COMM 281- Test #2

Three key limitations of Carnegie Mellon Study

1) Sample of people used in the study wasn't chosen randomly - results can't generalize to the public 2) No control group who didn't use Internet 3) Too far in suggesting that data supported a causal claim

Impact of news frames (Gibson & Zillmann, 1994): Procedure

Car-jacking story manipulation Exemplars: No injury, minimal, substantial, death Base rate information (vague/specific): -"Most victims of car-jackings suffer no physical injury or only minor injury" -75% of victims suffer no injury; .02% are killed -Information about base rate had no effect compared to personalized/ manipulated stories. Responses immediately vs. 1 week later--> measure of effet of time-lapse

Advantages of Edutainment (Slater, 2002)

Can utilize dramatic conventions (narrative, characters) to increase emotional involvement with issues, decrease counter-arguments and thus, increase persuasion -Identification, transportation, involvement Ideally, in tandem with current cultural concerns and developed in collaboration with audience i.e. focus groups, stages of change Awareness-raising news stories --> Sex bracelets being publicized

Social identity theory

desire for positive self-esteem motivates us to view ingroup as superior to outgroup

Ingroup-outgroup dynamics

more likely to be persuaded by ingroup members

Persuasion- Subliminal Advertising (Strahan et al., 2002): Method

Idea that you can be primed by stimuli you aren't even recognizing you're seeing -Drink water or not after tasting cookies -Subliminally primed with thirst-related words or neutral (e.g. "thirst" or "dry") while engaging in a lexical decision task on a computer DV: how much Koolaid consumed

Identification vs. Idealization

Identification: incorporating media persona into self instead of having a relationship with that person Idealization: wanting to be like the person rather than having a relationship with that person

Facebook Profiles: Accurate or Idealized? (Back et al.): Method

Measures: Accuracy criteria--> profile owners' self-reports and reports from acquainted friends Ideal-self ratings Observer ratings --> undergrad students perused profile owners and rated their impressions of the profile owners: rated extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness

Public Health- Sexual Socialization, media diet & intentions; Selective attention: Super peer? (Brown et al., 2005)

Media as "super peer" - high among teens' important sources of sexual information -Various surveys find media is ranked very high on where teens are getting information on sex -Exposure, interest, and perceived "sexual permission" from media all increased with age -Earlier pubertal onset linked to increased interest, exposure, perceived permission

Attachment and Parasocial relationships (Cole & Leets, 1999)

Media figures can serve as a "secure base" -Proximity Seeking -Provide relief from distress, sense of security -Anxiety or protest upon separation Anxious attachment associated with increased PSR compared to Avoidant -Compensatory hypothesis—response to unfulfilled relational needs

Self-schemata and persuasion (Wheeler et al., 2005): Method

Method -130 participants - VCR commercial/ad -Half see extroverts frame, half see introverted frame -Frame crossed with message strength/argument quality; strong product features vs. weak

Impact of news frames- Base rates

Number or proportion of people involved or likelihood of event

Media Multiplexity Theory

Relationships that are strong are those in which the people involved communicate with each other in multiple ways; "weak tie" relationships are more likely to be those in which communication takes place over a limited number of media channels

Schiappa, 2006- Problems w/ Experiment

Problems w/ Experiment: -Design is correlational --Hypothesis sounds causal, beware -Questions about show may be leading -Qualified conclusions: Mutual reinforcement -Selective exposure AND impact?

Prosocial agression

Prosocial and antisocial content often co-occur e.g. hero fights and kills villain

Incidence of smoking in movies (Dalton et al ., 2002)

R-rated movies (vs. other ratings) -Had more occurrences of tobacco use -Most likely to show major character using tobacco Movie tobacco use didn't -Change over time -Relate to box-office success

Prosocial Content: Altruism (Smith et al., 2006): Method

Randomly selected week of TV programming Coded for: -Frequency and context of altruistic actions -Style of presentation -Realism -Attributes of characters

Politics and Emotions (Brader, 2005): Results

"(1) cueing enthusiasm motivates participation and activates existing loyalties; and (2) cueing fear stimulates vigilance, increases reliance on contemporary evaluations, and facilitates persuasion." Effect of enthusiasm cues on motivation -Positive frame + enthusiasm cues = higher interest in campaign and intention to vote -Enthusiasm cues increase likelihood of sticking to candidate preference; not persuasive Eliciting enthusiasm: -"Emboldens supporters and hardens opposition" - prior preferences matter more -Predicted sticking to the status quo Effect of fear cues on motivation -Unlike enthusiasm, adding fear doesn't impact interest or intention to vote -Individuals more motivated to vote for the sponsor of the ad - not their previously supported candidate Eliciting fear -Less likely to rely on prior preferences -Reduction of prior preferences: --Maybe they didn't have strong preferences to begin with --People think more about issues -"In troubled times, minds are more easily led; in good times, citizens are creatures of habit" Discussion -Enthusiasm increase interest and intention to vote; fear has no impact -Enthusiasm makes people stick with their candidate, fear makes them rethink

Public Health- Identification with smoking characters; Dan Cin et al. (2007): Results

"Greater identification with the smoking protagonist predicted stronger implicit associations between the self and smoking (for both smokers and nonsmokers) and increased intention to smoke (among the smokers). Stronger implicit self-smoking associations uniquely predicted increases in smokers' intentions to smoke, over and above the effects of explicit beliefs about smoking." Results: -Smokers had more positive IAT scores than non-smokers --Direct effect of smoking on the dependent variables (IAT score) -Identification in smoking condition predicts intention to smoke for smokers -No effect on self-smoking schemas if they see John not smoking -Smoking condition: more they identify with him, faster they are to identify themselves with smoking -Neither smoking condition nor smoking status predicted identification -Implicit links between self and smoking --Faster for smokers --Faster for ALL participants who identified with John IF they saw him smoking—regardless of smoking status --Predicted smoking intention for smokers only -More exposure to smoking in movies over time predicts almost 3x most risk of smoking initiation -Nothing w/in this study could have made you a smoker --> Either you were already a smoker or you weren't Take Aways -Identifying with smoking characters can shift viewers' implicit associations between self and smoking -Identifying with smoking characters can increase intention to smoke among smokers -Evidence of "under the radar" narrative influence

Framing Poverty- Iyenger, 1990: Method

"Selective perception" study Randomly assigned to thematic or episodic television news story -3 thematic -10 episodic (5 "types" by 2 races) Post-exposure perceptions -Attributions and treatment for poverty -Who causes it and who should fix it

Prosocial Effects on Children's Social Interactions (Mares & Woodard, 2012)

"our best guess... is that the effects of violent content and of prosocial content are reasonably close in magnitude, though violent content may be somewhat more powerful" Children who consume the most prosocial content to consume the most TV, therefore also the most antisocial content Media impact increases with -More specific modeled behavior -More relevant outcome measures to what's been modeled Prosocial programming -Sesame street, mister rogers' neighborhood, and barney and friends as good examples of prosocial programming's positive influence on kids -Moderated by intervention by adults

Trouble w/ American Media Representation of Female Sexuality (Diamond, 2005)

- Lesbians and gays in media reinforce dominant social order - Arguing that the way to promote and maintain the status quo of straight as "normal" is to talk about heterosexuality as freedom and choice Contemporary media depictions... 1) Package heteroflexibility in a way that attracts and stimulate young male viewers - females still available in heterosexual market 2) Presenting same-sex experimentation as a means of confirming one's heterosexuality - verify their 'authentic' heterosexuality 3) Heterosexuality depicts utopia whereby questions about sexual orientation and identity are personal choices, not to do with social context -Natural attraction to men vs. option of choosing a man over a women Conclusions: -Belief in young women that heterosexuality is a choice based on 'natural' predispositions, rather than a heterosexist sociopolitical context -Caution: "This is not to suggest that we should go back to a time in which the only media images of same-sex sexuality were negative ones. Rather, feminists must not be lured into thinking that just because contemporary images of same-sex sexuality are 'positive', they are socially and psychologically benign..."

Watching your troubles away (Moskalenko & Heine, 2003): Take aways

- TV as effective stimulus to direct the focus away from oneself and render people less aware of how they are falling short of their standards -Use media to avoid facing objective self ("me")

Parasocial Contact- Parasocial interaction

-"Seeming face to face relationship" with media personality -Relationship is parasocial because its mediated (not in person or direct) -Unidirectional - one-way relationship i.e. when you yell at the screen One instance where you feel involved; some interaction that is one-way

Impact: Before and After Magic Johnson & AIDS (Rogers, 2002)

-(AIDS Hotline calls jump after Magic Johnson's news conference) -Decreases in one-night stands - rather than increase in condom use -Magic Johnson admits to multiple partners -Increased knowledge about AIDS transmission e.g. sneezing does not transmit virus -Increased discussions about AIDS with friends --Interpersonal communication as powerful effect of increased media coverage

Application to Advertising? (Strahan et al., 2002): Results

--Subliminal priming MAY affect our behavior if we already hold the relevant motivational goal ---Only thirsty participants were affected by thirst prime --If we DO hold relevant goal and are subliminally primed, we may be more persuaded by products that speak directly to this motivation

Home Alone with Pepsi... (Auty & Lewis, 2004): Method

-1st grade and 5th grade - to see whether exposure to content changed food preferences --Took age and prior film exposure into account Home Alone clip -Experiment group: Pepsi mentioned and spilled -Control group: food scene (mac and cheese and milk; unbranded) After viewing, offered a drink (Coke or Pepsi) and asked to recall what products they saw in the film -Outcome variable: how may kids choose Pepsi

Real world evidence for ideas in 9/11 and President Bush study (Willer, 2004)

-Analysis of president approval ratings following terror alerts --2.75 pt increase week after alerts --Terror alerts (elicit fear) may increase support for certain leaders

Uses & Gratifications- Making sense of the self (Adolescent Self-Complexity and TV, Harrison, 2006): Procedure

-Ask participants "Describe yourself as you think you are" -Self complexity: Quantity of conceptually unique self aspects that individuals freely generate Hypothesis: more TV use associated with less self-complexity Theories behind hypotheses: -Lifestyle --Displacement hypothesis: more time with TV, less time doing other stuff -Content--> As cultivation analyses suggest, the messages and images on TV are relatively narrow and uniform

Working models (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991)

-Attachment is about 1) desire for closeness and 2) trust in others (secure base) Babies more attached to their mothers compared to strangers -Secure -Preoccupied/Anxious (like ambivalent) -Dismissive-Avoidant -Fearful-Avoidant

Uses and Gratification Perspective on Media Effects (Rubin, 2009)

-Audience has agency of choice -Media must compete with other forms of communication to gratify needs -People typically more influential than media -Audience activity as core concept in U&G; refers to utility, intentionality, selectivity, and involvement of the audience with the media -Activity depends on the social context, potential for interaction, and attitude -Dependency as mediator of how we use media and its potential impact--> Dependency results from an environment that restricts the availability of functional alternatives and produces a certain pattern of media use -Importance of individual difference in media effects Synthesis -Media perceptions and expectations guide people's behavior -Motivation is derived from needs, interests, and externally imposed constraints -There are functional alternatives to media consumption -There are important interpersonal dimensions to the media experience -Audience activity, involvement, and attitudes about media content play an important role in their effects

Smoking in society

-Bulk of people who smoke do so before the age of 18 -Not allowed to advertise to minors --Get around this for smoking in movies Product placement All countries except Japan show Audrey Hepburn with cigarette holder -Japan doesn't because it wasn't acceptable for women to smoke US dropped about 3% over 7 years -->a lot in public health terms

The Carnegie Mellon Study: "Internet Paradox: A Social Technology That Reduces Social Involvement and Psychological Well-Being?": Activity displacement effect

-But people used Internet for social purposes; not displacing social contact -Rather than displacing social activity in general, Internet use tends to encourage a particular type of social relationship at the expense of another; more superficial instead of connecting deeply Displacement of strong social ties: when people go online, they end up talking to people in chat rooms, making new friends there --> More superficial and weaker than relationships with people whom they interact with face-to-face

Undesirable Behavior & Persuasion (Goldstein, Cialdini, & Griskevicius, 2008)

-By highlighting that everybody is doing it, it makes it seem like the norm -Standard environmental messages weren't really doing anything -Told people that most people were reusing their towels --Found that when most of the people who stayed in a room reuse their towels when asked to join the hotel and other guests to do it.

The Irony of Satire in The Colbert Report (LaMarre, Landrevile, & Beam, 2009): Limitations

-Can't predict causation -Participants' assessments of Colbert's political ideology (political conservativism) were based on one item that asked if participants thought he was socially conservative -Lack of variance in party affiliation measure - college students without solidified political affiliation -Not clear whether its your opinion leading to your perceptions of Colbert or its perceptions of Colbert leading for you to form an opinion

Will & Grace and the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis (Schiappa, 2006): Discussion

-Can't prove a causal claim that "watching W&G encourages more tolerant attitudes toward gay men" --Audience selection, and just because we select doesn't mean it has an impact --Reciprocal relationship instead of one-way model -Careful to infer that viewing frequency of and parasocial interaction with W&G, and attitudes toward gay men, are mutually reinforcing

CDC Collaborates with B&B (Kennedy, 2004)

-Daytime soap "The Bold and the Beautiful" --Male character (Tony) is tested for HIV → Test is positive --Discloses HIV status to previous partners & encourages them to be tested --Goes on to lead a satisfying life Classic education style programming -Present a model who engages in a behavior, when the model chooses the right thing he's rewarded, wrong thing he's punished; viewers will model that PSA aired following relevant episodes -Featured actor portraying Tony -Invited viewers to call the toll-free CDC National STD and AIDS Hotline Number of calls to the Hotline increased following show

The Carnegie Mellon Study: "Internet Paradox: A Social Technology That Reduces Social Involvement and Psychological Well-Being?": Increased Internet use associated with...

-Decline in communication with family members -Decline in number of people in their social circle -Greater levels of depression and feelings of loneliness than before the study

Involvement & Celebrity (Petty, Cacioppo, & Schumann, 1983): Method

-Disposable razor ad -Manipulations --Involvement (low vs. high) --Argument strength (weak vs. strong) --Celebrity (yes vs. no) DVs/outcomes of interest: --Product attitudes --Purchase intention --Recall & recognition

Watching your troubles away (Moskalenko & Heine, 2003): Results Study 3

-Do manipulations of self-feelings affect TV watching? -Those who received failure feedback watched TV longer than those in a control condition who likewise watched TV longer than those who received feedback -People are more likely to watch TV after they have failed and are less likely to watch TV after they have succeeded

Public Health- Ward (2002): MTV, moderations by gender

-First 3 variables had effects for men and women (exposure to MTV, active viewing/learning motive, having sexual experience) -Exposure to sexualized media clip effect on women not men. -Ceiling effect: score can't go any higher -Floor effect: score can't go any lower

Impact of media smoking (Dalton et al., 2003)

-Follow-up of 10-14 year old non-smokers -Assessed exposure to smoking scenes -Individual difference variables --Child characteristics --Social influence --Parent characteristics Initiated smoking since first survey? (1-2 years later): Results -10% initiated smoking -Exposure to smoking scenes related to --Rebelliousness, lower school performance, gender (male), age (older), authoritative parents --Exposure STILL predicted 2.7 times greater risk of smoking initiation, after other variables held constant

Uses & Gratifications: Our media use is...

-Goal-directed -Relevant to individual needs and motivations -Determined by social psychological factors that influence motivation, selection, interpretation, and impact

Adolescents and media messages about drugs and alcohol (Borzekowski and Strasbuger, 2008): Media messages about tobacco

-Historically, media supported and promoted tobacco products -Increase in portrayal of smoking since 90s in prime-time -Cigarettes shown in music videos, films, and (less frequently) TV

Person perception by active vs. passive perceivers (Waggoner et al.): Procedure

-How do we perceive other's presence online? -Trying to isolate active vs. passive without compromising or manipulating content -Study active (not passive) person perception -Learn a bit about process of person perception online Active participants (how we actively come to form impressions): -Choose components of profile to view -Decide when to stop and provide impression Passive participants: - told that they would see items whose number and order would vary from target to target, before provid-ing their impression; viewed same targets and items, in the same order, as their paired active participant Measures -big five personality traits - political orientation and religion - Other: ease of rating, confidence in rating, liking

Uses & Gratifications- Making sense of the self (Secrets in the Bedroom... Larson, 1995)

-In a bedroom, most kids have a space that is theirs --Does not conform to other people's space like in other areas of a home --2 most prominent uses at this time were television and music and they have drastically different functions --Adolescents spend LESS time with TV, more time with music -Self as static accumulation of traits and preferences --> "Who Am I?" -Self as regulating structure of emotional life --> "A firm core allows one to survive the scrapes and bruises to one's self esteem that are part of daily life" Function of "alone time"? -Larson argues it's the time when identity work gets done; cultivate private self -Adolescents thinking about who they are and who they want to be -"First adolescents shift their media time toward greater music listening, because if speaks to adolescent issues, and, second, they engage in more media use in solitude as a sanctum for exploring the private self" -Adolescents use TV to turn off and disengage from struggle of fragmentation; non-feeling; tuning out -Adolescents use music to engage with issues of identity; exploring possible selves --Gender differences ---Girls: music was pop and dysphonic ---Boys: music was more hard rock, heavy metal, energetic and arousing --"The predictable selves that come alive in music are a vehicle for navigating the unpredictable and sometimes uncontrollable cascade of adolescent daily life

Media Practice Model: Identity as process (Steele & Brown, 1995): Motivation and Interaction

-Individual and the media are interacting back and forth with each other -Motivation based on identity that leads to selective consumption -Interaction: self and media --Interpretation and Evaluation: i.e. understand what advertising is trying to sell yet still engaging in it Selective Consumption: Motivation -Sexual content: --Disinterested → don't care about sexual content --Intrigued → interested in seeking content out --Resisters → see it and think that's wrong; actively avoid -Sports content --> reminds him of his goals in life -Music --> "... to get my blood flowing"

Favorite characters and smoking (Distefan et al., 2003)

-Interviewed twice: never smoked at Time 1, Smoked at Time 2 -Male and female favorite characters listed -What else could predict smoking: parental attitudes, peer smoking, receptivity to tobacco ads (each related to smoking at Time 2) -Having a favorite character who smoked (in at least two films) predicted increased likelihood of smoking --Stronger effect for girls --Interaction with receptivity to tobacco ads

The Carnegie Mellon Study: "Internet Paradox: A Social Technology That Reduces Social Involvement and Psychological Well-Being?": Method

-Longitudinal design - data collected at several points in time -256 participants in 93 different households during their first 2 years of being online --Each family with a computer, telephone line, and Internet connection -Found families using technology to engage in communication with others

Involvement & Celebrity (Petty, Cacioppo, & Schumann, 1983): Results

-Low involvement: regardless of argument, celebrity endorsement results in positive attitudes and intention to buy -Celebrity endorsement is inconsequential when participants' involvement is high -Celebrity as peripheral cue bc their effect is in the low involvement condition

Application to Advertising? (Strahan et al., 2002): Method

-Made sure all participants were thirsty -Primed with thirst v. neutral words -Read about and rated two sports drinks --Super-quencher (thirst quenching) -- power-pro (electrolytes) -To what extent do you agree with effectiveness of the product, whether you anticipated liking drink, and did you take coupons? --Thirsty word prime → appeal of Super Quencher goes up

In the mood... (Greenwood): Individuals with increased difficulty regulating emotions more likely to...

-More likely to use media when in negative mood -More likely to eat & less likely to talk when in a bad mood -More likely to write and walk in a bad mood

Smoking in media

-More smoking in movies than real life -Less smoking on prime-time than real life -Smokers= young, attractive, healthy, high status, rebellious, tough, sexual

Adolescents and media messages about drugs and alcohol (Borzekowski and Strasbuger, 2008): Media messages about illegal drugs

-Not prevalent in TV and music videos (music contains references though) -Positive depiction has been discourages in films

Media & Young People: Theoretical and Conceptual Foundations

-Observational Learning Theories (Big Bird, Superman wheelchair) -Cultivation Theory -Uses & Gratifications -Social Cognitions: Scripts, Schemas, Normative Beliefs -Priming, Availability Heuristic -Elaboration Likelihood Model -Emotions

Types of Parasocial Relationships

-Parasocial Friendship -Parasocial Enemies -Parasocial Romance

Impact of Divisive Coverage: Anastasio et al., 2005: Study 1 Method

-Social identity and ingroup-outgroup dynamics -Participants' Greek identification Two videotape conditions --Divisive (ingroup vs outgroup) --Non-divisive (mixed responses) -Video about whether or not frat guy is guilty of vandalism -Only difference between two tapes was divisiveness i.e. mixture of expressed opinions with respect to Greek/non-Greek identity DVs: Guilt ratings, punishment, recall/memory bias

Impact of Divisive Coverage: Anastasio et al., 2005: Study 2 Method

-Social identity and ingroup-outgroup dynamics -Participants' gender Two packets -Vignette describing woman who got a job in criminal justice field -Divisive coverage condition: all men portrayed as being against affirmative action, all women supporting it -Non-divisive coverage condition: two men two women support, two men two female argue against it DV: Importance of GPA

Parasocial Contact- Parasocial Relationships

-Thinking about persona counts —attempting or achieving actual contact -Distince from identification and idealization -repeated exposure, feeling perceived friendship, missing them when they're gone, etc. --Repeated parasocial interactions -When you feel like you know someone; more sustained; a product or byproduct of a series of parasocial interactions E.g. friendships; romances; enemies; Bill O'Reilly; Patriots

Media Interventions (Nathanson, 2004): Procedure

-Watch 5 minute exert from live-action kids TV show --Committing justified violence; superheroes -Pause the program 3 times to deliver literacy messages in-between; "commercial" -Administer questionnaire afterwards

Public Health- Normalization of risky behavior

-We are social animals → want to do things other people do E.g. reusing towels in a hotel when told other people do it -If you tell people this is what people do, then people will likely do it Normative information (Information about social/behavioral norms) -Is it wise to make these actions seem like the "normal," popular, or "right" things to do? -Focus more on the should, not the numbers -argues that campaigns must avoid unintentionally providing persuasive models of undesirable but popular norms while explicitly concentrating on desirable but unpopular prescriptive norms

Adolescent girl crushes on celebs (Engle & Kasser, 2005): Limitations

-What about older girls? Boys? -Idolization vs. PSR --How you measure it matters --> new scale needed -Effects/Impacts?

Other factors that affect attitudes and persuasion

-When you shake your head yes, you are more persuaded -When you shake your head no, you are less likely to be persuaded by the message -We respond to the gestures that other makes that cause similar neurons in our head to go off. -Self-schemas

Schiappa, 2006- Mixed Opinions on Will and Grace

-Will is portrayed as quite straight even though gay -Jack is flamboyant and fulfills cultural stereotypes about gay men -Will and Grace critiqued for not being a breakthrough at all Heterosocial Dyads: opposite sex pairing that implies or conforms to a heterosexual dynamic -Jack and Karen; Will and Grace; Jack and Rosario Heteronormativity: the practices by which heterosexuality is constituted as a natural and compulsory norm, against which homosexuality is defined as its negative opposite Recognition vs. respect "As gay characters become more common on broadcast and cable television, it will be tempting to equate this increased visibility with social acceptance and valuation of gays and lesbians...the mere prevalence of gay characters on broadcast television, even in leading roles, does not necessarily represent a challenge to the dominant norms of US culture"

Facebook Profiles: Accurate or Idealized? (Back et al.): Background & Hypotheses

-Women slightly more likely to not be online -Privacy management --> Women tending to enact stricter privacy bc of online harassment How do we present ourselves online? -Do on-line social networking sites (OSNs) convey accurate impressions of profile owners? Test 2 competing hypotheses: -Idealized virtual-identity hypothesis: owners of profiles display idealized characteristics that don't actually reflect our personalities -Extended real-life hypothesis - OSNs communicate real personality

Uses and Gratification Perspective on Media Effects (Rubin, 2009): Blumler three hypotheses about media effects based on uses

1. Cognitive motivation will facilitate information gain 2. Diversion of escape motivation will facilitate audience perceptions of the accuracy of social portrayals in entertainment media 3. Personal identity motivation will promote reinforcement effects

Sexuality- Stages of Representation

1. Non-recognition 2. Ridicule 3. Regulation 4. Respect Marginalized groups usually at lower stages and then eventually get to respect Increase in quantity and quality of representation as you move through stages

West Wing (Holbert et al., 2003)

20 hours in America Speech -YouTube comments praise Bartlett (president in the show) -"Elect this man please!" Does exposure to his fiction impact beliefs of real politicians? -"Bartlet" rated more principled than Bush or Clinton, more engaging than Clinton, more common than Bush. -Better than both of them at the thing they're good at/known for Viewing increased perceptions of -Importance of being engaging -Perception of Clinton as principled and engaging, just not as much as Bartlet -Perceptions of Bush as common, just not as much as Bartlet Bush and Clinton can't live up to fictional ideal Take aways -We respond to cognitive, interpersonal, and emotional cues when making sense of politicians and policy -Knowledge of our susceptibility may help decrease the extent to which we are swayed by factors that are irrelevant to issues at hand.

Uses & Gratifications

A perspective, not a theory → it predicts nothing Designed to put the individual back into the equation (active consumers) Research is typically self-report data -Presumes we are aware of the reasons we engage with media content -Does not presume we are always aware of the effects of our media use

Sexuality- Stages of Representation- Non-recognition

Absence of a group from media

Elaborative scrutiny

Active audience paying attention and thinking about message; a fancy way of saying "thinking"

Active vs. Passive participants

Active participants (how we actively come to form impressions): -Choose components of profile to view -Decide when to stop and provide impression Passive participants: -Saw items chosen by their yoked active perceiver -Decide when to stop and provide impression -The more items you viewed in the passive conditions the more confidence there was -Active is more ecologically valid- in terms of how we would apply this research to our own careers

Pro-social content

Aims to produce positive material tends to focus on 3 aspects: 1. Altruism or helping behavior 2. Social Interactions: time spent w/ others, cooperation, affection and attention 3. Acceptance of Others: tolerance, diversity, reducing stereotypes

Adolescents and media messages about drugs and alcohol (Borzekowski and Strasbuger, 2008): Media messages about alcohol

Always been popular on TV -Portrayed as positive, negative consequences rarely mentioned -Alcohol-related problems solved simply -Joked about, intoxication as humor -Underage drinking is rare Most popular substance in music videos-->glamorized Pervasive in film

The Persuaders Movie

Associative network nodes - priming -Different products are attached to different things -Ex. How do we feel when we eat white bread? What comes to mind when you think of luxury? -Political issues and schemas --Estate vs. death tax -"The reptilian brain" --How to take advantage of very deep seated schemas News coverage/divisive coverage -Narrowcasting with advertising -Specific types of political messages being targeted to specific people in the population (ex. Of the education issue)

Public Health- Celebrity (and popular character) disclosure

Celebrity disclosure of a health issue -Agenda setting and issue salience - increase in public awareness -Parasocial interaction --Attitudes towards others like celebrity ("friend") -Identification with celebrity --Personal relevance - happened to her, it could happen to me -Greater tolerance of stigmatized issue Problems with celebrity disclosure -Exemplar may misrepresent at risk population or probability of contracting disease Ex. Angelina Jolie's genetic predisposition to breast cancer -May fit in with contemporary narratives about disease/illness --Backlash against Magic Johnson for being "promiscuous" -Defensive dis-identification --I'm not like him so I'm not at risk

Baumgartner & Morris (2008): Limitations

Cell Sizes: -Control too big -Problem w/ timing -Did the do the Colbert and O'Reilly and then submit a control later? -Problem w/ numbers overall w/ very different sample sizes Posttest-only design -Nothing to compare it to if only posttest -We can see if one-manipulation worked better than another -Just because no pretest doesn't mean it's flawed Manipulation check questions -Two questions as a manipulation check: "I enjoyed watching the clips today" and "I learned something watching the clips today" --Not good operationalization of construct that researchers are interested in ---Not suggesting a shift in attitudes --> Instead, ask about agreement with some of the topics in the clip - do their opinions differ after watching one or the other? -Purpose of a manipulation check question: make sure what you are manipulating helps show what you are supposed to be doing --> Want to check that those exposed to one condition and the other "got it" --Did they read the story? --Did they pick up on what we were exposing them too? -Should have asked questions to ensure they watched the clip --"What happened in the clip? Coding -Not sure what type of scale they are trying to use -3,2,1 makes it seem like there is an intention instead of magnitude -These are ordinal when they should be nominal

Persuasion- Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986)

Central Root: motivated to pay attention; much more critical; If motivated and able to engage in effortful processing, argument strength is most relevant to persuasion; must be BOTH motivated and able; Message → Audience: Needs motivation and ability to pay attention to it → Processing: Focus on quality of arguments → Outcome: Lasting change: If arguments are strong then there is lasting change. Peripheral Root: unmotivated to pay attention; If unmotivated or unable to engage in effortful processing, superficial features of argument are most relevant to persuasion; Message → Audience has low motivate or ability to think → Peripheral processing → Outcome: Temporary change -Peripheral Cues --Characteristics of the source: attractiveness, likeability, credibility (trustworthiness, expertise) --Affective associations; emotions --Consensus information i.e. hotel towels --Number of arguments presented

Blues Clues impact over time? (Anderson et al., 2000)

Children who had access to show vs. not -Measuring for different educational outcomes -Limitation: broadcast vs. cable - different factors that can affect education --Access to certain services in some areas (very rural vs. semi-rural) --SES Studies suggest that kids who had access to the show had increased -Knowledge of show concepts, riddles -Flexible thinking, problem solving, prosocial behavior --Skills that Blues Clues is targeting Vocabulary --> viewers scored higher at pre-test No difference in self esteem

Media & Young People: History

Children's Television Act 1990 -TV broadcasters required to provide educational and informational programming -children's educational programming: "further the positive development of child in any respect, including the child's cognitive/intellectual or emotional/social needs" 1996 Revisions: -3 hours per week of programming -7am-10pm -30 minutes minimum -More specific content qualifications 1997: 3 hours/week of Educational programs -Social/Emotional -Cognitive/Intellectual -7am-10pm -Majority of programming: social/emotional

Sexuality- Stages of Representation- Ridicule

Comic relief, stereotyped

Baumgartner & Morris (2008): Results

Compared to watching control clip, Colbert condition increased likelihood that republicans would do a better job on economy and war on terror -O'Reilly Factor condition had the same results The Colbert Report (and The O'Reilly Factor) increased support for Republican policies, increased warm feeling for President Bush, increased trust in Republicans in Congress, and decreased internal efficacy Take aways -Satire is complicated -Political humor might have effects that are different from intention

Elderly viewers (Mares & Cantor, 1992)

Comparing what might motivate people to use media: -Mood management vs. Social comparison Procedure: Lonely and nonlonely elderly people (as determined in a pretest) were given a series of descriptions of television offerings and indicated the degree to which they desired to see each program. In a separate session, they were randomly assigned to view a negative portrayal (involving an unhappy, isolated old man) or a positive portrayal (involving a happy, socially integrated old man) Results -The results indicated that lonely subjects showed greater interest in viewing negative than positive portrayals, whereas nonlonely subjects exhibited the opposite preference. In addition, lonely subjects felt better after viewing the negative portrayal than after the positive portrayal, whereas nonlonely subjects felt better after the positive than after the negative portrayal -Social comparison theory predicts these outcomes; choice about usefulness not mood

Parasocial Contact- Complementary vs. Compensatory interaction/relationships

Complementary: Person has a pretty social life; complements what you already have Compensatory: not a lot of social interactions; compensates what you don't have E.g. having your father pass away and use someone else to compensate for your father even if you do have a lot of friends -Not negative or bad- value judgement

Attitudes towards placement? (d'Astous & Seguin, 1999)

Consumers have most negative response to product placements in dramatic genres Implicit placement considered less ethical than explicit placement --> particularly in the case of information genres So most effective technique also considered most deceptive

Correlation and Causation: Does TV Exposure Affect Emerging Adults' Attitudes and Assumptions About Sexual Relationships? (Ward, 2002): Procedure

Content: -Own viewing habits -Experimental exposure Process: -Cultivation and/or Priming -Viewer involvement Method -Goal of experiment: to compare the sexual attitudes of students exposed to nonsexual content to those of students exposed to sexual content -Sexual Stereotypes in clip: dating as a game, women as sexual objects, or men as sex-driven creatures: -4 clips depicting men as sex-driven creatures -4 clips depicting dating as a game or sport -4 clips depicting women as sexual objects -6 neutral clips; non-sexual interactions Measures: 1. Before: Asked to indicate if they had seen the clip or particular episode before or had particiapted in a similar study. 2. Viewed and evaluated clips 3. Sexual Outcome measures -Attitudes about sexuality: Attitudes about dating, sexual roles, and romantic relationships -Perceptions of peers' sexual experiences: Assumptions about the level of sexual activity among their peers - Attitudes about gender roles: Endorsement of traditional gender role attitudes 4. TV Viewing Behavior Measures: Viewing amounts and viewer involvement

Sexual Socialization, media diet & intentions (L'Engle et al., 2006): Findings

Controlling for age (maturation process), gender (boys more likely to say they'll have sex), race, SES, religiosity (religion's views on sex), school attitudes, peer behavior, parent attitudes (impact experience and media diet)... Find: increased sexual intentions and activity associated with -Greater levels of sexual media diet -Perceived sexual permission Greater proportion of sex in media, more likely to have sex Students more interested in school have less interest in sexual content

Cue Confound (Petty & Cacioppo, 1980)

Design: Shampoo Ad -High vs. low self-Relevance of ad to viewer (motivation) -Strong vs. weak message (central) -Attractive vs. unattractive Source (peripheral) Results -High relevance + strong argument = positive attitudes -But, attractiveness of source impacted people in both high and low motivation conditions --When people weren't motivated to think carefully, those who saw an attractive model thought the shampoo was better than those who saw the unattractive model --Same is true for those who processed centrally -Attractive model as a good argument --Interpreted as meaningful information, good evidence, etc. -Might assume a beauty product is not working if the model is not attractive --Model becomes an argument

E/I programming: Blues Clues (Crawley et al., 2002)

Designed in conjunction with psychologists to maximize educational impact -Interactive and engaging -Pauses designed to promote responding -Repetition to facilitate mastery of skills Attention and interaction with the show is highest for "experienced viewers" -Kids know format, better able to engage with content --If show maintains structure, they know the format and can pay attention to other stuff -Consistent with capacity model

Adolescents and media messages about drugs and alcohol (Borzekowski and Strasbuger, 2008): Determinant of use and relevant theories

Determinants of use: individual, family, peer, school, community, and sociocultural influences Social cognitive theory, cultivation theory

Adolescence and Identity

Developmental tasks of adolescence is trying to see where you fit in a broader world --> Centered around peers

Sexuality- Stages of Representation- Respect

Diverse representation

Impact of Divisive Coverage: Anastasio et al., 2005: Study 1 Results

Divisive coverage divided opinions of non-Greek and Greek participants while nondivisive coverage minimized group-based opinion split. In the divisive condition, non-Greek participants rated the defendant more guilty, recommended harsher punishment, and displayed greater memory bias against the defendant than Greek participants. The nondivisive condition showed no effect of social identity on the dependent measures. While Greek membership had no effect on female participants, Greek males displayed greater memory bias against the defendant than non-Greek males in nondivisive condition

Personal vs. Political

Ellen as a homosexual women and how that makes us think about things like political policies --Exists in broader context where there's variety in protections for workers, whether they can be discriminated against based on sexual orientation (Dow 2001) -"Ellen's interpretation of lesbianism as an exclusively personal issue makes it easier for everyone to ignore that there is much more at stake here than making TV safe for gays and lesbians" -"The success of the Cosby show didn't erase racial division in this country—it just meant that middle America liked Cosby..."

Uses & Gratifications- Individual factors

Enjoying empathy -Flexing our 'emotional muscles' "Sad film scale" -One reason I like sad movies is that they help me release my own sadness -Sad movies are too depressing for me to enjoy Need for affect -I feel like I need a good cry every now and then (approach) -Displays of emotion are embarrassing (avoidance)

Media Interventions (Nathanson, 2004): Results

Evaluative (value-based intervention) more effective than factual -Decreased appeal of characters, justification of violence -More true for younger viewers Younger children may be most receptive to interventions possibly because... -More attuned to adult cues for right and wrong -More sensitive to social information -Over-loaded by factual information 5-7 year olds more likely to agree with researcher? -Value-based condition -- they are understanding what the researcher wants them to say

Media & Young People- Fact/Realism vs. Evaluative intervention (Nathanson, 2004)

Evaluative intervention saying that's bad don't do it is better than saying it's not real Fact- vs. value-based interventions -Realism (fact) intervention: those are just actors playing a part -Social (value) intervention: those people are not cool...no body likes people who do what they do

Early Learning Model (Huston et al., 2001)

Explanation for long term impact of early exposure to educational TV -Learning pre-academic skills --Not academic content itself, but rather learning how to learn -Developing learning related attitudes: Interest in academic contact, motivated to learn more -Developing learning related behaviors: Attention, discipline, self-control

Social cognitive theory

Exposure to media messages can facilitate the learning and adoption of behaviors through the processes of attention, retention, production, and motivation

Facebook Profiles: Accurate or Idealized? (Back et al.): Results

Extended real-life hypothesis supported Suggest that people are not using their OSN profiles to promote an idealizer virtual identity. Instead, OSNs as efficient medium for expressing and communicating real personality Accuracy strongest for: -Extraversion -Openness Accuracy lowest for -Neuroticism --> is very difficult to evaluate in 0 acquaintance contexts -0 acquaintance is rating someone's profile but you have never actually met No evidence of self-idealization (how do you know?) -Observers cannot judge your ideal self from your profile Things in our personal environment contain valid things about our personality while online we have out facial images, thoughts, opinion, engage in social interactions; profiles that contain information that is hard to control (i.e. wall posts, friends providing accountability or feedback) Social networks are not completely divorced from reality E.g. people's friends on Facebook are oftentimes their friends in real life

Why does parasocial interaction happen?

Extension of "normal" social experience -Developmental trajectories -Uses and Gratifications -Relevance of attachment style - Attachment style: Attachment is about 1) desire for closeness and 2) trust in others (secure base) Complementary vs. Compensatory? - not mutually exclusive --Complimenting active social lives or compensating for lack of social lives?

Parasocial contact

Extent to where you feel a friend-like relationship w/ characters

What is Educational Information (E/I) TV?- Academic TV vs. Pro-social TV

FCC Content Guidelines: 2 components 1. Academic TV: traditional academic fare, such as scientific facts, animal behavior, social studies, history, numbers e.g. Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, Cyberchase, Barney, Blues Clues 2. Pro-social TV: acceptance, self-respect, sharing, day to day dilemmas, guidance e.g. Sesame Street, Dragon Tales, Hey Arnold, Dora the Explorer, Drake and Josh, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

Self-schemata and persuasion (Wheeler et al., 2005): Findings

Findings: -Main effects for message strength and extroversion --> stronger arguments, more positive attitudes -Interaction between frame, schema, and argument strength --Brand attitudes --Behavioral intentions --Perceived argument quality --When there's a match, argument strength matters; when there isn't a match argument strength doesn't matter as much Conclusions: -Matching cues self-relevance --Matching increases motivation and elaborative scrutiny --Matching increases role of argument strength -What about matching & ELM? --Matching may function as peripheral cue when distracted --Matching may function as elaborative cue when able to process

Adolescent girl crushes on celebs (Engle & Kasser, 2005): Findings and Take-aways

Findings: Increased idolization associated with -Girl with more dating experience crushing on celebrities -Girls who reported secure attachment to male peers -Materialism -Sedentary activities (TV) marginally -Sociability (chatting on-line, time with friends) Take-aways: -Idolization of male celebrities as reflection of existing interests and experiences? --> Complementary hypothesis

Impact of news frames- Availability Heuristic

Frequency of event is determined by how easily examples come to mind

Will & Grace and the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis (Schiappa, 2006): Results

Greater viewing → greater level of parasocial interaction with gay characters → lower level of sexual prejudice toward gay men -The fewer gay acquaintances and friends the participants had, the more likely they were to hold prejudicial beliefs about gay men -Viewers with LESS meaningful contact with gay individuals in real life showed strongest associations between show affinity and attitudes towards gay men --Direct gay contacts as a moderator Note: Number of gay friends, viewing frequency AND parasocial interaction each contributed independently to decreased homophobia among viewers

Parasocial Contact Hypothesis: What works w/ Camp Boys

Groups have equal status, share a common goal, and have sustained and non-superficial contact over time -No opposition from salient authority → no camp counselors encouraging hostility --Ensure this by making a fake emergency and boys as cabins have to work together to fix it --Set up many situations where there is an important common goal where boys have to work together to achieve it. Didn't work: -Simply putting the boys in contact with each other Ex: like a field day -This is bc they aren't connecting w/ others in other groups bc there is no common goal to work towards

Media & Young People- Distance theory (Fisch, 2000)

How incorporated the educational content is with the narrative, and how applicable the educational content is to either the real world, or to different scenarios within the universe of the program. Actual distance between the narrative and educational content -Distance mattered because a smaller distance is easier on your memory Distance between educational content and the world (how generalizable it is) -I.e. traveling to difference places in a children's program can help children use this lesson in multiple scenarios w/ in our own life -Smaller distance results in greater learning -Distance between educational content and narrative, media world, and real world -Integration of education and narrative content and demands on working memory --Further academic information is from the plot, the more it takes working memory --Integration to enhance educational aspect -If educational content is limited to one narrative, it may limit generalizability of concepts --How many different ways can you generalize the educational content in different narratives

News- Framing

How to think about it Episodic-if it's a particular instance; I am going to look at one example of a real world issue; individual victims; particular person e.g. affordable care act and about one men that lost his health care insurance e.g. Particular instance of poverty, individual/victim -Dominate news stories: Visually salient, dramatic, human interest Thematic-overview of overall theme; thousands of people; big abstract things; topic in general -Theme of health insurance instead of a specific episode that happened to a person e.g.Poverty rate, public policy, abstract Others- -Russians shooting down a plane vs us shooting one down -In-group vs. Out-group -When in-group we are more likely to excuse the actions and find external reasons why something occurred -Out-group: We are more likely to criticize what they have done --1983: Korean passenger plane was shot down by Soviet fighter plane --> "Murder in the air"; "Shooting to Kill" (front page of TIME) vs. 1988: Iranian passenger plane was shot down by American fighter plane--> "Why it happened"; "What went wrong in the gulf?" (small part in TIME) -- "Looting" vs "Finding Food" during Hurricane Katrina -Trans people as dangerous or a danger in bathrooms

Politics and Emotions (Brader, 2005): Method

Hypothesis: -Enthusiasm will increase people's desire to participate in politics and reinforce their existing beliefs -Fear will increase people's interest in searching for information - motivating us to think twice about our decisions Experiment: manipulated enthusiasm and fear in political ads -Pre-test → experiment → post-test Manipulated enthusiasm and fear in political ads -Positive message --Bland: No music, neutral images --Evocative: "Uplifting" music, "warm, colorful images of children" --"Things are good and they are getting better" -Negative message Bland: No music, neutral images Evocative: "tense, discordant" music, pictures of violence & drug use --"Things are bad and they are getting worse" DVs: 1. The motivation to get involved in the election. 2. Attention and information seeking, grouped together under the label "vigilance." 3. Persuasion or, more generally, the decision about which candidate to choose. Hypothesis that enthusiasm will increase ppls desire to participate in politics and should also reinforce their existing beliefs. -It will get out the vote among supporters -In contrast: fear has been associated w/ increases in vigilance --When you are afraid that is a cue that you need to pay attention to what is going on around you. --When prompted by fear ppl should look for more information --Fear is destabilizing and will also make people question "is my idea correct" and second guess past thoughts.

Cultivation and Elaborative Scrutiny (Shrum, 2001): Procedure

Hypothesis: Cultivation effects more likely under conditions of low elaborative scrutiny (passive audience) Instructional manipulation (3 conditions) -Attempt to change participants' mindsets about how they approach the questions: --Control (answer questions) --Heuristic ("off the top of your head") --Systematic (attempt accuracy, "it's graded") - more thinking; showed people more involved, seeing it as more important to get questions right Measures -IVs: TV viewing, random condition assignment -Moderator: light or heavy TV viewers -DVs: marital satisfaction, crime, etc. -Control for age, gender, need for cognition, etc. Manipulation check: ask people how involved they were in the task, how important it was to them that they got answers right

The Irony of Satire in The Colbert Report (LaMarre, Landrevile, & Beam, 2009): Procedure

Hypothesis: Individuals process ambiguous political comedy in a biased way based on their own political leanings (schema-based processing) Procedure: -Frequency of political entertainment viewing and Colbert's political party affiliation/ ideology questions -Video clip (Colbert interviewing liberal talk radio host) -Q's about perceptions of Colbert & demographic questions Measures -Self-reported political ideology -Perceptions of Colbert's political ideology

9/11 and President Bush (Landau et al., 2004): Method

Hypothesis: Reminding people of the prospect of their own death = increased appeal of charismatic leader with grand vision 3 conditions: -Feelings 9/11 evokes -Feelings about taking an exam ("control" condition) -Feelings your own death evokes Mood scale; rate their mood → DELAY --Read and respond to opinion piece in support of Bush (endorsement, shared attitudes, and feeling of security are assessed) Political orientation measure

Baumgartner & Morris (2008): Procedure

Hypothesis: The Colbert Report is actually influencing people's political opinions (and increasing support for Republican policies/positions in its viewers) because it's a comedy show -Viewers less likely to have cognitive guards up watching a comedy show Three conditions: -One group watched Colbert Report clips -One group watched The O'Reilly Factor clips -The control group did not watch any clips -855 students—196 in the Colbert group, 188 in the O'Reilly group, and 471 in the control group. Measures: Policy support - what party will do a better job at _________

Uses & Gratifications- Mood Management Theory (Zillman)

I will choose whatever media makes me feel good -Studies found we don't always choose media to make us feel good -People to arrange stimulus environment so bad moods and short lived, good moods are prolonged, and bad moods are terminated and superseded by good moods Suggests pattern of media use - all we would use is feel-good media

Adolescents and media messages about drugs and alcohol (Borzekowski and Strasbuger, 2008): Impact of messages about tobacco, alcohol, and drugs & Solutions

Impact of messages about tobacco, alcohol, and drugs -Young children/adolescent awareness and familiarity with brands and advertising -Exposure to cigarettes pose more risk than having family members who smoke -Pro-alcohol messages as significant risk factor for adolescents Solutions -Bans and restrictions, ratings (smoking movies rated R), anti-drug messages and campaigns, changes in mainstream programming, media education, etc.

Correlation and Causation: Does TV Exposure Affect Emerging Adults' Attitudes and Assumptions About Sexual Relationships? (Ward, 2002): Results

Increase in seeing dating as a game, men as sex driven, and women as objects when there was an effect for exposure to MTV, active viewing/learning motive, having sexual experience, exposure to sexualized media clip Men: -scored higher on DVs -No effect w/ exposure to sexualized media clip (ceiling effect) -Clips had little impact on perceptions Take aways -"TV's narrow portrayals appear to strengthen sexual stereotypes and heighten assumptions of peer sexual experience" -With each activation, that particular schema or way of viewing the world grows stronger, more accessible, and more valid. -Argument: teaspoon in the bathtub; one clip in the context of an experiment vs. media people are exposed to everyday of their whole life

Uses & Gratifications- Making sense of the self (Adolescent Self-Complexity and TV, Harrison, 2006): Results

Increased TV exposure linked to decreased self-complexity scores (fewer self-constructs being listed) -Controlling for age, gender, and race -Sharp downward trend occurs after 20 hrs/week Adolescents compared to kids spend less time with TV and more time with music

Impact of news frames- Examplars

Individual cases that illustrate phenomenon at hand E.g. If individuals are presented with an exemplar with more injury, people think it's more likely to happen.

Ambiguous message processing theory:

Individuals process information in ways that are beneficial to them, and they tend to see what they want to see when the information is ambiguous.

Media Practice Model: Identity as process (Steele & Brown, 1995): Application

Intentional (appropriation): Strategic use of media to negotiate identity formation -Mood regulation, social modeling, fantasies, social comparisons, expression of self Unintentional (incorporation): Unconscious adoption of media norms and values into self -Frames, cultivation, emotional conditioning (repeated pairing of a stimulus with an emotion will make you feel that emotion when presented with the stimulus, replicate the feeling) Emotional conditioning: repeated pairing with a stimulus and emotion which then later results in that emotion in you Pavlovs Dog Ex: if you associated a song with having fun with friends because you have a memory of this connected with the song

Sexual Socialization, media diet & intentions (L'Engle et al., 2006): Procedure

Middle school kids in southeastern USA -Fall 2001: measure participants sexual media diet: sexual content / total content -Perceived permission: "Messages from media are that it's OK for teens to have sex" -Spring 2002: Sexual behavior and intentions: "How likely is it that you will have sex... --In the next year? --In High School? Measure kids sexual media diet through a survey -Asking kids to indicate which of a set of content they have used before -Get a proportion of sexual content out of total content

Capacity Model (Fisch, 2000)

Model contends that children attend to -Educational features -Narrative features "Distance" theory

Prosocial Effects on Children's Social Interactions (Mares & Woodard, 2012): Moderators of Prosocial Effects

Moderators of Prosocial Effects: 1. Interactivity with teachers and parents -Role plays, discussion, commentary 2. Gender -No differences in overall effects -Girls more likely to selectively attend to programming and to be rated as more prosocial -Boys exhibit "backlash" tendencies 3. SES -Kids of middle- to upper-class had stronger an effect that kids from lower-class setting

Valence and emotion and level of arousal

Neg valence: ex: sad Positive valence: ex: happy

Political Comedy (Vidmar and Rokeach)

Network makes a statement that says using humor to highlight our prejudices, we can come to better intergroup relations Producers' intention: persuasion - showing how absurd Archie is, it will persuade Results: equal enjoyment of show for racist vs. not racist people -Difference: which character people thought was right -Viewers who reported higher levels of racism said Archie (conservative) was right vs. lower levels of racism found meathead (liberal/progressive) was right -Viewers w/ lower levels of racism saw archie as crazy and meathead as normal;People read texts that served their own perspectives Viewers consume media in a way whereby it serves their own perspective; selective perceptions of content -Because the humor is ambiguous

Framing Poverty- Iyenger, 1990: Implications

News coverage of poverty enables Americans to consider poor people are responsible vs. looking at the issue as cultural and systemic The well documented tendency of Americans to consider poor people responsible for poverty...may be due not only to dominant cultural values (e.g. individualism, self-reliance, etc.) but also to news coverage of poverty in which images of poor people predominate

Uses & Gratifications- Objective & Subjective Self-Awareness (Moskalenko & Heine, 2003)

Objective Self-Awareness: what happened to me, someone sees me; inward looking; toward self; "me self"; looking at yourself as an object; objectification; 50 eyes looking at you Subjective Self-Awareness: "I" self; outward looking; what do "I" do; away from self; thinking less about yourself as people looking at you and more like you looking out; your two eyes looking out Self awareness → Salience of actual vs. ideal discrepancies -Self-awareness brings to mind that discrepancies

Schiappa, 2006

Parasocial Contact Hypothesis Tests whether exposure to gay men on Will & Grace can influence attitudes toward gay men in general. Increased viewing frequency and parasocial interaction were found to correlate with lower levels of sexual prejudice- a relationship that was most pronounce for those with the least amount of social contact with lesbian and gay men. Number of gay friends, viewing frequency AND parasocial interaction each contributed independently to decreased homophobia among viewers -Even if you have 0 gay friends, and you have 0 parasocial interaction w/ characters, just the viewing frequency will predict decreased homophobia; same situation w/ parasocial interaction Strongest associations between show affinity and attitudes towards gay men emerged for viewers with LESS meaningful contact with gay individuals in real life. -Can maybe be bc if you have a lot of gay friends, you are probably less likely to be homophobic to begin with. Mixed Opinions on Will and Grace -Will is portrayed as quite straight even though gay -Jack is flamboyant and fulfills cultural stereotypes about gay men -Will and Grace critiqued for not being a breakthrough at all bc: --Hetersocial Dyad: relations reproduce traditions hetereosexual romantic attraction --Idea that Will and Grace promotes heteronormativity

Pseudo-friends as role models? (Hoffner, 1996)

Parasocial Interaction -Male character intelligence, strength, successful, violent for boys -Female character attractiveness, intelligence, successful, admired for girls Wishful Identification -Male character intelligence for boys -Female character attractiveness for girls

Public Health- Identification with smoking characters; Dal Cin et al. (2007): Procedure

Participants -52 men in intro psych -26 never smoked, 26 smoked at least monthly (20 daily smokers) Materials and procedure -DV: implicit association between the self and smoking -IVs: --Condition: smoking vs. non-smoking scene --Identification with character --Smokers vs. non-smokers -Pre-test (beginning of the term) --Tested for measures of smoking status, beliefs and intentions regarding smoking, and general disposition to psychologically engage with a narrative -"Consumer Products Survey"; two studies evaluating a film and a consumer products --First study ---"Die Hard": main character either smoked or didn't ---Reported how much they identified with the character --Second study ---Reported on questions asked about smoking ---Implicit Association Test - measure automatic associations between "self" and "smoking"; reaction time task

The Irony of Satire in The Colbert Report (LaMarre, Landrevile, & Beam, 2009): Results

Political conservativism was: -A strong predictor of believing that Colbert meant what he said -A strong predictor of ascribing political conservativism to Colbert -A marginal predictor of ascribing Republicanism to Colbert -A strong predictor of believing that Colbert genuinely disliked liberals -NOT a predictor of whether participants found Colbert funny (RQ) Preexisting ideologies don't matter when it comes to finding content funny, matters in perceptions of the content Discussion -From these analyses, it appears that biased processing is serving two potential roles: attitude formation and strengthening. -Individual conservatism → perceptions of Colbert's opinion (mediator) → individual opinion

Sexuality- Stages of Representation- Regulation

Preserving status quo; Not a true challenge to views about the minority group

Media & Young People- Pro- vs. anti-social content

Pro-social media is more powerful because it's socially reinforced -Bc of cultural norms support prosociality -We see a lot more anti-social media Competing Hypotheses between prosocial and antisocial content effects: 1) Prosocial content could have stronger effects on viewers than antisocial content -Pro-social behaviors are more in accord with established social norms 2) Greater explicitness of violent (vs. prosocial) acts -Greater retention of violent acts -Greater likelihood of subsequent reenactment Isolating Prosocial Content -Prosocial aggression: Prosocial and antisocial content often co-occur -Well-intentioned portrayal of conflict resolution (prosocial aggression) can backfire --> may be more detrimental than aggression alone -When it does, violent bh can outweigh prosocials attempt to reduce stereotypes and facilitate positive social interactions.

Critiques of U&G

Reliance on explicit self-report measures -Speculations about personal behavior; accuracy of responses -Social desirability response Research tended to be more descriptive than theoretically grounded --Describing what goes on rather than trying to predict -Too diffuse and disconnected -Categories of use not as discrete as the labels suggest -Not linked up with effects research

9/11 and President Bush (Landau et al., 2004) Results:

Reminding people of the prospect of their own death = increased appeal of charismatic leader with grand vision Support for Bush by prime condition: -Low for those who wrote about writing an exam -High for those who wrote about mortality or 9/11 Political orientation (as a moderator?) -Main effect for conservatism on approval of Bush (in addition to morality and 9/11) -Mortality prime elevated support for Bush regardless of political orientation No effect of prime on mood - all conditions had negative impact When fear is elicited, we should be persuaded by the person who put out the ad -Support the candidate who is potentially able to reduce our exposure to that fear -Overall approval for bush increased after 9/11

Cultivation and Elaborative Scrutiny (Shrum, 2001): Results

Results -More TV viewing predicts increased estimates after controlling for other variables. -In systematic condition, increased TV viewing not significantly associated with increased estimates -In both heuristic and control conditions, increased TV viewing predicted increased estimates after controlling for other variables -In heuristic condition, TV viewing predicts estimates - heavy viewing related to higher estimates -In the control condition, TV viewing significantly predicts some estimates; significantly predicts crime, marginally predicts affluence, some cases doesn't predict at all i.e. marital discord Takeaways -See cultivation effect - don't know why -This study tried to figure out the cause of and process that accounts for cultivation

Sad vs. Happy love songs (Knobloch & Zillman, 2003): Results

Results -Overall, people with unhappy relationships listen to more love lamenting music than happy daters and happy steadies -Among roamers, gender matters --Tend to listen to same sex sad songs Explanations -"The presenters of love-lamenting songs might be thought of as 'soul-mates' for the lovelorn, possibly evoking feelings of being understood, and thereby providing some comfort" -Avoiding unpleasant comparisons with happier singers?

Persuasion- Forewarning of persuasive intent (Petty & Cacioppo, 1979): Results

Results -Unwarned -Have increase support for proposal -Fewer counterarguments -Have more favorable thoughts Warned in high involvement condition -supported proposal less -had more counterarguments -and less favorable thoughts

Home Alone with Pepsi... (Auty & Lewis, 2004): Results

Results -Children who had seen the film before required fewer prompts to recall the products and were more likely to choose Pepsi over Coke -Children who had not seen the film before were no more likely to choose Pepsi over coke than the control group --Clip didn't matter for kids who had never seen the film before --Worked for kids who had seen it before vs. those who hadn't Conclusions -Prior exposure meaningful bc--> --Noticing more because you know the plot; better able to attend to other features of the movie

Persuasion- Subliminal Advertising (Strahan et al., 2002): Results

Results -Thirsty prime drank more kool-aid -Mediated by those who got water after cookies -General effect: facilitation of thirst by subliminal primes Make someone want to drink if they are already motivated to do so E.g. drinking → won't want a soda if you already don't want a drink but if you're thirsty then you will be more able to convinced to have a coke over a pepsi

Person perception by active vs. passive perceivers (Waggoner et al.): Results

Results -View on average 8/15 items -About Me page as more prominent; typically chosen first -Pictures, interests, activities - next most frequently used categories - Passive perceivers exhibited greater confidence (though not greater accuracy) with increased information, but active perceivers did not show this effect, placing a boundary condition on past research. -Passive perceivers also liked targets more than active perceivers. Judgments: -Passive perceivers found impression formation easier & were more confident -Confidence related to # of items viewed --Passive participants: more they got to see, the easier it was and the more confident they were --Active: less confidence when viewed more items ---Searching for confidence in their decision ----Pre-packaged vs. freely chosen information ---As a passive perceiver, you make a preliminary judgment early Take-home -We make judgments about people all the time -Facebook allows us to do that in ways that mimic real life -Highlight the need to account for active and interactive processes in person perception rather than continuing to focus on passive perceivers.

Seinfeld Placement Study (Law & Braun, 2000): Results & Conclusion

Results: -Explicit and implicit measures not correlated -Centrality influential on both explicit measures but not on choice -Audiovisual best recalled and remembered but least chosen, seen-only= most chosen Conclusion: -Traditional measures may not be best or most accurate predictor of how placed products perform -Clouding distinction between advertising and programming - most effective technique also most deceptive -Post-placement advertising - dual-coding theory

Impact of news frames (Gibson & Zillmann, 1994: Results

Results: -Increased perception of severity of problem for extreme exemplar -Increased fatality estimates for substantial and extreme exemplars and this effect INCREASED over time (1 week later, overestimations grew) --More likely to rely on vividness heuristic over time -No impact of base rate information --> vivideness of exemplar did all the work -Extreme exemplar condition rated as --more upsetting --equally informative as minimal exemplar -No differences in perceptions of newsworthiness, importance, or accuracy Conclusions: -"This practice [making a story more interesting] serves to create inaccurate impressions on the part of the news recipient" -Cultivation - repeated exposure in the news; mean world syndrome Influence: Journalists have long been instructed to gather dramatic case histories to make a story more interesting, but it is apparent that this practice serves to create inaccurate impressions on the part of the news recipient

Prosocial Content: Altruism (Smith et al., 2006): Results

Results: In children's programming --Prosocial: 4 incidents per hour --Violent: 14 incidents per hour Yearly exposure (3 hours of kids' shows a day): -4,380 acts of altruism -15,330 acts of violence Kids exposed to more violence than altruism

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

Ridicule? -Gay men acting out stereotypical roles that are problematic Threat? -"Gay supremacy hour" -"Forward an agenda making homosexuality appear first normal, then desirable" Respect? (Hart, 2004) -"We're here, we're queer—and we're better than you"; techniques to reach beyond typical audience --Humor as empowering --Non-threatening AND superior --Sexual teasing and friendly rapport --Diversity of representation --Transformation, gratitude from straight men --Repackaging "masculinity" as sensitive and stylish Does it make a "real" difference? -Notion that gay men have better fashion sense --not true and damaging -Can still watch the show and not support gays

Pew, 2013

Rise in support for gay people, gay marriage, and civil unions Majority of ppl say they changed their minds bc they now someone who is homosexual - Other reasons: grown open to it, more prevalent/ It's inevitable, everyone is free to choose, believe in equal rights, moral/religious beliefs Why is shift happening: -Over time people are dying and younger ppl are becoming adults → generational phenomenon --Younger generations are more in favor for gay marriage than older generations -Support shown to be increasing in every generation, not just Millennials --Attitudes changing over time

Impact of Divisive Coverage: Anastasio et al., 2005: Study 2 Results

Significant gender differences in the divisive condition, with males rating GPA as more important than females. No difference between male and female rating of GPA occurred in the nondivisive condition.

Parasocial Contact- Social/Personal/Instrumental Utility

Social Utility: use parasocial relationships for social reasons E.g. Parasocial relationship with a Ninja Turtles while other people like the other type of turtles --Have a relationship with each other through these characters Personal Utility: need romance in life and come up with a relationship with a media figure (i.e. sexual socialization, fun, escape, etc.) Instrumental Utility (i.e. learn a language, learn to sing)

Impact of news frames- Accessibility

Some come to mind easier than others -Vivid examples come to mind easily -Especially when drama is created

Endogenous vs. Exogenous Variables

Sort of like independent vs. dependent variables Exogenous: variables that are not affected by anything else; independent; value is independent from the states of other variables in the system; determined outside of the model Ex: rainfall is exogenous to the causal system constituting the process of farming and crop output Endogenous: something going into them; dependent; value is determined by the states of other variables in the system; determined within the model

Media Practice Model

Starts w/ Identity → Selection → Interaction → application (then feeds back to identity)

Watching your troubles away (Moskalenko & Heine, 2003): Results Study 1

Study 1 -Presented participants with a neutral TV program and compared their actual-ideal self-discrepancies before and after exposure with participants who completed two measures of self-discrepancies one after the other -Manipulation induced sad mood in TV condition --Not correlated with post-manipulation self-discrepancy -Those who watched TV showed significantly smaller self-discrepancies that whose who didn't

Watching your troubles away (Moskalenko & Heine, 2003): Results Study 2

Study 2 -Replicated with people watching TV but with ecological validity -Those who watched TV showed smaller self-discrepancies than did those who were not watching TV, even in a natural setting and following their own choice of TV program

Mood: Management vs. Adjustment (Knoblock, 2003)

Suggesting that instead of mood management, its about mood adjustment -We sometimes opt not to maintain a positive mood or not to reduce a negative mood Regulation goals can trump hedonic goals - "May allow us to explore our boundaries of tolerance of unpleasant emotions, such as fear, sadness, and rage, by affording the vicarious experience of such feelings, often with cathartic visceral consequences" -Emotions at a "safe distance" -Mood reflecting vs. mood deflecting media? Anticipating a serious task predicted a decline in selective exposure to energetic music Willing to put off pleasure in the immediate term to get something better in the long term Ex: spending the night before a test studying

Parasocial Contact Hypothesis (Schiappa, 2006)

Suggests that exposure to positive portrayals of minority group members that produce parasocial interaction will be associated w/ a decrease in prejudicial attitudes; Parasocial interaction to influence attitudes about social groups consistent with influence of real intergroup contact One can develop affective ties w/ persons known only through mediated communication, and, whether one reappraises one's beliefs about one's in-group or not, the resulting parasocial relationships could encourage a change in prejudicial attitudes about the out-groups of which minorities belong. Parasocial contact could also decrease prejudicial attitudes. Need: -Repeated or sustained over time -Diverse representatives of a minority group -Form positive opinions toward televised minority group members Particularly effective when individuals LACK real life exposure to gay individuals PCH share similarities with our use of media in that there's no status difference, common goal of shared entertainment, contact is sustained over time and repeated, opposition from salient authority relies on individual experience

Will & Grace and the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis (Schiappa, 2006): Method

Survey instrument: 74-item survey assessing... - How much social contact they had with gay people - Viewing frequency of W&G - Attitudes toward gay men and lesbians - Items concerning characters Measures -Content items (positive or negative reaction to W&G) -Attitudes concerning homosexuality - questionnaire - Parasocial interaction - survey - Previous gay contact - survey

Escaping the self? (Greenwood, 2007)

Tendency to use media in a bad mood a result of wanting to escape? Traits that predict increased 1) transportability into media programs and 2) parasocial relationships with characters -Negative Affect -Poor attentional/impulse control -Attachment anxiety -Low self-esteem -Social Anxiety

Media Practice Model: Identity as process (Steele & Brown, 1995): Conclusion

The media's influence on adolescents' sense of themselves is complex and realized through everyday activities, making effects extremely difficult to measure—not because media are weak and the audience is strong, but rather because they are intricately woven into the fabric of daily life

Media & Young People- Zone of Proximal Development

The range of tasks/ the level of complexity that a child can manage with help from a more skilled partner (but not alone) What we are capable of learning has to be in the sweet spot where we are almost able to do it with a little bit of help -Social cognitive theory -Have to be mentally and physically able and not need too much help e.g. Sesame Street "The Letter U" Song e.g. little girl can physically pick up pieces and move them but needs help putting them together To learn from media, content must be presented within "zone of proximal development" -Must be age/developmentally appropriate -Tasks that are beyond the child's ZPD are too complex, even with help

Sad vs. Happy love songs (Knobloch & Zillman, 2003): Procedure

Theoretical framework: social comparison theory -Choose the one that most aligns with your status -Downward comparisons, compare to someone who's worse off Method: -Participants surveyed about romantic satisfaction -Given opportunity to peruse and sample love songs (4 happy, 4 sad) Is romantic discontent predictive of a preference for love lamenting music? -DV: time spent listening to sad songs

Public Health- Identification with smoking characters; Dal Cin et al. (2007): Theoretical perspective and main objective

Theoretical perspective: -Similarity between one's self-concept and one's image of themselves as a smoker -Social comparison theory: liking movie stars who smoke and considering oneself to be similar to peers who smoke associated with intentions to smoke Main objective: -Examine identification with a movie character who smokes and the influence of such identification has on one's own self concept

Watching your troubles away (Moskalenko & Heine, 2003): Thesis and Procedure

Thesis: dramatic experience TV viewing is a significant stimulus for the state of subjective self-awareness and leads to positive self-views -TV viewing helps people avoid thinking about how they fall short of their standards; escape discomfort with self-discrepancies through TV Procedure -Pre-test: list adjectives about yourself and ideal self -Post-test: given a list of adjectives about ideal and actual self, rate 1-5 --Changing measure allows participants to answer differently --Cant compare pre- and post-test scores with different instruments Study 1 assessed the effects of self-awareness manipulations via exposure to a neutral television program on actual-ideal discrepancies. Those who watched television showed significantly smaller self-discrepancies than those who did not, independent of mood. Study 2 demonstrated the ecological validity of this finding by replicating it with people watching television in their own homes. Study 3 investigated whether manipulations of self-feelings affected television watching; 2 conditions where one group mostly failed and others didnt and the looked at how long they watched TV after Control condition: no stimulus at all; pre-test → post-test -Did pre-test and then immediately did the post-test → major reason why they needed different pre and post-tests -Difference in control vs. experimental condition; confounds: --Don't know what happens in ideal vs. actual discrepancies when we just wait (control condition) --Unsure whether effect of viewing is actually what's causing the difference in control and experimental condition results

Framing Poverty- Iyenger, 1990: Results

Those in thematic condition LESS likely to make individual attributions and individual level treatments for poverty than those in episodic condition --> not one person to attach blame to Single mother condition elicited highest levels of individual causal responsibility Black individuals judged more responsible for fixing (but not causing) poverty than Whites -Black single mothers most targeted -"It's your fault, you're responsible for getting yourself out of poverty"

Uses & Gratifications- Social comparison

Those who were lonely wanted to make comparisons when they saw the media characters as lonely because it was a comparison to themselves

Potential Pitfalls with Edutainment (Piotrow & de Fossard, 2004)

Too much education not enough entertainment, or the other way around Poor quality Lack of urgency or personal relevance Cultural controversy --> Who decides what messages matter? Ex: if Grey's anatomy focuses on too much science it'll be less interesting If it focuses too much on entertainment then it'll be lacking in education aspects

Seinfeld Placement Study (Law & Braun, 2000): Method

Uncover efficacy of produce placement in TV and establish which testing method is best suited for measuring efficacy Choice Recall: list for me Recognition: which from the list did you see? Method -View video A or B -Moderators of modality and centrality -After viewing → choice measure followed by recall and recognition --Shop for a friend w/ a new apartment -Choice for friends apartment= implicit measure -Instead of having a control condition, each video serves as a control for the other one

Contact Hypothesis

Under appropriate conditions, interpersonal contact is one of the most effective ways to reduce prejudice between majority and minority group members. -Equal Status -Common goals -Sustained, non-superficial contact -No opposition from salient authority

Commonly reported uses of media

Uses that are instrumental/active choices -Companionship (Parasocial interaction) -Social utility/information -Entertainment Ritualistic/passive -Pass time, Escape, Relaxation, Habit Cross-over between the two

Hoffner (2008) PSR Online: Purposes of Online PSI

What are the unique properties of social media and online social relationships? Purposes of Online PSI -Identity Development --Exploring Sexuality --Exploring Personal Identity ---Ethnic Identity ---Gender Identity -Compensatory vs. Complementary

News- Agenda-Setting

What to think about Different from priming bc priming is usually on the subconscious level while agenda setting is "this is what we are talking about" Gatekeepers telling us what is important

Persuasion- Forewarning of persuasive intent (Petty & Cacioppo, 1979): Procedure

When people know you are trying to persuade you there is more of a central root taken Forewarning - if warned in advance that someone is trying to persuade me, I will be less likely to be influenced by their persuasive message; decreased persuasion - Design: new graduation requirements: --Involvement: 10 years (low) vs. next year (high) --Forewarning: part of journalism project vs. persuade you and other college students -Everybody gets a message that includes 5 strong arguments in favor of new plan -Everyone completed measures of attitude valence (feelings toward new requirement/agreement ), in favor of requirement , and counter-arguing

Self-schema & How relevant is it to persuasion?

cognitive generalizations about the self that organize and guide the processing of self-related information contained in the individual's social experiences -Knowledge about self that is stored in memory -Direct attention -Guide behavior If the frame drives attention and you add a self-relevant frame to persuasive message - enhance people's persuasion and attention to that message; central route to persuasion