It's About Time: The Lifespan of Information Effects in a Multiweek Campaign

Dona‐Gene Mitchell

American Journal of Political Science, 2012, vol. 56, issue 2, 298-311

Abstract: I advance a theoretical and empirical framework that puts time and thus the temporal dynamics of candidate evaluation front and center in order to advance our understanding of the lifespan of information effects while enhancing the external validity of our experimental approaches. With these temporal properties in mind, I designed a “panel experiment” with research conducted over 12 weeks. This represents the first experimental approach to combine control over information exposure with attention to information processing throughout the course of a multiweek campaign. Against the backdrop of partisanship, empirical tests assess the ability of transient exposure to issue and character information to produce effects that endure beyond the moment the information is encountered either via memory‐based or on‐line processes. Findings reveal a remarkably limited role for enduring information effects and suggest a “rapid displacement” model of information processing where new information quickly displaces the accumulated stockpile of old information.

Date: 2012
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https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2011.00549.x

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:amposc:v:56:y:2012:i:2:p:298-311

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