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Negative political campaigning

Evidence from the psychological literature: does it work?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Nicholas Beecroft
Nicholas Beecroft*
Affiliation:
The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ
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It seems to be increasingly taken for granted by politicians and commentators that it is more effective to attack one's opponent than to promote a positive vision in order to sway voters in an election campaign. This article examines the relevant evidence in the psychological literature to see if this belief is justified. This includes the evidence on information processing, emotion and the specific effects of negative campaigning.

Type
Psychiatry and the Media
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 21 , Issue 5 , May 1997 , pp. 297 - 298
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

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