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Fear-based ads work on voter’s subconscious, says researcher

2008-06-09 14:34:22 (GMT) (Caymanmama.com - Government News)



Atlanta, Georgia (CaymanMama.com) — A recent survey has been conducted by CNN on eight unsure voters to analyze their reaction to the attack ads along with the effect that these ads have on the choices of these candidates. The voters were met at the Emory University in Georgia, Atlanta, where Drew Westen, a psychologist studies the reaction of brains to the messages of the candidate.

Western, writer of “The Political Brain” commented that attack ads that are fear-based are successful as they tap into the voter’s subconscious. “Those kinds of gut-level reactions tell us things like, ‘I don’t feel like this person is telling us the truth,’ unless someone is a really good con man, those reactions are extremely helpful. The conscious brain processes only a tiny percent of information,” said Western.

Westen along with his partner in business, Joel Weinberger, has successfully devised software for their corporation ThinkScan that will be able to sneak into the subconscious of the voter. The software works by measuring the reaction of the people to a few words after watching the attack ads.

The unresolved voters in the CNN group saw the advertisements and were asked to recognize the color for words like “weak”, “terrorist” and “inexperienced”. In case, the voters hesitated for as less as one-thousandth of one second, prior to the clicking the color that match with that word, it shows that the word does influenced the voter, said Weinberger.

Though attack ads undoubtedly have an impact on the subconscious thinking of the voters, fear-based ads can be risky as they may backfire, cautions Westen.



tariqdossal · Filed Under Government 

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