J Maier
Biographic Data
| ID | 146972 |
|---|---|
| NAME | J Maier |
| GIVEN NAMES | J |
| FAMILY NAME | Maier |
| SIGNATURE | MAIER J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Koblenz and Landau |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8301-5125 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 57 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 472 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 57 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1984 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 13 |
Unreliable and Invalid? Not So Fast: A Multistudy Empirical Assessment of the ‘Directional’ Measure of Negative Campaigning
The ‘directional’ definition of negative campaigning (i.e. when candidates leverage critiques against their political opponents) has been criticized for lacking reliability and validity. Does this critical assessment resist scrutiny? We propose, via nine different original studies, a full-scale reassessment of this critical assessment. Building on novel evidence from sources as disparate as expert ratings of elections across the world, automated …
Unique Personalities in the Limelight? A Cross-National Analysis of Politicians’ Personality and Media Visibility during Elections
News visibility is central to political success, shaping how citizens evaluate political actors. While previous research emphasizes institutional power as the main driver of media coverage, less is known about how elite personalities influence visibility across countries. This study combines personality profiles (Big Five and Dark Core) and media appearances of 159 candidates in 85 national elections across 52 countries (2016–2022). Stable politi…
Gender, perceptions of benefits and costs, and negative campaigning. Evidence from German candidate surveys
Many studies have analyzed whether there are differences in the use of negative campaigning of men and women candidates. However, empirical evidence for a gender-specific use of attacks is inconclusive. We argue that we are not yet able to fully understand the conditions under which men and women candidates go negative on their political opponents, as the costs and benefits have not yet been empirically measured. Based on candidate surveys from G…
Beyond a Negativity Bias: Explaining the Consumption of Positive and Negative Political Information Using WebTracking and Experience Sampling Data
Negativity and positivity are crucial in political information, yet research often overlooks positive content consumption. This study examines the degree to which citizens consume positive and negative election-related content and the factors influencing both. Using web-tracking and experience sampling (mobile intensive longitudinal linkage analysis [MILLA]) data from the 2021 German federal election, we find positivity and negativity are equally…
Mobilizer, demobilizer–or artefact? Measuring the influence of research designs on the direct effect of negative advertising on voter turnout in U.S. election campaigns
The effects of negative campaign advertising on turnout in U.S. elections vary greatly. Some researchers have suspected that differences in research methods are partly responsible for the conflicting results; however, meta-analyses have only been able to show such effects to a very limited extent. We propose a new approach by using the categorical information of which effect a study found as the dependent variable. Based on all U.S. studies avail…
Negative campaigning and electoral mobilization: Empirical evidence from German state elections
Recent research has been inconclusive about the systemic effects of negative campaigning. The available studies, most of which focus on the United States, either conclude that attack behavior decreases turnout, increases turnout, or has no effect on turnout. This study analyzes the relation between negative campaigning and turnout at the constituency level in 13 German state elections in 2021 and 2024. Based on a triangulation of data from the st…
Trouble when they walk in? Candidates, dark personality, and attack behavior in German televised debates
More negative when it matters less? Comparing party campaign behaviour in European and national elections
Gendered Backlash Depends on the Context. Reassessing Negative Campaigning Sanctions Against Female Candidates via Large-Scale Comparative Data
On paper, women politicians should be punished more than men when they go negative during election campaigns. Yet, empirical evidence in this sense is surprisingly scarce, and findings offer a muddled picture. In this article, we argue that existing research has, so far, neglected to consider a fundamental intervening factor: the role of the context, and specifically the level of descriptive representation of women in politics. Using novel large-…
That’s Not Appropriate!‘ Examining Social Norms as Predictors of Negative Campaigning
The use of negative campaigning is often explained by rational considerations; the more perceived benefits exceed perceived costs, the more likely candidates are to attack their political opponents. However, this benefit-cost ratio explains campaign behavior only to some extent. In this study, we test social norms as additional drivers of a candidate’s attack behavior. Social norms are informal rules that guide the behavior of members of a group.…
Beyond rationality. Toward a more comprehensive understanding of the use of negative campaigning
Most scholars agree that candidates’ use of negative campaigning is based on rational considerations, i.e., weighing likely benefits against potential costs. We argue that this perspective is far too narrow and outline the elements of a comprehensive model on the use of negative campaign communication that builds on personality traits, values, social norms, and attitudes toward negative campaigning as complementary mechanisms to classical rationa…
When do candidates "go negative"? A conjoint analysis to unpack the mechanisms of negative campaigning
Gendered debates? The use of gender-sensitive language in German televised debates, 1997–2022
Germany is a prime example of a country where the use of gender-sensitive language is the subject of public controversy and debate. This study provides a quantitative content analysis of all ( N = 72) German televised debates aired on the federal and state level from 1997 until 2022 to explore the determinants of the use of gender-sensitive language by political candidates. We find that the use of gender-sensitive language has increased over time…
Polarized Populists: Dark Campaigns, Affective Polarization, and the Moderating Role of Populist Attitudes
We investigate the antecedents of affective polarization in the American public, and focus specifically on the driving role of exposure to darker forms of campaign communication (negativity, incivility, populist rhetoric) and the intervening role of individual populist attitudes. Experimental evidence was gathered among a sample of US respondents (MTurk, N = 1,081); respondents were randomly exposed to a campaign message from a fictive candidate …
A Short Scale to Measure Self-Reported Aversive Personality in Political Elites
In order to explain the behavior of political elites, research increasingly considers personality traits. Within this line of research, a recent focus is on socially aversive - yet non-pathological - personality traits (e.g., Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy), with the idea to better understand behavior violating generally accepted ethical, moral, and social norms. Assessments of politicians' aversive personality traits have so far been …
What factors explain the broadcasting of televised election debates? Empirical evidence from Germany
Televised election debates are considered as the most important single campaign event. While a large body of research has analyzed their content, processing, impact, and media coverage, it has not yet been examined under which conditions candidates agree to debate. This is remarkable, as debates are a matter of course in only a few countries, and candidates are always renegotiating their participation with the television networks. Using a dataset…
Are candidates rational when it comes to negative campaigning? Empirical evidence from three German candidate surveys
This article tests the assumption that candidates’ attack behavior is a result of their rational consideration of potential benefits and likely risks. Based on candidate surveys from three German state elections, we demonstrate that (i) attacks are an important strategy; (ii) on balance, candidates regard attacking opponents as a costly instead of a beneficial strategy; (iii) the differential between benefits and costs is positively associated wi…
Mapping the drivers of negative campaigning: Insights from a candidate survey
Which candidates are more likely to go negative, and under which conditions? We analyze self-reported survey data from candidates having run in the 2017 German federal election for the main parties. More specifically, we test a comprehensive set of factors supposed to drive the use of (a) negative campaigning in general, (b) policy attacks, and (c) character attacks. Our results show that for all three versions of negative campaigning the politic…
Twitter in the News: An Analysis of Embedded Tweets in Political News Coverage
This study examines the growing journalistic practice of embedding full tweets in online political news coverage. Against the background of a hybrid media system, we pursue three research goals. First, we evaluate the scope of the Twitter-in-the-news phenomenon relative to news coverage as a whole. Second, we examine the functions of embedded tweets. Third, we identify characteristics that increase the likelihood that tweets will be selected for …
When conflict fuels negativity. A large-scale comparative investigation of the contextual drivers of negative campaigning in elections worldwide
Who Are the “Dark” Politicians? Insights From Self-Reports of German State Parliament Candidates
A growing body of studies is focusing on politicians’ personalities, as the personality of political elites has been shown to affect their behavior. Whereas most research uses the big five framework or HEXACO, only a few studies have been able to capture more “aversive,” “dark”—yet non-pathological—personality traits of politicians. However, these studies refer to top politicians; information on the distribution and the correlates of dark persona…
Hardwired to attack. Candidates’ personality traits and negative campaigning in three European countries
A growing body of studies shows that the reasons for competing candidates to “go negative” on their opponents during elections—that is, attacking their opponents instead of promoting their own programs or ideas stem from strategic considerations. Yet, existing research has, at this stage, failed to assess whether candidates’ personality traits also play a role. In this article, we bridge the gap between existing work in political psychology and p…
Euroscepticism and the use of negative, uncivil and emotional campaigns in the 2019 European Parliament election: A winning combination
Are Eurosceptic parties more likely to run negative, uncivil and emotional campaigns, as it is often intuitively argued? And with what consequences? In this article, we shed light on the effectiveness of these campaign strategies for Eurosceptic parties during the 2019 European elections. We argue that ‘harsher’ campaigns are ‘in character’ for Eurosceptic parties, and are as such more likely to be electorally successful for them. We use data fro…
Tailored negativity. Campaign consultants, candidate personality, and attack politics
To what extent are negative election campaigns “tailored” to the personality of the candidates? And with what electoral consequences? In this article we tackle these questions by focusing on the 2019 Swiss federal election. We estimate the presence of negativity as a function of the personality profile of competing candidates (Big Five) and the presence of professional consultants. Analyses based on data from a candidate survey (Selects 2019) sug…
Personality Goes a Long Way (for Some). An Experimental Investigation Into Candidate Personality Traits, Voters’ Profile, and Perceived Likeability
The personality traits of political candidates, and the way these are perceived by the public at large, matter for political representation and electoral behavior. Disentangling the effects of partisanship and perceived personality on candidate evaluations is however notoriously a tricky business, as voters tend to evaluate the personality of candidates based on their partisan preferences. In this article we tackle this issue via innovative exper…
The impact of political scandals on political support: An experimental test of two theories
One of the most obvious trends in Western democracies, during the past decades, has been the decline of citizens’ political support (that is, the growth of negative attitudes toward political parties, politicians and democracy). One explanation for this trend is that the number of political scandals has increased. However, the impact of political scandals on political support is not clear. Whereas the dysfunctional theory assumes that political s…
Shifting Europe's Boundaries: Mass Media, Public Opinion and the Enlargement of the EU
This article demonstrates that public attitudes towards EU enlargement are strongly affected by exposure to the mass media. It reveals `priming' effects by showing that media exposure affects the standards by which individuals evaluate the accession of potential candidate countries. To gain a more refined understanding about media effects on enlargement attitudes, we analytically separate three different factors that underlie EU enlargement suppo…
Donald Trump, Populism, and the Age of Extremes: Comparing the Personality Traits and Campaigning Styles of Trump and Other Leaders Worldwide
A common narrative portrays Donald Trump as impetuous and quick to anger, thin skinned, constantly lying, brazen, vulgar, and boasting a grandiose sense of self and his accomplishments. Little systematic evidence exists that this is the case, however. With a novel data set based on expert ratings, we (1) provide systematic empirical evidence about Trump’s personality profile, (2) contrast his profile with 21 other populist leaders and 82 mainstre…
Mapping the drivers of negative campaigning: Insights from a candidate survey
Which candidates are more likely to go negative, and under which conditions? We analyze self-reported survey data from candidates having run in the 2017 German federal election for the main parties. More specifically, we test a comprehensive set of factors supposed to drive the use of (a) negative campaigning in general, (b) policy attacks, and (c) character attacks. Our results show that for all three versions of negative campaigning the politic…
When do candidates attack in election campaigns? Exploring the determinants of negative candidate messages in German televised debates
Content analyses of televised debates indicate that candidates often attack each other. Unfortunately, we know very little about when candidates go negative. Furthermore, most research is focusing on the United States. This paper contributes in several ways to our understanding of when candidates choose negative messages. First, we identify some previously unnoticed factors and assign them to three broad categories: a candidate’s (personal and po…
Dark necessities? Candidates' aversive personality traits and negative campaigning in the 2018 American Midterms
Are candidates with "dark" personality profiles more likely to go negative? We triangulate data for the 2018 Senate Midterms in the United States from two independent sources (the automated coding of social media posts and an expert survey) and test the extent to which the candidates' "dark" personality traits (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) are associated with their negativity and incivility. By and large, we find that this is th…
Miniature Campaigns’ in Comparison: The German Televised Debates, 2002–09
Given that US-style televised debates were held for the third time in a row in a German federal election campaign, it seems fair to say that they have become an institutionalised feature of German campaigns. Although a number of studies have analysed (single) German debates, comparative work covering the full set of debates is still lacking. The aim of this paper is to reveal patterns and trends in a) debate exposure, b) the evaluation of the can…
The impact of identity and economic cues on citizens’ EU support: An experimental study on the effects of party communication in the run-up to the 2009 European Parliament elections
In this article we seek to understand whether national parties have an impact on citizens’ EU support by publicly cueing Europe as a risk to or as an opportunity for the economy or identity. In order to answer this question, we have conducted a cross-country survey experiment (covering Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden) relying on real-world stimuli from party campaign co…
Roaring Candidates in the Spotlight: Campaign Negativity, Emotions, and Media Coverage in 107 National Elections
We argue that, above and beyond the usual suspects, some campaign strategies are more successful in attracting media coverage. We specifically focus on two elements of campaign content: the tone of the campaign (i.e., whether or not to go “negative” on opponents) and the use of emotional appeals (fear and enthusiasm messages). We argue that both negativity and emotions matter for media coverage. We rely on an original comparative data set about t…
When a Man Meets a Woman: Comparing the Use of Negativity of Male Candidates in Single- and Mixed-Gender Televised Debates
Much work has been done to analyze the consequences of the increasing representation of women in politics. Usually, this research compares male and female politicians from a female perspective. For instance, many studies in political communication investigate how and why female candidates show campaign styles similar to or different from their male colleagues. In contrast to this, few studies are interested in how men change their behavior when w…
This time it’s different? Effects of the Eurovision Debate on young citizens and its consequence for EU democracy – evidence from a quasi-experiment in 24 countries
This paper was co-authored by Jurgen Maier, Thorsten Faas, Berthold Rittberger, Jessica Fortin-Rittberger, Kalliope Agapiou Josifides, Susan Banducci, Paolo Bellucci, Magnus Blomgren, Inta Brikse, Karol Chwedczuk-Szulc, Marina Costa Lobo, Mikolaj Czesnik, Anastasia Deligiaouri, Tomaz Dezelan, Wouter deNooy, Aldo Di Virgilio, Florin Fesnic, Danica Fink-Hafner, Marijana Grbesa, Carmen Greab, Andrija Henjak, David Nicolas Hopmann, David Johann, Gabo…
Euroscepticism and the use of negative, uncivil and emotional campaigns in the 2019 European Parliament election: A winning combination
Are Eurosceptic parties more likely to run negative, uncivil and emotional campaigns, as it is often intuitively argued? And with what consequences? In this article, we shed light on the effectiveness of these campaign strategies for Eurosceptic parties during the 2019 European elections. We argue that ‘harsher’ campaigns are ‘in character’ for Eurosceptic parties, and are as such more likely to be electorally successful for them. We use data fro…
Are candidates rational when it comes to negative campaigning? Empirical evidence from three German candidate surveys
This article tests the assumption that candidates’ attack behavior is a result of their rational consideration of potential benefits and likely risks. Based on candidate surveys from three German state elections, we demonstrate that (i) attacks are an important strategy; (ii) on balance, candidates regard attacking opponents as a costly instead of a beneficial strategy; (iii) the differential between benefits and costs is positively associated wi…
Hardwired to attack. Candidates’ personality traits and negative campaigning in three European countries
A growing body of studies shows that the reasons for competing candidates to “go negative” on their opponents during elections—that is, attacking their opponents instead of promoting their own programs or ideas stem from strategic considerations. Yet, existing research has, at this stage, failed to assess whether candidates’ personality traits also play a role. In this article, we bridge the gap between existing work in political psychology and p…
Is Negative Campaigning a Matter of Taste? Political Attacks, Incivility, and the Moderating Role of Individual Differences
We test how individual differences moderate the attitudinal effects of attack politics in two online experiments among US respondents, surveyed through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk ( N = 1,408 and N = 1,081). Study 1 tests the moderating effect of personality traits (Big Five, Dark Triad) on the effectiveness of character vs. policy attacks. Study 2 investigates the difference between civil and uncivil attacks and explores the moderating effect of Bi…
Breaking Out of the Lab: Measuring Real-Time Responses to Televised Political Content in Real-World Settings
Real-time response (RTR) measurement is an important technique for analyzing human processing of electronic media stimuli. Although it has been demonstrated that RTR data are reliable and internally valid, some argue that they lack external validity. The reason for this is that RTR measurement is restricted to a laboratory environment due to its technical requirements. This paper introduces a smartphone app that 1) captures real-time responses us…
Reliability and Validity of Real-Time Response Measurement: A Comparison of Two Studies of a Televised Debate in Germany
This paper investigates the reliability and validity of real-time response measurements (RTR). It is based on a comparison of two quasi-experimental studies independently conducted on the second televised debate of the two major candidates for chancellor in the 2002 German federal election campaign. Participants in Bamberg and Mainz—two mid-sized German cities—followed the debate on a large-scale screen. The viewers’ immediate reactions to the ca…
Measuring citizens’ implicit and explicit attitudes towards the European Union
Studies assessing citizens’ attitudes towards Europe have mostly used explicit concepts and measures. However, psychologists have shown that human behaviour is not only determined by explicit attitudes which can be assessed via self-report, but also by implicit attitudes which require indirect measurement. We combine a self-report questionnaire with an implicit Affective Misattribution Procedure for the first time in an online environment to esti…
The affected German voter: Televized debates, follow-up communication and candidate evaluations
In the run-up to the last German federal election, 'American style' televized debates were held for the very first time. Using a three-wave panel comprising of citizens of Augsburg and Bamberg - two medium-sized cities in Bavaria - to analyze the impact of the 2002 German debates, the present article deals with the following questions: First, how were the two contenders evaluated by viewers of the debates? Who 'won' the debates? Secondly, do thes…
Debating Europe: Effects of the “Eurovision Debate” on EU Attitudes of Young German Voters and the Moderating Role Played by Political Involvement
In the run-up to the elections to the European Parliament in 2014, EU citizens had the unprecedented opportunity to watch televised debates between the candidates running for president of the European Commission. The most important debate was the so-called “Eurovision debate”, which was broadcasted in almost all EU member states. In this study we explore the responses of a sample of 110 young German voters, who watched this debate, to the candida…
Chancellor-candidates in the 2002 televised debates
In 2002, ‘American style’ televised debates were held for the first time in Germany and reached a very large part of the electorate: About two-thirds of German voters watched at least one debate. Among the most important factors explaining debate exposure are party identification, political interest and campaign interest. In terms of results, the first debate ended with a draw, while Chancellor Schröder was (clearly) ahead in the second one. In t…
The Wrath of Candidates. Drivers of Fear and Enthusiasm Appeals in Election Campaigns across the Globe
Little is known about why candidates decide to make use of emotional messages when campaigning for a political office, and under which conditions this is more likely to happen. We focus on the use of fear and enthusiasm appeals and assume that these are a function of profile of candidates and the nature of the context in which the election takes place. We use a new large-scale comparative dataset which includes information about campaigning strat…
From D-Mark to Euro: The impact of mass media on public opinion in Germany
The introduction of the Euro in cash currency on 1 January 2002 has been one of the most important steps towards European integration since the foundation of the European Union. In Germany public opinion vacillated between rejection and approval. Did the media coverage play any role in the forming of this public opinion? How often and with what bias did television newscasts report on the Euro? To answer these questions, systematic content analyse…
Gendered Backlash Depends on the Context. Reassessing Negative Campaigning Sanctions Against Female Candidates via Large-Scale Comparative Data
On paper, women politicians should be punished more than men when they go negative during election campaigns. Yet, empirical evidence in this sense is surprisingly scarce, and findings offer a muddled picture. In this article, we argue that existing research has, so far, neglected to consider a fundamental intervening factor: the role of the context, and specifically the level of descriptive representation of women in politics. Using novel large-…
Who Are the “Dark” Politicians? Insights From Self-Reports of German State Parliament Candidates
A growing body of studies is focusing on politicians’ personalities, as the personality of political elites has been shown to affect their behavior. Whereas most research uses the big five framework or HEXACO, only a few studies have been able to capture more “aversive,” “dark”—yet non-pathological—personality traits of politicians. However, these studies refer to top politicians; information on the distribution and the correlates of dark persona…
Geographical tourism research in the Federal Republic of Germany
Sports Tourism in Local and Regional Planning: Case of the Middle-Mountain Region of Upper Franconia
Marked by intense competition for bigger market shares, the booming tourism industry relies on greater use of market (ing) researches, that investigate deeply into trends, indicating the scope and range of product specialisation. Quantitative inquiries go a long way in securing growth or/and arresting decline in conditions of change, provided the derived information-base is appropriately utilized in implementing strategic decisions for sustained …
Economic conditions and the 1994 and 1998 federal elections
1999). Economic conditions and the 1994 and 1998 federal elections. German Politics: Vol. 8, Bundestagswahl'98: The End of an Era?, pp. 33-47
Politikverdrossenheit in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Dimensionen -- Determinanten -- Konsequenzen
From D-Mark to Euro: The impact of mass media on public opinion in Germany
The introduction of the Euro in cash currency on 1 January 2002 has been one of the most important steps towards European integration since the foundation of the European Union. In Germany public opinion vacillated between rejection and approval. Did the media coverage play any role in the forming of this public opinion? How often and with what bias did television newscasts report on the Euro? To answer these questions, systematic content analyse…
The affected German voter: Televized debates, follow-up communication and candidate evaluations
In the run-up to the last German federal election, 'American style' televized debates were held for the very first time. Using a three-wave panel comprising of citizens of Augsburg and Bamberg - two medium-sized cities in Bavaria - to analyze the impact of the 2002 German debates, the present article deals with the following questions: First, how were the two contenders evaluated by viewers of the debates? Who 'won' the debates? Secondly, do thes…
Economic conditions and voting behaviour in German federal elections, 1994–2002
Although the Iraq crisis and the flood disaster largely determined the political agenda at the end of the 2002 federal election campaign, the economic situation was, once again, one of the most important themes in the context of the election itself. This article examines for the period of 1994 to 2002 whether, and in what measure, the electorate's perception of economic conditions played a role in voters' decisions. Empirical results show that ju…
Chancellor-candidates in the 2002 televised debates
In 2002, ‘American style’ televised debates were held for the first time in Germany and reached a very large part of the electorate: About two-thirds of German voters watched at least one debate. Among the most important factors explaining debate exposure are party identification, political interest and campaign interest. In terms of results, the first debate ended with a draw, while Chancellor Schröder was (clearly) ahead in the second one. In t…
Schröder gegen Stoiber: Wahrnehmung, Verarbeitung und Wirkung der Fernsehdebatten im Bundestagswahlkampf 2002
Die beiden Fernsehdebatten zwischen Gerhard Schröder und Edmund Stoiber im Vorfeld der Bundestagswahl 2002 waren, das belegen sowohl das Zuschauer- als auch das Medieninteresse, das Ereignis des zurückliegenden Wahlkampfes. Schon früh im Wahljahr stand fest, dass es zu direkten Aufeinandertreffen des Kanzlers mit seinem (Haupt-) Herausforderer vor laufenden Kameras kommen würde. In der Folge war das Thema nicht mehr von der Wahlkampf-Agenda wegzu…
Reliability and Validity of Real-Time Response Measurement: A Comparison of Two Studies of a Televised Debate in Germany
This paper investigates the reliability and validity of real-time response measurements (RTR). It is based on a comparison of two quasi-experimental studies independently conducted on the second televised debate of the two major candidates for chancellor in the 2002 German federal election campaign. Participants in Bamberg and Mainz—two mid-sized German cities—followed the debate on a large-scale screen. The viewers’ immediate reactions to the ca…
Kommunales Führungspersonal im Umbruch
Im Umbruch nach der deutschen Wiedervereinigung waren die ostdeutschen Gemeinden die einzigen staatlichen Strukturen, die in ihrem Bestand weitgehend intakt blieben - Hauptursache für die vergleichsweise hohe personelle Kontinuität über den Systemwechsel hinweg. Die Studie untersucht Herkunft, parteipolitische Bindungen, Karrieren, Rollenverständnis und politische Einstellungen von mehr als 2000 (Ober-)Bürgermeistern und Ratsmitgliedern von 105 r…
Shifting Europe's Boundaries: Mass Media, Public Opinion and the Enlargement of the EU
This article demonstrates that public attitudes towards EU enlargement are strongly affected by exposure to the mass media. It reveals `priming' effects by showing that media exposure affects the standards by which individuals evaluate the accession of potential candidate countries. To gain a more refined understanding about media effects on enlargement attitudes, we analytically separate three different factors that underlie EU enlargement suppo…
The impact of political scandals on political support: An experimental test of two theories
One of the most obvious trends in Western democracies, during the past decades, has been the decline of citizens’ political support (that is, the growth of negative attitudes toward political parties, politicians and democracy). One explanation for this trend is that the number of political scandals has increased. However, the impact of political scandals on political support is not clear. Whereas the dysfunctional theory assumes that political s…
Miniature Campaigns’ in Comparison: The German Televised Debates, 2002–09
Given that US-style televised debates were held for the third time in a row in a German federal election campaign, it seems fair to say that they have become an institutionalised feature of German campaigns. Although a number of studies have analysed (single) German debates, comparative work covering the full set of debates is still lacking. The aim of this paper is to reveal patterns and trends in a) debate exposure, b) the evaluation of the can…
The impact of identity and economic cues on citizens’ EU support: An experimental study on the effects of party communication in the run-up to the 2009 European Parliament elections
In this article we seek to understand whether national parties have an impact on citizens’ EU support by publicly cueing Europe as a risk to or as an opportunity for the economy or identity. In order to answer this question, we have conducted a cross-country survey experiment (covering Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden) relying on real-world stimuli from party campaign co…
Measuring citizens’ implicit and explicit attitudes towards the European Union
Studies assessing citizens’ attitudes towards Europe have mostly used explicit concepts and measures. However, psychologists have shown that human behaviour is not only determined by explicit attitudes which can be assessed via self-report, but also by implicit attitudes which require indirect measurement. We combine a self-report questionnaire with an implicit Affective Misattribution Procedure for the first time in an online environment to esti…
Debating Europe: Effects of the “Eurovision Debate” on EU Attitudes of Young German Voters and the Moderating Role Played by Political Involvement
In the run-up to the elections to the European Parliament in 2014, EU citizens had the unprecedented opportunity to watch televised debates between the candidates running for president of the European Commission. The most important debate was the so-called “Eurovision debate”, which was broadcasted in almost all EU member states. In this study we explore the responses of a sample of 110 young German voters, who watched this debate, to the candida…
Breaking Out of the Lab: Measuring Real-Time Responses to Televised Political Content in Real-World Settings
Real-time response (RTR) measurement is an important technique for analyzing human processing of electronic media stimuli. Although it has been demonstrated that RTR data are reliable and internally valid, some argue that they lack external validity. The reason for this is that RTR measurement is restricted to a laboratory environment due to its technical requirements. This paper introduces a smartphone app that 1) captures real-time responses us…
When do candidates attack in election campaigns? Exploring the determinants of negative candidate messages in German televised debates
Content analyses of televised debates indicate that candidates often attack each other. Unfortunately, we know very little about when candidates go negative. Furthermore, most research is focusing on the United States. This paper contributes in several ways to our understanding of when candidates choose negative messages. First, we identify some previously unnoticed factors and assign them to three broad categories: a candidate’s (personal and po…
Perceived personality and campaign style of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump
Steigert die Rezeption von TV-Duellen das Vertrauen in die Spitzenkandidaten: Ein Vergleich von Fernsehdebatten auf Bundes- und Landesebene
This time it’s different? Effects of the Eurovision Debate on young citizens and its consequence for EU democracy – evidence from a quasi-experiment in 24 countries
This paper was co-authored by Jurgen Maier, Thorsten Faas, Berthold Rittberger, Jessica Fortin-Rittberger, Kalliope Agapiou Josifides, Susan Banducci, Paolo Bellucci, Magnus Blomgren, Inta Brikse, Karol Chwedczuk-Szulc, Marina Costa Lobo, Mikolaj Czesnik, Anastasia Deligiaouri, Tomaz Dezelan, Wouter deNooy, Aldo Di Virgilio, Florin Fesnic, Danica Fink-Hafner, Marijana Grbesa, Carmen Greab, Andrija Henjak, David Nicolas Hopmann, David Johann, Gabo…
When a Man Meets a Woman: Comparing the Use of Negativity of Male Candidates in Single- and Mixed-Gender Televised Debates
Much work has been done to analyze the consequences of the increasing representation of women in politics. Usually, this research compares male and female politicians from a female perspective. For instance, many studies in political communication investigate how and why female candidates show campaign styles similar to or different from their male colleagues. In contrast to this, few studies are interested in how men change their behavior when w…
Media framing of political scandals
This chapter describes the main idea of framing as well as the core problems of the approach. It provides an overview of the research on media framing of political scandals. The chapter suggests that an approach on how to assess two general frames often used in scandal coverage: the attack frame and the defense frame. There is evidence that media coverage of political scandals—defined as “intense public communication about a real or imagined defe…
Donald Trump, Populism, and the Age of Extremes: Comparing the Personality Traits and Campaigning Styles of Trump and Other Leaders Worldwide
A common narrative portrays Donald Trump as impetuous and quick to anger, thin skinned, constantly lying, brazen, vulgar, and boasting a grandiose sense of self and his accomplishments. Little systematic evidence exists that this is the case, however. With a novel data set based on expert ratings, we (1) provide systematic empirical evidence about Trump’s personality profile, (2) contrast his profile with 21 other populist leaders and 82 mainstre…
Political science (44 works) · Politics (33 works) · Psychology (32 works) · Law (29 works) · Law (27 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (25 works) · Social Psychology (24 works) · Social Media and Politics (22 works) · Sociology (20 works) · Social Psychology (19 works)