Campaigning for Hearts and Minds: How Emotional Appeals in Political Ads Work (Studies in Communication, Media, and Public Opinion) (Paperback)

by Ted Brader (Author)
Key Phrases: enthusiasm cues, enthusiasm ads, cueing emotions, Political Life, Place of Emotion, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A terrific book. Brader takes contemporary political psychology to campaign ads and discovers something novel in the process. Emotions matter - but not in the ways we commonly suppose. Brader's book breaks our reliance on that easy understanding and forces us to think more consciously about how images, emotions, cognitions, and political choices are bound together." - Michael MacKuen, coauthor of Affective Intelligence and Political Judgment"

Review
"Written in an accessible and engaging style, Campaigning for Hearts and Minds exposes the gap between political practice, in which emotional appeals in advertising are commonplace, and political science, which, in its fascination with cognition, content, and strategic reasoning, has all but neglected them. This book tests, for the first time, basic propositions about how emotional appeals affect voters' preferences and behavior. It reminds us of the practical significance of social science and of the theoretical significance of solid experimental results."--Donald Green, coauthor of Partisan Hearts and Minds (Donald Green )

"Brader brings experimental methods to the study of television political campaign ads for real candidates in a real election campaign. His detailed exploration uncovers a rich array of findings that challenges many conventional beliefs about how campaign ads impact voters. Campaigning for Hearts and Minds is a rich, lucid exploration of many old and new accounts that makes an important and timely contribution for scholars and practitioners alike."--George E. Marcus, author of The Sentimental Citizen (George E. Marcus )

"A terrific book. Brader takes contemporary political psychology to campaign ads and discovers something novel in the process. Emotions matter-but not in the ways we commonly suppose. Brader's book breaks our reliance on that easy understanding and forces us to think more consciously about how images, emotions, cognitions, and political choices are bound together."--Michael MacKuen, coauthor of Affective Intelligence and Political Judgment (Michael MacKuen )

"Brader guides the reader through the study of political advertising and makes the case that although many studies have been done, few have systematically analyzed the role of emotion in political campaigns. The author seeks to close this gap through the content analysis of more than 1,400 political ads and an experimental investigation of the effect different type of ads have upon citizens. His work is both timely and original. The findings suggest that negatively charged ads cause citizens to conduct more research on their own. Enthusiastic appeals work to motivate committed voters to political action on behalf of their candidate." (Choice )

"The methodology, data and argument are presented in a clear, easily accessible and informative manner while maintaining academic rigour. . . . A welcome addition."--Tobias Jung, Political Studies Review (Tobias Jung Political Studies Review )

"Ted Brader has written an illuminating analysis of the emotional basis of political advertising and the strategic calculus guiding politicians' use of ads appealing to enthusiasm and fear. His counterintuitive research findings overturn conventional wisdom and show that positive ads can polarize and negative can inform."--Samuel L. Popkin, author of The Reasoning Voter (Samuel L. Popkin ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (January 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226069893
• ISBN-13: 978-0226069890
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #320,698 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Academic insights meet practical application, February 27, 2006

By	Patrick A. Stewart (Jonesboro, AR, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ted Brader's "Campaigning for Hearts and Minds: How Emotional Appeals in Political Ads Work" drives yet another nail into the coffin of academic wisdom that voters are either rational decision-makers or complacent habit-following creatures by providing compelling evidence for the role of emotions in political campaigns. Building off of George Marcus, Russell Neuman and Michael MacKuens' model of "Affective Intelligence", Ted Brader applies the rarely employed experimental method to "everyday people" during a Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign to explicate the process and outcome of their viewing televised political advertisements of differing emotional content and tone. Brader then carries out a content analysis of 1,565 political advertisements from the 2004 election to provide insights as to how the emotions of enthusiasm and fear are used to influence potential voters. His often counter-intuitive experimental findings on how subtle visual and audio cues affect voters' emotions, especially those of informed and interested voters, makes this book required reading for those interested in the "real world" of politics and campaigning. His content analysis findings reinforce his experimental findings by illustrating how political advertisements are used in political campaigns across the United States. In sum, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in learning how emotions influence politics by substantially advancing our understanding of how emotions drive our political thoughts, decisions, and actions.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Telling exploration of emotion and political campaigns, August 18, 2007

By	Steven A. Peterson (Hershey, PA (Born in Kewanee, IL)) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is an excellent book. The general audience may find the statistical discussion somewhat slow going, but this is not a turgidly written academic tome. At the same time, it is a solid academic work. His takeoff point (page 2): ". . .the motivational and persuasive power of campaign advertising depends considerably on whether an ad appeals to fear or enthusiasm." He contends that emotional appeals built into campaign ads makes them more effective--the mixture of a political message plus emotion can be powerful if crafted well.

His experiments make it clear that mixing emotions (whether enthusiasm or fear) with a political message has impacts--whether those effects be simple reactions to ads or stimulating interest in the campaign or motivating viewers to want to get out and vote on election day.

This is all, according to the author, counter to much standard political science research that, in the near past, argued that media had only "minimal effects." Brader's work, and that of others, surely suggests that this judgment is much overstated. Media can, indeed, have measurable political effects. This book is one addition to that important correction of the old standard wisdom in the study of politics.

The book is also worth looking at because of its notice of the relevance of psychology and the neurosciences for understanding why emotional elements in political ads can have such an effect. This demonstrates powerfully the importance of cross-disciplinary research.

Final judgment? For those interested in the effects of emotion on politics, this is yet another nice addition to the library.

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Helpful, June 30, 2009

By	Mark (Atlanta) - See all my reviews

After the previous two presidential elections didn't turn out the way I wanted them to, I decided to take matters into my own hands on a local level.

I found this book to be extremely helpful in managing my first campaign.