Ambivalent Prejudice in News Media: Does Social Hierarchy Threat Change How We View Reporters?

Despite research demonstrating the importance of news media, there remains a gap in the literature on how the reporter influences the perception of the information. This current experiment aims to fill that gap by evaluating how reporter race and social hierarchy threat alters perceptions of both the reporter and the information. White participants read an article with content that indicated that the current racial hierarchy is either under threat or likely to continue; the article was written by either a Black or White reporter. Participants then completed measures of perceptions of warmth and competence of the reporter, acceptance levels towards the information provided in the article, and social dominance orientation. The primary hypothesis was that social dominance orientation would modify the perception of Black and White reporters providing information that either threatened or confirmed the existing racial hierarchy. A majority of participants did not pass the manipulation and attention check questions that were preregistered with the Open Science Framework (OSF). The results did not support any of the hypotheses, which was most likely due to the very small sample size of participants who passed the manipulation and attention checks. The sample size must be increased before coming to any conclusions about the effects of racial hierarchy information and reporter race on perceptions of the reporter and news content. This research has implications for increasing participant attention to subtle manipulations and the reporting of racial inequality and diversity in the newsroom

A MULTIPLE GOALS THEORETICAL APPROACH TO SEXTING: MESSAGE CONTENT AND SCALE DEVELOPMENT

Recently, sexting has gained popularity in both popular press and academic publications. Despite the prevalence of this communicative behavior, there is limited research that focuses on a theoretical explanation as well as how it can potentially enhance relationships. The purpose of this dissertation was threefold: to utilize the multiple goals theoretical perspective to examine sender goals when sexting, to assess if multiple goals within sexting was associated with relational behaviors and outcomes, and to develop a reliable and valid scale for sexting goals. A two-phase study was implemented. In phase 1, participants provided actual sexting messages they had recently sent to another person, and also provided their goal when they sent that particular message. Participants also answered scales related to relationship, communication, and sexual satisfaction, affectionate communication, and relational maintenance behaviors. Analytic coding was utilized for the open-ended responses regarding message content and goals, and the researcher also used the responses to develop participant- and theoretically-driven scales. Nine themes were identified for the type of goal participants had when sending sext messages. For phase 2, the proposed scale for the multiple goals of sexting was added to the preexisting survey. The researcher coded 204 sexting messages provided by participants as instrumental, relational, or identity goals and conducted multiple regressions to assess how the type of goal influenced each of the five relational outcomes. Multiple regressions revealed no significant associations among multiple goals and outcomes. Finally, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the proposed scale for the multiple goals of sexting. The EFA revealed a four-factor solution and the CFA demonstrated factorial validity for the scale. Post hoc analysis revealed significant associations for the goals from the scale and the relational outcomes. The results of this dissertation demonstrate that multiple goals are utilized in the context of sexting, and that specific goals are important for relational outcomes

Recognising motivation in others: The effectiveness of using social proof to change driving behaviour

Purpose: This paper extends the literature on social proof by looking at the effectiveness of social proof on behaviour change for environmental benefit.Design/methodology/approach: The research is based on real case studies currently intended to encourage behaviour change among residents of a large UK city. An initial study assesses the motivation displayed within each case study. A second study then examines whether recipients recognise their own motivation in each case study.Findings: Results indicate that participants did not recognise their own motivation in the case studies that were expected to be most similar to them, suggesting that recipients donot recognise ‘social proof’ according to motivation. However, a relationship is observed between recipients’ gender and the gender of the case studies.Originality: The research contributes a new direction in this field, using Self Determination Theory to match social proof examples to recipients.Research limitations/implications: Demographics appear to be a better basis for social proof than motivation. We recommend several future avenues for further exploration, including using case studies that represent a wider range of characteristics (such asdemographics). The current range of stimulus materials is limited, as these are real materials currently being used in a large UK city.Practical implications: Our results indicate that portraying motivation is not a good basis for using the social proof principle. Instead, social marketers ought to focus on representing similarity to the intended audience based on other characteristics such as gender

Categorizing Young Facebook Users Based On Their Differential Preference of Social Media Heuristics: A Q-Methodology Approach

Background: Social media have become an integral part of our modern society by providing platforms for users to create and exchange news, ideas, and information. The increasing use of social media has raised concerns about the reliability of the shared information, particularly information that is generated from anonymous users. Though prior studies have confirmed the important roles of heuristics and cues in the users’ evaluation of trustworthy information, there has been no research–to our knowledge–that categorized Facebook users based on their approaches to evaluating information credibility. Method: We employed Q-methodology to extract insights from 55 young Vietnamese users and to categorize them into different groups based on the distinct sets of heuristics that they used to evaluate the trustworthiness of online information on Facebook. Results: We identified four distinct types of young Facebook user groups that emerged based on their evaluation of online information trustworthiness. When evaluating online information trustworthiness on Facebook, these user groups assigned priorities differently to the characteristics of the online content, its original source, and the sharers or aggregators. We named these groups: (1) the balanced analyst, (2) the critical analyst, (3) the source analyst, and (4) the social network analyst. Conclusion: The findings offer insights that contribute to information processing literature. Moreover, marketing practitioners who aim to disseminate information effectively on social networks should take these user groups’ perspectives into consideration

Social Media And Credibility Indicator: The Effects Of Bandwagon And Identity Cues Within Online Health And Risk Contexts

Three studies were conducted to investigate how social media affordances influence individuals’ source credibility perceptions in risk situations. The MAIN model (Sundar, 2008), warranting theory (Walther & Parks, 2002), and signaling theory (Donath, 1999) served as the theoretical framework to examine the effects of bandwagon cues and identity cues embedded in retweets and users’ profile pages for health and risk online information processing. Study One examines whether bandwagon heuristics triggered by retweets would influence individuals’ source credibility judgments. Study Two investigates how bandwagon heuristics interact with different identity heuristics in credibility heuristics on an individual level. Study Three explores bandwagon heuristics at the organizational level. Three post-test only experiments with self-report online surveys were conducted to investigate the hypothesis and research questions. Results indicate that different online heuristic cues impact the judgments of competence, goodwill, and trustworthiness at different levels. Authority strongly influenced source credibility perceptions. A reverse-bandwagon effect was observed in influencing source credibility judgments. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed

Health communication science digest searchable archive

The Health Communication Science Digest (HCSD) Archive includes all Health Communication Science Digest issues in a searchable file.Health communication science digest is designed to enhance awareness of emerging health communication and marketing scientific knowledge by providing you easy access to recently published articles and reports with particular relevance for the public health communication community."Publication date from document properties.hcsd-archive.pdf2017809

Health communication science digest searchable archive

To enhance awareness of emerging health communication and marketing scientific knowledge, the Science Team in the Office of the Associate Director for Communication at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention frequently undertakes an extensive scan of the expert literature. Recent publications with particular relevance for the public health communication community are detailed here. Abstracts and PDF copies of most articles are available through the DOI hyperlink included with each citation. In some cases, however, the DOI hyperlink will not work or the publisher charges for the article. The help of your local library staff may be required in such circumstances to secure access to some publications.The Health Communication Science Digest (HCSD) Archive includes all Health Communication Science Digest issues in a searchable file.You can search HCSD issues based on author names, keywords appearing in article titles, and/or journals. Information about a specific issue, such as month published or issue number, can also be searched.Navigate to individual HCSD issues using the page icons at the bottom of the screen. Alternatively, you can navigate to an individual HCSD issue using the arrows (left and right) on the screen edge.Publication date from document properties.hcsd-earchive.pdf201

Health communication science digest searchable archive

The Health Communication Science Digest (HCSD) Archive includes all Health Communication Science Digest issues in a searchable file.You can search HCSD issues based on author names, keywords appearing in article titles, and/or journals. Information about a specific issue, such as month published or issue number, can also be searched.Navigate to individual HCSD issues using the page icons at the bottom of the screen. Alternatively, you can navigate to an individual HCSD issue using the arrows (left and right) on the screen edge.Double-clicking the issue image in the center of the screen enlarges the issue. Double-clicking again opens the individual issue PDF file.Publication date from document properties.hcsd-earchive.pdf2019672