Individual Submission Summary
Share...

Direct link:

The People’s Voice – The People’s Choice? Effects of Vox Pops and the Moderating Role of Populist Attitudes

Sat, May 26, 17:00 to 18:15, Hilton Prague, Floor: LL, Congress Hall II - Exhibit Hall/Posters

Abstract

Exemplification research has consistently shown strong effects of vox pops exemplars (ordinary citizens voicing their opinion), on audience judgments. However, most of previous studies compared either relative exemplar effects or exemplars with base-rate information. In this study, we investigate whether ordinary citizens as “opinion-givers” within a news report are more influential in altering judgments compared to a purely journalistic news reports providing the same arguments. We draw from research on persuasive press inference to predict perceptual effects of both report versions. Furthermore, based on research results suggesting that ordinary citizens might be perceived as a more trustworthy source, we examine whether the integration of vox pops enhances the credibility of a news report, and whether this mediates persuasive effects. In a web-based experiment, we can show that both perceptual as well as persuasive effects are dependent on participant’s populist attitudes and thus their resonance to the “voice of the people.”

Author