Roman Chytilek, Michal Tóth a Tadeáš Celý published in the journal Electoral Studies
The research published in Electoral Studies examined whether people pay more attention to political messages framed in moral terms (appealing to values and emotions) or in factual terms (emphasizing data and evidence). The authors conducted two experimental studies – a laboratory eye-tracking experiment and a large-scale online survey with a representative sample of the population.
The results are surprising: moral appeals do not always automatically attract more attention than factual ones. On the contrary, in some cases people paid more attention to fact-based messages. The study shows that even in an era of emotional overload and polarization, rational, evidence-based communication can capture attention. The research thus brings encouraging news for the media and scientists: facts still have a chance to speak louder than moralizing
