nach oben

Political Behavior

Erschienen in:

01.09.2012 | Original Paper

It’s All in the Name: Source Cue Ambiguity and the Persuasive Appeal of Campaign Ads

verfasst von: Christopher Weber, Johanna Dunaway, Tyler Johnson

Erschienen in: Political Behavior | Ausgabe 3/2012

Einloggen

Aktivieren Sie unsere intelligente Suche, um passende Fachinhalte oder Patente zu finden.

search-config

KI-gestützte Suche

Aus

Abstract

As strategies for campaign political advertising become more complex, there remains much to learn about how ad characteristics shape voter reactions to political messages. Drawing from existing literature on source credibility, we expect ad sponsorship will have meaningful effects on voter reactions to political advertisements. We test this by using an original experiment, where we expose a sample of student and non-student participants to equivalent ads and vary only the paid sponsor disclaimer at the end of the message. The only thing that differs across stimuli is whether a political candidate, a known interest group, or an unknown interest group sponsors the advertisement. Following exposure to one of these ads, participants complete a posttest battery of questions measuring the persuasiveness of the message, source credibility, and message legitimacy. We find that ads sponsored by unknown interest groups are more persuasive than those sponsored by candidates or known interest groups, and persuasion is mediated by perceived credibility of the source. We conclude by discussing our findings and their implications for our understanding of contemporary campaigns.

Vorheriger Artikel Does Satisfaction with Democracy Really Increase Happiness? Direct Democracy and Individual Satisfaction in Switzerland

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Nur mit Berechtigung zugänglich

Throughout this manuscript, we use the term “independent groups” and “outside groups” interchangeably to reflect both partisan and nonpartisan interest groups not officially associated with a political party or candidate. We also refer to known and unknown interest groups. We use “known groups” to describe more conventional groups very familiar to the public such as the NRA, AARP, and Sierra Club. We use the term “unknown groups” to refer to a host of groups that are not widely known to the general public and whose names such as “American Crossroads,” and “Progress for America,” do not suggest any particular party, ideology, or cause. Though these groups can often be associated with parties, well known partisans, ideologies, issues, unions or corporations, the associations are not immediately obvious to the public and are not widely publicized.

The recent 2010 election cycle sparked discussion of how the emergence of newly formed prominent outside groups such as the conservative “American Crossroads” and the Democratic “Commonsense Ten” would influence the outcomes of prominent races such as that of incumbent Nevada Senator (and Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid. See http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/american-crossroads-attacks-ha.html and http://undertheinfluence.nationaljournal.com/2010/03/big-time-donors-not-so.php.

Often, simply knowing how a fellow partisan stands on a political issue is sufficient in forming a belief (Tomz and Sniderman 2004). This is especially the case for those individuals with those who have, as Mondak (1993, p. 188) puts it, a “high need for efficiency.” These individuals may simply transfer their approval from one source to another based on a perceived link between the two.

Indeed, source-likeability explains many paradoxes in contemporary politics. For instance, liberals are often perplexed by conservatives’ preference for pro-life policy and the death penalty. Zaller (1992) links these preferences to elite cues, in that voters adopt the positions of trusted, well-known politicians.

Of course, candidates and politicians have many other important goals. However, most assessments of candidate goals and ambitions dating back to Mayhew (1974) agree on the point that the primary goal is reelection given that the other goals can’t be accomplished without attaining or retaining the office.

We did cross the three-condition “source” manipulation with another manipulation—a “high quality” and “low quality” manipulation. The major difference between these two conditions was the presence of absence of music, though we did also vary the tone of the narrator’s voice and several images. The information—the audio voiceover -- was held constant, however. Everyone was exposed to the same information about Dave Reade and John Wilkins. The reason for this manipulation was to see if seemingly amateur, less professional ads—which are common in less well-funded congressional campaigns—are as influential as more professionally, higher quality ads, This manipulation did not have a consistent effect on any of our substantive results, so we collapse across this factor, only exploring the three source manipulations. We generated interactions between “quality” with all the variables in Table 1, finding that quality does not moderate the consequences of source cues on our four dependent variables.

Readers should note that (among others such as the 2007 FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life decision) the recent U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission (2010) renders previous restrictions against explicit electioneering by corporate groups unconstitutional. Thus, it is widely expected that we will see more and more ads like this in the future—with non campaign sponsored ads explicitly asking people to vote for or against candidates (Fowler et al. 2010).

Voting for Dave Reade was based on a composite score of (1) would you vote for John Wilkins or Dave Reade? and (2) How confident are you in this decision? The vote choice measure thus varies from 0 to 8.

A model where the experimental covariates are interacted with an indicator of whether the participant is a student or non-student adult indicated that the effects presented in Table 1 do not substantially change across samples.

It is important to note that specifying the NRA prior feelings × NRA Ad interaction does not change the substantive results for the Unknown interest group ad. Since we had no a priori expectations about how feelings towards the NRA moderates the effect of the Unknown interest group or candidate ad, we did not specify an interaction between these variables for the models presented in the text. Nonetheless, if we do specify an NRA Feelings × Unknown interest group ad interaction, it is non-significant for three of the four variables in table 1. There is a marginally significant interaction for legitimacy. This suggests that, on the whole, NRA prior beliefs do not condition how people respond to the other stimuli.

The point estimates were derived and the hypotheses tested from Table 1. Specifically, the point estimates in Fig. 2 are estimates for each dependent variable across levels of the treatment variable, holding the covariates at their respective means and modes. The hypothesis tests are from the regression equation correcting for the effects of the three control covariates—ideology, gender, and race—as well as prior beliefs towards the NRA.

To conduct this analysis, we vary how feeling towards the NRA is scaled, and then regenerate the interactions and re-estimate the models in Table 1. For instance, if evaluations towards the NRA are coded from 0 to 1, where low scores indicate “not favorable,” then in the model with the interaction between the NRA Ad × NRA feelings, the lower order effect of NRA Ad represents the contrast—or difference—between the NRA Ad with the baseline Candidate Ad for individuals who feel not favorable to the NRA. By re-estimating the same equation, but with NRA evaluations coded where 0 denotes positive feelings (i.e., the variable is coded from −1 to 0), now the dummy for the NRA ad denotes the difference between the NRA ad and the Candidate ad at high levels of favorability towards the NRA.

Correlations between latent variable disturbances were also specified. This is common in structural equation modeling, as it simply means that the residuals of the latent constructs may remain even after accounting for the causal relationships. In other words, the model does not explain all of the variation and covariation of latent constructs. No a priori reasons were expected for the errors of the indicators to be related, so we did not model these. All indicator variables were treated as categorical.

Readers unfamiliar with structural equation modeling should note the importance of these estimates. Unlike their observed variable counterparts—such as OLS—SEMs require a good-fit-to data, otherwise, parameter estimates may be biased. In general, a CFI and TLI greater than 0.9 is indicative of a good fit, and an RMSEA and WRMR of less than 0.10 and 0.9, respectively, indicate a good fit.

Aiken, L., & West, S. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Alvarez, R. M. (1997). Information and elections. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Andreoli, V., & Worchel, S. (1978). Effects of media, communicator and message position on attitude change. Public Opinion Quarterly, 42, 59–70.CrossRef

Arceneaux, K. (2010). The benefits of experimental methods for the study of campaign effects. Political Communication, 27(2), 199–215.CrossRef

Arceneaux, K., & Kolodny, R. (2009). Educating the least informed: Group endorsements in a grassroots campaign. American Journal of Political Science, 53(4), 755–770.CrossRef

Aronson, E., Turner, J., & Carlsmith, M. (1963). Communicator credibility and communicator discrepancy as determinants of opinion change. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67, 31–36.CrossRef

Boatright, R. G., Malbin, M. J., Rozell, M. J., Skinner, R. M., & Wilcox, C. (2003). BCRA’s impact on interest groups and advocacy organizations. In M. J. Malbin (Ed.), Life after reform: When the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act meets politics. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Brady, H. E., & Sniderman, P. M. (1985). Attitude attribution: A group basis for political reasoning. American Political Science Review, 79, 1061–1078.CrossRef

Brewer, P., & Gross, K. (2005). Values, framing, and citizens’ thoughts about policy issues: Effects on content and quantity. Political Psychology, 26(6), 929–948.CrossRef

Cohen, G. L. (2003). Party over policy: The dominating impact of group influence on political beliefs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 808–822.CrossRef

Conover, P. J., & Feldman, S. (1989). Candidate perception in an ambiguous world: Campaigns, cues, and inference processes. American Political Science Review, 33(4), 912–940.CrossRef

Druckman, J. (2001a). On the limits of framing effects: Who can frame? Journal of Politics, 63, 1041–1066.

Druckman, J. (2001b). The implications of framing effects for citizen competence. Political Behavior, 23, 225–256.CrossRef

Eagly, A., & Chaiken, S. (1993). The psychology of attitudes. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace.

Fowler, E. F., & Ridout, T. N. (2010). Advertising trends in 2010. The Forum, 8(4), Article 4.

Franz, M. M. (2008). Choices and changes: Interest groups in the electoral process. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

French, J. (1956). A formal theory of social power. Psychological Review, 63, 181–194.CrossRef

French, J., & Raven, B. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in social power (pp. 150–167). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.

Garramone, G. M. (1985). Effects of negative political advertising: The roles of sponsor and rebuttal. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 29, 147–159.CrossRef

Gross, D. A., & Goidel, R. K. (2003). The states of campaign finance reform. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.

Hartman, T., & Weber, C. (2009). Who said what? The effects of source cues in issue frames. Political Behavior, 31, 357–558.CrossRef

Heaney, M. T. (2007). Identity crisis: How interest groups struggle to define themselves in Washington. In A. J. Cigler & B. A. Loomis (Eds.), Interest group politics (pp. 279–300). Washington, DC: CQ Press.

Hogan, R. E. (2005). State campaign finance laws and interest group electioneering activities. The Journal of Politics, 67(3), 887–906.CrossRef

Hovland, C., & Mandell, W. (1957). Is there a ‘law of primacy’ in persuasion? In C. Hovland (Ed.), The order of presentation in persuasion (pp. 1–22). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Hovland, C. I., & Weiss, W. (1951). The influence of source credibility on communication effectiveness. Public Opinion Quarterly, 15, 635–650.CrossRef

Jaccard, J. (2001). Interaction effects in logistic regression. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Jaccard, J., & Turrisi, R. (2003). Interaction effects in multiple regression. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Johnson, T., & Kaye, B. K. (1998). Cruising is believing? Comparing internet and traditional sources on media credibility measures. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 75, 325–340.CrossRef

Kaid, L. L. (1981). Political advertising. In D. D. Nimmo & K. R. Sanders (Eds.), Handbook of political communication. Beverly Hills: Sage.

Kam, C. D. (2005). Who toes the party line? Cues, values, and individual differences. Political Behavior, 27, 163–182.CrossRef

Kelman, H. (1958). Compliance, identification, and internalization: Three processes of attitude change. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2, 51–60.CrossRef

Keppel, G., & Wickens, T. (2004). Design and analysis: A researcher’s handbook (5th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Kuklinski, J., & Hurley, N. (1994). On hearing and interpreting political messages: A cautionary tale of cue taking. The Journal of Politics, 56, 729–751.CrossRef

Lau, R. R., & Redlawsk, D. P. (2001). Advantages and disadvantages of cognitive heuristics in political decision making. American Journal of Political Science, 45(October), 951–971.CrossRef

Lavine, H., Borgida, E., & Sullivan, J. (2000). On the relationship between attitude involvement and attitude accessibility: Toward a cognitive-motivational model of political information processing. Political Psychology, 21, 81–106.CrossRef

Lazarsfeld, P., Berelson, B., & Gaudet, H. (1944). The people’s choice; how the voter makes up his mind in a presidential campaign. New York: Duell.

Lupia, A. (1994). Shortcuts vs. encyclopedias: Information and voting behavior in California insurance reform elections. American Political Science Review, 89(1), 63–76.CrossRef

Magleby, D. B., & Tanner, J. W. (2004). Interest-group electioneering in the 2002 congressional elections. In D. B. Magleby & J. Q. Monson (Eds.), The last hurrah? Soft money and issue advocacy in the 2002 congressional elections. Washington, DC: Brookings.

Martinelli, K. A., & Chaffee, S. H. (1995). Measuring new-voter learning via three channels of political information. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 72, 18–32.CrossRef

Mayhew, D. R. (1974). Congress: The electoral connection. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

McGuire, W. (1969). The nature of attitudes and attitude change. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (2nd ed., Vol. 3, pp. 136–314). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Mondak, J. J. (1990). Perceived legitimacy of Supreme Court decisions: Three functions of source credibility. Political Behavior, 12, 363–384.CrossRef

Mondak, J. J. (1993). Public opinion and heuristic processing of source cues. Political Behavior, 15, 167–192.CrossRef

Pfau, M., Park, D., Holbert, R. L., & Cho, J. (2001). The effects of party and PAC-sponsored issue advertising and the potential of inoculation to combat its impact on the democratic process. American Behavioral Scientist, 44(12), 2379–2397.CrossRef

Salmon, C. T., Reid, L. N., Pokrywczynsk, J., & Willett, R. W. (1985). The effectiveness of advocacy advertising relative to news coverage. Communication Research, 12, 546–567.CrossRef

Semiatin, R. J., & Rozell, M. J. (2005). Interest groups in congressional elections. In R. G. Shaiko, P. S. Herrnson, & C. Wilcox (Eds.), The interest group connection: Electioneering, lobbying, and policymaking in Washington (pp. 75–88). Washington, DC: CQ Press.

Shen, F., & Wu, H. D. (2002). Effects of soft-money issue advertisements on candidate evaluations and voting preference: An exploration. Mass Communication and Society, 5, 395–410.CrossRef

Sobel, J. (1985). A theory of credibility. Review of Economic Studies, 52, 557–573.CrossRef

Tomz, M., & Sniderman, P. (2004). Brand names and the organization of mass belief systems. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association.

Turner, J. (2007). The messenger overwhelming the message: Ideological cues and perceptions of bias in television news. Political Behavior, 29, 441–464.CrossRef

Walster, E., & Festinger, L. (1962). The effectiveness of “over-heard” persuasive communications. Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology, 65, 395–402.CrossRef

West, D. M., & Loomis, B. A. (1999). The sound of money: How political interests get what they want. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.

Worchel, S., Andreoli, V., & Eason, J. (1975). Is the medium the message: A study of the effects of media, communication, and message characteristics on attitude change. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 5, 157–172.CrossRef

Zaller, J. R. (1989). Bringing converse back in: Modeling information flow in political campaigns. Political Analysis, 1, 181–234.CrossRef

Zaller, J. (1992). The nature and origins of mass opinion. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRef

Zhao, X., & Chaffee, S. (1995). Campaign advertisements versus television news as sources of political issue information. Public Opinion Quarterly, 59, 41–65.CrossRef

Titel: It’s All in the Name: Source Cue Ambiguity and the Persuasive Appeal of Campaign Ads
verfasst von: Christopher Weber
Johanna Dunaway
Tyler Johnson
Publikationsdatum: 01.09.2012
Verlag: Springer US
Erschienen in: Political Behavior / Ausgabe 3/2012
Print ISSN: 0190-9320
Elektronische ISSN: 1573-6687
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-011-9172-y

Springer Professional

Abstract

Bitte loggen Sie sich ein, um Zugang zu Ihrer Lizenz zu erhalten.

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Weitere Artikel der Ausgabe 3/2012

Does Satisfaction with Democracy Really Increase Happiness? Direct Democracy and Individual Satisfaction in Switzerland

Ecologies of Unease: Geographic Context and National Economic Evaluations

Personality and Political Participation: The Mediation Hypothesis

The Ideological Effects of Framing Threat on Immigration and Civil Liberties

Justifying Party Identification: A Case of Identifying with the “Lesser of Two Evils”

The Consequences of Political Cynicism: How Cynicism Shapes Citizens’ Reactions to Political Scandals