The DOI matches its Crossref record; 54 of the 56 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Effects of Economic and Symbolic Threat Appeals in Right-Wing Populist Advertising on Anti-Immigrant Attitudes: The Impact of Textual and Visual Appeals
Open accessAbstract
Right-wing populist parties portray immigrants as economic or symbolic threats in their political advertisements by constructing a moral divide between the “good” ordinary people and “bad” immigrants. Yet, it remains unclear how these different threat appeals contribute to the formation of anti-immigrant attitudes among citizens and what role visual elements play in producing these effects. A survey-experiment with a quota sample of 471 participants reveals that, overall, symbolic threat appeals exert stronger effects on anti-immigrant attitudes than economic ones. When presented via text alone, only symbolic—not economic—threat appeals increased anti-immigrant attitudes via the activation of heuristic processing such as the reliance on negative stereotypes or feelings of anxiety, in particular among lower-educated citizens. When visuals were present, both types of threat appeals enhanced anti-immigrant attitudes among citizens across all education levels based on heuristic processing. Additionally, high image-text congruency induced cognitive argument approval resulting in higher anti-immigrant attitudes.
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“In turn, perceived cultural threat leads to negative attitudes toward immigrants (e.g., Schmuck & Matthes 2015, 2017).”
From Prejudice and Discrimination Toward Immigrants (2021) · cites this paper as Schmuck & Matthes 2017
Citations
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Metadata
- Authors
- Schmuck, D., & Matthes, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Vienna (AT)
- Corresponding author
- Schmuck, Desirée
- Venue
- Political Communication
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2017-05-19
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 607-626
- ISSN
- 1058-4609 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-7675
- OpenAlex
- W2615508116
- Cited by
- 124
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 45.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Political Communication (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Phaidra (Universität Wien) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Populism, Right-Wing Movements
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration, Refugees, and Integration
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Keywords
- right-wing populism, political advertising, anti-immigrant sentiment, fear appeals, economic threats, symbolic threat, visual appeal, heuristic processing, stereotypes, anxiety, educational attainment
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