Jürgen Maier

RPTU - Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau

The use of negative campaigning is often explained by rational considerations; the more perceived benefits exceed perceived costs, the more likely candidates are to attack their political opponents. However, this benefit-cost ratio explains campaign behavior only to some extent. In this study, we test social norms as additional drivers of a candida...

Little is known about why candidates decide to make use of emotional messages when campaigning for a political office, and under which conditions this is more likely to happen. We focus on the use of fear and enthusiasm appeals and assume that these are a function of profile of candidates and the nature of the context in which the election takes pl...

Although aversive (“dark”) personality characteristics of politicians have increasingly become a focus of research, a suitable self-assessment inventory for political elites has only recently been introduced. This article examines the test-retest reliability of the Political Elites Aversive Personality Scale (PEAPS) in a unique natural setting usin...

We investigate the antecedents of affective polarization in the American public, and focus specifically on the driving role of exposure to darker forms of campaign communication (negativity, incivility, populist rhetoric) and the intervening role of individual populist attitudes. Experimental evidence was gathered among a sample of US respondents (...

Germany is a prime example of a country where the use of gender-sensitive language is the subject of public controversy and debate. This study provides a quantitative content analysis of all ( N = 72) German televised debates aired on the federal and state level from 1997 until 2022 to explore the determinants of the use of gender-sensitive languag...

Political leaders across the globe are seemingly getting “darker”—uncivil, controversial, showcasing an aggressive personality and “bad manners” and taking pleasure in breaking political norms. Who are these politicians, and who likes them? Is a dark personality in politicians an electoral asset, or does it create a backlash? And what are the syste...

Political leaders across the globe are seemingly getting “darker”—uncivil, controversial, showcasing an aggressive personality and “bad manners” and taking pleasure in breaking political norms. Who are these politicians, and who likes them? Is a dark personality in politicians an electoral asset, or does it create a backlash? And what are the syste...

Political leaders across the globe are seemingly getting “darker”—uncivil, controversial, showcasing an aggressive personality and “bad manners” and taking pleasure in breaking political norms. Who are these politicians, and who likes them? Is a dark personality in politicians an electoral asset, or does it create a backlash? And what are the syste...

Political leaders across the globe are seemingly getting “darker”—uncivil, controversial, showcasing an aggressive personality and “bad manners” and taking pleasure in breaking political norms. Who are these politicians, and who likes them? Is a dark personality in politicians an electoral asset, or does it create a backlash? And what are the syste...

Political leaders across the globe are seemingly getting “darker”—uncivil, controversial, showcasing an aggressive personality and “bad manners” and taking pleasure in breaking political norms. Who are these politicians, and who likes them? Is a dark personality in politicians an electoral asset, or does it create a backlash? And what are the syste...

Political leaders across the globe are seemingly getting “darker”—uncivil, controversial, showcasing an aggressive personality and “bad manners” and taking pleasure in breaking political norms. Who are these politicians, and who likes them? Is a dark personality in politicians an electoral asset, or does it create a backlash? And what are the syste...

Political leaders across the globe are seemingly getting “darker”—uncivil, controversial, showcasing an aggressive personality and “bad manners” and taking pleasure in breaking political norms. Who are these politicians, and who likes them? Is a dark personality in politicians an electoral asset, or does it create a backlash? And what are the syste...

Political leaders across the globe are seemingly getting “darker”—uncivil, controversial, showcasing an aggressive personality and “bad manners” and taking pleasure in breaking political norms. Who are these politicians, and who likes them? Is a dark personality in politicians an electoral asset, or does it create a backlash? And what are the syste...

Political leaders across the globe are seemingly getting “darker”—uncivil, controversial, showcasing an aggressive personality and “bad manners” and taking pleasure in breaking political norms. Who are these politicians, and who likes them? Is a dark personality in politicians an electoral asset, or does it create a backlash? And what are the syste...

Political leaders across the globe are seemingly getting “darker”—uncivil, controversial, showcasing an aggressive personality and “bad manners” and taking pleasure in breaking political norms. Who are these politicians, and who likes them? Is a dark personality in politicians an electoral asset, or does it create a backlash? And what are the syste...

Political leaders across the globe are seemingly getting “darker”—uncivil, controversial, showcasing an aggressive personality and “bad manners” and taking pleasure in breaking political norms. Who are these politicians, and who likes them? Is a dark personality in politicians an electoral asset, or does it create a backlash? And what are the syste...

Political leaders across the globe are seemingly getting “darker”—uncivil, controversial, showcasing an aggressive personality and “bad manners” and taking pleasure in breaking political norms. Who are these politicians, and who likes them? Is a dark personality in politicians an electoral asset, or does it create a backlash? And what are the syste...

Political leaders across the globe are seemingly getting “darker”—uncivil, controversial, showcasing an aggressive personality and “bad manners” and taking pleasure in breaking political norms. Who are these politicians, and who likes them? Is a dark personality in politicians an electoral asset, or does it create a backlash? And what are the syste...

Political leaders across the globe are seemingly getting “darker”—uncivil, controversial, showcasing an aggressive personality and “bad manners” and taking pleasure in breaking political norms. Who are these politicians, and who likes them? Is a dark personality in politicians an electoral asset, or does it create a backlash? And what are the syste...

Political leaders across the globe are seemingly getting “darker”—uncivil, controversial, showcasing an aggressive personality and “bad manners” and taking pleasure in breaking political norms. Who are these politicians, and who likes them? Is a dark personality in politicians an electoral asset, or does it create a backlash? And what are the syste...

There is mounting evidence in the United States and worldwide that highlights a widespread and deepening “principled dislike” between partisan groups. Stemming from group identity dynamics, such as “affective polarization,” it is likely to be triggered by exposure to intra-elite conflicts, such as campaign negativity and incivility. However, empiri...

In order to explain the behavior of political elites, research increasingly considers personality traits. Within this line of research, a recent focus is on socially aversive - yet non-pathological - personality traits (e.g., Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy), with the idea to better understand behavior violating generally accepted ethical...

Empirische Forschung zeigt, dass attraktive Politiker (aus Gründen der besseren Lesbarkeit wird im Folgenden auf die gleichzeitige Verwendung weiblicher und männlicher Sprachformen verzichtet und das generische Maskulinum verwendet. Sämtliche Personenbezeichnungen gelten aber – wenn nicht anders beschrieben – selbstverständlich für alle Geschlechte...

Emotions have always been considered an important element of political communication. Recent research has demonstrated the significance of emotions in individual information-processing and political judgements. Used strategically, emotions thus become an instrument for influencing people. Based on content analyses of TV news and political talk show...

Emotions have always been considered an important element of political communication. Recent research has demonstrated the significance of emotions in individual information-processing and political judgements. Used strategically, emotions thus become an instrument for influencing people. Based on content analyses of TV news and political talk show...

Emotions have always been considered an important element of political communication. Recent research has demonstrated the significance of emotions in individual information-processing and political judgements. Used strategically, emotions thus become an instrument for influencing people. Based on content analyses of TV news and political talk show...

Emotions have always been considered an important element of political communication. Recent research has demonstrated the significance of emotions in individual information-processing and political judgements. Used strategically, emotions thus become an instrument for influencing people. Based on content analyses of TV news and political talk show...

Emotions have always been considered an important element of political communication. Recent research has demonstrated the significance of emotions in individual information-processing and political judgements. Used strategically, emotions thus become an instrument for influencing people. Based on content analyses of TV news and political talk show...

Emotions have always been considered an important element of political communication. Recent research has demonstrated the significance of emotions in individual information-processing and political judgements. Used strategically, emotions thus become an instrument for influencing people. Based on content analyses of TV news and political talk show...

Emotions have always been considered an important element of political communication. Recent research has demonstrated the significance of emotions in individual information-processing and political judgements. Used strategically, emotions thus become an instrument for influencing people. Based on content analyses of TV news and political talk show...

Emotions have always been considered an important element of political communication. Recent research has demonstrated the significance of emotions in individual information-processing and political judgements. Used strategically, emotions thus become an instrument for influencing people. Based on content analyses of TV news and political talk show...

Emotions have always been considered an important element of political communication. Recent research has demonstrated the significance of emotions in individual information-processing and political judgements. Used strategically, emotions thus become an instrument for influencing people. Based on content analyses of TV news and political talk show...

Emotions have always been considered an important element of political communication. Recent research has demonstrated the significance of emotions in individual information-processing and political judgements. Used strategically, emotions thus become an instrument for influencing people. Based on content analyses of TV news and political talk show...

As it has been argued that “dark” personality is highly correlated with or even equivalent to the low poles of the basic personality traits honesty-humility and agreeableness, the explanatory role of dark personality as a unique driver of socially aversive behavior is called into question. Focusing on negative campaigning among candidates running f...

A growing body of studies is focusing on politicians’ personalities, as the personality of political elites has been shown to affect their behavior. Whereas most research uses the big five framework or HEXACO, only a few studies have been able to capture more “aversive,” “dark”—yet non-pathological—personality traits of politicians. However, these...

Are Eurosceptic parties more likely to run negative, uncivil and emotional campaigns, as it is often intuitively argued? And with what consequences? In this article, we shed light on the effectiveness of these campaign strategies for Eurosceptic parties during the 2019 European elections. We argue that ‘harsher’ campaigns are ‘in character’ for Eur...

Televised election debates are considered as the most important single campaign event. While a large body of research has analyzed their content, processing, impact, and media coverage, it has not yet been examined under which conditions candidates agree to debate. This is remarkable, as debates are a mat- ter of course in only a few countries, and...

This study examines the growing journalistic practice of embedding full tweets in online political news coverage. Against the background of a hybrid media system, we pursue three research goals. First, we evaluate the scope of the Twitter-in-the-news phenomenon relative to news coverage as a whole. Second, we examine the functions of embedded tweet...

To what extent are negative election campaigns “tailored” to the personality of the candidates? And with what electoral consequences? In this article we tackle these questions by focusing on the 2019 Swiss federal election. We estimate the presence of negativity as a function of the personality profile of competing candidates (Big Five) and the pre...

To what extent are negative election campaigns “tailored” to the personality of the candidates? And with what electoral consequences? In this article we tackle these questions by focusing on the 2019 Swiss federal election. We estimate the presence of negativity as a function of the personality profile of competing candidates (Big Five) and the pre...

This article tests the assumption that candidates’ attack behavior is a result of their rational consideration of potential benefits and likely risks. Based on candidate surveys from three German state elections, we demonstrate that (i) attacks are an important strategy; (ii) on balance, candidates regard attacking opponents as a costly instead of...

Although televised debates between party leaders nowadays are a staple of German electoral campaigns, their behavioral effects are still unclear. Based on quasi-experimental data for the 2009, 2013, and 2017 German federal elections, the chapter demonstrates that debates had significant direct (i.e., through personal exposure) and indirect effects...

It is the task of political psychology to examine political behaviour from a psychological or socio-psychological perspective. Its topics include the analysis of political elites, especially their personalities, motives and actions, political leadership, foreign policy decision-making processes, international and ethnic conflicts and their pacifica...

Research shows it is challenging to ensure that individuals use information protective behaviors (e.g., secure passwords, turning off tracking features), especially on smartphones. Concurrently, employees increasingly use their own devices for work (BYOD), but with limited compliance with BYOD policies. This research studies the role of knowledge i...

In the last years, gender-sensitive language use has become an important issue of public debate in Germany and many other countries. The generic use of masculine forms in particular has been widely criticised. How, for example, public figures and politicians, both in government and of the opposition, refer to groups comprised of diverse genders is...

A growing body of studies shows that the reasons for competing candidates to “go negative” on their opponents during elections—that is, attacking their opponents instead of promoting their own programs or ideas stem from strategic considerations. Yet, existing research has, at this stage, failed to assess whether candidates’ personality traits also...

Multiple debates were held on TV in the 2021 German federal election campaign between the chancellor candidates Armin Laschet (CDU/CSU), Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Annelena Baerbock (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) . For the last three televised debates (so-called „Trielle“), surveying viewers immediately before and immediately after the events and conducting re...

Democrats and Republicans have divergent views about Trump’s personality. Are these perceptions stable over time? We describe the evolution of Trump’s perceived personality (Big Five and Dark Triad) between November 2018 and May 2020 by comparing four samples of American respondents (Mechanical Turk). Trump’s perceived personality is on average ext...

Soziale Medien haben in den vergangenen Jahren erheblich an Einfluss in der politischen Kommunikation gewonnen. Deshalb wenden sich auch Politiker in Deutschland Plattformen wie Facebook und Twitter zu, um Wähler zu erreichen. Die akademischen Studien zum deutschen Fall beschränken sich allerdings bis auf wenige Ausnahmen auf die Online-Aktivitäten...

Negative Kampagnenstrategien gelten gemeinhin als besonders effektiv, da aus psychologischer Sicht einiges dafürspricht, dass negative Kampagnenbotschaften eine stärkere Wirkung entfalten als positive Strategien (z. B. Rozin & Royzman 2001). Da Wähler negative campaigning allerdings wenig schätzen (Lipsitz et al. 2005), birgt eine solche Strategie...

We investigate the contextual conditions under which campaigns in elections worldwide are fought “negatively”, that is, rely on attacks against political opponents. We test the overarching intuition that societal, political, and cultural conflicts in the country are associated with greater negativity in election campaigns; conflicts, we argue, sow...

European elections have been described as second-order phenomena for voters, the media, but also parties. Yet, since 2009, there exists evidence that not only voters, but also political parties assign increasing significance to European elections. While initially ‘issue entrepreneurs’ were held responsible for this development, the latest campaigns...

Which candidates are more likely to go negative, and under which conditions? We analyze self-reported survey data from candidates having run in the 2017 German federal election for the main parties. More specifically, we test a comprehensive set of factors supposed to drive the use of (a) negative campaigning in general, (b) policy attacks, and (c)...

The personality traits of political candidates, and the way these are perceived by the public at large, matter for political representation and electoral behavior. Disentangling the effects of partisanship and perceived personality on candidate evaluations is however notoriously a tricky business, as voters tend to evaluate the personality of candi...

Media professionals make use of various production techniques in the visual portrayal of politicians on television. A large body of literature indicates that these techniques exert varying influence on, for example, the evaluation of these actors, leading to the question of whether politicians are depicted in an equal way. Focusing on televised deb...

Das Kapitel führt in die rezeptionsbegleitende Erfassung von Zuschauerbewertungen mittels Real-Time-Response-Technik (RTR) ein. Es beleuchtet die Geschichte von RTR-Messungen, gibt einen Überblick über Messvarianten, diskutiert Fragen von Reliabilität und Validität der Methode und präsentiert Anwendungsfelder in der Politikwissenschaft. Am Beispiel...

We test how individual differences moderate the attitudinal effects of attack politics in two online experiments among US respondents, surveyed through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (N=1,408 and N=1,081). Study 1 tests the moderating effect of personality traits (Big Five, Dark Triad) on the effectiveness of character vs. policy attacks. Study 2 investi...

In order to analyze whether the entry of the right-wing populist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) into parliaments has changed parliamentary debate culture a content analysis of budget debates for the period 2012-2017 is conducted, where the frequency of interruptions and the use of uncivil utterances during the speaker’s interruption in sev...

Are candidates with “dark” personality profiles more likely to go negative? We triangulate data for the 2018 Senate Midterms in the United States from two independent sources (the automated coding of social media posts and an expert survey) and test the extent to which the candidates’ “dark” personality traits (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiave...

We argue that, above and beyond the usual suspects, some campaign strategies are more successful in attracting media coverage. We specifically focus on two elements of campaign content: the tone of the campaign (i.e., whether or not to go “negative” on opponents) and the use of emotional appeals (fear and enthusiasm messages). We argue that both ne...