1. Topic

    Persuasion

    Opinion change · Manipulation · AI chatbots

    Persuasion lies at the heart of political communication. Hopes of changing people’s minds for the better are core to information campaigns. Fears of manipulation are just as strong: that people can be made to support causes against their better judgment. I show that information and opportunities to take part can change people’s attitudes. This works through traditional means, such as letters, and through new ones, such as AI chatbots. The persuasive power of AI in particular raises new regulatory and normative questions. I bring causal evidence from experiments to these debates.

    For regulators, campaigners, and AI providers: what changes minds, and which disclosures work.

Selected publications

  • The Hidden Costs of AI-Mediated Political Outreach

    In experiments in the United States and the United Kingdom, people judged political outreach more harshly when it was openly persuasive and when it came from AI. How people judge AI outreach may matter as much as whether it changes minds.

    Preprint · arXiv · 2026 · with Adrian Rauchfleisch
  • Toward Meaningful Transparency for AI Chatbots

    Telling people that a chatbot is an AI did not reduce its persuasive effect. Telling them it was built to persuade cut the effect in half.

    Preprint · arXiv · 2026 · with Adrian Rauchfleisch
  • A Source like Any Other? Field and Survey Experiment Evidence on How Interest Groups Shape Public Opinion

    Letters from a little-known interest group shifted opinion in a field experiment. Because few people know such groups, doubts about their credibility hardly blunt the effect.

    Journal of Communication · 2021 · with Alexander Wuttke, Matthias Mader, and Harald Schoen
  • More than Opinion Expression

    A party referendum on same-sex marriage did more than poll the members: it strengthened their sense of influence in the party and led them to judge their leaders by where they stood on the issue.

    Party Politics · 2019 · with Alexander Wuttke and Harald Schoen

Recent publications 8

Work in progress 2

  1. The Hidden Costs of AI-Mediated Political Outreach: Persuasion and AI Penalties in the US and UKAndreas Jungherr and Adrian RauchfleischarXiv · Preprint
  2. Toward Meaningful Transparency for AI Chatbots: Disclosing Persuasive Intent Reduces PersuasionAdrian Rauchfleisch and Andreas JungherrarXiv · Preprint

2026 1

  1. Artificial Intelligence in Election Campaigns: Perceptions, Penalties, and ImplicationsAndreas Jungherr, Adrian Rauchfleisch, and Alexander WuttkePolitical Communication 43(4): 585–606 · Peer-reviewed article

2024 1

  1. Negative Downstream Effects of Alarmist Disinformation Discourse: Evidence from the United StatesAndreas Jungherr and Adrian RauchfleischPolitical Behavior 46(4): 2123–2143 · Peer-reviewed article

2021 3

  1. A Source like Any Other? Field and Survey Experiment Evidence on How Interest Groups Shape Public OpinionAndreas Jungherr, Alexander Wuttke, Matthias Mader, and Harald SchoenJournal of Communication 71(2): 276–304 · Peer-reviewed article
  2. Disinformation and the Structural Transformations of the Public Arena: Addressing the Actual Challenges to DemocracyAndreas Jungherr and Ralph SchroederSocial Media + Society 7(1): 1–13 · Peer-reviewed article
  3. Review of Hugo Mercier (2020): Not Born Yesterday: The Science of Who We Trust and What We BelieveAndreas JungherrThe International Journal of Press/Politics 26(2): 513–514 · Book review

2019 1

  1. More than Opinion Expression: Secondary Effects of Intraparty Referendums on Party MembersAlexander Wuttke, Andreas Jungherr, and Harald SchoenParty Politics 25(6): 817–827 · Peer-reviewed article

All 11 publications on persuasion