As the 2012 presidential race heats up, mud will soon be slung, and one University of Minnesota researcher will examine the mental effects of dirty political ads.
A College of Liberal Arts study spearheaded by political science professor John Sullivan will look into what happens in the brains of political activists when viewing negative campaign ads.
With the 2012 election’s expensive campaigns picking up, Sullivan said there’s going to be “an incredible avalanche” of attack ads.
Sullivan and his team seek to confirm and expand upon research suggesting that partisans — people who identify with a given political ideology — process political information in a biased manner, as they may be motivated by their emotional response instead of rational decision-making.
In previous MRI studies on negative ads, political information was flashed onto a screen instead of shown as an actual advertisement. In this study, researchers will show subjects 30-second ads attacking Democrats Barack Obama and John Kerry and Republicans John McCain and George W. Bush.
Read the full story at the Minnesota Daily.
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