Kevin (Vin) Arceneaux is Director of the CEVIPOF and Professor of Political Science.

He studies how people form beliefs and attitudes about politics and, ultimately, make political decisions. His research focuses on how social psychological factors influence

and shape people’s motives to consume (or not consume) particular forms of news media, defend (or fail to defend) particular beliefs and attitudes as well as behave in particular ways.

In all, his work seeks to grapple with an enduring puzzle in social science: Even when people are embedded in the same social context and face the same social forces, individuals vary in many important ways and consequential ways. Social group identities are stronger for some and weaker for others. Some people are driven by needs for social reputation, while others are less so. Many individuals rely on their intuitions, while some seek to be reflective. And so on. These individuals differences matter, too, as they shed light on why some people develop strong, seemingly implacable poltiical opinions, while others remain more open minded, and still others don’t seem to care much about politics. Understanding how social forces and psychological differences interact to shape individual political behavior is key to understanding the contingent and protean nature of social and political outcomes.

Publications

• Kevin Arceneaux, Johanna Dunaway, Spencer Goidel, David W Nickerson, Jaime E Settle. Popularity or Partisanship? Cue Taking on Social Media Among Teens and Adults. American Politics Research, 2025, 1-15 p. ⟨10.1177/1532673x251343035⟩. ⟨hal-05172924⟩
• Sarah A Fulton, Kevin Arceneaux, Bradley Bilsback, Francisco I Pedraza, Stephen P Nicholson. I’m Doing This for My Daughter: An Examination of the Daughter Effect in the 2016 and 2020 Presidential Elections. Journal of Women, Politics and Policy, 2025, 46, pp.129 - 150. ⟨10.1080/1554477x.2024.2385219⟩. ⟨hal-05172936⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Ryan Vander Wielen. An Open Mind or a Big Heart: Possible Routes to Reducing In-Group Bias. Political Communication, 2025, 42 (4), pp.666 - 693. ⟨10.1080/10584609.2025.2493705⟩. ⟨hal-05172928⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Martial Foucault, Kalli Giannelos, Jonathan Ladd, Can Zengin. Facebook increases political knowledge, reduces well-being and informational treatments do little to help. Royal Society Open Science, 2025, 11 (10), ⟨10.1098/rsos.240280⟩. ⟨hal-05017426⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Bert Bakker, Gijs Schumacher. Being of one mind: Does alignment in physiological responses and subjective experiences shape political ideology?. Political Psychology, 2024, ⟨10.1111/pops.13056⟩. ⟨hal-04768509⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Martial Foucault, Kalli Giannelos, Jonathan Ladd, Can Zengin. Facebook increases political knowledge, reduces well-being and informational treatments do little to help. Royal Society Open Science, 2024, 11 (10), pp.1-13. ⟨10.1098/rsos.240280⟩. ⟨hal-04915951⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Martial Foucault, Kalli Giannelos, Jonathan Ladd, Can Zengin. Facebook increases political knowledge, reduces well-being and informational treatments do little to help. Royal Society Open Science, 2024, 11 (10), ⟨10.1098/rsos.240280⟩. ⟨hal-04768508⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Bert N Bakker, Neil Fasching, Yphtach Lelkes. A critical evaluation and research agenda for the study of psychological dispositions and political attitudes. Political Psychology, 2024, ⟨10.1111/pops.12958⟩. ⟨hal-04619787⟩
• Neil Fasching, Kevin Arceneaux, Bert N Bakker. Inconsistent and very weak evidence for a direct association between childhood personality and adult ideology. Journal of Personality, 2023, ⟨10.1111/jopy.12874⟩. ⟨hal-04619782⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Bert Bakker, Johanna Dunaway. The Effects of Visual Framing on Support and Empathy for Displaced Persons. Midwest Political Science Association, Apr 2023, Chicago, United States. ⟨hal-03953248⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Ryan Vander Wielen. Do voters prefer educated candidates? How candidate education influences vote choice in congressional elections. Electoral Studies, 2023, 82, pp.102596. ⟨10.1016/j.electstud.2023.102596⟩. ⟨hal-03995003⟩
• Michael Bang Petersen, Mathias Osmundsen, Kevin Arceneaux. The “Need for Chaos” and Motivations to Share Hostile Political Rumors. American Political Science Review, 2023, 117 (4), pp.1486-1505. ⟨10.1017/S0003055422001447⟩. ⟨hal-03994339⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Stephen Nicholson. Anchoring Political Preferences: The Psychological Foundations of Status Quo Bias and the Boundaries of Elite Manipulation. Political Behavior, 2023, ⟨10.1007/s11109-022-09847-6⟩. ⟨hal-03953231⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux. The Effects of Facebook Access during the 2022 French Presidential Election. University of Gothenburg Political Science Seminar, Dec 2022, Gothenburg, Sweden. ⟨hal-04103185⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Johanna Dunaway, David Nickerson, Jaime Settle. Political Cue Taking Among Teens. American Political Science Association, Sep 2022, Montreal (Canada), Canada. ⟨hal-03953246⟩
• Gothreau Claire, Kevin Arceneaux, Friesen Amanda. Hostile, Benevolent, Implicit: How Different Shades of Sexism Impact Gendered Policy Attitudes. Frontiers in Political Science, 2022. ⟨hal-03714513⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux. Anchoring Political Preferences. LSE Political Behavior Workshop, May 2022, London, United Kingdom. ⟨hal-04103184⟩
• Valentina Parma, Kevin Arceneaux. Science Interrupted: Our Attempt to Study Disgust Sensitivity and the Development of Political Attitudes among Children and Their Parents. Politics and the Life Sciences, 2022, pp.1 - 21. ⟨10.1017/pls.2022.1⟩. ⟨hal-03624365⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Rory Truex. Donald Trump and the Lie. Perspectives on Politics, 2022, pp.1-17. ⟨10.1017/S1537592722000901⟩. ⟨hal-03624361⟩
• Lala Muradova, Kevin Arceneaux. Reflective political reasoning: Political disagreement and empathy. European Journal of Political Research, 2022, 61 (3), pp.740-761. ⟨10.1111/1475-6765.12490⟩. ⟨hal-03522613⟩
• Min Zhang, Bei Zhu, Chunlan Yuan, Chao Zhao, Jiaofeng Wang, et al.. Are need for affect and cognition culture dependent? Implications for global public health campaigns: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 2021, 21 (1), pp.693. ⟨10.1186/s12889-021-10689-w⟩. ⟨hal-03630668⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Bert Bakker, Catherine de Vries, Sara Hobolt. Covid-19 and the Threat to Liberal Democratic Norms. American Political Science Association, Sep 2021, Seattle, United States. ⟨hal-03953251⟩
• Catherine de Vries, Bert Bakker, Sara Hobolt, Kevin Arceneaux. Crisis signaling: how Italy's coronavirus lockdown affected incumbent support in other European countries. Political Science Research and Methods, 2021, 9 (3), pp.451-467. ⟨10.1017/psrm.2021.6⟩. ⟨hal-03856169⟩
• Catherine de Vries, Bert Bakker, Sara Hobolt, Kevin Arceneaux. Crisis signaling: how Italy's coronavirus lockdown affected incumbent support in other European countries. Political Science Research and Methods, 2021, 9 (3), pp.451-467. ⟨10.1017/psrm.2021.6⟩. ⟨hal-03299511⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Timothy Gravelle, Mathias Osmundsen, Michael Bang Petersen, Jason Reifler, et al.. Some people just want to watch the world burn: the prevalence, psychology and politics of the ‘Need for Chaos’. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2021, 376 (1822), ⟨10.1098/rstb.2020.0147⟩. ⟨hal-03631460⟩
• Rasmus Pedersen, Nicolas Anspach, Kasper Hansen, Kevin Arceneaux. Political predispositions, not popularity: people’s propensity to interact with political content on Facebook. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 2021, ⟨10.1080/17457289.2021.1952209⟩. ⟨hal-03522605⟩
• Michael Bang Petersen, Kevin Arceneaux. An Intuitionist Theory of Argument Strength in Politics: How Intuitive Cognitive Biases Produce Universally Strong Arguments. Political Psychology, 2020, 41 (6), pp.1113-1131. ⟨10.1111/pops.12668⟩. ⟨hal-03631485⟩
• Lene Aarøe, Michael Bang Petersen, Kevin Arceneaux. The Behavioral Immune System Shapes Partisan Preferences in Modern Democracies: Disgust Sensitivity Predicts Voting for Socially Conservative Parties. Political Psychology, 2020, 41 (6), pp.1073-1091. ⟨10.1111/pops.12665⟩. ⟨hal-03631482⟩
• Bert Bakker, Gijs Schumacher, Claire Gothreau, Kevin Arceneaux. Conservatives and liberals have similar physiological responses to threats. Nature Human Behaviour, 2020, 4 (6), pp.613-621. ⟨10.1038/s41562-020-0823-z⟩. ⟨hal-03631530⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Johanna Dunaway, Martin Johnson, Ryan J. Vander Wielen. Strategic Candidate Entry and Congressional Elections in the Era of Fox News. American Journal of Political Science, 2020, 64 (2), pp.398-415. ⟨10.1111/ajps.12478⟩. ⟨hal-03632161⟩
• Christopher Mann, Kevin Arceneaux, David Nickerson. Do Negatively Framed Messages Motivate Political Participation? Evidence From Four Field Experiments. American Politics Research, 2020, 48 (1), pp.3-21. ⟨10.1177/1532673X19840732⟩. ⟨hal-03634093⟩
• Jaime Settle, Matthew Hibbing, Nicolas Anspach, Taylor Carlson, Chelsea Coe, et al.. Political psychophysiology: A primer for interested researchers and consumers. Politics and the Life Sciences, 2020, 39 (1), pp.101-117. ⟨10.1017/pls.2020.5⟩. ⟨hal-03631555⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux. The roots of intolerance and opposition to compromise: The effects of absolutism on political attitudes. Personality and Individual Differences, 2019, 151, pp.109498. ⟨10.1016/j.paid.2019.07.008⟩. ⟨hal-03634104⟩
• Nicolas Anspach, Jay Jennings, Kevin Arceneaux. A little bit of knowledge: Facebook’s News Feed and self-perceptions of knowledge. Research & Politics, 2019, 6 (1), ⟨10.1177/2053168018816189⟩. ⟨hal-03634129⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Johanna Dunaway, Stuart Soroka. Elites are people, too: The effects of threat sensitivity on policymakers’ spending priorities. PLoS ONE, 2018, 13 (4), pp.e0193781. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0193781⟩. ⟨hal-03634150⟩
• Lene Aarøe, Michael Bang Petersen, Kevin Arceneaux. The Behavioral Immune System Shapes Political Intuitions: Why and How Individual Differences in Disgust Sensitivity Underlie Opposition to Immigration. American Political Science Review, 2017, 111 (2), pp.277-294. ⟨10.1017/S0003055416000770⟩. ⟨hal-03634174⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux. Anxiety Reduces Empathy Toward Outgroup Members But Not Ingroup Members. Journal of Experimental Political Science, 2017, 4 (1), pp.68-80. ⟨10.1017/XPS.2017.12⟩. ⟨hal-03634164⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Ryan J. Vander Wielen. Taming intuition: how reflection minimizes partisan reasoning and promotes democratic accountability. Cambridge University Press, pp.247, 2017, 9781108400312. ⟨hal-03630636⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Daniel Butler. How Not to Increase Participation in Local Government: The Advantages of Experiments When Testing Policy Interventions. Public Administration Review, 2016, 76 (1), pp.131-139. ⟨10.1111/puar.12387⟩. ⟨hal-03634206⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Martin Johnson, René Lindstädt, Ryan J. Vander Wielen. The Influence of News Media on Political Elites: Investigating Strategic Responsiveness in Congress. American Journal of Political Science, 2016, 60 (1), pp.5-29. ⟨10.1111/ajps.12171⟩. ⟨hal-03634190⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Martin Johnson. How Does Media Choice Affect Hostile Media Perceptions? Evidence from Participant Preference Experiments. Journal of Experimental Political Science, 2015, 2 (1), pp.12-25. ⟨10.1017/xps.2014.10⟩. ⟨hal-03634219⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Martin Johnson, John Cryderman. Communication, Persuasion, and the Conditioning Value of Selective Exposure: Like Minds May Unite and Divide but They Mostly Tune Out. Political Communication, 2013, 30 (2), pp.213-231. ⟨10.1080/10584609.2012.737424⟩. ⟨hal-03634237⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Ryan J. Vander Wielen. The Effects of Need for Cognition and Need for Affect on Partisan Evaluations. Political Psychology, 2013, 34 (1), pp.23-42. ⟨10.1111/j.1467-9221.2012.00925.x⟩. ⟨hal-03634270⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Martin Johnson. Changing minds or changing channels ? : partisan news in an age of choice. The University of Chicago Press, pp.238, 2013, Chicago studies in American politics, 9780226047270. ⟨hal-03631221⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Thad Kousser, Megan Mullin. Get Out the Vote-by-Mail? A Randomized Field Experiment Testing the Effect of Mobilization in Traditional and Vote-by-Mail Precincts. Political Research Quarterly, 2012, 65 (4), pp.882-894. ⟨10.1177/1065912911421013⟩. ⟨hal-03634312⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Stephen P. Nicholson. Who Wants to Have a Tea Party? The Who, What, and Why of the Tea Party Movement. PS: Political Science and Politics, 2012, 45 (04), pp.700-710. ⟨10.1017/S1049096512000741⟩. ⟨hal-03634404⟩
• Brett Gordon, Mitchell Lovett, Ron Shachar, Kevin Arceneaux, Sridhar Moorthy, et al.. Marketing and politics: Models, behavior, and policy implications. Marketing Letters, 2012, 23 (2), pp.391-403. ⟨10.1007/s11002-012-9185-2⟩. ⟨hal-03635114⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux. Cognitive Biases and the Strength of Political Arguments. American Journal of Political Science, 2012, 56 (2), pp.271-285. ⟨10.1111/j.1540-5907.2011.00573.x⟩. ⟨hal-03634430⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Martine Johnson, Hermine Maes. The Genetic Basis of Political Sophistication. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 2012, 15 (1), pp.34-41. ⟨10.1375/twin.15.1.34⟩. ⟨hal-03635130⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Martin Johnson, Chad Murphy. Polarized Political Communication, Oppositional Media Hostility, and Selective Exposure. Journal of Politics, 2012, 74 (1), pp.174-186. ⟨10.1017/S002238161100123X⟩. ⟨hal-03635153⟩
• Christopher Weber, Martin Johnson, Kevin Arceneaux. Genetics, Personality, and Group Identity. Social Science Quarterly, 2011, 92 (5), pp.1314-1337. ⟨10.1111/j.1540-6237.2011.00820.x⟩. ⟨hal-03635164⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, Alan Gerber, Donald Green. A Cautionary Note on the Use of Matching to Estimate Causal Effects: An Empirical Example Comparing Matching Estimates to an Experimental Benchmark. Sociological Methods and Research, 2010, 39 (2), pp.256-282. ⟨10.1177/0049124110378098⟩. ⟨hal-03635182⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux. The Benefits of Experimental Methods for the Study of Campaign Effects. Political Communication, 2010, 27 (2), pp.199-215. ⟨10.1080/10584601003709407⟩. ⟨hal-03635189⟩
• Kevin Arceneaux, David Nickerson. Comparing Negative and Positive Campaign Messages. American Politics Research, 2010, 38 (1), pp.54-83. ⟨10.1177/1532673X09331613⟩. ⟨hal-03635193⟩