Who is Influenced by Negative Ads?

It's campaign season, so what's better to talk about than negative political advertising.

I don't have all the details, but this brief description of an experiment suggests the greatest impact among the more knowledgeable and trusting of participants, "a segment of of the electorate that is smaller than it used to be."  A few key points to consider:

• It's an experiment.  You gain a lot of control and the ability to argue only the manipulation could have caused some effect. 

• But its weakness in validity.  The artificial nature of experiments can influence findings.

• And it's college students as participants.  Yes, psychology is the intensive study of the college sophomore and, as we all know, while scientists have linked college students to humans, the relationship remains unproven.

So I can't really say more than this without seeing the entire paper.  Also, full disclosure, I took a class with one of the authors a million or so years ago in graduate school.

Indeed, the greatest impact in terms of voters penalizing the incumbent for his alleged shortcomings was evident among those individuals who were knowledgeable about politics and who expressed a relatively high degree of trust in their political leaders – a segment of the electorate that is smaller than it used to be.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-09-negative-political-ads-voters-politicians.html#jCp

Indeed, the greatest impact in terms of voters penalizing the incumbent for his alleged shortcomings was evident among those individuals who were knowledgeable about politics and who expressed a relatively high degree of trust in their political leaders – a segment of the electorate that is smaller than it used to be.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-09-negative-political-ads-voters-politicians.html#jCp

ndeed, the greatest impact in terms of voters penalizing the incumbent for his alleged shortcomings was evident among those individuals who were knowledgeable about politics and who expressed a relatively high degree of trust in their political leaders – a segment of the electorate that is smaller than it used to be.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-09-negative-political-ads-voters-politicians.html#jCp

the greatest impact in terms of voters penalizing the incumbent for his alleged shortcomings was evident among those individuals who were knowledgeable about politics and who expressed a relatively high degree of trust in their political leaders – a segment of the electorate that is smaller than it used to be.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-09-negative-political-ads-voters-politicians.html#jCp

the greatest impact in terms of voters penalizing the incumbent for his alleged shortcomings was evident among those individuals who were knowledgeable about politics and who expressed a relatively high degree of trust in their political leaders – a segment of the electorate that is smaller than it used to be.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-09-negative-political-ads-voters-politicians.html#jCp

the greatest impact in terms of voters penalizing the incumbent for his alleged shortcomings was evident among those individuals who were knowledgeable about politics and who expressed a relatively high degree of trust in their political leaders – a segment of the electorate that is smaller than it used to be.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-09-negative-political-ads-voters-politicians.html#jCp

the greatest impact in terms of voters penalizing the incumbent for his alleged shortcomings was evident among those individuals who were knowledgeable about politics and who expressed a relatively high degree of trust in their political leaders – a segment of the electorate that is smaller than it used to be.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-09-negative-political-ads-voters-politicians.html#jCp