@article{PfisterSchwarzHolzmannetal.2023,
  author    = {Pfister, Roland and Schwarz, Katharina A. and Holzmann, Patricia and Reis, Moritz and Yogeeswaran, Kumar and Kunde, Wilfried},
  title     = {Headlines win elections: mere exposure to fictitious news media alters voting behavior},
  series = {PloS One},
  volume    = {18},
  journal   = {PloS One},
  number    = {8},
  doi       = {10.1371/journal.pone.0289341},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-349845},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Repeatedly encountering a stimulus biases the observer's affective response and evaluation of the stimuli. Here we provide evidence for a causal link between mere exposure to fictitious news reports and subsequent voting behavior. In four pre-registered online experiments, participants browsed through newspaper webpages and were tacitly exposed to names of fictitious politicians. Exposure predicted voting behavior in a subsequent mock election, with a consistent preference for frequent over infrequent names, except when news items were decidedly negative. Follow-up analyses indicated that mere media presence fuels implicit personality theories regarding a candidate's vigor in political contexts. News outlets should therefore be mindful to cover political candidates as evenly as possible.},
  language  = {en}
}