The (minimal) persuasive advantage of political video over text
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pnas.2114388118.pdf
Description
Published version
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648.38 KB
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Author(s)
Wittenberg, Chloe
Tappin, Ben M
Berinsky, Adam J
Rand, David G
Date Issued
2021
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Citation
Wittenberg, Chloe, Tappin, Ben M, Berinsky, Adam J and Rand, David G. 2021. "The (minimal) persuasive advantage of political video over text." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118 (47).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Significance
Video is an increasingly common source of political information. Although conventional wisdom suggests that video is much more persuasive than other communication modalities such as text, this assumption has seldom been tested in the political domain. Across two large-scale randomized experiments, we find clear evidence that “seeing is believing”: individuals are more likely to believe an event took place when shown information in video versus textual form. When it comes to persuasion, however, the advantage of video over text is markedly less pronounced, with only small effects on attitudes and behavioral intentions. Together, these results challenge popular narratives about the unparalleled persuasiveness of political video versus text.
Video is an increasingly common source of political information. Although conventional wisdom suggests that video is much more persuasive than other communication modalities such as text, this assumption has seldom been tested in the political domain. Across two large-scale randomized experiments, we find clear evidence that “seeing is believing”: individuals are more likely to believe an event took place when shown information in video versus textual form. When it comes to persuasion, however, the advantage of video over text is markedly less pronounced, with only small effects on attitudes and behavioral intentions. Together, these results challenge popular narratives about the unparalleled persuasiveness of political video versus text.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science
Sloan School of Management
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.2114388118
