Showing papers in "Media Psychology in 2016"

How Immersive Is Enough? A Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Immersive Technology on User Presence

Abstract: The concept of presence, or “being there” is a frequently emphasized factor in immersive mediated environments. It is often assumed that greater levels of immersive quality elicit higher levels of presence, in turn enhancing the effectiveness of a mediated experience. To investigate this assumption the current meta-analysis synthesizes decades of empirical research examining the effect of immersive system technology on user experiences of presence. Aggregating 115 effect sizes from 83 studies, it finds that technological immersion has a medium-sized effect on presence. Additionally, results show that increased levels of user-tracking, the use of stereoscopic visuals, and wider fields of view of visual displays are significantly more impactful than improvements to most other immersive system features, including quality of visual and auditory content. These findings are discussed in light of theoretical accounts of the presence construct as well as practical implications for design.

The Use of Media in Media Psychology

Abstract: Media psychologists have theoretical interests in both people and media, yet research investments considerably favor subjects over stimuli. An analysis of 306 studies, taken from the journal Media Psychology over the last 10 years, and from the most cited media experiments in other journals, shows that studies invested in tens of thousands of human subjects but the studies used small samples of media material that were often narrow and unrepresentative. The vast majority of experiments (65%) used single examples of media messages per condition yet they discussed large categories of real world media experiences. Analysis of specific selections showed that media represented in research are less variant, nuanced, and idiosyncratic than media found in the real world. Two categories of solutions are discussed. First, new statistical solutions promote more attention to media repetitions analyzed as random factors. Second, we review the advantages of uncommon research designs that emphasize stimulus investments,...

Development and Validation of a Survey Instrument to Measure Children's Advertising Literacy

Abstract: The aim of this study was to develop and validate a survey measurement instrument for children's advertising literacy. Based on the multidimensional conceptualization of advertising literacy by Rozendaal, Lapierre, Van Reijmersdal, and Buijzen (2011), 39 items were created to measure two dimensions of advertising literacy (i.e., conceptual and attitudinal advertising literacy) and their 9 underlying components (i.e., recognition of advertising, understanding selling intent, recognition of advertising's source, perception of intended audience, understanding persuasive intent, understanding persuasive tactics, understanding advertising's bias, skepticism toward advertising, and disliking of advertising). The survey was administered to 1,026 8- to 12-year-olds in the first wave and 519 in the second wave. Structural equation modeling revealed that the Advertising Literacy Scale for children consists of two separate and unrelated subscales: the Conceptual Advertising Literacy Scale (CALS-c) and the Attitudina...

Effects of Popularity-Based News Recommendations (“Most-Viewed”) on Users' Exposure to Online News

Abstract: This experimental study (N = 107) aims at investigating how the “most-viewed” recommendation features of online news affect users' news story choices, by employing an unobtrusive measurement for news exposure. The major findings clearly support the thesis that the presence of recommendations influences users' selection of news stories. First, the participants' self-reported assessment of the reasons for their story choices indicates that the incorporation of recommendations heightened their awareness of formal salience features. Second, these recommendations decreased the time for website exploration, and therefore increased the time available for reading news articles. Third, when the recommender system was available, approximately 50% of the participants' total story exposures came through the recommendation features. Fourth, those participants who were in the recommendation condition selected a larger number of the most-viewed stories featured in the recommender system than their counterparts in the no...

Development and Validation of an Instrument for Measuring Individual Motives for Playing Digital Games

Abstract: Individual motives for playing digital games have been studied from a variety of theoretical perspectives using different measurement instruments. However, an instrument that roots the social, rule-based narrative essence of digital games in a theory on human behavior acknowledging that not all behavior is consciously motivated has hitherto been lacking. A framework based on social cognitive theory that integrates these dimensions is proposed. After comparing the advantages of this framework to existing approaches, the development of a measurement instrument is discussed. This development concerns the generation and evaluation of an item pool and also testing the instrument for reliability and validity on different samples and different populations. Results suggest psychometric as well as theoretical soundness of the instrument.

A Conditional Process Analysis on the Relationship Between the Use of Social Networking Sites, Attitudes, Peer Norms, and Adolescents' Intentions to Consume Alcohol

Abstract: Visiting social networking sites has become an important part of adolescents' leisure activities. The current cross-sectional survey ( n = 674) of adolescents aged 13–16 years aimed to examine a conditional process model on the relationships between adolescents' use of social networking sites and their descriptive /injunctive peer norms, attitudes, and intentions regarding alcohol use. First, the results support that exposure to alcohol-related content on social networking sites predicts respondents' descriptive and injunctive norms on alcohol use. Adolescents who are more frequently exposed to alcohol-related content believe that a higher number of their friends consume alcohol and that this use is socially acceptable. These descriptive and injunctive norms were positively associated with adolescents' drinking intentions. Second, the results support that the relationship between injunctive norms and intentions is stronger for respondents being more frequently exposed to alcohol-related messages on Facebo...

When Self Is the Source: Effects of Media Customization on Message Processing

Abstract: Customization of media technologies enables users to become active sources in the communication process. But, does this sense of “self-as-source” alter the way users process information received via customized interfaces? A between-subjects experiment (N = 146) was conducted to answer this question. Data indicate that the effect of self-driven customization (high vs. low self-as-source) on persuasive message processing is mediated by perceived identity. Those who experience high self-as-source tend to process messages less systematically, but perceive the message topic as more important and show greater intention to follow the suggestions of messages than those with a low sense of self-as-source, an effect that is mediated by perceived identity. Theoretical implications for persuasive technologies, dual process models, and the agency model of customization are discussed, followed by practical implications for communicators who wish to incorporate new media technologies into their social influence campaigns.

Identity Shift III: Effects of Publicness of Feedback and Relational Closeness in Computer-Mediated Communication

Abstract: Identity shift occurs when an individual's self-perception changes as a result of feedback to her or his self-presentation. This research, the third in a series, further explores the influences of identity shift, specifically exploring the effects of the publicness of feedback to an individual and the relational closeness between the individual and feedback provider on the individual's subsequent self-perceptions of her or his extraversion. An experimental study (N = 56) utilized a 2 (extroverted/introverted) × 2 (private/public feedback) × 2 (feedback from a relationally close/nonclose partner) design. Results of between-groups analysis revealed both main intensification effects of public and relationally close feedback and an interaction effect between the conditions. Findings are discussed with respect to identity shift, the hyperpersonal model, and online self-presentation.

How Co-Viewing Affects Attitudes: The Mediating Roles of Transportation and Identification

Abstract: Communication scholars have long acknowledged that watching television is often done in the company of others. While previous research focused mainly on the impact of co-viewing on children’s behavior and their enjoyment of watching, the current research extends this work to determine the effect of co-viewing on the actual viewing experience of adults, specifically, on transportation and identification. Furthermore, the study examines the role of these processes as mediators leading to changes in attitude. Study 1 demonstrates the impact of the co-viewer’s enthusiasm on transportation and identification. Study 2 demonstrates the impact of the co-viewer’s gender on transportation and identification. These processes, in turn, mediate the effect of co-viewing on attitude changes. The findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical contributions.

Positive or Negative Effects of Technology Enhancement for Brand Placements? Memory of Brand Placements in 2D, 3D, and 4D Movies

Abstract: Brand placements in movies are common throughout the world. Within the last few years, 3D movie technology has experienced substantial growth in both cinemas and home entertainment. Furthermore, advanced cinemas also offer 4D experiences by adding scent, airflow or tactile stimuli to the 3D film. Based on the limited capacity model of information processing and the levels of processing effect theory, we conduct two studies to investigate how delivery modes of a 2D movie clip, compared to a 3D and a 4D (3D + scent) movie clip, influence recall and recognition of brands that are placed in either prominent or subtle ways. With regard to subtle placements, results from both studies demonstrate that the memory of subtle brand placements is negatively affected by the enhancement offered by 3D or 4D, as compared to 2D movies. With regard to prominent placements, results indicate that the memory of a highly prominent brand placement benefits from 3D, but not from 4D technology. This article addresses implications...

Habitual Initiation of Media Use and a Response-Frequency Measure for Its Examination

Abstract: When measuring media habits, most scholars rely on retrospective self-reports about behavioral frequency, context stability, or automaticity of the performance. This article develops a new implicit measurement for media research to complement existing approaches, which focuses on measuring the initiation of general, goal-related habits. In the response-frequency measure of media habit (RFMMH), participants are presented with several media use goals and are asked to choose quickly and without deliberation which media device (television set, radio set, newspaper, computer, mobile device) they would use. The more often a media device is chosen, the stronger the mental script to choose this device should be and the stronger the habit is assumed to be. The results of a validation study confirm that the RFMMH correlates positively with other habit measures. This suggests that the RFMMH may add a valuable instrument to habit research.

What Preschoolers Bring to the Show: The Relation Between Viewer Characteristics and Children’s Learning from Educational Television

Abstract: The capacity model (Fisch, 2000, 2004) is one of the few existing theoretical models developed to explain how children learn from educational television, but it has yet to receive much empirical validation. The model posits that various characteristics of the viewers influence both narrative comprehension and educational content comprehension, two distinct parallel processes. While many studies of media effects and processes control for individual differences, the goal of this study was to investigate several viewer characteristics that are predicted to influence comprehension. Seventy-eight preschool-age children watched a short educational television program and completed assessments of cognitive abilities, interest in the program, prior knowledge related to the program, and comprehension of the program content. Regression analyses revealed general support for Fisch’s predictions that viewer characteristics influence narrative comprehension and educational content comprehension. Results provide an impor...

The Role of Perceived Peer Norms in the Relationship Between Media Violence Exposure and Adolescents' Aggression

Abstract: This study investigates the role of a social context variable, perceived peer norms, in the relationship between media violence exposure and adolescents' aggressive behavior. This was informed by a need to better understand whether, how, and for whom, media violence exposure may affect aggression. Three hypotheses were tested with peer norms as moderator, as mediator, and as both moderator and mediator in the relationship between media violence and aggression. A two-wave longitudinal survey measured media violence exposure, perceived descriptive and injunctive norms, and aggressive behavior among 943 adolescents (aged 10–14, 50.4% girls). Results provided support only for the moderated-mediation model. The indirect effect of media violence on aggression via perceived peer approval of aggression (i.e., injunctive norms) was moderated by perceived prevalence of peer aggression (i.e., descriptive norms). Specifically, media violence indirectly increased aggressive behavior for adolescents who perceived more peer aggression, but decreased aggression for adolescents who perceived less peer aggression. Implications for future research into media violence effects are discussed.

Selective Exposure to Health Information: The Role of Headline Features in the Choice of Health Newsletter Articles

Abstract: This study investigated how content and context features of headlines drive selective exposure when choosing between headlines of a monthly e-mail health newsletter in a naturalistic setting over a period of nine months. Study participants received a monthly e-mail newsletter and could freely open it and click any headline to read the accompanying article. In each e-mail newsletter, nine headlines competed with each other for selection. Textual and visual information of the headlines was content-analyzed, and clickstream data on the headlines were collected automatically. The results showed that headlines invited more frequent audience selections when they provided efficacy-signaling information in an imperative voice, when they used a moderate number of negative emotion words, when they presented negative thumbnail images while mentioning cancer or other diseases, and when they were placed higher in position.

Persuasion as Reinforcement: Strengthening the Pro-Environmental Attitude-Behavior Relationship through Ecotainment Programming

Abstract: This study investigated whether the effects of viewing pro-environmental messages within a narrative context affected intention to perform ecofriendly behaviors through the accessibility of participants’ (N = 332) environmental attitudes. One week after an online pretest, participants viewed one of two television clips that either included or did not include pro-environmental messages. Participants then completed attitude accessibility latency measures and reported behavioral intent to perform several ecofriendly behaviors. Reinforcement of pro-environmental attitudes by the pro-environmental messages occurred through the accessibility of the attitudes, which, in turn, predicted intention to engage in the depicted ecofriendly behaviors. Consistent with a category activation hypothesis, accessible attitudes toward the specific behaviors depicted in the program predicted the accessibility of attitudes toward ecofriendly behaviors that were not depicted or explicitly discussed in the program, and these acces...

Influence of Speech Rate and Information Density on Recognition: The Moderate Dynamic Mechanism

Abstract: This article analyzes whether recognition in the news may be affected by speech rate and information density and addresses what the optimal level would need to be for information on the radio to be encoded and recognized as effectively as possible. The key question is whether the combination of these two factors has a decisive influence on cognitive processing, especially in the distribution of resources allocated and required to encode the message. The findings indicate that Speech Rate does have a decisive influence on recognition of information since it modifies the resources available for encoding the message. The higher the speed, the lower the information density should be and vice versa. The best result to achieve the greatest recognition is between 170 (high density) and 190 (low density) words per minute, confirming that a moderate dynamic mechanism takes place.

The Relation Between Norm Accessibility, Pornography Use, and Parental Mediation Among Emerging Adults

Abstract: Widespread access to and use of pornography has led to concern about the potentially negative effects of exposure to pornography on emerging adults—its largest user group. Past research shows that salient social norms can influence subsequent behavior. This study, therefore, explored the relationship between salient pornography-related norms and pornography use among emerging adults, as well as the relationship between parental mediation of pornography during adolescence and emerging adults’ salient pornography-related norms. Results revealed that emerging adults are more likely to view pornography when they hold a salient belief (norm) that their peers both approve of viewing and regularly view pornography. The study also found that parents’ provision of rules about viewing pornography during adolescence may reduce future pornography use by instilling the salient belief that the parent disapproves of viewing pornography. These findings suggest that the effect of rules in the home about adolescents’ use o...

All Loads Are Not Equal: Distinct Influences of Perceptual Load and Cognitive Load on Peripheral Ad Processing

Abstract: Task load is an important variable in understanding mediated message processing under different levels of demand on audience attention. However, past research has neglected to differentiate between...

Laughing at Risk: Sitcom Laugh Tracks Communicate Norms for Behavior

Abstract: The role that sitcom laugh tracks play in the communication of social norms was investigated. Participants (n = 112) were exposed to a sitcom narrative in which reckless driving behaviors were exhibited, or a control narrative. One half of the participants viewed a clip with laugh track present, and the other half viewed a clip with the laugh track edited out. Results indicate that laugh tracks do communicate information about what kinds of driving behavior is normative in the target driving clip condition. Specifically, the accessibility of risky driving injunctive norms was influenced by the laugh track and scenario manipulation. This effect was moderated by identification with the character who exhibited reckless behavior. Accessibility of risky driving norms then predicted attitudes, descriptive norms, and behavioral intentions regarding risky driving. The implication of the results is that media narratives can communicate norms for behavior through the laugh track in a sitcom.

The Role of Partisan Sources and Audiences' Involvement in Bias Perceptions of Controversial News

Abstract: Based on the hostile media effect (HME), this 2 (audiences' opinion) × 2 (partisan source) × 2 (news valence) factorial experiment (N = 229) investigated the effects of partisan sources and audiences' different types of involvement on bias perceptions of slanted news coverage regarding a controversial issue. The results show that participants rated a news article, regardless of its valence (congruent vs. incongruent), as less biased when it was attributed to a partisan source that was consistent with their own position than when it came from a partisan source that was inconsistent with their position. Moderating effects of value-relevant involvement on the source effects were found. The effects of partisan sources on bias perceptions were only significant among those with moderate or high levels of value-relevant involvement. The implications of the source effects and the role of value-relevant involvement as a moderator of such effects were discussed.

Weight Stigmatization Moderates the Effects of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage-Related PSAs Among U.S. Parents

Abstract: Research indicates that media campaigns targeting weight-related behaviors can make overweight individuals feel stigmatized and may create backlash effects in weight-related health behavior. Using weight-based identity threat theory as a guiding framework, this study investigates the role of prior weight stigmatization in adults’ reactions to public service advertisements (PSAs) encouraging sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) reduction. In an online survey experiment among 807 U.S. parents, participants were randomly assigned to view anti-SSB PSAs containing one of three persuasive appeals (fear, humor, or nurturance). Emotional responses, evaluation of argument strength, and intention to reduce SSB consumption were measured following PSA exposure. Non-stigmatized parents felt less empowerment and hope and perceived weaker arguments if they viewed humorous PSAs instead of fear-based PSAs. Argument strength and empowerment or hopeful emotions predicted increased intention to reduce SSB consumption, regardless o...

Understanding the Relationship Between Mothers’ Attitudes Toward Television and Children’s Television Exposure: A Longitudinal Study of Reciprocal Patterns and the Moderating Role of Maternal Stress

Abstract: This two-wave panel study among mothers (N = 508) of children between ages six months and six years investigated a) the possibility of a reciprocal relationship between mothers’ attitudes toward television and children’s television viewing, and b) the conditional probability of this reciprocal relationship. Two-wave multigroup cross-lagged analyses provided evidence for reciprocal patterns that depend on the level of maternal stress. The findings indicated that mothers’ attitudes toward television predicted children’s subsequent television viewing among non-stressed mothers, but not among stressed mothers. Children’s television viewing predicted mothers’ subsequent negative attitudes toward television among stressed mothers, but not among non-stressed mothers. Implications for the role of parents’ attitudes regarding children’s television viewing are discussed.

Behavioral Activation and Inhibition as Moderators of the Relationship Between Music Video-Viewing and Joyriding Attitudes

Abstract: Recently, a growing number of studies have shown a relationship between exposure to risk-glorifying media and risky driving perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors The present study contributes to this line of research by examining emerging adults' behavioral approach system (BAS) and behavioral inhibition system (BIS) as moderators of the relationship between music video-viewing and joyriding attitudes A cross-sectional survey among a sample of 539 emerging adults (ages 18–24) was conducted to examine the relationships between these constructs Advanced moderation analyses indicated that, after controlling for sensation-seeking, physical aggression, gender, BIS, and BAS, the relationship between music video-viewing and joyriding attitudes only existed for respondents with a low BIS profile Thus, low sensitivity to punishment functioned as a condition for the relationship between music video-viewing and joyriding attitudes Furthermore, the results provided initial evidence for the hypothesis that the re

Empathizing and Systemizing (Un)justified Mediated Violence: Psychophysiological Indicators of Emotional Response

Abstract: This article examines individual variability in empathizing and systemizing abilities (Baron-Cohen, 2003, 2009) on emotional responses to mediated violence. It is predicted that these abilities influence feelings of distress and enjoyment while processing violent media and that they interact with the motives for aggressive behavior—whether the violence was justified or not. Psychophysiological measures of negative and positive valence activation and arousal were recorded for 90 participants while they were exposed to fourteen full-motion film clips that contained violence that was either justified or not by the narrative. Results show unjustified content led to greater physiological arousal and greater negative valence activation overall and to a significantly greater extent in highly empathetic viewers. Advantages of employing the empathizing—systemizing theory to mediated violence research are discussed.

So Close and Yet So Far: Construal Level Moderates Cultivation Effects

Abstract: The cultivation effect is well established: The more media we consume, the more our worldviews come to reflect the mediated world Several advancements have been made in the past decade exploring the processes underlying the effect Importantly, the judgments are often heuristically based (Shrum, 2001, 2009), with relevance of the media information an important moderator of this process Mental construal level, in which people are considered to be thinking on a relatively concrete (psychologically close, specific) level or a relatively abstract (psychologically distant, general) level, may influence these cognitive processes The present studies find that mental construal level (concrete or abstract) moderates the classic cultivation effect for first-order judgments Specifically, concrete construal encourages the cultivation effect with a stronger relationship between media consumption and violence prevalence estimates, but abstract construal reduces the effect Comparison to a control condition in Exper

Emotional Arousal Shifts the Effect of Ad Placement on Ad Recognition

Abstract: This study explored whether the arousal and relevance of media content placed in between advertisements moderated the effect of ad placement on ad recognition. Two experiments (N1 = 60, N2 = 62) were conducted in which participants viewed static ads that appeared before and after pictures that systematically varied in arousal. Results demonstrated that ads appearing before media content were recognized better than were ads appearing after media content when emotional arousal of media content was high, but that ads appearing after media content were recognized better than were ads appearing before media content when emotional arousal was low. Greater encoding of media content enhanced the memory of ads appearing before media content but not ads appearing after media content. Additionally, content relevance lowered ad recognition, especially during shallower encoding (i.e., encoding without the purpose of remembering). This study contributes to research on ad placement by proposing emotional arousal as a po...