It’s common knowledge that women are more “emotional” than men, right?
But what if you are trying to persuade someone cold, without knowing whether they are a thinker or a feeler? Then you’ll have to rely on short-cuts, and one of the most obvious short-cuts is gender because women have a tendency to give greater weight to emotionally-framed arguments, while men give greater weight to cognitively-framed arguments.
However, research conducted immediately after Mitt Romney picked Paul Ryan as his running mate suggest that it is men, not women, who are responding to TV commercials (emphasis in original):
How do swing voters respond to Ryan’s introduction to the Republican ticket? Does Ryan help or hurt Romney? These questions are impossible to answer with traditional surveys. To answer these questions, we executed a Romney/Ryan PocketTrial testing the impact of pro and anti-Romney ads on swing voters.
[…]
Men seem highly susceptible to advertising, and women much more stable in their opinions and vote-choice.
Read the full report (pdf).
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com