Should Women Emote? Perceptual Bias and Opinion Change in Response to Political Ads for Candidates of Different Genders

Hitchon, Jacqueline C.; Chang, Chingching; Harris, Rhonda

doi:10.1080/105846097199533

Cited by 54 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Some studies indicate that negative messages drive down citizens' evaluations of the candidates targeted by negative messages (Merritt 1984;Kaid and Boydston 1987;Basil et al 1991;Kaid 1997;Pinkleton 1998). Others show that the candidates who sponsor negative messages are viewed less favorably (Merritt 1984;Hill 1989;Martinez and Delegal 1990;Basil et al 1991;Kaid et al 1992;Lemert et al 1991;Hitchon and Chang 1995;Haddock and Zanna 1997;Hitchon et al 1997;Pinkleton 1998). Another set of findings suggest that citizens may feel sympathetic towards the targets of attacks and thus view them more favorably (Hill 1989;Martinez and Delegal 1990;Lemert et al 1991;Haddock and Zanna 1997).…”

Section: Public Opinion and Campaign Negativitymentioning

confidence: 87%

Negative Advertising and the Dynamics of Candidate Support

Banda

Windett

2016

Polit Behav

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Scholars have spent a great deal of effort examining the effects of negative advertising on citizens' perceptions of candidates. Much of this work has used experimental designs and has produced mixed findings supporting one of two competing theories. First, negative ads may harm candidates who sponsor them because citizens tend to dislike negativity. Second, negativity may drive down citizens' support for the targeted candidate because the attacks give people reasons to reject the target. We argue that the mixed findings produced by prior research may be driven by a disregard for campaign dynamics. We present a critical test of these two theories using data drawn from 80 statewide elections-37 gubernatorial and 43 U.S. Senate contests-from three election years and public opinion polling collected during the last 12 weeks of each campaign. We find that a candidate's support declines as her advertising strategy includes a higher proportion of negative ads relative to her opponent and that this process unfolds slowly over the course of the campaign.

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Section: Public Opinion and Campaign Negativitymentioning

confidence: 87%

Negative Advertising and the Dynamics of Candidate Support

Banda

Windett

2016

Polit Behav

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“…The first item ("How desirable would it be to put these advertisements on the mass media?") was developed to measure the perceived desirability of the donation ads, based on prior research on message desirability (e.g., Hitchon et al 1997). Meanwhile, Perloff (2002) noted that "message desirability is multifaceted and ambiguous, encompassing perceived message benefits to self, impression management concerns, and perceived congruence with existing attitudes.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“They Will Help, So I Don't Need To?” Behavioral Hypothesis of the Third-Person Effect in Donation Aid Advertising

Kim

2013

Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising

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“…However, some research suggests that candidate characteristics affect the reception of campaign activity (Fridkin & Kenney, 2011); for example, reactions to campaign negativity may differ depending on the gender of the candidate (Fridkin, Kenney, & Woodall, 2009;Herrnson, Lay, & Stokes, 2003;Hitchon, Chang, & Harris, 1997). Considering the possibility that candidate race conditions the effects of negativity broadens our understanding of this critical and much-analyzed campaign strategy.…”

Section: Campaign Negativitymentioning

confidence: 96%

Accentuating the Negative: Candidate Race and Campaign Strategy

Krupnikov

Piston²

2015

Political Communication

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This article examines the impact of candidate race and campaign negativity on candidate evaluations and turnout. Unlike previous research, we argue that candidate race and campaign negativity should be considered simultaneously. In order to test this argument, we conduct a survey experiment of a nationally representative sample of White adults and a replication study. While we find, consistent with previous research, that respondents unfavorably evaluate candidates who decide to sponsor a negative ad, there are two important exceptions to this pattern: When the ad sponsor is Black, among White respondents who view Blacks negatively, the penalty for going negative is disproportionately large, while among White respondents who view Blacks positively, the penalty for going negative is disproportionately small. More generally, our findings suggest that the effects of candidate attributes and campaign strategy on voter behavior should not be considered in isolation, as they are mutually reinforcing.

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Should Women Emote? Perceptual Bias and Opinion Change in Response to Political Ads for Candidates of Different Genders

Cited by 54 publications

References 27 publications

Negative Advertising and the Dynamics of Candidate Support

Negative Advertising and the Dynamics of Candidate Support

“They Will Help, So I Don't Need To?” Behavioral Hypothesis of the Third-Person Effect in Donation Aid Advertising

Accentuating the Negative: Candidate Race and Campaign Strategy

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