Late night political comedy, candidate image, and inoculation: A unique test of inoculation theory.

Abstract

Additionally, this study assessed the viability of using inoculation treatments to protect against late night political ridicule (monologues and parodies). Previous research beginning in the late 1980s has revealed inoculation to be a successful strategy to combat political attack messages, and in many ways, superior to conventional strategies of bolstering and refuting. Results of the current investigation indicated that inoculation failed to confer resistance to late night political content, and in some respects, backfired by derogating as opposed to enhancing candidate image and political behavioral intentions. Results also revealed that candidate appearances boosted inoculative effects against conventional attacks, and inoculation messages designed to refute the channel of late night comedy failed to confer resistance to late night comedy, but were minimally successful in conferring resistance to conventional political attack messages. Results also examined the potential role of irritation in the inoculation process. There was no evidence that inoculation treatments elicited more irritation, but results did indicate that sources using humor decrease expectations of experiencing irritation upon encountering counterattitudinal messages.

Campaign managers and political consultants speculate that late night political comedy affects candidate image and the citizenry's political behavioral intentions, and recent political science and communication scholarship supports these assumptions. The results of this study confirm that late night comedy does influence candidate image and behavioral intentions, but in ways that often refute conventional wisdom. While candidate appearances on late night talk shows enhance candidate image and monologue jokes derogate feelings toward candidates, late night political parodies actually enhance rather than worsen candidate image.

Finally, the research reconfirmed inoculation's efficacy against conventional political attacks. Results revealed that inoculation treatments enhance candidate image and behavioral intentions, including voting for candidates and contributing time or money to campaigns. The study also examined effects of forewarning on elicited threat. Results revealed that adding an additional forewarning to inoculation treatment messages, after counterarguments have been raised and refuted, elicits more threat throughout the process of inoculation, but there was no evidence that additional threat enhanced resistance. The current study also assessed effects of inoculation on perceived generalized self-efficacy. Contrary to prediction, inoculation treatments did not enhance perceived generalized self-efficacy. Instead, those inoculated indicated lower levels of perceived generalized self-efficacy after encountering conventional attack messages, possibly due to elicited threat.

In summary, results offer a more nuanced understanding of late night political comedy's effects on candidate image and political behavioral intentions; indicate that inoculation is ineffective against late night political content and may instead backfire; and enhances our understanding of forewarnings, elicited threat, and perceived generalized self-efficacy.