Identification Matters: A Moderated Mediation Model of Media Interactivity,Character Identification,and Video Game Violence on Aggression

This study examined the effects of interactivity in violent video games on aggression and tested identification as the moderated mediating mechanism. A total of 169 male undergraduate students participated in a 2 media interactivity (enactive mediation vs. observational mediation) × 2 violence (violent vs. nonviolent) experiment. Results supported a moderated mediation model in which the effect of media interactivity on aggressive affect through identification was moderated by violence. When violence was present, interactive play resulted in higher short‐term aggressive affect through higher character identification than when violence was not present. Additionally, an interaction effect between media interactivity and violence was found for automatic self‐concept in which players associated themselves more with the game character's traits than video viewers.     

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.     

Selective Use of News Cues: A Multiple‐Motive Perspective on Information Selection in Social Media Environments

This study investigated the effects of message and social cues on selective exposure to political information in a social media environment. Based on the heuristic‐systematic model, we hypothesized that readers' selective consideration of specific cues can be explained by situational motivations. In an experiment (N = 137), subjects primed with motivational goals (accuracy, defense, or impression motivations, as well as a control group) were asked to search for information. Participants preferred attitude‐consistent information and balanced information over attitude‐inconsistent information, and also preferred highly recommended articles. Defense‐motivated partisans exhibited a stronger confirmation bias, whereas impression motivation amplified the effects of social recommendations. These findings specify the conditions under which individuals engage in narrow, open‐minded, or social patterns of information selection.     

A Self‐Categorization Explanation for the Hostile Media Effect

The hostile media effect is a phenomenon in which partisans on both sides of an issue perceive neutral media reports to be biased against their side. Three experiments were performed to test a self‐categorization explanation. In Experiment 1, the effect was amplified when partisan identity was salient and attenuated when a shared identity was salient. In Experiment 2, the effect manifested when the media source was an outgroup, but not an ingroup. In Experiment 3, an attack on Democrats was perceived as less biased when attributed to a Democrat than when attributed to a Republican. The effects in Experiments 2 and 3 were amplified by partisanship. The findings are consistent with self‐categorization theory and difficult to reconcile with other explanations.     

Conceptualizing Mass Media Effect

Scholars have generated evidence of a wide variety of mass media effects over almost 9 decades of research. Although each of these effects has been defined in a relatively clear manner, there has been much less conceptualizing about what constitutes a mass media effect in general. Rarely have scholars provided a formal definition of mass media effect, instead opting to provide a definition in either an ostensive or primitive manner. In this essay, a conceptualization of “mass media effect” at the most general level is synthesized from this previous definitional work. The proposed conceptualization posits 4 general kinds of mass media effects: gradual long‐term change in magnitude, reinforcement, immediate shift, and short‐term fluctuation change.     

Political Correlates of Local News Media Use

Despite the crucial role that local news media play in studies of community and community integration, research on local media effects often is overshadowed by a concern with the effects of national media (Friedland & McLeod, 1999). This study examines the political correlates of attention to local news, focusing on evaluations of journalists and news media, political knowledge, and political participation. Analyses of survey data collected from a probability sample in Seattle, WA ( N = 456) indicate nuanced relationships between attention to local news and evaluations of journalists and news media. Attention to news on television and in newspapers enhanced perceptions of knowledge, but it was only attention to newspaper local news that promoted political participation. Of particular note is the fact that both positive and negative evaluations led to participation, suggesting that unfavorable views of the press can invigorate democracy.     

The Social Media Basis of Youth Protest Behavior: The Case of Chile

Protest activity has become a central means for political change in Chile. We examine the association between social media use and youth protest, as well as mediating and moderating mechanisms of this relationship, using survey data collected in Chile in 2010. We found that Facebook use was associated significantly with protest activity, even after taking into account political grievances, material and psychological resources, values, and news media use. The link between overall Facebook use and protest activity was explained by using the social network for news and socializing rather than when it was used for self‐expression. Postmaterialist values and political ideologies were not found to moderate the association between Facebook use and protest.     

Networked Authoritarianism and Social Media in Azerbaijan

The diffusion of digital media does not always have democratic consequences. This mixed‐methods study examines how the government of Azerbaijan dissuaded Internet users from political activism. We examine how digital media were used for networked authoritarianism, a form of Internet control common in former Soviet states where manipulation over digitally mediated social networks is used more than outright censorship. Through a content analysis of 3 years of Azerbaijani media, a 2‐year structural equation model of the relationship between Internet use and attitudes toward protest, and interviews with Azerbaijani online activists, we find that the government has successfully dissuaded frequent Internet users from supporting protest and average Internet users from using social media for political purposes.     

Of Attitudes and Engagement: Clarifying the Reciprocal Relationship Between Civic Attitudes and Political Participation

In this essay, we draw on broader psychological theories of the attitude–behavior relationship to postulate specific reciprocal patterns of causality between the civic attitudes and forms of political and civic engagement featured in contemporary political communication research. We then examine the extent of these reciprocal relationships with a 2‐wave panel survey of 2,872 Pacific Northwest residents. Spanning the 2004 elections, structural equation modeling of the panel data shows complex reciprocal causal paths between political/civic attitudes (internal and external efficacy and civic pride and faith) and a range of political and civic behaviors (voting, political action, media use, political/community talk, and group involvement). The conclusion suggests how to conceptualize these variables and model their relationships in future research.     

News Media,Knowledge, and Political Interest: Evidence of a Dual Role From a Field Experiment

Political knowledge and political interest are generally positively influenced by news media exposure. Yet, at the same time, knowledge and interest are among the most important predictors of news media exposure in the first place. We conduct a field experiment (N = 393) as a test of this dual function of knowledge and interest in a realistic news media choice setting. We examine whether preexisting interest and knowledge predict which individuals can be encouraged to read an unfamiliar information-rich newspaper, and if using this newspaper, in turn, has effects on interest and knowledge. Results show that interest and knowledge are predictors of compliance in the experiment. While political knowledge shows some response to the additional news exposure, interest remains stable.     

Social Media and the Activist Toolkit: User Agreements,Corporate Interests,and the Information Infrastructure of Modern Social Movements

The uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere have been credited in part to the creative use of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Yet the information policies of the firms behind social media can inhibit activists and empower authoritarian regimes. Analysis of Facebook's response to Egypt's “We Are All Khaled Said” group, YouTube's policy exemption for videos coming from Syria, Moroccan loyalist response to the online presence of atheists, and the activities of the Syrian Electronic Army illustrate how prohibitions on anonymity, community policing practices, campaigns from regime loyalists, and counterinsurgency tactics work against democracy advocates. These problems arise from the design and governance challenges facing large‐scale, revenue‐seeking social media enterprises.     

Technology Use as a Status Cue: The Influences of Mundane and Novel Technologies on Knowledge Assessments in Organizations

This study explores the relationship between the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and assessments of workers' knowledge and abilities in 2 knowledge‐intensive organizations. Drawing on expectation states theory, the article argues that a worker's communication through mundane, widely diffused ICTs may lead to status assessments from colleagues that are different than when he or she communicates through novel ICTs. Data from interviews and observations at both organizations revealed that mundane ICT use influenced assessments about the general level of proficiency of workers, and use of novel ICTs influenced assessments about a specialist type of proficiency. Additionally, workers expressing communicative cues indicative of higher statuses played larger roles in organizational tasks than workers who were viewed as lower‐status.     

Turn a Blind Eye If You Care: Impacts of Attitude Consistency,Importance, and Credibility on Seeking of Political Information and Implications for Attitudes

Abundant media outlets allow for much diversity of political messages and selective use among citizens. A 2‐session online field study examined impacts of attitude consistency, attitude importance, and source credibility on selective exposure to political messages and subsequent attitude accessibility. The first session assessed attitudes and their accessibility. In the second session, participants browsed online search results that featured attitude‐consistent and attitude‐discrepant messages associated with sources of either high or low credibility; selective reading was tracked. Then attitude accessibility was measured again. Participants spent less time with attitude‐discrepant messages compared to attitude‐consistent messages; this pattern was particularly pronounced among participants with higher attitude importance. Low importance fostered exposure to high‐credibility messages. Exposure to attitude‐discrepant, high‐credibility messages reduced attitude accessibility.     

Reinforcement of the Political Self Through Selective Exposure to Political Messages

The idea that recipients prefer messages that reinforce preexisting attitudes and self‐perceptions has pervaded much communication research, but effects of selective exposure are rarely examined. This 2‐session experiment (n = 157) investigates such effects. The first session presented computerized questions on 12 political issue attitudes and political self‐concept. Accessibility data were collected based on response times. In the second session, participants browsed through an online magazine including 4 of the 12 issues, each issue being covered by 2 articles featuring opposing viewpoints. Selective exposure was logged and categorized as attitude‐consistent or counterattitudinal. Finally, a questionnaire repeated measures for attitudes and self‐concept. The results show that participants preferred attitude‐consistent over counterattitudinal messages, which strengthened the political self‐concept through increased accessibility.     

Political Online Information Searching in Germany and the United States: Confirmation Bias,Source Credibility,and Attitude Impacts

Before the 2013 German federal election, 121 participants completed a 2‐session online study (which paralleled a U.S. study before the 2012 presidential election). They browsed online search results pertaining to 4 political issues while selective exposure was unobtrusively measured. In a 4 × 2 × 2 (topic × issue stance × source credibility) within‐subjects design, the search results indicated either issue support or opposition, associated with low‐ or high‐credibility sources. Hypotheses were derived from cognitive dissonance, approach‐avoidance, and motivated cognition models. Findings yielded a confirmation bias. Attitude‐consistent exposure uniformly reinforced attitudes; attitude‐discrepant exposure uniformly weakened attitudes. Analyses with parallel U.S. data showed a stronger confirmation bias in the United States than in Germany.     

Media Violence and Children's ADHD‐Related Behaviors: A Genetic Susceptibility Perspective

This study examined the relationship between media violence exposure and Attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)‐related behaviors. Using survey (parent‐reported) and genetic data of 1,612 Dutch children (aged 5 to 9 years), we examined genetic disposition as a possible cause of individual differences in children's use of and susceptibility to media violence. The gene variant of interest was the 5‐HTTLPR polymorphism, which has been associated with ADHD‐related behaviors in previous research. Results showed that the “long” variant of the gene polymorphism was related to greater violent media use, which in turn was related to more ADHD‐related behaviors. The 5‐HTTLPR genotype did not moderate the effect of media violence on ADHD‐related behaviors. This study provides insight into the role of genetic factors in media effects.     

Media Enjoyment as Need Satisfaction: The Contribution of Hedonic and Nonhedonic Needs

Most early research on entertainment defines media enjoyment in functional terms as the satisfaction of hedonic needs. Two studies demonstrate the value of including nonhedonic and hedonic need satisfaction in defining enjoyment. Both studies find support for a need‐satisfaction model showing that hedonic (arousal and affect) and nonhedonic (competence and autonomy) need satisfaction account for unique variance in enjoyment experienced during video game play. Study 2 extends the findings of Study 1 to account for noninteractive media entertainment enjoyment. Results show hedonic and nonhedonic need satisfaction to be distinct but complementary components of media enjoyment. Discussion focuses on the advantage of a needs‐based approach for understanding positive valuations of media and offers a new perspective on the enjoyment–appreciation distinction.     

Error performance of Uncoded Space Time Labelling Diversity in spatially correlated Nakagami‐q channels

Greater spectral efficiency has recently been achieved for Uncoded Space Time Labelling Diversity (USTLD) systems by increasing the number of antennas in the transmit antenna array. However, due to constrained physical space in hardware, the use of more antennas can lead to degradation in error performance due to correlation. Thus, this paper studies the effects of spatial correlation on the error performance of USTLD systems. The union bound approach, along with the Kronecker correlation model, is used to derive an analytical expression for the average bit error probability (ABEP) in the presence of Nakagami‐q fading. This expression is validated by the results of Monte Carlo simulations, which shows a tight fit in the high signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) region. The degradation in error performance due to transmit and receive antenna correlation is investigated independently. Results indicate that transmit antenna correlation in the USTLD systems investigated (3 × 3 8PSK, 2 × 4 16PSK, 2 × 4 16QAM, and 2 × 4 64QAM) causes a greater degradation in error performance than receive antenna correlation. It is also shown that 2 × 4 USTLD systems are more susceptible to correlation than comparable space‐time block coded systems for 8PSK, 16PSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM.     

Testing the Intramedia Interaction Hypothesis: The Contingent Effects of News

Various forms of news use not only have independent impacts on political knowledge, but also create interactive effects across different types of news outlets. In the present study, data from 2 surveys conducted in 2004 were used to test hypotheses about the contingent effects of news media use on political knowledge. The results supported the intramedia interaction hypothesis regarding use of multiple similar (in terms of content and form) news outlets. For instance, use of both cable news and network news produces diminishing returns. But, when print news is used in combination with audio–visual news sources, patterns of additive effects were observed.     

Flexible Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cell on stainless steel substrate deposited by multi‐layer precursor method: its photovoltaic performance and deep‐level defects

Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) films on soda‐lime glass and stainless steel (SUS) substrates with several [Ga]/([Ga] + [In]), GGI, and Fe concentrations are fabricated by so‐called “multi‐layer precursor method”. From optical deep‐level transient spectroscopy, deep‐level defect located at 0.8 eV from valence band maximum (E_V) is observed. This defect becomes recombination center when GGI is over 0.4, thereby decreasing cell performances. Fe‐related deep‐level defect is moreover detected in CIGS film on SUS substrate situated at 0.45 eV from E_V. Its density is consistent with Fe concentration in CIGS films. According to SCAPS simulation and experimental results, Fe concentration of above threshold (1.0 × 10¹⁶ atom/cm³) decreases carrier lifetime and carrier density and has more harmful influence on cell performances with GGI of above 0.4. On the other hand, Fe concentration of below threshold (1.0 × 10¹⁶ atom/cm³) has no detrimental impact on cell performances. Namely, conversion efficiency (η) is slightly changed by below 2%. CIGS solar cell on SUS substrate with η of 17.5% is fabricated by decreasing Fe concentration to approximately 5.2 × 10¹⁶ atom/cm³ although higher than the threshold value. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.