This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Klein, J. G. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Klein, J. G. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Negativity Effects in Impression Formation: A Test in the Political Arena

University of Michigan

Negative information has a stronger influence on impressions of others than positive information, a tendency known as the negativity effect. The hypothesis that this effect would characterize impressions of presidential candidates was tested using National Election Study surveys from 1984 and 1988. Respondents rated the presidential candidates on a number of personality traits. Aggregate-level analyses revealed that personality characteristics that the nation, on average, judged to represent character weaknesses were more predictive of overall evaluations and voting than characteristics judged to represent strengths. At the idiographic level, it was found that a trait was significantly more predictive when it fell below an individual's average trait rating for a candidate than when it was located above this mean. Thus, character weaknesses were more important than strengths in determining the public's evaluations of the candidate and the ultimate vote.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. Trafimow, I. K. Bromgard, K. A. Finlay, and T. Ketelaar The Role of Affect in Determining the Attributional Weight of Immoral Behaviors Pers Soc Psychol Bull, July 1, 2005; 31(7): 935 - 948. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. V. SHAH, R. J. FABER, and S. YOUN Susceptibility and Severity: Perceptual Dimensions Underlying the Third-Person Effect Communication Research, April 1, 1999; 26(2): 240 - 267. [Abstract] [PDF]

				O. Ybarra Misanthropic Person Memory when the Need to Self-Enhance is Absent Pers Soc Psychol Bull, February 1, 1999; 25(2): 261 - 269. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. D. Stewart Stereotypes, Negativity Bias, and the Discussion of Unshared Information in Decision-Making Groups Small Group Research, December 1, 1998; 29(6): 643 - 668. [Abstract]

				E. Aragones Negativity Effect and the Emergence of Ideologies Journal of Theoretical Politics, April 1, 1997; 9(2): 189 - 210. [Abstract]

				J. G. Klein Negativity in Impressions of Presidential Candidates Revisited: The 1992 Election Pers Soc Psychol Bull, March 1, 1996; 22(3): 288 - 295. [Abstract]