Perceptions of Walls: An Exploration of Trait Affect and Personality in a Cross Cultural Study of Perception of Risks Related to the Edward Snowden Case

In this within subjects study, we explored the role of trait affect, personality, and culture on an individual's information seeking behavior about the Edward Snowden case. We also considered how these factors may affect an individual's perception of risks related to Snowden's actions. We used Amazon's Mechanical Turk to conduct two surveys five weeks apart with respondents in both India and the U.S. After accounting for differences in age, education, and gender, early findings suggest that trait affect and personality are associated with how people acquire and understand information as well as the information sources they choose to use. We also found that culture played a significant role in shaping how our respondents perceived the Snowden case and the implications of risk associated with his actions. Since our study is explorative and our respondent sample was limited by our survey method, these findings warrant further analyses.