Volume 40, Issue 2

This study investigated the extent to which values play a role in affecting citizens’ political attitudes when exposed to different media news frames and political speech sources. To test this, we designed a survey experiment which used news coverage of a political speech concerning the cultural practices of immigrants ( N = 337). We manipulated the manner of how the news was framed (episodic vs. thematic) and the source of the speech (domestic vs. foreign politician). Our main finding shows that citizens who scored high on ‘universalism’ were more affected by a foreign source in an episodic news frame, compared to those scoring low on ‘universalism’ in a thematic news frame. On the other hand, in a thematic news frame, the difference between citizens scoring high and low on ‘universalism’ was found for the domestic source. This suggests that values are a fundamental moderator of media effects in determining citizens’ political attitudes.

This study investigates the impact of the level of fear evoked by an advertisement (for deodorant) framing a threatening social situation. Where the effectiveness of threat appeals has been investigated extensively in health communication, this study focuses on the impact of social threat appeals in a commercial setting. The study investigates the moderating impact of self-esteem on the interaction effect between the level of fear (evoked by a social threat ad) and perceived level of self-efficacy on brand attitude and purchase intention. Results show that for high self-esteem individuals fear evoked by a social threat is effective only when perceived self-efficacy is increased (in line with the EPPM). However, for low self-esteem individuals, high versus low perceived self-efficacy does not influence brand attitude and purchase intention in case of a social threat appeal, but perceived self-efficacy does increase the effectiveness of appeals in which a positive social situation is shown.

The present study investigates whether or not reading about corrupt politicians influences peoples’ subsequent judgments toward political actors’ supposed corruptness. We expected this media stereotype priming effect to be dependent on pre-existing implicit stereotypes. It was hypothesized that only those participants would show a media priming effect who already have a strong automatic association between ‘politicians’ and ‘corrupt’ in memory prior to reading a further facilitative article (“politicians are corrupt”). Conversely, people who do not have a comparable biased cognitive association should not. Data from an experiment support this hypothesis: We found pre-existing implicit stereotypes to moderate the media priming effect on explicit stereotypes, but only when the newspaper article covered the “corrupt politician” media stereotype with sufficient salience. Furthermore, the experiment showed that antagonistic media primes (“politicians are honest”) did not produce a media priming effect at all. Antagonistic articles were simply not able to prime corruption-related memory traces.

Numerous studies have linked the consumption of violent audiovisual content to the increase of aggressive cognitions and behaviors. This research aims to clarify whether the possible harmful consequences of violent videogames might vary depending on an individual variable such as trait aggressiveness. A correlational study was carried out among 6,130 teenagers (average age of 13.8 years) from two European countries, in which it became evident, by means of multiple regression analyses, that there was a positive correlation between the use of violent videogames and aggressive behavioral intentions. More relevantly, these correlations were greater amongst those subjects with higher scores on the Aggression Scale. Finally, when analyzing the subjective experiences of users of violent videogames, the more aggressive individuals manifested a greater desire to imitate the characters of the interactive content, admitting that they ended up more agitated even when their initial objective was to relieve tension or relax. Practical and theoretical implications (e.g., Catharsis theory) of those results are discussed.

As time-shifting technologies and digital convergence are facilitating and encouraging increasingly individualized and personalized television viewing practices, the social role and function of traditional linear television might be changing as well. Through empirical audience research, using TV diaries and interviews, this article investigates the social dimensions of engaged viewers’ reception of TV drama and explores how audiences themselves experience contemporary television as a social medium. The qualitative analysis reveals three social dimensions in viewers’ engagement with TV drama and indicates that television is generally still perceived as a social medium. Time-shifting technologies do not only fracture audiences, they also create new opportunities for social connections with peer viewers.

This article presents the findings of an audience research conducted with 86 young Spanish people aged 15 to 29 years. The investigation examines the modes of reception of television fiction, and the impact of the shows on the viewers. Friends’ influence on the choice of program, and the tendency to use social networks to comment on the shows and to talk about themselves, underline the crucial role played by TV fiction and new technologies in socialization processes. While most participants criticized the propensity of television fiction to build extreme stereotypes, they also showed a clear predilection for Spanish programs, and admitted that their characters often offer inspiration to face everyday problems.