The Influence of News Media on Stereotypic Attitudes Toward Immigrants in a Political Campaign

This study investigates media effects on stereotypic attitudes toward immigrants in a political campaign that dealt with the naturalization of immigrants. By combining a content analysis of the campaign coverage with a 2‐wave panel survey, the study found that negative news portrayals of immigrants increased stereotypic attitudes in the public in the course of the campaign. Additionally, the frequent exposure to positive news portrayals of immigrants reduced the activation of negative outgroup attitudes. However, these findings are contingent on people's issue‐specific knowledge. Only people with low to moderate knowledge were influenced by negative and positive news stories about immigrants in the campaign. Well‐informed people were resistant to the effects of positive and news portrayals of immigrants.     

Emotions,Partisanship, and Misperceptions: How Anger and Anxiety Moderate the Effect of Partisan Bias on Susceptibility to Political Misinformation

Citizens are frequently misinformed about political issues and candidates but the circumstances under which inaccurate beliefs emerge are not fully understood. This experimental study demonstrates that the independent experience of two emotions, anger and anxiety, in part determines whether citizens consider misinformation in a partisan or open‐minded fashion. Anger encourages partisan, motivated evaluation of uncorrected misinformation that results in beliefs consistent with the supported political party, while anxiety at times promotes initial beliefs based less on partisanship and more on the information environment. However, exposure to corrections improves belief accuracy, regardless of emotion or partisanship. The results indicate that the unique experience of anger and anxiety can affect the accuracy of political beliefs by strengthening or attenuating the influence of partisanship.     

Socioeconomic Disparities in Fatalistic Beliefs About Cancer Prevention and the Internet

Given the importance of public information environment in cancer control, it is theoretically and practically important to explore how people's media use to acquire health information influences their beliefs about cancer prevention. In the current research, we focus on the role of the Internet in shaping fatalistic beliefs about cancer prevention (cancer fatalism). To be more specific, we examine the effect of Internet use for health information on changes in cancer fatalism using a 2‐wave nationally representative survey. We then investigate whether the effect of Internet use on cancer fatalism is moderated by education and health knowledge. Health‐related Internet use reduced cancer fatalism only among those with average and lower than the average levels of education and health knowledge.     

Understanding publics’ post-crisis social media engagement behaviors: An examination of antecedents and mediators

This study examines the psychological mechanisms underlying the process that enables publics’ individual differences (e.g., the levels of uncertainty avoidance and social media usage) to give rise to varying post-crisis social media engagement intentions (e.g., information seeking, support seeking, and negative word-of-mouth). The study confirms that this process is serially mediated by perceived threat severity, perceived susceptibility, and negative emotions. These psychological mediators, however, function differently between uncertainty avoidance and social media usage. For uncertainty avoidance, a high arousal negative emotion (e.g., anger, fear) is a more essential step to influence engagement intentions than a low arousal emotion (e.g., shame, guilt). For social media usage, however, the type of aroused negative emotions does not matter. Rather, the relationship social media usage has with information seeking is different from that with support seeking and negative word-of-mouth intentions. Social media usage induces information seeking intentions only through publics’ cognitive appraisals of the situation without the activation of negative emotions, while it induces supporting seeking and negative word-of-mouth intentions through both cognitive appraisals and negative emotion arousals.     

Poles Apart: The Processing and Consequences of Mixed Media Stereotypes of Older Workers

This study uses the Stereotype Content Model to examine how mixed‐media stereotypes about older workers affect the implicit activation and application of competence and warmth stereotypes among employees. By means of a 2 × 2 experiment, we show that a newspaper article portraying older workers in a stereotypical manner (i.e., high rather than low in warmth, low rather than high in competence) inhibits and evokes negative employability perceptions, resulting in a net negative effect on intentions to hire an older worker. Findings indicate that mixed‐media portrayals have stronger effects on implicit stereotype activation compared to stereotype application. We propose a tailored media‐based stereotype reduction strategy, whereby the negative component of older workers' stereotypes is replaced by stereotype‐disconfirming information.     

Media,Instability, and Democracy: Examining the Granger‐Causal Relationships of 122 Countries From 1946 to 2003

Using cross‐national time‐series data in sequences of Granger causality tests, this study analyzed the democratic effects of media technologies with a sample of 122 countries. This process revealed that communication technologies are vital, but not exclusive or universal prerequisites of democratic growth. As expected by media system dependency (MSD) theory, media diffusion was shown to have Granger‐caused democracy only in countries where media served more information functions or where sociopolitical instability levels were higher. Results further indicated that media diffusion is central to the development of sociopolitical instability, which suggests certain direct and indirect macrolevel democratic effects of mass media diffusion. The conditions of MSD theory observed here also demonstrated an integrative relationship with the economic development thesis.     

The Mutual Reinforcement of Media Selectivity and Effects: Testing the Reinforcing Spirals Framework in the Context of Global Warming

This study tests a model of reinforcing spirals in the context of global warming, using a 2‐wave, within‐subjects panel survey with a representative sample of Americans. Results show that, within waves, conservative media use is negatively related to global warming belief certainty and support for mitigation policies, while nonconservative media use is positively associated with belief certainty and policy support. In addition, the results show that consuming conservative or nonconservative media at Wave 1 makes people more likely to consume those same media at Wave 2, partly as an indirect result of the media's effects on global warming belief certainty and policy preferences. Wave 2 media use, in turn, further strengthens audiences' global warming belief certainty and policy preferences.     

I Saw You in the News: Mediated and Direct Intergroup Contact Improve Outgroup Attitudes

This study extends the boundary conditions of mediated contact theory by (a) differentiating between mediated contact quantity and quality, (b) examining whether mediated contact exerts effects above and beyond direct contact, and (c) offering causal and generalizable evidence on the effects of exposure to numerous individual outgroup members in news media. We match individual‐level data from a representative panel survey with data on the amount of coverage about members from two outgroups and with the results from validated sentiment analysis. Mediated contact, and especially its quantity, improved outgroup attitudes independently of direct contact. These findings emerged for both outgroups and across two outcome measures.     

Social media use,political affect,and participation among university students in urban China

Although the role of affects and emotions in political participation has attracted much scholarly attention, few studies have examined whether and how media and communications can be the sources of political affects. This study argues that social media are not only information channels; they can also be effective in communicating feelings and emotions. Social media use may contribute to political affects, which in turn impinge on civic and political participation. In addition, political affects may moderate the effects of social media use on political participation. Based on a survey of university students in Guangzhou, China (N = 897), this study finds that, under China’s networked authoritarianism, political communication via social media is related to positive affects toward the government and society, while connection with activists via social media is related to negative affect. Positive and negative affects have different impact on different types of participation. Negative affects strengthen the connection between social media use and participation. The roles of three discrete negative emotions – anger, anxiety and fear – are also explored.     

Multi‐criteria Evaluation of Mobile Network Sharing Policies in Korea

Mobile operators in saturated markets increasingly favor mobile network sharing (MNS) over facility‐based competition. Previous research examining MNS primarily focused on its positive effects, while the negative effects were largely overlooked. This study proposes a decision‐making model using an analytic hierarchy process technique to evaluate decision‐making criteria among various types of MNS policies. The decision‐making model was applied to Wireless Broadband services in Korea to determine the relative importance of both positive and negative evaluation criteria and preference among multiple types of MNS policies. Positive evaluation criteria (that is, efficiency) were far greater in importance than negative evaluation criteria (that is, competition harm). The preference for adopting MNS among five alternative approaches was also revealed. The study findings offer immediate policy insights in Korea and provide a decision‐making framework for policy makers in other countries to utilize.     

A theoretical model of cyberchondria development: Antecedents and intermediate processes

Cyberchondria describes excessive online health searches associated with increased emotional distress. While previous research has examined various antecedents of cyberchondria, how regular online health information seeking (OHIS) turns into cyberchondria has received minimal theoretical attention. This study proposes a theoretical model that illuminates the processes of cyberchondria development among individuals who are anxious about their health. Results from an online survey of 426 Chinese Internet users lend support to the proposed theoretical model, which posits perceived health threat of common symptoms as a trigger of health anxiety that motivates OHIS through the perception of information insufficiency. In this process, positive source beliefs strengthen the effect of information insufficiency on OHIS. This study further identifies negative metacognitive beliefs as a boundary condition for how regular OHIS results in cyberchondria. By conceptualizing the processes of cyberchondria development, this integrative model provides guidance for future theory development and testing in this new research area.     

Exposure to Health (Mis)Information: Lagged Effects on Young Adults' Health Behaviors and Potential Pathways

Consumers frequently encounter competing health information comprised of accurate and erroneous messages about different diseases. This longitudinal study examined the lagged associations between young adults' exposure to health (mis)information about 4 cancer‐related risk factors (indoor tanning, e‐cigarette use, reusing plastic bottles, and artificial sweeteners), beliefs, intentions, and behaviors as informed by theories of persuasion and behavior change. We found significant lagged associations between health (mis)information exposure and beliefs for three topics; beliefs predicted subsequent intentions for 2 topics; and intentions predicted subsequent behaviors for 4 topics. The hypothesized pathway of effects was supported for 2 topics. These findings provide insights for developing theory in the area of (mis)information effects and for designing interventions that mitigate the adverse consequences of misinformation.     

It doesn’t take a village to fall for misinformation: Social media use,discussion heterogeneity preference,worry of the virus,faith in scientists,and COVID-19-related misinformation beliefs

With the circulation of misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization has raised concerns about an “infodemic,” which exacerbates people’s misperceptions and deters preventive measures. Against this backdrop, this study examined the conditional indirect effect of social media use and discussion heterogeneity preference on COVID-19-related misinformation beliefs in the United States, using a national survey. Findings suggested that social media use was positively associated with misinformation beliefs, while discussion heterogeneity preference was negatively associated with misinformation beliefs. Furthermore, worry of COVID-19 was found to be a significant mediator as both associations became more significant when mediated through worry. In addition, faith in scientists served as a moderator that mitigated the indirect effect of discussion heterogeneity preference on misinformation beliefs. That is, among those who had stronger faiths in scientists, the indirect effect of discussion heterogeneity preference on misinformation belief became more negative. The findings revealed communication and psychological factors associated with COVID-19-related misinformation beliefs and provided insights into coping strategies during the pandemic.     

Beyond Cognitive Framing Processes: Anger Mediates the Effects of Responsibility Framing on the Preference for Punitive Measures

A new stream of research indicates that framing effects are based on emotional as well as cognitive processes. However, it is not entirely clear whether emotions mediate framing effects and what the moderators of emotional mediation processes are. To address these questions, we conducted an experiment in which the framing of responsibility for a social problem was manipulated (ambivalent vs. high‐responsibility frame). We find that the high‐responsibility frame increased the preference for punitive measures by increasing responsibility beliefs and eliciting anger. Furthermore, we find that trait anger moderates the framing effect on anger and that responsibility beliefs are positively associated with anger intensity. The significance of these findings for framing research and suggestions for future studies are discussed.     

Fewer people,more flames: How pre-existing beliefs and volume of negative comments impact online news readers’ verbal aggression

In recent years, scholars have documented an increase in flaming behavior, which refers to a strong and hostile expression of emotions and feelings online. In order to identify the mechanism and specific circumstances of flaming, this study employed emotional contagion as the main theoretical framework and conducted a 2 (argument presented in a news article: support gun control vs. against gun control) × 2 (volume of negative comments: small vs. large) × 2 (news readers’ pre-existing beliefs: support gun control vs. against gun control) between-subjects experiment. Participants were asked to read an online news article about a gun-related topic as well as negative reader comments before they wrote a comment of their own. The experimental results showed that participants were more likely to use swear words in their comments when their viewpoint was diametrically opposed to the argument presented in the news article and when the article was accompanied by a low volume of negative comments. This interaction effect was mediated by negative emotions that participants experienced when reading the article and its associated comments. These findings have theoretical implications for future research pertaining to the identification of online circumstances and causes that could help mitigate the occurrence of flaming.     

Partisan Stereotypes and Policy Attitudes

Drawing from the literature on expectancy violations (A. H. Eagly, W. Wood, & S. Chaiken, 1978) and recent work on stereotypes (J. T. Crawford, L. Jussim, S. Madon, T. R. Cain, & S. T. Stevens, 2011), we predict that party labels influence attitudes when they provide unexpected information. We predict that party labels will increase support for the relevant policy when attached to unexpected policies and will have no effect when attached to policies already associated with the party. Party labels operate as hypothesized by prior work, increasing support among identifiers of the party endorsing the policy and decreasing support among members of the opposite party, when there are no expectations about the party's position on the policy. In a series of 3 experiments, we find empirical support for each these predictions.     

“How Negative Becomes Less Negative”: Understanding the Effects of Comment Valence and Response Sidedness in Social Media

This study explores the influence of the public's negative comments regarding a corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaign in social media and how to best respond to them. It examined the interaction effects of comment valence and the company's response sidedness on the public's attitudes as mediated by the perceived negativity and perceived altruism. Results revealed that 2‐sided CSR responses are more effective than 1‐sided responses in enhancing altruistic motives for CSR, reducing perceived negativity in the public's comments, and eliciting favorable attitudes, especially when comments were negative. The effects of message sidedness disappeared when the public's comments were positive. Results also showed that perceived altruism and negativity mediate the effects of message strategies on the public's attitudes toward the company.     

Social Media,Political Expression,and Political Participation: Panel Analysis of Lagged and Concurrent Relationships

This article relies on U.S. 2‐wave panel data to examine the role of social media as a sphere for political expression and its effects on political participation. Informational uses of social media are expected to explain political expression on social media and to promote political participation. This study clarifies the effect of using social media for social interaction in fostering political expression and participation processes. Results indicate that social media news use has direct effects on offline political participation and indirect effects on offline and online political participation mediated via political expression. Furthermore, social media use for social interaction does not have direct influence in people's political engagement, but rather an indirect effect by means of citizens expressing themselves politically.     

Attention to Science/Environment News Positively Predicts and Attention to Political News Negatively Predicts Global Warming Risk Perceptions and Policy Support

Contemporary science and environmental news coverage of global warming increasingly portrays scientific consensus. Political news coverage of global warming, however, typically portrays controversy. We hypothesize that attention to science and environmental news is associated with beliefs more consistent with the global warming science and higher risk perceptions, and that the opposite is true of attention to political news. Furthermore, we hypothesize that science‐based beliefs and risk perceptions are positively associated with support for policies aiming at reducing global warming. These hypotheses were confirmed by survey data from a nationally representative sample of adults (N = 2,164). These findings support and extend the cognitive mediation model of news learning and have important practical ramifications.     

Negative Stereotypical Portrayals of Muslims in Right-Wing Populist Campaigns: Perceived Discrimination,Social Identity Threats,and Hostility Among Young Muslim Adults

Anti-Islamic sentiments have become central to right-wing populist mobilization in Western societies, which often results in negative portrayals of Muslims in political campaigns. Although these portrayals may have detrimental effects on minority members' identity formation and attitudes toward majority members, little is known about their effects on members of the depicted group. A lab experiment with 145 young Muslims reveals that right-wing populist ad exposure increases perceived discrimination, which in turn decreases individuals' self-esteem and national identification, and encourages hostility toward majority members. Religious identification, in contrast, is not affected by ad exposure. Implications of these findings for intergroup relations and democratic processes are discussed.