Two studies examined the relationship between the need for cognitive closure and preferences for conflict-resolution strategies in 2 different samples of elite political actors. Although research has suggested that high need for closure should be associated with competitiveness, the authors argue that this relationship should be strongest among political actors with a hostile conflict schema, o...

1. The State of Framing Research in Political Communication ............................................................................................................................................ The concept of framing embodies a context-sensitive explanation for shifts in political beliefs and attitudes. Framing defines a dynamic, circumstantially-bound process of opinion formation in whi...

One of the most contested questions in the social sciences is whether people behave rationally. A large body of work assumes that individuals do in fact make rational economic, political, and social decisions. Yet hundreds of experiments suggest that this is not the case. Framing effects constitute one of the most stunning and influential demonstrations of irrationality. The effects not only ch...

Audiences are usually seen as groups of people who collectively or individually read, watch or hear works of arts. This mode of relationship is referred to as reception as opposed to creation, which is supposed to be the productive stage of the artistic communication process. Art becomes the product of an independent elite, which does not respond to an audience's demands but opposes the dominan...