Don’t let candidate’s pricey ads fool you

Tis the season for political attack ads. Though generally disliked, they persist because repeated negative stories can subconsciously influence behavior.

Negative information is perceived as threatening, capturing our attention.

Stories are more relatable than statistics, no matter how accurate and informative. If we hear something often enough, we assume there’s truth to it. If something comes to mind easily, we believe it’s common.

For example, the Cato Institute found that native-born Americans are over two-and-a-half times more likely to be incarcerated than immigrants.

But such data doesn’t seem to matter. A single criminal case or falsehood, such as “they’re eating pets,” repeated constantly can convince otherwise good people to blindly persecute the vulnerable.

Likewise, a political candidate may raise the specter of immigrant crime in an ad attacking his........

© The Leader Herald