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The present study investigates media effects on the activation of group-related stereotypes and policy opinions in a political campaign. In comparison to previous research, we tested media effects in a two-wave panel survey controlling for prior stereotypes and policy opinions. As a result, we found that exposure to TV news and political round-table discussions exerted a causal effect on stereotype activation. However, these media induced stereotypes did not translate to policy opinions. More importantly, exposure to tabloid news elicited stereotypical thoughts about ethnic minorities among readers who process media information less systematically. Similarly, relative to all other media users, low-involvement tabloid users preferred more punitive measures in the treatment of ethnic minorities. Thus, among low-involvement users, tabloids activated group-related stereotypes of ethnic minorities on which recipients relied when forming policy opinions. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims at the analysis of the interplay between cognition and affect in processes of opinion formation in political communication campaigns. We argue that the specific characteristics of a campaign (i.e., the thematic difficulty and conflictivity) influence how citizens' affect and cognition interact during judgment formation. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed data from three representative panel surveys. The surveys were conducted in Switzerland in the context of three political campaigns on asylum legislation, naturalization, and corporate taxation. Our analyses show that argument approval and emotions influence citizens' voting decision. Furthermore, campaign characteristics impact the pattern of the cognitive and affective influences on voting: Citizens tend to rely more strongly on their emotions towards an issue than on arguments when the issue is highly complex. In addition, citizens' attitudes are more polarized when a campaign is conflictive. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a representative 3-wave panel survey of Swiss citizens the project is examining media use and the emergence of knowledge gaps throughout the Swiss referendum campaign on the one hand and processes of attitude formation and change in the course of the political campaign on the other hand. It is asked, how citizens do use traditional (Print & TV) and new (Internet) mass media as sources for political information, and how media use mediated by factors like education or political interest mediate information acquisition and emergence of knowledge-gaps. Furthermore, it will be analyzed on the basis of dual-process theories like the ELM, how citizens do form political judgments and to what extent these judgments are influenced by media coverage on the one hand and specific information processing strategies (heuristic and central) on the other hand? Results regarding the knowledge-gaps and the political judgment processes will be presented. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]