Velux Foundation Grants 5,8 million DKK to IMC Researchers
What Makes Political Communication Strong? Voters in modern society are on a daily basis faced with a flow of messages from politicians and other political elites. Some of these messages have a clear impact on voter attitudes. Just as often, however, politicians fail to communicate persuasively. But why do some communication attempts from political elites have a powerful impact on public opinion while others fail?
Psychological studies have continously shown that ordinary people pay attention to and are persuaded by particular kinds of information. At the same time, we know surprisingly little about what factors makes messages and campaigns effective in politics. With a grant from the non-profit Velux Foundation of 5.8 million DKK, Interacting Minds researchers Michael Bang Petersen and Lene Aarøe will now investigate the connections between human psychological and the effects of political communication. Through a combination of cross-national surveys and laboratory experiments conducated at Aarhus University’s Cognition and Behavior Lab, the research group will explore the claim that political communication that fit human psychological biases are stronger and influence voter attitudes more than political communication that does not resonate with our biases.
