Linking Adolescents’ Exposure to and Identification With Reality TV to Materialism, Narcissism, and Entitlement

According to previous research, there is a cross-sectional link between adolescents’ reality TV viewing on the one hand, and their level of materialism, narcissism, and entitlement on the other hand. The current study was set out to determine whether there is a longitudinal link, and whether the effect of reality TV viewing could potentially be attributed to adolescents’ identification with reality TV cast members. A twowave panel study was conducted among 392 adolescents. Importantly, the cross-sectional patterns from previous research could be replicated, but they did not stand the test of time: Reality TV viewing in Wave 1 was longitudinally related with materialism and identification, but not with narcissism and entitlement in Wave 2. Notably, the longitudinal relation between reality TV viewing on adolescents’ materialism disappeared once adolescents’ identification was controlled for. This demonstrates the importance of viewer experiences in assessing media effects. The difference in findings between materialism and entitlement and narcissism were explained by theorizing that reality TV mainly portrays negative consequences of entitled and narcissistic behavior, causing viewers to refrain from copying this behavior. Future research could test this hypothesis and investigate how consequences of certain behaviors are portrayed in reality TV and how these consequences are perceived by reality TV viewers.</p

Affective Priming in Political Campaigns: How Campaign-Induced Emotions Prime Political Opinions

Campaign priming is generally assumed to function through the activation of memory content. By focusing on specific issues or issue aspects, campaigns render corresponding cognitive concepts more accessible and hence influence which concepts are likely to be used in subsequent evaluation processes. Thus, priming is mainly understood as a cognitive process. In the present study we investigate the impact of campaign-induced emotions on opinion formation. We argue that emotions may activate cognitive content which may in turn influence political judgments. Our analyses support the hypothesis that political campaigns may influence public opinion not only through cognitive priming but also through affective primin

The New Frontier in Communication Research: Why We Should Study Social Robots

Social robots—robots that are made for interaction with humans—are becoming increasingly popular. In contrast to other disciplines, however, communication research has been slow in studying them. In our view, there are at least three theoretical reasons for communication researchers to deal with social robots. First, social robots challenge our notions of medium and media. Second, social robots challenge our understanding of the communication partner. Finally, social robots challenge our notions of the boundaries of communication. We therefore believe that social robots should play a more central role in communication research than it is currently the case

Validating the Material Values Scale for Children (MVS-c) for Use in Early Childhood

This study aims to validate the Material Values Scale for children (MVS-c) by Opree et al. (Personality and Individual Differences, 51(8), 963-968, 2011) among children in early childhood. The MVS-c was originally developed to assess materialism among children between the ages of eight to eleven, and consists of three subscales measuring material centrality, material happiness, and material success. We administered the MVS-c to a sample of 120 elementary school children between the ages of six to eight. The MVS-c was presented orally in a structured interview and with the aid of visual response options. We examined the factorial structure, reliability, and construct validity of the full-length 18-item scale as well as the shorter 6- and 3-item versions. Analyses using structural equation modeling showed that its factorial structure (i.e., with material centrality, material happiness and material success as first-order factors and overall material values as a second order factor) holds for younger children. Though the 3-item MVS-c cannot be used among six- to eight-year-olds, the 18-item MVS-c and the shorter 6-item version proved to be both reliable and valid in this age group. Hence, the MVS-c can be used to assess young children’s materialism, to examine differences in materialism across developmental phases, and to study developments in children’s materialism over time

Validating the Short Material Values Scale for Children for Use Across the Lifespan

Background: Materialism is a topic of interest for many scholars. Among children it is often measured with the Material Values Scale for children (MVS-c) (Opree et al. in Personal Individ Differ 51(8):963–968, 2011). Although the MVS-c was originally validated for use among 8- to 12-year-olds, its 6-item version is increasingly implemented among older populations (i.e., adolescents and emerging adults). Objective: The aim of the current study is to verify whether the 6-item MVS-c can be employed among older populations and used for the analysis of materialism across the lifespan. Method: The 6-item MVS-c is administered to children in middle childhood (ages 8–12; n = 2995), adolescents (ages 15–17; n = 267), emerging adults (ages 18–21; n = 267), and adult parents (ages 25 +; n = 2995). Its factorial structure, reliability, and validity are assessed and compared. Particular attention is paid to the scale’s metric and scalar invariance. Results: The results suggest that the 6-

Media-induced affects and opinion formation: How related and unrelated affects influence political opinions

Reason and emotion are often seen as two distinct mental faculties, with optimal decision-making assumed to require the protection of cognitive reasoning processes from the intrusion of irrational emotions. Accordingly, the media are expected to cover political issues without appealing to the emotions of the citizen, in order to support rational opinion formation. However, recent research indicates that the media often elicit affective responses in the recipients. This article focuses on the question of how such affective responses influence recipients’ political opinions. The effects of moods, arousal, and emotions in judgment processes are reviewed. Importantly, the article addresses the question as to whether affects, which are relevant for a judgment, have the same impact as affects, which are not relevant for a judgment

Effects of Message Repetition and Negativity on Credibility Judgments and Political Attitudes

Research on the truth effect has demonstrated that statements are rated as more credible when they are repeatedly presented. However, current research indicates that there are limits to the truth effect and that too many repetitions can decrease message credibility. This study investigates whether message negativity contributes to this boomerang effect and whether the interaction of credibility and negativity influences political attitudes. These assumptions were tested in an online experiment in which the frequency of exposure to political campaign posters and message negativity were manipulated. The results show that negativity on political campaign posters functions as a crucial moderator, especially in combination with high-frequency exposure. Repeatedly presented negative posters resulted in a more negative attitude toward the presented political issue, which was mediated by a decrease in credibility judgments