behavior (factorial loads between
0.70 and 0.72, alpha ¼ 0.80, eigenvalue ¼ 1.8 and explained variance ¼
6.8%).
These questions concerned what the individual knew about politics
and the role of public managers, as well as the type of feeling aroused
and the behaviors manifested in relation to the objects under analysis.
The first factor, “Degree of Knowledge about Politics” identifies what
this phenomenon means or represents to the individual. It refers to the
individual’s perception of their conceptions, their importance, their
usefulness and their relationships with the establishment of the com­
munity’s shared desires (meeting collective needs). The items were
associated with a Likert frequency scale, in which 1 (one) corresponded
to “Totally disagree” and 10 (ten) to “Totally agree".
The second, “Positive Emotions or Affections on Politics” refers to the
kind of feeling aroused by politics on individuals. Affections and positive
emotions towards politics were considered in this factor. Positive af­
fections were transformed into items. The third factor, “Negative Emo­
tions or Political Affections” refers to negative feelings. Negative
feelings were measured.
The second part of questionnaire had 2 statements (yes or no) about
the students’ political behavior (‘Are you engaged or participating in any
political movement?’; and ‘Is it favorable to the mandatory voting?’). In
addition to these variables, we employed different data as indicators and
as comparison groups. In this regard, items as gender, age and frequency
of conversation about politics were considered. The models were also
controlled according to the student’s undergraduate course. All answers
were tabulated in SPSS v. 21, from the questionnaires. Then, we per­
formed descriptive statistics for all 26 questions related to social atti­
tudes and political behavior. For the statistical analyses carried out
(descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis - principal components
analysis, and the development of linear regression model), we followed
the same procedures adopted by Teixeira [42].
4. Results and discussion
As previously discussed, we carried out a Brazilian scale (to measure
political attitudes and political behavior) using 26 statements within the
questionnaire to evaluate beliefs and judgments about political attitudes
and political behavior.
In order to assess whether the difference between the responses in
both university students from undergraduate courses are statistically
significant, we used two different tests: Levene’s test and Mann-Whitney
U test. The differences are significant for questions 8, 25, 35 and 39. For
statement 8, students from social undergraduate courses accept more
than those from the health areas (p < 0.005, r ¼ 0.624) and less than
those from the exact areas (p < 0.005, r ¼ 0.195) the idea that the
access to information is a factor that determines people’s participation
in politics. For statement 25, students from social undergraduate courses
accept less than those from health sciences (p < 0.005, r ¼ - 0.291) and
exact sciences (p < 0.005, r ¼ - 0.282) that politics must serve de­
mocracy. For statement 35, students from social undergraduate courses
accept less than those from health (p < 0.005, r ¼ - 0.111) and more
those from exact areas (p < 0.005, r ¼ 0.083) the idea that politics is
important for the development of a Country. Students from health
4
Technology in Society 62 (2020) 101279
undergraduate courses are more inclined to consider that politics is
important for the Country than students from exact undergraduate
courses (p < 0.005, r ¼ 0.194). Finally, for statement 39, students from
social undergraduate courses accept less than those from health sciences
(p < 0.005, r ¼ - 0.182) and more than students from exact under­
graduate sciences (p < 0.005, r ¼ 0.510) that the Brazilian political
scenario lives a moment of respect and appreciation of Ethics. As the test
results were not significant for the other statements, the difference be­
tween both student groups was not statistically significant.
In order to create a political attitude index, we performed the
exploratory factorial analysis with all 26 variables indicated above. We
used the oblimin rotation, assuming theoretically the possible existence
of correlation between the factors. We assigned scores from 1 to 10,
according to the corresponding marking. We emphasize, here, that the
sample of this research is different from the original scale (more infor­
mation can be found in Ref. [44].
We also observed three factors, but with a different number of items:
the first and the second involve positive written statements, and the
third one has negative written statements. The empirical results of factor
analysis are summarized in Table 2.
For the first factor, we used statements 3, 6, 7, 8, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28,
29, 35, 36 and 37. This first factor reflects the Degree of political
knowledge (PK). For this factor, the higher a student’s score, the higher
the knowledge about politics and its surrounding aspects. The second
factor is composed of 10 affirmatives (2, 9, 14, 20, 30, 31, 32, 34, 38 and
39) and indicates positive emotions and favorable political affections
(PFP). For this factor, the higher the score, the more positive the feelings
about politics in Brazil. Finally, the third factor (NFP) is composed of
statements 16, 17 and 18. This factor indicates negative feelings about
politics in Brazil. The higher score indicates greater dissatisfaction with
Brazilian politics. This can be considered a theoretical factor, even with
the smaller number of items compared to the other factors. No multi­
collinearity was found between the items, the correlations are at
acceptable levels, and they make theoretical sense regarding the inves­
tigated construct.
In order to compare PK, PFP and NFP factors by the type of under­
graduate course, we present the means, standard deviations and me­
dians for these variables (Table 3).
When comparing the factors among the different undergraduates’
groups, using Kruskal-Wallis’ H test, we found no significant differences
among them. It may be that the size of the groups did not guarantee
sufficient variability in the testing of the general factors. According to
Field (2009), when we found a statistically significant difference be­
tween groups or between treatments, we infer that these differences
should not be attributed to chance (or to error or to uncontrolled fac­
tors), but to the greater effects of some of the groups or treatments. We
can conclude, from the theory of probabilities, that the differences we
tested here were not significant. We emphasize that there was no dif­
ference between the groups tested when considering the general factors.
We identified statistically significant differences (as reported in the
Tables) between specific political attitudes between the tested groups.
Differences were identified between groups of people who remem­
bered who had voted in the last Brazilian elections and the kind of
affection aroused by Brazilian social and political reality. We also
analyzed the variance between groups differentiated by the fact that
they are favorable or not to the obligation of mandatory voting here in
Brazil. Table 4 shows the results concerning the means and dispersion
measurements.
The psychological and social identification of the respondents of this
research in relation to the development of social attitudes in the Bra­
zilian context causes certain behaviors to be emitted. These attitudes are
developed according to the importance the participants of this research
give to political engagement and greater political commitment. A
striking result shows that segments of the Brazilian population are
already participating more effectively in social causes and political
movements. These results are illustrated in Table 5.
F.A. Coelho Junior et al. Technology in Society 62 (2020) 101279

Table 2 Table 3
Empirical evidence of factorial validity and indicators. Descriptive statistics for PK, PFP and NFP Factors.
Components matrix PK PFP NFP Total Mean Standard Median
Factor Factor Factor deviation

27. Politics is important to the development of 0.843 Degree of political knowledge 349 7.78 1.402 8
Brazil as a nation. Factor (PK).
35. Politics is important for the development of 0.724 Positive Feelings about Politics 349 3.71 1.339 3.60
a Country. Factor (PFP).
36. It is important the effective participation of 0.612 Negative Feelings about Politics 349 6.20 1.989 6.33
citizens in matters related to political Factor (NFP).
decision-making.
25. Politics must serve democracy. 0.557
26. Ethics and politics are related concepts. 0.531
37. Politics refers to the art of governing and 0.531 Table 4
using power to uphold the rights of Mean and std. deviation about political attitudes.
citizenship.
Variables N Mean Std. Std. error mean
29. It is through politics that people can access 0.522
deviation
their rights as citizens
7. It is through politics that we can have 0.457 Knowledge about politics 349 7,73 1,25 0,07
democracy. Positive feelings about politics 349 3,71 1,34 0,07
8. Access to information is a factor that 0.451 Negative feelings about politics 349 6,65 1,64 0,09
determines people’s participation in politics.
6. The function of politics is to defend collective 0.442 Source: own survey data.
interests of society.
24. Politics in Brazil is in a scenario far from the 0.424
real services for the interests of civil society. Table 5
28. Those who have political participation have 0.412 Analysis of variance with test t of favorable or contrary to mandatory voting and
more knowledge of social reality. if remembers in those who voted in last Brazilian elections.
3. To understand that politics goes beyond the 0.401
National Congress makes people engage Sig. t df 95% confidence
more. interval of the
39. The Brazilian political scenario lives a 0.651 difference
moment of respect and appreciation of Ethics.
Lower Upper
31. The State is efficient in the planning and 0.647
execution of public policies. Knowledge about politics ,000 115,71 348 7,59 7,86
34. The State is efficient in the execution of 0.616 Positive feelings about politics ,000 51,71 348 3,56 3,85
public financial resource. Negative feelings about politics ,000 75,53 348 6,48 6,82
32. Political institutions in Brazil have 0.566 Do you agree with the mandatory ,000 8,67 348 ,14 ,22
credibility. votes in Brazil?
9. Those who dedicate themselves to politics 0.544 Do you remember who did you vote ,000 14,55 348 ,33 ,43
have an interest in working to serve the for last Brazilian elections?
community.
38. People get involved in politics because they 0.524
believe in its importance.
30. In Brazil, I believe that people know how 0.492 Table 6
important politics is to their lives. Analysis of variance by ANOVA for feelings about politics, if remember who
20. People get involved in politics for passion. 0.459 voted last Brazilian elections and opinion about mandatory voting in Brazil.
14. Engagement is the most common feeling 0.413
Sum of Df Mean F Sig.
toward politics.
Squares Square
2. People are dedicated to politics because they 0.410
understand that it’s fundamental to human Agree/disagree with Between 11,79 60 ,20 1,44 0,03
life. the mandatory Groups
16. Anyone who engages in politics does so for 0.884 votes in Brazil * Within 39,20 288 ,14
personal reasons, and takes advantage of it. Positive feelings Groups
17. Those who dedicate themselves to politics 0.805 about politics Total 50,99 348
do so to have fame and prestige. Remember/don’t Between 21,38 60 ,36 1,69 0,00
18. In Brazil, people engage in politics to satisfy 0.756 remember who Groups
their own interests. voted* Positive Within 60,69 288 ,21
feelings about Groups
% explained variance 21.303 13.721 8.893
politics Total 82,07 348
KMO 0.848 0.841 0.724
Agree/disagree with Between 7,91 40 ,20 1,41 0,05
Crombach’s Alpha 0.841 0.806 0.860
the mandatory Groups
Eigenvalue 6.614 4.341 2.573
votes in Brazil * Within 43,07 308 ,14
Number of items 13 10 3
Negative feelings Groups
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis (oblimin rotation). about politics Total 50,99 348
Only loads higher than 0.40 are shown.

these variables related? Is there any effect evocated by their dynamic

Statistical differences were identified between groups that are
interaction? It is necessary to specify the context in which each variable
favorable to the obligation of mandatory voting here in Brazil and
takes place, establishing relationships among their hierarchical levels. It
positive social attitudes and political affections. According to Renno �
may be that in contexts favorable to mandatory voting, people have a
[28]; Saad-Filho [27] and Brunnelli (2015), there is an initial political
more favorable attitude toward politics [32]. These context factors need
maturity of the Brazilian people that has evolved the citizens’s collective
to be broken down in the light of multilevel modeling to be better un­
behaviors. More effective social participation of the population is
derstood in terms of their statistical effect size.
necessary.
Brazilian political actors, when deciding to participate, may have
Curiously, the respondents who forgot they voted last elections have
very different objectives, such as self-promotion, citizenship, democratic
more negative social attitudes and affects towards politics. How are

5
F.A. Coelho Junior et al.
rules, control of bureaucratic power, negotiation or even a progressive
change of political culture. According to the results, there is a significant
crisis in the credibility on Brazilian democracy [28].
The data reveal the Brazilian voters’ relative political apathy,
considerable popular disregard for public affairs and high levels of
corruption in public administration. There is a demand from Brazilian
civil society for the renewal of government-society relations and a
redefinition of political representation, since traditional representation
is increasingly distant from the will of the represented population (see
Table 6).
4.1. Construction of linear regression models for PK, PFP and NFP factors
A linear regression model was created. The dependent variable is PFP
Factor and, in the second, NFP Factor. In order to ensure no multi­
collinearity between PFP and NFP factors, correlations were performed
between them. There is significant correlation ( 0.124, p < 0.005), but
a small one (less than 0.8), which means that they are related, however
not evaluating the same dimension. Several variables were tested for the
model (Table 7). In the development of the regression model for PFP
factor, all variables were tested. Only PK factor, the variable ‘do you
remember who you voted for in last Brazilian elections?’ and the vari­
able ‘Are you in favor of mandatory voting in Brazil’ have a significant
statistical association.
All variables have a positive association. In other words, the higher
the PK factor, and those who remember who they voted for in the last
Brazilian elections, the higher the number of those who disagree with
mandatory voting in Brazil. In other words, this means that the students
who know more about politics, who remember who they voted for in the
last Brazilian elections and who are against mandatory voting in Brazil,
have more positive feelings related to politics. Their political attitudes
are more favorable. These are undergraduate students in courses in the
areas of social and exact sciences, according to the data presented in
Table 1. No other variables presented statistically significant co­
efficients. This is an interesting result, since in undergraduate courses,
where there are more debates about politics, political attitudes are more
positive and may have the power to influence their political behavior.
The discussions in the classroom seem to have had an effect on the
participants of this study. The results show that education and the type
of undergraduate course influences a student’s accomplishments in
relation to the development of more favorable political attitudes.
Table 7 summarizes the model’s data.
5. Conclusion
The main objective of this paper was to measure political attitudes of
Brazilian students and possible empirical relationships with their polit­
ical behaviors. We found that the political behavior of the researched
sample of students influenced the type of attitudes they manifest to­
wards politics.
More specifically, the results of this research showed that, on
average, undergraduate students in social sciences had statistically sig­
nificant differences compared to students in the exact areas. They tend,
on average, to be inclined to accept more the importance of politics in
their lives, and to be involved in more engaged political behavior. The
Table 7
Regression coefficients for PFP factor model.
B Standard error В following are some research questions that may be answered in future
Constant 1.036 0.367
PK Factor 0.300 0.046 0.314**
Remember who voted Factor 0.601 0.133 0.218**
Against mandatory vote Factor 0.943 0.180 0.270**
Frequency of talk about politics Factor 0.88 0.087 0.309
Note: R2 ¼ 0.215, **p < 0.01.
6
Technology in Society 62 (2020) 101279
disciplines can facilitate the development of political attitudes, and
these may affect a more engaged political behavior. There was no sta­
tistically significant difference only in relation to students of the health
sciences undergraduate courses. Furthermore, through linear regression
models, we identified the variables that influence the scientific factors
related of the development of positive political attitudes toward politics
and political behavior.
The findings indicate that affection, positive or negative, influences
the type of political behavior in students of the social and exact areas.
Undergraduate students from social sciences courses have more critical
political attitudes towards politics than other students. Yet, they discuss
political matters sporadically or daily, in relation to students of the exact
and health sciences courses, who never or hardly ever discuss political
matters. This is an important finding of our research. In view of this
scenario, it is crucial for teachers of undergraduate exact and health
sciences courses to be aware of this reality and able to explore the as­
pects about politics and scientific thinking, while respecting the stu­
dents’ individual differences and personal beliefs.
These findings suggest differences in the mean level of political at­
titudes among participants. Moreover, the outcomes of the linear
regression model suggest that both education level and type of course
influence the type of political attitudes undergraduate students develop.
Considering the results of this research, political attitudes of Brazil­
ian students can be translated into adhesion and positive feelings. Pol­
itics seems to be perceived as essential to their life. Academic culture
influences the formation of political attitudes. In general, the results of
the empirical model are in line with the discussion in Gallego and
Oberski [3] and Mondak et al. [4] about the importance of formal ed­
ucation in the development of students’ political attitudes.
Our findings reinforce the work of other researchers suggesting the
importance of the role of professors in stimulating a fair debate about
politics in the classroom; and that different ideological orientations need
to be presented to the students, allowing them to form a judgment
viewpoint in the light of their given interpretations [20–24].
Political knowledge affects students’ political attitudes and prefer­
ences and their electoral preferences. The results presented here allow us
to conclude that students exposed to more information and stimulated to
debate these issues frequently present different responses from students
who are not stimulated. Because of this, in general, undergraduate
courses need to stimulate this transparent and plural debate with stu­
dents, complementing their technical and professional education. In this
sense, it is important that teachers plan educational activities based on
dialectics in the presentation of arguments [7,25]. It is essential to the
formation of more complex mental models of political thinking [26]. We
recommend that undergraduate courses need to stimulate this trans­
parent and plural debate with students, complementing their technical
and professional education [14].
Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge that we had a limited
sample. There was an imbalance in student representativeness per large
area. There was heterogeneity in the three areas, which can lead to
underrepresentation problems of their subareas. This is an important
limitation of the study.
Our sample presented little variability for students from courses in
the health sciences. Larger quantitative studies in Brasília or expanding
to Brazil could provide new insights. Additionally, a possible path for
future research is to construct methods that address not only the for­
mation of political attitude, but also aspects of personality traits and the
development of heuristics related to the political behavior itself.
Considering that we are social and political beings [37], the
studies: what is the role of social media in shaping political attitudes?
Does the type of news linked to the media influence more engaged po­
litical behavior in Brazilian students? Is there social alienation in Bra­
zilian society? Will more engaged students have more obvious political
behaviors than the less engaged? What is the role of formal education in
shaping political engagement behaviors?
F.A. Coelho Junior et al.
As our data suggest, knowledge about politics and positive feelings
about politics are related, yet rather independent factors. The con­
struction of worldviews in students must consider the interpretations
they give in regards to their surrounding political factors [40,45]. It is
widely expected that formal education will assist in the development of
mental models that are more aware of the importance of politics in our
lives [15]. The free political debate in the classroom space must be
encouraged, especially in the university academic environment. Uni­
versity autonomy, as well as freedom of thought, in Brazilian higher
education, should stimulate debate among students in order to
encourage them to develop more conscious and representative political
attitudes. It is not a simple task. There are many ideological conflicts,
including the academic formation of teachers themselves and their own
political preferences. But there needs to be a debate on this issue.
Broad and unrestricted access to scientific knowledge on the subject
is important, avoiding the spread of fake news that can discourage civic
engagement. By accessing more reliable and unbiased information,
students will be able to develop more credible mental models [36,41],
stimulating a critical understanding about politics.
Credit authorship statement
F.A. Coelho Junior: Conception and design of study, Acquisition of
data, Analysis and/or interpretation of data, Drafting the manuscript,
Approval of the version of the manuscript to be published. C. Faiad:
Conception and design of study, Analysis and/or interpretation of data,
Drafting the manuscript, Approval of the version of the manuscript to be
published. H. Hedler: Revising the manuscript critically for important
intellectual content, Approval of the version of the manuscript to be
published. P. Marques-Quinteiro: Revising the manuscript critically
for important intellectual content, Approval of the version of the
manuscript to be published.
Acknowledgements
All persons who have made substantial contributions to the work
reported in the manuscript (e.g., technical help, writing and editing
assistance, general support), but who do not meet the criteria for
authorship, are named in the Acknowledgements and have given us their
written permission to be named.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101279.
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Francisco Antonio Coelho Junior is Ph.D in Organizational, Work and Social Psychology
ported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (Ref. SFRH/BPD/
by University of Brasília, Brasil. Currently, he is a professor of the postgraduate program in
114934/2016), the Portuguese Polar Program (Ref. PROPOLAR 2017–2018 - ETeA) and
administration, where he orients doctoral and master’s degree students. The research
the European Space Agency (Ref. AO-2017-Concordia-014_Cantisani). His research has
projects are related with organizational behavior in general, and predictors of human
been published in top journals such as the European Journal of Work and Organizational
performance at work, in particular. Develops multilevel theory to describe crosslevel
Psychology, Leadership, and The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied.
phenomena involving human interaction at work. Currently, it investigates the maturity of
organizational practices of human resources.