The (minimal) persuasive advantage of political video over text
Author(s)
Wittenberg, Chloe; Tappin, Ben M; Berinsky, Adam J; Rand, David G
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Show full item recordAbstract
<jats:title>Significance</jats:title>
<jats:p>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.</jats:p>
Date issued
2021Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science; Sloan School of Management; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive SciencesJournal
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