comm 125 final exam

rags to riches study

- asked ppts if they watch any rags to riches stories from a list of 30 shows - asked if they believe in the American Dream (using different survey items) - asked whether they think people get ahead because of hard work/talent/ambition (internal factors) or because of things like growing up with money, politics, etc. (external factors) results: controlled other media consumption + demographics + personal economic context etc. occasional viewer = less belief in economic mobility and internal factors heavy viewer = more belief in economic mobility and internal factors *another iteration of the study was conducted to eliminate the possibility for confounds (confound = existing wealth → causes accessibility in reality tv → causes belief in economic mobility. to combat this, collected a sample from public events around pennsylvania + randomly showed clips, saw the same results.)

central route of processing

- effortful, involves elaboration - implies that the recipient of the message has committed cognitive resources to processing the message + has added their own thoughts and opinions about the arguments being presented as well that might not even be contained in the message itself. *positivity of the evoked thoughts are dependent on whether the message advocates a pro attitudinal position to begin with, what is the quality of the message etc.

does media violence cause real life violence (natural experiments/non lab evidence)

dahl and dellavigna (2009) 1. categorized films released 1995-2005 on how violent they were 2. combined box office ratings with violence ratings to determine how many people on any day were exposed to each film type 3. since violent movies versus less violent are released more or less randomly → experiment approximation. 4. violent crime showings had no impact on assaults.

possible confounds distorting the relationship between social media and mental health

declining economy COVID de-stigmatization of mental health correlated with a rise in social media

homophily

different from hypersocialization (challenge to hypersocialization). idea that individuals form friends with individuals who share preferences and behaviors.

race and imperialism

disinformation campaigns and fascist ideologies frequently scapegoat minority groups. they often entrench and ideology of white supremacy + exploit existing discrimination in a culture ex: racial hierarchy establishment (colonization defense)

ego involvement

ego involvement refers to how important the issue is relative to your self identity. as we become ego involved, our latitude of rejection gets larger and latitudes of acceptance and non commitment get smaller

ELM

elaboration likelihood model. *marks a movement away from variable oriented approaches (source/message/receiver approach), embraces a process-oriented approach. elaboration - refers to the extent to which the individual thinks about arguments contained in the communication. likelihood - refers to the probability that a person will engage in elaboration (i.e. the likelihood that they think about the messages, per se, rather than the features of the message, like who is saying them.)

types of polarization

elite level (politicians) meso level (media, interest groups) mass level (voters, citizens) group - within a group then your beliefs become stronger affective - dislike towards other groups political - partisanship

episodic v.s. thematic frames

episodic - more entertaining to pay attention to, focuses on a specific narrative. take the form of a case study or an event oriented report, depict public issues on concrete instances ex: news report on one incident of police brutality thematic - place public issues in some more general abstract context ... directed at general outcomes or conditions

equivalence frames

equivalence frames = two or more frames are equivalent if their objective content is the same and they only differ in presentation. prospect theory (Tversky and Kahneman exemplar study) scenario: flu epidemic expected to kill 600 people group 1: policy A will save 200 people, policy B has a ⅓ chance that 600 people will be saved, and a ⅔ chance that nobody will be saved group 2: Policy A will cause 400 people to die, policy b has a ⅓ chance that nobody will die, and a ⅔ chance that 600 people will die gains frame (framed in terms of saving) → people chose policy A loss frame (framed in terms of losing) → people chose policy B real word implications of gains v.s. losses = people tend to be more cautious when they perceive the nation to be in a safe position with much to lose. they are more likely to take big risks when they perceive the nation to be facing large losses (ex: foreign policy intervention)

example study showing priming

ex: elderly stereotype study. participants were primed with concepts of the elderly by a sentence scramble task. sentences people were given either included elderly content or no elderly content. researchers then recorded how long it took participants to move to the end of the hall. found that those who had been prompted with elderly content → took longer to walk from one end of the hall to the next.

exclusion and inclusion on wikipedia

ex: gender bias example inequality through exclusion -only around 20% of wikipedia biographical articles are about women + non binary folks inequalities through inclusion - american women authors, articles remaining at the edges of the knowledge network (as a separate category)

example showcasing the impact of motivation/issue involvement on argument processing

ex: petty, cacioppo, goldman study where participants are told that a university is re-evaluating its academic programs + is soliciting feedback about possible policy changes. one proposal = concerns a requirement of seniors taking a comprehensive exam in their area of study. involvement: high involvement condition told that the exam requirement would begin next year, low involvement condition told that the exam would not take effect for 10 years. weak/strong: people were also simultaneously assigned to a strong or weak argument condition, where the proposal was prepared by either a strong or a weak source. high involvement: no difference in persuasion between expertise levels low involvement: expertise levels held extreme weight (rely on peripheral cues since it does not apply to them)

example of hypersocialization and marketing

examples of firms using the social graph to affect consumer behavior: study #1: data from a global telecommunication company. first used their traditional model to determine who to target (demographics, geography) also built a network out of call records (who are you talking to? for how long? etc.) model without neighborhood characteristics was far less successful than the model where they included information about who people's friends are (ie. targeted people whose friends are already subscribed). shows that friendship = predictor of shifts in behavior. study #2- for each ad, selected people that had either 1, 2, or 3 friends that had liked the ad. being shown your peers liked it = made you click it your peers liking it = will increase your odds of liking it as well (same results seen with and without a social cue)

credibility model

expertise trustworthiness

credibility

generally, is the attitude a receiver has towards a source.

what influences ability

generally: - how distracted you are, how educated you are, how complex the message is, your mood etc. - also, need for cognition

first order digital divide

can i access the internet based on the tools that are available to me? (ie: kids that couldn't attend school based on their lack of internet access) *broadband speed, device ability, with connection

confidence, extremism, and corroboration

on many issues, people are not really sure what to think. uncertainty leads to moderation, but finding out that others agree with you restores confidence + certainty, leading to extremism + amplified beliefs.

one sided/two sided messages

one sided messages = arguments that solely advocate one side of an issue two sided messages = predominantly advocates one side but also acknowledges and sometimes refutes the other side of an issue (enhances the credibility of the speaker)

opportunity, motivation, and ability model of information consumption

opportunity: the availability of political information motivation: whether people are interested in doing so ability: people's skill set and whether they can comprehend presented information overall: information environment and individual characteristics affect consumption in an environment where media is inefficient, motivation and ability don't matter in an environment where media is efficient (i.e., you can avoid news), motivation and ability play a far bigger role

mobilization

organizing + planning a movement --> garnering support mobilization examples (sit-ins --> videos spreading information about protests and petitions today)

cognitive consistency

our cognitive consistency is our drive to maintain psychological balance. how to tell if a relationship between different variables is balanced using cognitive consistency notation? multiply the signs (- times - times + = positive, balanced consistent claim, + times + times - = negative, unbalanced inconsistent claim) it's easier to resist persuasion than it is to rebalance your relationships however this is not always the case - there can be issues that you feel so strongly about that you're willing to have an imbalanced relationship.

personalization bias

personalized recommendations mean we don't have to waste time searching and considering every option. however, personalization may cause people to retreat to enclaves of overlapping interests and behaviors.

the iyengar and kinder experiment

placed participants in a room for daily news watching parties ppts would watch news as usual but there would be one extra clip snuck in on a specific topic. at day 1 and day 7 of the experiment, participants were asked to name the most important story facing the country stories emphasized in the news were more readily reported by participants

second order digital divide

use based. social media use stratification, posters v.s. lurkers, skill + ability differentiation

framing

using social media to pose an issue a certain way + use this frame to gain group traction

explanation between real life and studies

#1 - real world = face consequences for violence, the lab based measures are not the same thing as picking up a gun. #2 - people with violent tendencies are more likely to go see violent movies/play violent games. the people who are most likely to commit crimes, are at the movies/playing video games instead of committing crime = time is getting taken up by going to watch these movies people also go to the movies instead of drinking alcohol (alcohol leads to aggression) any effect of media violence on behavior is outweighed by time substitution

evidence opposing the identified link between social media and poor mental health

#1 - wilson and nisbett - asked people to read a few pages from a book - deleted 0,1, or 2, sections from the book by condition - asked people to rate the overall emotional impact of the reading of them - afted had people read deleted sections - asked how much they think the deletion had contributed to the overall emotional impact of the selection? overall - it didn't matter which passage had been deleted individuals in all conditions stated particular paragraphs → had led to an extreme emotional impact (idea that being prompted by a researcher to believe that social media is the cause of emotions might lead individuals to alter their survey responses.) #2 - orben and prysbylski conduct a multiverse analysis: calculate the correlation between screen time and mental health use, using every possible combination of mental health variables, screen time variables, and control variables. effect of social media use on depression = contingent on variable definition some variables lead to a stronger impact than others.

brehm studies showing reactance

#1 brehm + music album evaluations: asked participants to evaluate four music albums. in return, the music company would allow the participants to choose one of the albums as a free gift. after participants rated the albums, the experimenter offered the gift. in the reactance condition, participants were told that the company had forgotten to send samples of one of the albums (the one they liked 3rd best.) they were then asked to re-rate the albums → higher ratings for the third rated albums. telling them they couldn't have the album made them want it more #2 brehm + children's toys children were asked to rate their preference for an array of 7 toys. later, a second child told the first child that they must choose Toy X (always the toy that the first child really wanted.) in the control condition, no such advice was given. the child was then asked to choose a toy to play with. in the treatment condition, they decided they did not like the first ranked toy as much after all.

example studies showing racial priming

#1 tesler (2012) first measured underlying racist attitudes using the racial resentment scale (coding for racist remarks like "if blacks would only try harder they could be just as well off as whites.") they then showed a mitt romney campaign ad about welfare. after priming, asked respondents how well mitt romney's policies would benefit the poor, the middle class, the wealthy, african americans, and white americans. results = racial priming makes individuals use racist attitudes in their calculus for decision making. individuals believed welfare plan would help blacks over whites. priming existing racial resentment --> racial view of the issue. #2) researchers randomly varied amount of immigrants/Hispanic individuals in a train station, then asked both conditions individuals whether or not they support immigration action, more immigrants spotted in the train station = less support for pro immigration policies

why do we care about selective exposure?

*sunstein: violent extremism = results from like minded people stirring one another to greater levels of angers decreased ability to converge on good policies → inefficient policies instead politicians must protect the interests of their voters (who would might retract support based on communication across the aisle) partyism = an automatic dislike of people of the opposing political party promotion of falsehoods

how does priming connect to agenda setting?

- by focusing on some issues rather than others, the media makes the most important issues and their considerations more accessible (agenda setting.) - these issues are then used by voters when evaluating a candidate. - politics is then often a fight about putting things on the media agenda. this is because the choice of what conflicts can prime certain reactions from the public.

fomo/foblo

- curation of our lives → post what we want people to see us as Distorted perception → people see what you post and believe that is your life - compare their own life experiences to what they see on social media (ex: seeing a certain gathering being posted about online - feeling bad about yourself due to what those around you are posting → leads you to feel FOMO or FOBLO

enhanced imagery

- filtered selves + personal appearance shifts + selfie culture = changing beauty standards and dark mental health implications makes it possible for you to see others tweaking themselves + tweak yourself. those who use body appearance shifting tools = more likely to suffer from low self esteem, mental health issues, eating disorders

what influences motivation

- high in involvement = high in motivation individuals are more motivated to process persuasive information when they perceive that an issue is relevant or directly related to their own lives. they are low in involvement when they believe that an issue has little to no impact on their own lives. - ELM stipulates that when individuals are high in involvement, they will be motivated to engage in issue-relevant thinking. under low involvement, people have little motivation to focus on message arguments and focus on peripheral cues.

what explains the hostile media effect?

- selective recall, selective categorization, different standards, source heuristics

social media + social movements new challenges

- slacktivism: internet allows individuals to contribute to movements through low cost activities (movements are not as drastic) - virality: can be effective at mobilizing people to act, but it's not as good as in person organizing, debating, coming to the same conclusions/decisions etc. - elite social media repression: - disinformation can be used by groups to purposefully censor and polarize (ex: china) - data can be used to identify + punish activists.

strategies of social movements

1. mobilization 2. community/identity building (sustaining online communities, strengthening collective identities.) 3. framing = makes certain aspects of an argument more salient, helps frame how people think

why is social media believed to cause poor mental health?

1. social animals 2. fomo/foblo 3. enhanced imagery 4. bullying

does media violence cause real life violence (lab studies)

APA review/meta-analysis confirms link between violent video games + aggression specific study: assigned to play either a violent or a non violent video game for 20 minutes. then asked to complete an ambiguous story driver crashes into the back of the main character's car, what does the main character do next? coded for violent responses. also coded for violence in a game where they had to respond to a visual cue faster than their partner. loser would receive a noise blast (intensity + duration) determined by winner.

mean world syndrome

TV tells narratives + cultivates beliefs about how the world works → influences our behaviors and attitudes, leads us to believe the world is mean + dangerous.

the big lie

a big lie is a grand but impoverished theory of the world. from the outside looking in, the big lie is absurd, far fetched and clearly untrue. but once believed, the big lie is hard to destroy. examples of big lies throughout history: 1. nazi germany - a secret and powerful Jewish elite control Europe and are to blame for all of Germany's problems + German Aryans are the master race. 2- the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump (even though there is no evidence of the fraud)

mainstreaming

a convergence of views of the world among heavy viewers in otherwise disparate groups

what is framing?

a frame in communication organizes prompts individuals to yield a specific meaning/interpretation of unfolding strip of events/political issues.

what is a filter bubble?

a phenomenon that online audiences are exposed to personalized information aligning with their primary belief or attitude (personalized content + attitudinal consistency) differ from echo chambers because: - not self selected personalization - instead, algorithms or non human factors decide what the user will see (pre-selected personalization)

agenda setting is important because it

affects what politicians do, affects what people think is important, leads to attitude priming

topical filter bubbles

algorithms cater to users with topics of their hobbies or interests, tend to down rank news. ex: hunag and yang, 2021 audit youtube up next recommendations results: youtube algorithms have self reinforcing tendencies for recommending some video categories. topical filter bubbles exist on youtube. entertainment videos earn higher chances to be recommended as up next than news (despite user preferences.) implication: entertainment silos might reduce potential news exposure --> limit political involvement + leave it to extremists --> increase polarization and turnout gaps (problem for democracy)

algorithmic bias

algorithms serve as the basis for most online processes. study #1 ex : gender shades project, looked at intersection of gender and race, attempted to compare different algorithms, results: algorithms can identify men better than women, greatest magnitude difference between white man + black woman, 34.4% difference takeaway: algorithms and machine learning perpetuate and reinforce social biases

limited argument pool

an individual's position on any argument is a function of the arguments that seem convincing (when in a homogeneous group, all convinced of the same topic)

example study (individualized characteristics and misinformation)

are you an intuitive or deliberate thinker (CRT scores) ? *cognitive reflection test CRT = intuitively compelling but incorrect answers people who have lower scores on the CRT are more likely to engage in Type I processing (relying on cues and shortcuts) + therefore share more misinformation on twitter

assimilation

assimilation leads us to believe the true position of incoming information is closer or further away from our anchor than it actually is depending on the anchor position we hold. individuals are likely to assimilate information within their lattitude of acceptance, or close to their anchor position. individuals are likely to reject information outside the latitude of acceptance, and far from their anchor position. ex: biden perceived ideology among voters (very liberal individuals see Biden as conservative, conservative individuals see Biden as very liberal).

what happens when an argument is changed via elaboration/central processing

attitudes changed through central route processing tend to be more internally consistent (consistent with other views that you hold), accessible, enduring, and resistant to change. the more thought that you invest in an attitude, the stronger your attitude.

are echo chambers necessary for polarization? example

bail et al researchers provided compensation for participants to follow a bot on twitter (breaking the echo chamber, exposing them to different information). also participated in weekly surveys, where they were rewarded for correctly answering questions about the articles promoted by the bots (ensured engagement.) despite this, measures of polarization remained. implication = don't need echo chambers for polarization, regardless of content individuals access, they will use social identity cues to signal their partisanship + maintain polarization. polarization = built on in groups + out groups we bring forward our social identity, showcase our "affiliations" polarization = independent from echo chambers

are filter bubbles a myth?

bakshy et al: - examined ideological homophily in friend networks as well as facebook algorithmic impact. #1) degree of homophily for moderates' social network is lower compared to partisans, but they still connect to some heterogeneous friends. #2) the cross cutting exposure is not shut down on Facebook. social filtering and algorithmic filtering both to some extent reduced exposure to cross cutting content but the exposure was not completely eliminated. implication filtering effects are weaker than we think they are.

why does social media polarize us?

because social media --> selective exposure + algorithms --> homogeneous groups. homogeneous groups lead to - a limited argument pool - reputational concerns - confidence, extremism, and corroboration

self efficacy

behavior learned through vicarious learning will not be enacted unless an individual possesses the self-efficacy to do so. self-efficacy beliefs are judgments that individuals hold about their capabilities to perform a behavior at designated levels. self-efficacy beliefs are generated through... #1 mastery experience Individuals seek activities + gain input about their ability Ex: trying to climb a ladder and going one by one, watching success one by one to know you can do it. #2 vicarious experience individuals can learn about the outcome of an ability from others ex: watching someone else climb a ladder. #3 verbal persuasion: physiological and emotional states. using emotional + physiological states to make inferences about the outcome to an act. ex: getting anxious when faced with the ladder + interpreting one's own emotions as negative → turns one against attempting to learn

vicarious learning

by observing the behavior of others, an individual can develop rules to guide their subsequent behavior. vicarious learning is governed by the processes of attention, retention, production, and motivation. attention: a person must pay attention to any behavior and perceive it accurately in order to model it successfully. retention: modeled behavior must be remembered in order to be used again. motor reproduction: translating that stored memory into behavior. motivation: three types of situations provide the incentive to model learned behavior. #1 positive or negative outcomes through direct performance of the behavior. #2 observation of another's behavior and the subsequent outcomes. (most important for media.) #3 evaluation based upon personal values or standards of behavior.

community building

cohesion + orientation as a group. online access improves collective articulation of community grievance (ie: easy to build online communities around hashtags)

study supporting bailard's window opening and mirror holding theory

conducted a field experiment in Tanzania, a country that is typically defined as a hybrid regime, or semi free (not fully democratic) randomly assigned people to receive 75 hours of internet time at an internet cafe internet access was correlated with an increase in dissatisfaction with the tanzanian government

expertise example

expertise = the extent to which a communicator is perceived to be a source of valid assertions ex: hovland and weiss 1. participants were randomly assigned to read about either building nuclear submarines or the use of antihistamine drugs 2. two conditions = one condition received content attributed to a widely accepted high expertise source, one condition received content attributed to a widely accepted low expertise source. 3. both articles were the same 4. high expertise = more attitude change than low expertise despite messages being exactly the same 5. attitude change occurs in the direction of agreement for high expertise

why does contact reduce prejudice?

facilitates learning about the outgroup, new outgroup knowledge leads to prejudice reduction, reduces fear and anxiety, increases empathy with the outgroup

misinformation

false information that is spread regardless of whether there is intent to mislead

disinformation

false information that is spread with the deliberate intent to deceive or mislead

parasocial interaction example study

fans have sustained contact with mo salah. he is portrayed positively (high scoring member of his soccer time.) his Muslim identity is highly salient. study #1 - what impact did Mo Salah have on hate crimes? measured # of hate crimes per month relative to the period after salah signed with the liverpool club in merseyside. results: hate crimes decreased more in merseyside relative to other regions where mo salah was not as much of a prevalent figure. study #2 - what impact did mo salah have on twitter? measured amount of anti-Muslim language in tweets of soccer club followers saw most positive language in liverpool compared to other soccer clubs.

forecasting study

forecasting model: takes a bunch of polls and spits out the probability that one person is ahead or not. what impact does that have on perceptions/behavior ? experiment 1: randomly assigned people to either see a pair of candidates (A or B) and either a vote share or a percent probability of winning. then asked the percent certainty that candidate will win based on either condition. those who saw the estimate presented as probability of winning → more confidence in who would win. focusing on probabilities made people far more confident in who would win (when that probability was large) than an equivalent vote share. significance - ran other experiments showing that people were less likely to turnout when they thought their candidate was a sure bet (ex: hillary clinton, 2016)

causal evidence linking social media and mental health

hadit + twenge = direct correlational study (mental health outcomes with daily activities including social media, social media has the biggest impact.) undercover study done by facebook → later used by whistleblower to call out facebook. general research questions = have you experienced suicidal ideation, eating disorder behavior, social comparison, FOMO etc. significant takeaway = correlation between individuals using social media and feeling worse about themselves *onset of depression, anxiety, eating disorders (particularly U.S. girls)

social animals

humans are hardwired to interact with one another. idea that more screen time → less in person interaction → more loneliness

why are individuals increasingly likely to partake in selective exposure?

humans strive for internal psychological consistency to function mentally in the world. people feel discomfort when two actions or ideas that are not psychologically consistent with each other meet (similar to the triangle theory + reactance to persuasion.) therefore seek out echo chambers (selective exposure). echo chambers can also be created for them (via. algorithms)

bailard's window opening and mirror holding theory

idea that internet and internet access has an impact on democratic attitudes (ex: making people satisfied/dissatisfied with current conditions of their government) generally: if you live in a country where things are generally going well, internet access will increase your satisfaction with how things are going. if you live in a country where things are not going well, internet access will decrease satisfaction with the way things are going.

cultivation theory

idea that long-term immersion in a media environment leads to "cultivation," or enculturation, into shared beliefs about the world

emphasis frames

if we think of political issues as large, complex tangles of information, then emphasis frames isolate and elevate a select aspect or element above the tangle, helping it to stand out from the rest

position switching

if you switch your position /acknowledge that of the other party = seen as more trustworthy.

what are the implications of the hostile media effect?

implications for democracy: perceived media bias predicts consumption of partisan news outlets and selective exposure which increases extreme attitudes + division across ideological lines. implications for journalism: even fair, balanced coverage of controversial issues is perceived as biased and antagonistic by members of the groups being covered. increase in number of journalists assaulted + hostility towards the industry.

study supporting mainstreaming

in the early 2000s the media presented LGBT people in a more positive light (queer eye, will and grace). mainstreaming would suggest that those who watch more TV should be more similar in their attitudes towards LGBT people than people who watch less TV. favorability towards LGBT increased with high TV (even for highly religious individuals + for men, typically lowest favorability)

parasocial interaction

in the media-rich environment, people come to know more people parasocially than directly through interpersonal contact parasocial interaction: communication media can provide viewers with "an apparently intimate, face-to-face association with a performer"

market information regimes

independent suppliers of information: aggregate data by recording the behaviors or declaration of users E.g. Billboard Charts, US News and World reports etc.

selective categorization

individuals are likely to categorize more story content as unfavorable, than favorable, to their perspective. this specifically goes for highly involved partisans. they have wider "latitudes" of message rejection and will thus find more of the views expressed by the media to be disagreeable or biased than will weaker partisans, for whom the news is likely to fall into a latitude of acceptance or of noncommitment.

bullying

intensity of bullying has increased over time + was always present however now can persist into the home with the use of social media (can also be anonymous, far easier to hide behind a screen.)

selective exposure

internet caters content based to your preferences, so you become immersed in ideas you already believe and agree with (are selectively exposed to such ideas.)

the charlotte study

interviewed the same sample of people nine times from feb through dec during the 1976 presidential election in various states. the correlation between what the media covers and what the public considered most important was strong for television and moderate for newspapers.

example study showing political priming

krosnick and kinder study (1990) ronald reagan: approval ratings significantly dropped with an increase in coverage about the iran-contra revelation (arms embargo with iran, iran-iraq war, U.S. secretly selling arms to the iranians, americans funneling money to the contras in South America. average number of lines in a newspaper per day designated to the affair primed schemas about u.s. involvement in central america which then shaped how individuals evaluated ronald reagan. correlation between attitudes towards isolationism and contras/central america increased after more attention to the issue.

categories of judgement

latitudes by which we evaluate persuasive positions. when we receive persuasive information, we locate it within our existing categories of judgment. 1. latitudes of acceptance: of all those positions on an issue that an individual finds acceptable, including the most acceptable position. 2. latitudes of rejection: all those positions on an issue that an individual finds objectionable, including the most objectionable position. 3. latitudes of non commitment: all positions on which the individual has preferred to remain non committal. 4. anchor position = most preferred position

likeability

likable person puts you in a good mood, helps you access positive thoughts about the product. makes you feel good → positive feelings are transferred to the message. ex: likability = seen to influence political decisions, likable candidates trump not likable candidates

16 and pregnant study

looked at the relationship between teen birth rate in a zipcode + MTV data. hypothesis: there should not be a correlation between teen birth rates + MTV ratings at the 8-9 time slot but there will be after 2009 (when the 16 and pregnant show started.) more people watching MTV → lower birth rate 4.3% reduction in teen births, explaining 24% of the total decline in births over that period.

why do we care about filter bubbles?

many have warned filter bubbles will lead to democratic consequences 1) polarization and extremity 2) audience fragmentation and segregation 3) news avoidance 4) aloofness from politics (less political participation)

what is political priming?

media coverage of different events influences what information people use when making judgements about politicians, political issues, and presidential approval. this is typically studied through the measure of attitudes on a variety of policy domains. in the first round of surveys: do you support gay marriage, do you think defense spending should increase etc. researchers then correlate recorded attitudes with presidential approval measured before some increase in coverage/some event and then again after the event. priming in this case is the more salient coverage --> presidential approval leads to stronger + more positive policy attitudes. indicates that individuals are impacted by overall existing coverage when answering a question.

information regimes

media providers and users depend on information to make sense of and manage the digital media environment. providers use tools to find out what their audience likes users are dependent on search and recommendation systems to help them make rational choices

markus prior's perspective

media used to be inefficient, today it is efficient (can sort + adjust to your preferences.) people who don't care about politics used to not be able to opt-out, now they can. 1 - commercial television did not exist, combined circulation of newspapers 2- TV was available, but with limited content/channel options (mostly news oriented.) 3 - tv was on, addition of more channels. 4- development of streaming service, content entirely up to viewers preference this leads to turnout gaps and polarization.

what is reactance?

messages try to get you to change your behavior or attitudes which can be perceived as a threat to one's freedom. psychological reactance: a motivation to restore freedoms when a behavior they consider to be a free behavior is eliminated or threatened with elimination. the result of this reactance is, in many circumstances, an increase in the attractiveness of the constrained behavior and a decrease in the evaluation of the source of the restriction as well as an increased sense of confidence in the ultimate decision made. study showing characteristics of reactance to persuasion. ex: high threat/low threat instruction (do NOT write on the walls v.s. please, do not write on the walls) high authority/low authority: (chief of security/grounds Committee) researchers checked how much graffiti there was every 2 hours most graffiti in high authority high threat condition.

post-truth

misinformation can sometimes create the impression that the truth is unknowable. a kind of information overload where all takes and all versions of reality are equally valid or equally flawed.

need for cognition

more of a personality trait, characterizes the degree to which people prefer to use thoughtful information processing. those who are high on need for cognition will be persuaded by strong arguments and not weak arguments. those who have a low need for cognition will not be affected much by the strength of an argument.

king et al

most impressive agenda setting study method: recruited 48 media organizations to publish news topics on 11 different policy areas. packs of 2-5 outlets = would publish a bunch of stories on the same day (randomly decided week) in one domain (stories could be on whatever, journalists had agency) after each pack of stories were published, researchers tracked the website's pageviews and the discussion on twitter compared to another randomly chosen week. in sum: pretty strong evidence that the media changes the public agenda, people tended to talk about what the outlets/packs were talking about.

what factors lead individuals to follow the central or peripheral routes?

motivation: their desire to process persuasive information abiltiy: their capacity to do so (is their attention overloaded/is the message too complex?)

the size of echo chambers online v.s. tv

muise = large study categorizing browsing behavior across the united states found that contrary to popular opinion, only a small number of echo chambers exist → echo chamber effect is larger on TV than online.

source attractiveness model

multidimensional: likeability, similarity, being good looking/halo effect

impact of frames on attitudes study

nelson, clawson, oxley study: free speech frame (protesters should get out their message) public order frame (KKK rallies have the potential for disorder + physical violence) participants were asked: do you think that OSU should or should not allow the KKK to hold a rally on campus? how important is a citizen's freedom to speak or hear what she wants? how important is campus safety and security? free speech frame = more likely to say OSU should allow KKK, value freedom of speech. public order frame = more likely to say OSU should not allow, value safety/security. framing in terms of free speech made people more supportive of the KKK rally than the public order frame. the importance or weights people put on free speech went up in the free speech condition and down in the public order condition attitudes on marches can be different, depending on how they are presented.

what is hypersocialization

new media environment has turbocharged + accelerated the extent to which our behavior/attitudes/emotions are affected by other's behavior. idea that being shown the preferences or behaviors of your close friends through media platforms increases your likelihood of adopting the same preferences or behaviors

peripheral route

no elaboration, the outcome of persuasive efforts do not depend on the receiver's issue-relevant thinking but through cues/heuristics/shortcuts. cues: - attractiveness, - credibility, expertise - number of arguments - order of arguments

social media + social movements new asymmetries

not all social movements operate the same way online american left-wing movements rely most on mobilizing and framing to elites (some argue that the internet creates a space the elites cannot control, allowing those who have been historically oppressed to have a means of communication). the left may be more affected by drawbacks of slacktivism. american right-wing movements rely most on building insulated community/identity often through the use of misinformation

epsiodic v.s. thematic frames study

participants watched a news clip about poverty. thematic framing condition: people saw a thematic clip about increased poverty, increased unemployment in the manufacturing sector, increases in the number of americans meeting the govs definition of it, report on food emergencies across the nation etc. episodic framing condition: participants watched an unemployed male, an unmarried adult mother, a teenage mother etc. describe their economic difficulties and differences results: being presented with an episodic frame = 50% blamed society episodic = solution is in an individual's own hands being presented with a thematic frame = 70% blame society, and argue society should solve the issue

different standards

partisans correctly perceive that a balanced newscast has an equal amount of facts and images in support of each side. but when it comes to putting this into practice, they consider even handed coverage inappropriate, and have different standards for the content that should be covered.

selective recall

partisans may attend to or remember attitude incongruent material especially well. pro-arab subjects remembered references as favorable to israelis and vice versa.

example study (how can we intervene to stop believing in misinformation/disinformation?)

pennycook et al. selected users who had previously shared information from fake news websites. randomized the date on which they were sent a DM asking them to rate the accuracy of a single non-political headline (primed them to think of accuracy). compared the quality of the news sites shared in the 24 hours for individuals who had received the DM to those who had not received the DM the accuracy nudge increased the quality of sites reshared by 5-9%

source heuristics

people aren't interpreting the information in the message, but relying on prior beliefs about the media source. ** elite cues and individual partisanship interact study: presented with a source (either shown name of source or shown article, no name of source) when dems read something from fox news without a source, perceived bias was lower than when they knew it was from fox. judging a source based on the characteristics of the source alone = use of a heuristic

jacks and cameron study

people generally say they resist persuasion via: attitude bolstering, assertions of confidence, selective exposure, counter arguing, source derogation, social validation etc. jacks and cameron study aimed to observe which strategy was actually most effective in resisting persuasion. method: asked people in favor of the death penalty to listen to a 4 minute speech arguing against the death penalty. then were asked to jot down what they were thinking as they listened to the message. counterarguing and argument bolstering = most effective way to maintain your own perspective and resist persuasion

hostile media effect

people have an abiding belief that their view and only their view is correct, and that the media is biased against their view.

mirror holding

people rely on the media to provide a mirror on the performance of the government. the internet, in undemocratic countries reflects a superior image (in both size and depth) than what the traditional media would provide. for individuals living in nations with weak or nondemocratic practices, information that does slip through will be more likely to reflect poorly rather than positively on the government (access to internet would allow them to hold up a mirror and see the corruption of their government.)

similarity

people similar to you are more likely to be effective at changing attitudes (can be anything from sharing your values, to clothing items, physical appearance etc.) ex: study where individuals signed up for an experiment about astrology. the confederate walked in 30 seconds after the participant, the confederate and the participant either realized they shared a birthday or didn't. after the experiment, the confederate asked the participant a request (8 page essay with one page of written feedback) having same birthday = more likely to comply ex: study on how endorsements by party elites affect whether or not republicans choose to get vaccinated. aim - observe how endorsements by party elites affect Republican vaccination intentions and attitudes. unvaccinated republicans shown republic endorsement = reported higher vax intentions than those who observed democratic elite endorsement, or those who were shown 0 endorsement. conclusion - results show the relative advantage of cues from Republican elites for promoting vaccination action

reputational concerns

people want to be perceived favorably by other group members, and will adjust opinions and behavior to fit the group. people with opposing beliefs keep their mouths shut → extreme and mainstream beliefs winning out EX: republicans believing big lies ex: study where members of a group of moderately profeminist women = more strongly profeminist after discussion (bounce ideas off of one another --> become more extremist)

patterns of representation in the media

portrayals of marginalized individuals tend to fit + perpetuate harmful stereotypes (mastro paper.) also worsened by the lack of representation proportional to the representation of these marginalized identities in the real world. black characters: less respected + more disheveled, represented as less aggressive, less professional etc. less main character representation latino characters: comic relief, criminals/cops, sexual desire, hardly ever main characters either.

being good looking/halo effect

positive evaluations of a speaker/model (physical attractiveness, reputable skill set etc.) presenting a product or an idea can spread to the qualities/characteristics of the product/idea itself. ex: we are more likely to buy a product presented by a viral celebrity we find attractive than by a random run of the mill individual

what is racial priming?

priming/activating racist attitudes so that individuals rely on them when making decisions (ex: evaluating candidates.)

but you are free principle

reassure people you're not trying to control them + then get more influence over what they do. study: would you like to do this survey for us? → 75% you are free to do what you choose, present with the survey → 90% telling people "you can say no" makes them more likely to say yes

bobo doll experiment

sample of boys and girls presented with aggressive role models, sample of boys and girls presented with non aggressive role models, sample of boys and girls presented with no model. stage 1: modeling aggressive groups: watched male/female model behave aggressively towards the Bobo doll. non aggressive model: male/female model ignored the Bobo doll last group not exposed to any model at all Stage 2: aggression arousal experimenter told children they couldn't play with the toys they were playing with, reserved for other children. Stage 3: final room: some aggressive toys and some non aggressive toys recorded whether the children didn't comply with the model at all, strictly imitated their model, or took the behavior (ie. aggression) further (using the gun, hurting the Bobo in different ways, etc.) results: for those who had observed aggression → increased aggressive outcomes, no similar link seen with other groups effect was much larger for males (social roles)

what is priming?

schemas = mental models in the brain based on experience that impact how you process new stimuli spreading activation = the idea that priming one node triggers the activation of related schemas/concepts priming = idea that the schemas that are active in your brain impact how you process information (ex: affecting how we interpret objects, respond to survey questions, behave, etc.)

covid church study

shelter in place orders = a clear restriction on freedom, stopping the religious from congregating. the theory of reactance supposes that when there is a threat to freedom, there will be a boomerang effect: the religious will congregate even more. study looked at social distancing there was in more or less religious communities after a directive to shelter in place was put in place. states with shelter in place → strong relationship between being religious and engaging in less social distancing, unseen in states without a shelter in place

shirky v.s. gladwell

shirky argues that internet use by social movements creates a "conservative's dilemma," helps those out of power (gives them a platform) gladwell counters that internet use doesn't improve the success of social movements

caveats to credibility (the sleeper effect)

sleeper effect = the idea that the impact/importance of source credibility fades over time with the hovland + weiss article, results showeed individuals immediately valued speaker credibility (had a significant impact on persuasion), however follow up studies over time, showed that individuals forgot about the source, source held less of a hold on persuasion.

social cognitive theory

social cognitive theory proposes that human functioning is the product of reciprocal determinism, or the dynamic interplay of personal factors, behavior, and environmental influences. all three interact to influence human behavior.

social judgement theory

social judgement theory = receivers do not evaluate a message based purely on the merits of the argument. their own biases are used when evaluating the content of a message.

popularity bias

social networks and content providers point people to the most read story, most viewed video, or the thing people most like you have bought etc. (virality). the internet has facilitated and outbreak of popularity content. strips diversity of opinion + independence.

george floyd protests and framing

study conducted on local media responses to george floyd's death (philadelphia). overall = more episodic than thematic. difficult to take action when such a systemically widespread issue is accepted as individualized by the public.

cultural differences in reactance

study: - european students, v.s. east asian students randomly assigned to two conditions individual threat condition = imagine a colleague asked to borrow your car for a week (public transport card in exchange). collective threat conditions = imagine an external branch of your office needs all your branch's car for a week. western europeans were less likely to consider the request reasonable when it was an individual threat (higher reactance), east asians were less likely to consider the request reasonable when it was a collective threat (higher reactance.) has to do with individual societal characteristics.

evidence for the lazy thinking (type 1) perspective

study: compiled a list of fake and real news items that were ideologically attractive to democrats or republicans. each ppt = 15 headlines that were factually accurate (real news) and 15 that were entirely untrue (fake news) --> asked them to distinguish between fake + real, also gave the CRT. per type 2 model: deliberative thinkers are more likely to incorrectly judge fake news as accurate in their party categories (politically motivated). if type 1 account is correct: intuitive thinkers (low on CRT) can't identify fake news regardless of party. results evidence seems to be in favor of the Type 1 account (laziness) over the type 2 account (motivated reasoning).

who sets the media agenda?

study: gathered twitter data from policymakers, the public, and the media over time (2013-2014) attempted to observe who sets each pattern (ex: if the media talks about a topic, does the general public talk about the topic 15 days later? if politicians talk about a topic, does the media cover that topic 15 days later?) results: there is a feedback loop in attention. media agenda influences public agenda, and public agenda influences media agenda policy agenda influences media agenda and media agenda influences policy agenda public agenda influences policy agenda and policy agenda influences policy agenda

example showcasing the impact of ability on argument processing

study: participants watched a tape of a civil case where the plaintiff argued that he had contracted cancer as a result of workplace exposure to PCBs. witness was either highly credible or less credible (peripheral cue) witness used either complex language or not (ability) low ability = complex language, many participants were unable to process high ability = simple language, easier for participants to understand they were then asked to estimate the probability the PCBs cause cancer (in line with the plaintiff's witness) results: peripheral cues mattered a whole lot more when ability was low/message was complex simple message → rely on the message itself

user information regimes

tailored to help users find information consistent with their needs and preferences. 1. search engines (ex: Google) which relies on the linking architecture of the internet. 2. social networks (Facebook, Tiktok, Reddit, Instagram, Spotify). use of collaborative filters all these tools are reactive: they change behavior of providers and users which then changes what shows up in the tool.

rags to riches context

the American Dream = the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone. it's generally thought to be achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, rather than by chance. american Dream is fading (share of children making more than their parents is decreasing, massive rise in wealth inequality) *why do Americans' beliefs in economic mobility persist despite the raft of empirical evidence to the contrary? connection to cultivation theory: it is hypothesized that television, particularly reality television, cultivates perceptions of meritocracy through rags to riches stories

example of variables having multiple routes for persuasion

the ELM argues that a particular variable can serve in one of three capacities. it can function as a persuasive argument, peripheral cue, or a factor that influences thinking about the person or issue. example: two ads with beautiful scenery. one for a car, one for Yosemite National Park. multiple roles notion = idea that the same variable of the beautiful scenery can lead you to take a peripheral route or can lead you to take a central route. (peripheral for car advertisement, central for yosemite ad.)

example of contagion

the action's of one individual directly impacting those of another. ex: strava study strava = app that allows you to communicate your exercise data. gather data from strava on people's running behavior and location data (weather data.) observe whether two individuals in different weather environments (where one environment is clearly more favorable for exercise will still contage one another and motivate exercise behavior within their network.)

biases in information regimes

the behavior bias: are choices a reasonable approximation for preferences? the personalization bias: does personalization lead us into echo chambers? popularity bias: is the most popular the best? the most accurate? the highest quality?

common themes within mis and disinformation

the big lie: the grand delusions of misinformation post-truth: relativism and doubt race and imperialism: plays upon and enhances oppression

intergroup contact hypothesis

the contact hypothesis posits that personal contact across social lines can reduce prejudice if that contact is egalitarian and involves cooperating to achieve a common goal.

the chapel hill study

the dependent variable: the public agenda of issues what are you most concerned about these days? that is regardless of what politicians say, what are the two or three main things which you think the government should concentrate on doing something about? the independent variable: the media agenda a content analysis of the same five issues in nine major news sources used by Chapel Hill residents. results: most covered issues in order = media agenda Correlation was .97 → almost perfect

message discrepancy

the difference between the position being advocated by a message and the preferred position of the receiver.

agenda setting

the media may not be successful in telling people what to think, but they are stunningly successful in telling them what to think about. the agenda = what people/policy makers/the media are talking about the central idea of agenda setting is that by giving differential attention to certain issues, the media set the agenda of public discourse. by covering some issues and ignoring others, the media influence which issues people view as important and which they view as unimportant. the power to put things on/off the public agenda = huge source of power

behavior bias

the vast majority of digital media measures are constructed from records of people's behaviors. but are choices a stand-in for preferences? ex: does watching a video mean you like it? does hitting the like button mean you actually like it?

window opening

the windows people have into the lives of those in other nations = small, fleeting, and often obscured or screened by official powers the internet opens potentially panoramic windows through which to better see how democracy functions in other nations exposes individuals to a more globally consistent conception of what constitutes democratic governance

how well do persuasive ads work?

there are billions of $ spent on persuasive ads a year. is this effort and money worth it? how well do they work? study - collected data for 500 brands on advertising spending + products sold to evaluate effectiveness some ads = effective, but most around the 0 line more than half of the time, people are spending more on ads than they are getting back

webster's model of the media landscape

three components #1 media users = the agents who consume media products and services. #2 the media providers = who create the structures and resources that users employ. #3 information regimes, traditionally created by third parties to offer media providers the market information needed to observe and manage media consumption.

trustworthiness example

trustworthiness = degree of confidence one places in the communicator's intent to communicate assertions he considers most valid typically, individuals have more support towards candidates/ideas that embody integrity + honesty. when individuals say something that would harm their self interest, they are seen as more reliable. ex: walster, aronson, and abrahams: 1. listening to a communication from a convicted criminal, either on the topic of the police having more power or less power. 2. more effective if the convicted criminal argues for the policy having more power...a criminal talking about increasing police power = seen as trustworthy + more persuasive in their claims.

innoculation theory + two sided messages

two sided argument. that other side does exist, but this is how + why its wrong. innoculation theory: asserts that people's beliefs are vulnerable if they have never faced challenge. once they have experienced a challenge to their opinions, however, they are more likely form attachment to their opinion.

two theories of misinformation

type 1 - poor reasoning + heuristic reliance leads to belief in misinformation (heuristics: likes to a post, familiarity/illusory truth effect) type 2 - political beliefs + rationalization leads to belief in misinformation

hostile media effect study

vallone, ross, lepper beirut crisis = partisans from both sides were lobbying charges against the other side. method: participants = undergrads either Pro Palestinian or Pro Israeli all watched the same information, results + reactions compared across groups. after watching, were asked about perception of bias. results: those identifying as pro arab rated the overall treatment as pro israel. those identifying as pro israel rated the overall treatment as pro arab. stronger, more involved partisans are more likely to see news content as hostile

conditional political learning

what happens if only those who are highly interested in news turnout and gain political information? those invested in politics hold more extremist views + vote for more extreme candidates. extremists consume more information and moderates drop out --> turnout gaps and polarization.

caveats to credibility (perceived bias)

when we question whether a source is credible/trustworthy/expert, we have to consider our audience, whether or not they stand by the beliefs you are presenting to begin with. (trustworthiness/expertise is in the eye of the beholder)** ex: Fauci is believed by most of the right to be "not trustworthy" despite his validated expertise by other sources.