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Media Effects (media + effects)
Selected AbstractsEvaluative Feedback: Perspectives on Media EffectsJOURNAL OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION, Issue 2 2007Stephanie A. Watts Computer-mediated communication (CMC) makes it possible to deliver evaluative feedback, an essential component of learning, over distance. This article presents a theoretical model of the CMC-based evaluative feedback process from the perspective of both senders and receivers of feedback. Hypotheses suggested by the model were tested in a quasi-laboratory experiment with part-time MBA students comparing email with voicemail. Within matched-pair dyads, email senders, but not voicemail senders, viewed their negative feedback as being significantly more negative than did their receivers. Voicemail senders, but not email senders, reported significantly lower comfort levels than did their receivers. No feedback effectiveness differences were found between media conditions, although determinants of feedback effectiveness differed significantly depending on the medium. These results are generally consistent with the theoretical model. [source] The Perception of Distance in the Cultivation Process: A Theoretical Consideration of the Relationship Between Television Content, Processing Experience, and Perceived DistanceCOMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 3 2006Helena Bilandzic This article proposes an integrative theoretical perspective of the cultivation process, starting from the notion that subjective social reality is organized in "zones of relevance," with some social elements being closer, and some more remote, to an individual's everyday life (L. P. Berger & T. Luckmann, 1967; A. Schutz, 1970b). Media effects are assumed to depend on such a perception of distance that modifies the mode in which television content is processed, stored, and integrated into existing beliefs and attitudes. Two notions of closeness are elaborated for television viewing: experiential closeness, emphasizing the personal biographical situation, and mediated closeness, focusing on the narrative experience. Recent theoretical approaches to cultivation and research on transportation into narratives are integrated within the framework of perceived distance. [source] Governing in the Media Age: The Impact of the Mass Media on Executive Leadership in Contemporary Democracies1GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 1 2008Ludger Helms The effects of old and new media on governing and executive leadership have remained curiously under-studied. In the available literature, assessments prevail that consider the media to have developed a strongly power-enhancing effect on incumbent chief executives. A careful reconsideration of mass media effects on the conditions and manifestations of political leadership by presidents and prime ministers in different contemporary democracies suggests that the media more often function as effective constraints on leaders and leadership. Overall, the constraining effects of the traditional media have been more substantial than those generated by the new media. While there are obvious cross-national trends in the development of government,mass media relations, important differences between countries persist, which can be explained to some considerable extent by the different institutional features of contemporary democracies. [source] The Social Capital of Blacks and Whites: Differing Effects of the Mass Media in the United StatesHUMAN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH, Issue 2 2006Christopher E. Beaudoin This study relied on telephone survey interviews of adults in two U.S. metropolitan areas to examine whether the relationship between mass media use and social capital varies according to ethnicity. A multigroup approach taken with structural equation modeling validates a four-factor model of social capital for Blacks and Whites and then, with the implementation of a comprehensive model that also includes mass media inputs, tests for structural variance between the ethnic groups. A well-fitting comprehensive model is achieved, with significant differences between Blacks and Whites in terms of the mass media use structures. In support of the two hypotheses, the relationship between news use and social capital is less positive for Blacks than for Whites and the relationship between entertainment TV viewing and social capital is more negative for Blacks than for Whites. These findings are discussed in terms of literature involving mass media effects on social capital, news coverage of ethnic groups, and ethnic differences in self-conceptualization and media responses. [source] A New Era of Minimal Effects?JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION, Issue 1 2010A Response to Bennett, Iyengar This article takes up Bennett and Iyengar's (2008) call for debate about the future of political communication effects research. We outline 4 key criticisms. First, Bennett and Iyengar are too quick to dismiss the importance of attitude reinforcement, long recognized as an important type of political media influence. Second, the authors take too narrow a view of the sources of political information, remaining fixated on news. Third, they offer an incomplete portrayal of selective exposure, exaggerating the extent to which individuals avoid attitude-discrepant information. Finally, they lean toward determinism when describing the role technologies play in shaping our political environment. In addition, we challenge Bennett and Iyengar's assertion that only brand new theory can serve to help researchers understand today's political communication landscape. We argue that existing tools, notably the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), retain much utility for examining political media effects. Contrary to Bennett and Iyengar's claims, the ELM suggests that the contemporary political information environment does not necessarily lead to minimal effects. [source] Third-Person Effects and the Environment: Social Distance, Social Desirability, and Presumed BehaviorJOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION, Issue 2 2005Jakob D. Jensen Previous research has documented third-person effects (persons presuming that others will be more susceptible to media effects than they themselves are) and explored moderators such as social desirability (the effect reverses when the media effects are undesirable) and social distance (the effect increases as the social distance from the self increases). In a study of environmental news coverage, the authors observed the general third-person effect and the moderating role of social desirability; however, they also found that social distance affected presumed influence in complex ways reflecting varying perceptions of issue relevance for the comparison groups. A new variable, presumed behavior (the presumed effect of media coverage on others' behavior), was found to be independent of presumed influence and to offer improved prediction of perceivers' behavioral intentions. [source] The Neglect of Power in Recent Framing ResearchJOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION, Issue 2 2004Kevin M. Carragee This article provides a critique of recent developments in research examining media frames and their influence. We contend that a number of trends in framing research have neglected the relationship between media frames and broader issues of political and social power. This neglect is a product of a number of factors, including conceptual problems in the definition of frames, the inattention to frames sponsorship, the failure to examine framing contests within wider political and social contexts, and the reduction of framing to a form of media effects. We conclude that framing research needs to be linked to the political and social questions regarding power central to the media hegemony thesis, and illustrate this focus by exploring how framing research can contribute to an understanding of the interaction between social movements and the news media. [source] Social Influence of an International Celebrity: Responses to the Death of Princess DianaJOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION, Issue 4 2003William J. Brown When Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in 1997, a massive public outpouring of grief occurred. Six years after her death, the public and the tabloids still debate whether the paparazzi were to blame for her fatal car accident. Previous studies of celebrities suggest that psychological involvement with a celebrity will determine to what extent stories of the celebrity and their subsequent social influence will affect the general public. The same process was examined in this study of Princess Diana. To study this phenomenon, a survey administered immediately after her fatal car accident compared people's level of involvement with Princess Diana to their viewing of stories about her funeral and their attitudes toward the press. Results showed that gender and age similarities predicted involvement with Princess Diana. This involvement, in turn, predicted people's media use in response to her death and their attitudes toward the press. This finding reinforces previous studies that have shown involvement is an important variable that influences both media consumption and media effects. The authors consider implications of this research for investigating the growing international influence of celebrities through mass media. [source] Behind the Third-Person Effect: Differentiating Perceptual Processes for Self and OtherJOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION, Issue 4 2001Douglas M. McLeod This study investigated factors related to two types of judgments that make up the third-person perception: media effects on others and effects on self. Specifically, separate regression path models revealed that estimates of effects on others are based on a relatively naive schema for media effects that is similar to the "magic bullet" model of media effects (i.e., more exposure leads to greater effects). On the other hand, assessing effects on self involves a more complex, conditional effects model. The different pattern of results for the self and other models reflect the "fundamental attribution error" from attribution theory. The path models also extend results from the perceptual component to the behavioral component of the third-person effect by linking the explanatory variables to support for censorship. Both models showed that paternalistic attitudes were the strongest predictor of support for censorship. [source] The Internet and Anti-War Activism: A Case Study of Information, Expression, and ActionJOURNAL OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION, Issue 1 2006Seungahn Nah This case study examines how traditional and Internet news use, as well as face-to-face and online political discussion, contributed to political participation during the period leading up to the Iraq War. A Web-based survey of political dissenters (N = 307) conducted at the start of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq provides the data used to examine the relationships among informational media use, online and face-to-face political discussion, and political participation among the respondents, who were recruited through blogs, discussion boards, and listservs opposing the Iraq war. Analyses reveal that among these respondents, Internet news use contributed to both face-to-face and online discussion about the situation in Iraq. Online and face-to-face political discussion mediated certain news media effects on anti-war political participation. The study stresses the complementary role of Web news use and online political discussion relative to traditional modes of political communication in spurring political participation. [source] Examining the Mediators of Agenda Setting: A New Experimental Paradigm Reveals the Role of EmotionsPOLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2007Joanne M. Miller Over two decades ago, Maxwell McCombs (1981) called for serious investigation of the mediators and moderators of media effects. Without rich, theory-based understanding of why and when agenda setting happens, he said, we cannot truly appreciate the phenomenon or its implications. This manuscript reports the results of a new experimental paradigm to examine the cognitive mechanism(s) of agenda setting. Challenging the assumption that accessibility is responsible for shifts in importance judgments, the current research shows that the content of news stories is a primary determinant of agenda setting. Rather than solely relying on what is accessible in memory, people pay attention to the content of news stories,to the extent that the content arouses negative emotions, national importance judgments follow. [source] Learning and Opinion Change, Not Priming: Reconsidering the Priming HypothesisAMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, Issue 4 2009Gabriel S. Lenz According to numerous studies, campaign and news media messages can alter the importance individuals place on an issue when evaluating politicians, an effect called priming. Research on priming revived scholarly interest in campaign and media effects and implied, according to some, that campaigns and the media can manipulate voters. There are, however, alternative explanations for these priming findings, alternatives that previous studies have not fully considered. In this article, I reanalyze four cases of alleged priming, using panel data to test priming effects against these alternatives. Across these four cases, I find little evidence of priming effects. Instead, campaign and media attention to an issue creates the appearance of priming through a two-part process: Exposing individuals to campaign and media messages on an issue (1) informs some of them about the parties' or candidates' positions on that issue. Once informed, (2) these individuals often adopt their preferred party's or candidate's position as their own. [source] Reality monitoring and the mediaAPPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 8 2007Marcia K. Johnson The study of reality monitoring is concerned with the factors and processes that influence the veridicality of memories and knowledge, and the reasonableness of beliefs. In thinking about the mass media and reality monitoring, there are intriguing and challenging issues at multiple levels of analysis. At the individual level, we can ask how the media influence individuals' memories, knowledge and beliefs, and what determines whether individuals are able to identify and mitigate or benefit from the media's effects. At the institutional level, we can ask about the factors that determine the veridicality of the information presented, for example, the institutional procedures and criteria used for assessing and controlling the quality of the products produced. At the inter-institutional level we can consider the role that the media play in monitoring the products and actions of other institutions (e.g. government) and, in turn, how other institutions monitor the media. Interaction across these levels is also important, for example, how does individuals' trust in, or cynicism about, the media's institutional reality monitoring mechanisms affect how individuals process the media and, in turn, how the media engages in intra- and inter-institutional reality monitoring. The media are interesting not only as an important source of individuals' cognitions and emotions, but for the key role the media play in a critical web of social/cultural reality monitoring mechanisms. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||