Open AccessThe (minimal) persuasive advantage of political video over text
Author(s) -
Chloe Wittenberg,
Ben M Tappin,
Adam J. Berinsky,
David G. Rand
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2114388118
Subject(s) - persuasion , politics , respondent , test (biology) , control (management) , event (particle physics) , social psychology , psychology , power (physics) , selection (genetic algorithm) , computer science , political science , artificial intelligence , law , paleontology , physics , quantum mechanics , biology
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.