The Psychology of Attack Politics

The Psychology of Attack Politics explores the use of political attacks in election campaigns, and the way in which their, often deliberate, use impacts voters, and has wide reaching societal consequences.

With most elections being fraught with tension, disrespectful treatment of political opponents, and political incivility, this timely book aims to disentangle the dynamics of how attack politics is perceived (e.g., whether citizens perceive a negative message to be, indeed, negative) and evaluated (that is, whether citizens like or dislike attack politics). The book looks also at the effects of attack politics, for instance, whether exposure to negative or uncivil messages alters attitudes and behaviours such as turnout, affective polarization, and support for political violence. The authors provide a systematic conceptualization of attack politics, made up of negativity, incivility, intolerance. Focusing on cutting-edge research in political psychology, political communication and electoral behaviour, the authors make the central argument that to understand the effects of different forms of attack politics, there should be a strong focus on individual differences in message perception and evaluation.

Exploring what ultimately drives the effects of negative, uncivil, and intolerant rhetoric, and analysing phenomena at the centre of current scientific and public discourse, this is a fascinating reading for academics and students in psychology, political science, sociology, and communication, as well as anyone interested in political campaigning and elections.