Mass Communication and Society Division
Moeller Student Paper Competition
Are You Frightened? Children’s Cognitive and Affective Reactions to News Coverage of School Shootings • Gyo Hyun Koo • A survey of U.S. parents explores children’s exposure and reaction to news coverage of school shootings. Major findings suggest that exposure to such news makes children frightened. This tendency was strongest among the youngest children, and they used a variety of coping strategies. Exposure to the news predicted children perceiving the world as dangerous, and their frightened reactions mediate this relationship. This study suggests that news producers minimize the harm when creating news.
Wedging the Gap: A Multi-Level Analysis of Genre-specific Television and Internet Information Seeking Impacts on Health Knowledge Over 8 Years • Wenbo Li, The Ohio State University; Ruoyu Sun; Xia Zheng • The study uses a nationally representative survey to investigate the concurrent impacts of television watching and health information seeking from the Internet (HISI) on education-based health knowledge gap from January 2005 to December 2012. A multi-level regression analysis shows that entertainment television watching narrowed the gap in health knowledge between high-educated and low-educated population segments. However, this trend disappeared over time and entertainment TV watching started to negatively influence health knowledge across all segments around 2009. Meanwhile, the highly educated obtained more health knowledge from HISI than those with lower education and this pattern persisted over time. Television news watching did not affect the knowledge gap, nor did its effect change over time.
Digital Feminist Activism & the Need for Male Allies: Assessing Barriers to Male Participation in the Modern-Day Women’s Movement • Sydney Nicolla, UNC-Chapel Hill Hussman School of Journalism and Media • Feminism and feminist activism have seen many changes and iterations throughout history. Modern feminists have harnessed the power of the internet to broaden visibility, challenge inequality, and connect with those who share gendered experiences. Typically, women instigate and drive participation in digital feminist activism, but research has suggested that male activists could play a valuable role as allies for the digital women’s movement. Social media reduce some of the traditional barriers to activism – time, financial resources – and force us to consider the social and emotional factors that may interfere with outward male support for feminism. Results of a U.S. based national online survey demonstrated the following among men who have yet to participate in digital feminist activism (DFA): (1) support from and characteristics of those in their social networks may play an important role in their willingness to engage with DFA in the future, (2) strong masculine gender identity may interfere with support for feminism and outward feminist identification, and, (3) there is still a disconnect between support for feminism and feminist identification, which in turn may affect willingness to participate in DFA.
Benefits of Social Media Use on Mental Health: Implications for College Students • Bumsoo Park, The University of Alabama; Nicholas Eckhart, The University of Alabama • This study examined whether and how social media use affects college students’ positive mental health (subjective well-being) and negative mental health (anxiety, depression) with a focus on the mediating role of social connectedness. The results indicated social media use was positively associated with social connectedness and social connectedness was positively associated with subjective well-being. While social media use was not directly associated with subjective well-being, social connectedness mediated this relationship. Similarly, social media use was not directly associated with mental health problems (anxiety, depression). Yet, this study discovered the mediating mechanism by which social media use was negatively associated with mental health problems through social connectedness and subjective well-being.
Open Competition
Correcting Vaccine Misinformation: Effects of Source Attributes and Recall on Misinformation Belief and Persuasive Outcomes • Michelle Amazeen, Boston University; Arunima Krishna, Boston University • This study offers a roadmap to employing and expanding the Persuasion Knowledge Model (Friestad & Wright, 1994) as a useful theoretical framework for studying persuasive misinformation and corrections. Within the context of correcting vaccine-related misinformation, this experimental study (N = 1,067) indicates that the source of misinformation has significantly more influence on the belief of misinformation and on behavioral intentions than correction sources, bringing new urgency to the gatekeeping responsibilities of social media.
Crossing the Border: News Framing of the Definition, Causes and Solutions to Illegal Migration from Nigeria • Theresa Amobi, University of Lagos, Nigeria • This study explored the framing of illegal migration by Nigerian media, specifically Punch, DailyTrust, Observer and Sun newspapers, and ChannelsTV and TVC. Results show more media focus on defining the problem than on causes and solutions. Compared to newspapers, television focused more on defining illegal migration as Threat to lives/National Security. Causes appeared more in national newspapers, as driven by Pecuniary Interests/Exaggerated Expectations. Solutions, more in the local newspaper were framed as Revamping the Economy.
* Extended Abstract * Religion in Crisis: Examining the Impact of Religiosity and Religious Rhetoric in Organizational Crises • Lucinda Austin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Jordan Morehouse, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Research suggests people turn to religious organizations to provide comfort during times of crises; however, few scholars have examined crises within religious organizations. This study examined the impact of religious rhetoric in crisis response strategies from religious organizations and the impact of religiosity. Results from a survey-experiment with 689 respondents indicates that religious rhetoric and religiosity may impact trust and supportive intentions in crisis, particularly in ‘intentional’ crises.
Issue Controversiality Matters: How Emotions and Imagined Audience Influence the Decision to Share Societal Issue-Related Facebook Posts? • Nicky Chang Bi, University of Nebraska at Omaha • Sharing, a term that is associated with “going viral,” is an aspect of communication that all strategic communicators strive for in their communication campaigns. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) provides a framework for the current study to understand the effects of emotions generated from a message on persuasion—how high- and low-effort processes of comprehending information influence people’s decision in spreading societal issue-related Facebook posts. The researcher conducted a survey-experiment to explore the effects of emotional response to societal issues on sharing. The findings suggest individuals’ sharing decisions depend on issue types and their imagined audience. Emotions trigger both cognitive and heuristic processing of information. The results reveal that message elaboration mediates the effects of both positive and negative emotion arousal on sharing medium-controversial issues to the more symmetrical audience. Positive and negative emotions were only directly associated with sharing high-controversial issues to the symmetrical audience.
* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: Epistemic Political Efficacy and Online Political Information Seeking Before and After the 2016 Presidential Election • Justin Blankenship, Auburn University; Martin Kifer, High Point University; Daniel Riffe, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This research sough to understand the influence of online disinformation campaigns that have become more common since the 2016 US presidential election using epistemic political efficacy and online political information seeking behaviors. Analysis of two separate surveys, one conducted in 2014, the other in 2017, show an overall decline in EPE and that online political news seeking became a strong negative predictor of EPE in 2017, while it was a strong positive predictor in 2014.
A dual system theory approach: What shapes pro- and anti- social behavior in an online discussion forum? • Yunya Song, Hong Kong Baptist University; Christine Hiu Ying Choy, Department of Social Science, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong; Qinyun Lin; Ran Xu, Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of Connecticut • This study examined how two types of online discussion are predicted by a Dual System Theory model. We collected 28,506 original posts and 1,126,455 related replies from the Hong Kong Golden forum (the most popular online discussion forum in the studied period). Using combined approaches of computerized text analysis and topic modeling, we empirically tested and compared impulsive automatic and reflective cognitive component in relevant posts to predict pro- and anti-social behavior in replies.
How Fact-checking Information Stems Spread of Fake News via Third-person Perception • Myojung Chung, Northeastern University; Nuri Kim • While fact-checking has received much attention as a potential tool to combat fake news, it remains underexplored whether and how fact-checking information lessens intentions to share fake news on social media. Two experiments uncovered the theoretical mechanism underlying the effect of fact-checking on sharing intentions, and identified an important contextual cue (i.e., social media metrics) that interacts with fact-checking effect. Exposure to fake news with fact-checking information (vs. fake news only) yielded more negative evaluations of the news, and subsequently greater belief that others are more influenced by the news than the self (third-person perception, TPP). Increased TPP, in turn, led to weaker intentions to share fake news on social media. Fact-checking information also nullified the effect of social media metrics on sharing intentions; without fact-checking information, higher (vs. lower) social media metrics induced greater intentions to share the news. However, when fact-checking debunked the news, such effect disappeared.
* Extended Abstract * The Motivated Processing of Emotions, Efficacy, and Morality in Sustainability Messages on Social Media • Carlina DiRusso, Pennsylvania State University; Jessica Myrick, Penn State University • To investigate how individuals process sustainability messages on social media, a between-subjects experiment tested the effects of emotional tone (fear/hope), efficacy (high/low) and moral framing (harm/impurity) on motivational system activation, memory, attitudes and intentions. Low-efficacy and fearful messages increased aversive system activation and memory. Political ideology significantly moderated most outcomes; namely, hope and low-efficacy influenced conservatives’ processing more than that of liberals or moderates. Future mediation analyses will employ a full path model.
Dynamics of Cognitive Biases in Assessing Age Appropriateness of Media Content: A Multilevel Moderated Mediation Analysis • Guangchao Feng, Shenzhen University; Shan Zhu, Shenzhen University • The paper discovered significant differences in age and likability ratings among the raters. Through multilevel moderated mediation modeling, it also found that the differences in age ratings between the raters were moderated by the three content-valence variables (extent of negativity, positivity, and consumerism) and that the mediation effects of likability on the rater differences in age ratings were also moderated by the extent of valence, particularly negativity and positivity.
The Diffusion of Misinformation Across Scientific Communities • Jennifer Harker, West Virginia University; Laura Sheble, Wayne State University; Jillian Peyton, West Virginia University • The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation (2002) define “scientific misconduct” as consisting of fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism (Fanelli, 2009). Scientific misconduct occurs frequently in scientific literature, and after an article faces retraction, it is often still cited as factual information, plaguing readers with false ideas (Lewandowsky et al., 2012; Noorden, 2011). As a result, misinformation diffuses in academic journals and spills into public discourse despite counterefforts (Budd et at., 1999). This spread of misinformation has the potential to negatively impact the scientific community and the public’s knowledge and health (Chen, Milbank, & Schultz, 2013). To learn more about the diffusion of misinformation within the scientific community and beyond, we analyzed 840 retracted articles that were published from 2000 to 2018. Citations of the retracted works were then collected (n = 49,630) and post-retraction citations were tracked. This research will help inform academic journals how best to communicate retractions to mitigate the diffusion of misinformation across scientific communities, and thus reduce subsequent dissemination of misinformation to the broader public.
Perceptions vs. Performance: How Routines, Norms, and Values Influence Journalists’ Protest Coverage Decisions • Summer Harlow; Danielle Kilgo, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities • Protest paradigm researchers theorize that protests are delegitimized in news coverage because of journalistic culture and practices. This study explores the degree to which norms, routines, values, and perceptions explain coverage patterns of protest. This mixed-methods study utilizes self-reflections from a survey of journalists in four regions, alongside a content analysis of their coverage. Our study highlights how objective-observer role conceptions, routines driven by newsworthiness, and a perception-performance gap help explain protest coverage patterns.
In-Group vs. Out-Group CSR Messages and the Effects of Gender and Cause Involvement on Brand Attitudes and Positive Word-of-Mouth Intentions • Yujin Heo; Chang Won Choi, University of South Carolina; Holly Overton, University of South Carolina; Joon Kyoung Kim; Nanlan Zhang • This study investigates the influence of social distance on consumer evaluations of a CSR activity supporting women’s empowerment. One hundred and forty participants participated in a 2 (social distance: low vs. high) x 2 (gender: female vs. male) online factorial experiment. Results indicate that consumers evaluated the CSR activity more positively when they were exposed to in-group messages than out-group messages. The impact of social distance was moderated by gender differences. Implications are discussed.
You’ve Lost that Trusting Feeling: Examining the Consequences and Conditions of the Diminishing Trust in the Press in Rural and Urban US Communities • Jay Hmielowski, University of Florida; Eve Heffron, University of Florida; Yanni Ma; Michael Munroe, University of Florida – College of Journalism and Communications • In this study, we use Social Identity Theory to examine whether political ideology, where people live, and time correlate with trust in the press in the US. Moreover, we examine whether the correlation between ideology and where a person lives varies over time. We also examine a three-way interaction to determine if decreases in trust are concentrated among conservatives living in rural areas in the US. Lastly, we examined whether trust in the press serves as a mediating variable between where a person lives and their newspaper use.
Emotional Labor During Disaster Coverage: Exploring Expectations for Emotional Display • Gretchen Hoak, Kent State University • This study explored emotional labor in journalists in the context of natural disaster– a scenario when the emotional burden is high and the energy to cope is low. Analysis of 30 interviews with journalists who covered a hurricane revealed they actively engaged in emotional labor. Tactics were chosen based on a shared understanding of professional display rules and expectations mandating emotional distance. Implications for news managers and journalist mental and emotional health are explored.
A Semantic Networks Approach to Agenda Setting: The Case of #NeverAgain Social Movement on Twitter • Daud Isa, Boise State University; Itai Himelboim, University of Georgia; Guy Golan, Texas Christian University • This study examines if Network Agenda Setting (NAS) theory can better explain media influence on the public in the social media era. Findings indicate that the media is still able to influence the public by setting their agenda both explicitly and implicitly. Strong correlations between the media and the public agenda suggest that as long as the news media remain the primary source of information, it will continue to have agenda setting effects on the public.
Effects of Fake News and the Protective Role of Media Literacy Education • Se-Hoon Jeong • In this research, we tested (a) whether the effects of disinformation could increase when a deepfake video is included and (b) whether the negative effects of disinformation could be reduced by short media literacy education. An experiment using a 2 (disinformation including vs. not including a deepfake video) by 3 (no literacy vs. general disinformation literacy vs. deepfake-specific literacy) design was conducted with 316 Korean adults. Results showed that disinformation message including a deepfake video resulted in greater vividness, persuasiveness, credibility, and intent to share the message. Results also showed that media literacy education reduced individuals’ acceptance of the disinformation message such that both literacy education conditions (general and specific) resulted in less credibility and greater skepticism compared to the no literacy education condition. Interestingly, general disinformation literacy education was as effective as or even more effective than deepfake-specific literacy education. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
The Resistance to Media Advocacy of Pro-Environmental Civic Engagement • Hyunjung Kim • Drawing on the theory of psychological reactance, we explore a possible explanation for the decrease in individuals’ participation in environmental movements despite media advocacy and increased public awareness of the need for an environmental movement. A web-based experiment was conducted with a 2 by 2 factorial design with media and political orientation as between-subjects factors. The results demonstrate that pro-environmental civic engagement intention after exposure to an online newspaper editorial advocating the environmental movement is greater for the progressives in the progressive media group than for those in the conservative media group. The effect of media congeniality was explained by perceived media credibility and psychological reactance to the message. Implications of the findings and limitations of the study are discussed.
Who says what to whom on Twitter: Exploring the roles of mass media and opinion leaders on a gun issue via two-step flow and network agenda-setting • Seonwoo Kim, Louisiana State University; Myounggi Chon; Yangzhi Jiang, Louisiana State University • This study aims to explore the relationship between activist publics and mass media on a gun issue in the framework of network agenda-setting theory. The results show partial evidence for the two-step flow of agenda-setting effects on social media. In particular, gun rights organizations bridge the gap between conservative media and gun rights activists public on Twitter. In contrast, the two-step flow is relatively rare for gun control groups compared to gun rights groups. It also reveals that gun rights groups and gun control groups use different targeting strategies. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.
Emotions, Misinformation, and Correction Tweets in El Paso and Dayton Mass Shootings • Jiyoung Lee; Shaheen Kanthawala, University of Alabama; Danielle Deavours, University of Alabama; Tanya Ott-Fulmore, University of Alabama • Although social media have become an important tool for helping users understand risky situations through information exchange, misinformation widely spreads on these platforms. This exploratory research examines features of misinformation and correction tweets during the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings in terms of emotion and users’ engagement in emotional misinformation and correction tweets. From the total number of tweets about these mass shootings exchanged between August 3 to 11, 2019, we manually coded 1,498 tweets. Our key findings suggest that misinformation was prevalent on Twitter and a large portion of the misinformation had negative emotions—particularly anger. Misinformation containing emotion was more likely to be retweeted and liked by users than emotion-neutral misinformation. However, angered misinformation was less likely to be retweeted and liked by users than general information and correction tweets with anger; however, emotional misinformation overall received comparatively more retweets and likes than correction tweets and other general information containing emotion.
#MeToo: A Social Movement Platform to Promote Social Identity, Social Judgment and Social Support among Victims-Survivors • Yukyung Lee, University of Connecticut; Carolyn A. Lin, University of Connecticut; Taiquan Peng, Michigan State University; Louvins Pierre • This exploratory study examined the #MeToo movement via a conceptual framework which integrates the constructs of social identity, social judgment and social support. Five hundred tweets with hashtags relevant to the movement were randomly selected and coded. Findings suggested that females and gender-unidentified individuals are more likely to accept the #MeToo movement than males. Those who accept the movement are more willing to provide social support to victims-survivors than those who reject the movement.
How Rational and Emotional Expression Intertwine? Exploring Public Discussion of China’s Vaccine-Scandal Event on Weibo • Yuanhang LU, Hong Kong Baptist University; Shijun NI, Hong Kong Baptist University; Yunya Song, Hong Kong Baptist University • “Focusing on the public discussion of China’s vaccine-scandal event on Weibo, this study utilizes structural topic modeling to examine how public and private issues are discussed rationally or emotionally. Our results indicate that the public issues were discussed far more than the private at both post-level and comment-level discussion. Compared to the post-level discussions, the comment-level discussions contain more emotional expressions toward public issues and more rational expressions toward private issues.
* Extended Abstract * [Extended Abstract] News Media and Twitter Users’ Framing of the Russian-Linked Facebook Ads Issue • Catherine Luther; Xu Zhang • This study examines how the mainstream news media and the public, via Twitter, framed the issue of Russian-linked Facebook advertisements that appeared prior to, during, and following the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Findings thus far indicate convergences in news media framing, with the exception of two frames from Fox News. Frames from the social media posts suggest that domestic politics might have clouded any concern for Russian interference and national security.
Black Lives Coverage Matters: How protest news coverage and attitudinal change affect social media engagement • Rachel Mourao; Danielle Kilgo, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities • Building on protest paradigm literature, this research explores the effects of news coverage of protests on social media engagement. In a 3×2 experiment, we assess if legitimizing/delegitimizing frames increase people’s likelihood to read, share, like or comment on a story about Black Lives Matter. We found that attitudinal change mediates the relationship between protest frames and social media outcomes, but most people are reluctant to actively engage with this content on social media platforms.
How attitude certainty influences the effectiveness of direct persuasion and selfpersuasion in mass media campaigns • Barbara Müller, Radboud University Nijmegen; Lieke van den Boom; Shuang Li • The current study examined how mass media interventions can be improved by considering attitude certainty. The experiment consisted of measuring attitude certainty towards the promoted counter-attitudinal statement, and subsequently presenting participants with no persuasion (control), five arguments in favor of the statement (direct persuasion), or with the request to produce arguments themselves (self-persuasion). Results suggests that the effectiveness of direct persuasion may be affected to a stronger extent by attitude certainty than self-persuasion.
Curious Citizens: Whose Voices Are Heard in “Public-Powered” Reporting? • Betsy O’Donovan, Western Washington University; Carolyn Nielsen, Western Washington University • For decades, news narratives have centered the voices of elites over sources who represent lived experience. A new technology platform, Hearken, has sought to change that by involving the audience in deciding what to cover, how, and whose voices are heard. This content analysis examined sourcing in 80 stories from public-media stations and categorized sources as researcher, responsible party, or lived experience. Voices of lived experience dominated coverage produced using the Hearken platform.
* Extended Abstract * The effect of partisan news reporting of sexual assault allegations on blame attribution and perceived source credibility • Rebecca Ortiz • The study experimentally tested the effect of ingroup and outgroup bias on blame attribution and perceived news source credibility based upon political party affiliation (Republican or Democrat) alignment with an alleged sexual assault perpetrator and the reporting news source. Participants attributed more blame to the alleged perpetrator when he was a political outgroup member and perceived the source as least credible when it was affiliated with the outgroup and reported about an ingroup alleged perpetrator.
* Extended Abstract * Examining Consumer Attitudes Toward CSR and CSA Messages • Holly Overton, University of South Carolina; Joon Kyoung Kim, University of South Carolina; Nanlan Zhang; Shudan Huang • This study conducts a 2 (message type: CSR vs. CSA) x 2 (source: company vs. nonprofit organization) factorial online experiment to examine impacts on individuals’ perceived motives and attitude changes toward both the company and nonprofit (NPO) partner. Issue relevance was measured as a moderating variable. Results indicate that individuals inferred more values-driven motives from CSR messages than CSA messages, which ultimately led to more positive attitude changes toward the company. Implications are discussed.
* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: Seafood stories: How narrative modality, emotion, and transportation influence support for sustainable aquaculture • Laura Rickard, University of Maine; Janet Yang; Vivian Liu; Tabitha Boze, University of Maine • Considerable narrative persuasion research provides evidence of attitudinal and behavioral effects in human health and environmental contexts. Whether the modality of narrative presentation influences these effects, however, remains unclear. This study uses an online experiment (N = 2,225), featuring a narrative video and narrative text condition, to consider how exposure to narrative may influence transportation, emotions, and risk-benefit perceptions and, in turn, how such perceptions affect attitudes and behavioral intentions toward sustainable aquaculture.
There’s no “me” in misinformation: Correcting online falsehoods through WhatsApp group chats • Edson Tandoc; James Lee, NTU Singapore; Sei Ching Joanna Sin, NTU Singapore; Chei Sian Lee, NTU Singapore • Guided by the frameworks of social identity theory and social presence theory, this study examined the impact of source familiarity (familiar vs. unfamiliar) and mode of delivery (interpersonal chat vs. group chat) on the perceived credibility of a correction message to debunk misinformation sent on WhatsApp. Through a five-day long experiment involving 114 participants in Singapore, this study found no main effect of either source familiarity or mode of delivery on perceived credibility of the correction message. However, the study found a significant interaction effect: When the correction is sent to a chat group, members rate it as more credible when it is sent by a source they are familiar with through prior face-to-face and online interactions, than when it is sent by a source they have never met or interacted with.
Fake news: How emotions, involvement, need for cognition, and rebuttal evidence type influence consumer reactions toward a targeted organization • Michail Vafeiadis; Anli Xiao • A 2 (involvement: low vs. high) x 2 (need for cognition (NFC): low vs. high) x 2 (rebuttal evidence type: exemplar vs. statistical) experiment was performed to explore individuals’ psychological and emotional reactions to fake news. Individuals high in involvement and NFC perceived favorably the rebuttal and developed positive attitudes and higher donation intentions toward the affected nonprofit. High-involved individuals rated positively statistical rebuttals, whereas low-involved ones preferred storytelling evidence. Rebuttal messages evoked positive emotions.
Celebrity narratives and opioid addiction prevention: The moderating role of issue relevance • Michail Vafeiadis; Weirui Wang, Florida International University; Michelle Baker, Pennsylvania State University; Fuyuan Shen • This study examined the impact of celebrity narratives on raising public awareness about opioid addiction. An online experiment with 3 (message type: celebrity narrative vs. noncelebrity narrative vs. informational message) conditions was conducted. Results indicated that a celebrity narrative is more persuasive than its noncelebrity counterpart. The data also showed that the effects of celebrity narratives are particularly pronounced for low relevance individuals. Mediation analyses provided insights about the underlying psychological process of celebrity storytelling.
Selective Exposure in the Stormy Daniels Scandal • Alyce Viens, University of Connecticut; David Atkin • In January of 2018 an alleged affair and hush money payment between U.S. President Donald Trump and adult film star Stormy Daniels was leaked. The present study investigates the Daniels scandal’s influence on public perceptions of both the President and his Republican Party by examining the influence of liberal and conservative news consumption on public perceptions of importance, blame, overall opinions of the scandal and voting intentions. Drawing from a framework based on selective exposure theory, this study aims to shed light into how both the scandal and corresponding media coverage can influence public opinion amidst a polarized media environment. Results from an MTurk survey provide qualified support for a selective exposure framework, although these effects are not consistent across media modalities, nor do they operate evenly across left and right-leaning audiences. On balance, levels of variance explained in our model approximate those uncovered in S-R processing work. Study results thus enhance our understanding of the relationship that exposure to news on a controversial topic—including partisan outlets—can have on voter conceptions and support for an incumbent candidate.
Message Framing And Public Policy How Narrative And Identification Influence The Alzheimer’s Caregiver’ Stigma And Burden • Tong Xie; Xuerong Lu, University of Georgia; Rui Zhao; Jiaying Liu • This study investigated the influence of different message framing on people’s willingness to support public policy to help the Alzheimer’s caregiving. The mediation effect of identification, perceived caregiver stigma and burden is proposed to be affecting the message framing. In addition, people’s view of technology is assessed, in order to understand in recent years, how people respond to the usage of high technology to facilitate caregiving for people living with Alzheimer’s.
Users as Experts: Folk Theories of Morality and Harmful Speech on Social Media • Rachel Young, University of Iowa; Brett Johnson, University of Missouri; Volha Kananovich, Appalachian State University • This study analyzes user reasoning about harmful speech online to identify folk theories. In 494 free responses, participants flagged 12 online speech acts or trends as harmful. Individuals were primarily identified both as the ones harmed and the ones responsible for causing harm, by posting or sharing, and for solving the problem, through ignoring or self-censoring. Based on folk theories, speech harm is a familiar but abstract problem users can identify but also comfortably ignore.
Social Identification, Psychological Distance, Compassionate Goals, and Willingness to Help during the COVID-19 Outbreak • Zhiying Yue; David Lee; Janet Yang; Jody Chin Sing Wong; Zhuling Liu • As the spread of the coronavirus is undermining the lives of many, a key question involves: what are the psychological antecedents that propel people to help those in need? Guided by research on social identity theory, psychological distance, and compassionate goals, we examine two factors that can help individuals identify themselves with those in need, which in turn facilitate their willingness to help. We test this idea in an experimental survey on American adults (N = 504) in early March, 2020, before the widespread community transmission of COVID-19 began in the United States. Results highlight two critical processes that lead Americans to identify themselves with those who suffer from the coronavirus in China. Individuals who are more pro-socially oriented (i.e., high compassionate goals) are more likely to identify themselves with those in need when they read an article highlighting similarity (vs. difference) between Americans and Chinese. Further, a moderated mediation analysis indicates that individuals who identify more with people in China are more likely to provide aid to them. These results extend prior knowledge by examining the interplay between prosocial motivation and psychological distance on prosocial behavior. Importantly, these findings suggest that risk communication that highlights the similarity (vs. difference) between us vs. them (or in-group vs. out-group), can critically influence public support for the U.S. government’s response to the pandemic.
Social Amplification of Risk before Coronavirus Was Declared an Epidemic: How Social Media Trust and Disinformation Concerns Affected Information Sharing • Xiaochen Zhang, University of Oklahoma; Raluca Cozma, Kansas State University • A survey conducted in February 2020 in the United States examined how users of social media engaged in sharing of information about COVID-19 before the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic. Building on the social amplification of risk framework, the study examines the importance of trust in information sources and of disinformation concerns during the incipient stages of a crisis when audiences had only media reports to rely on for information.
Maintaining authoritarian resilience during the public health crisis: An analysis of Chinese state media’s social media posts during the COVID-19 outbreak • Ge Zhu, University of Iowa; Rachel Young, University of Iowa; Li Chen, West Texas A&M University; Yuehong Tai • This paper studies Chinese state media’s social media posts about COVID-19 at the beginning stage of its national outbreak. Our analysis revealed the hybrid nature of state media in health crisis communication, as being government organizations that disseminating up-to-the-minute information about the emerging infectious disease and providing recommendations to the public, and being news agencies that culturally and politically frame a public health crisis to align with the party-state ideology.
Student Competition
Hostile Media Perception in the Age of Social Media: The Role of Social Identity • Eric Cooks, The University of Alabama • As more Americans consume news through social media, users are afforded the ability to express opinions through comments. This study uses a 2 (Issue position: Support vs. Oppose) x 2 (Comment identity: Ingroup vs. Outgroup) design to examine the effects of online comments on hostile media perception (HMP). Results show that outgroup comments amplified HMP, and issue opponents displayed reduced HMP. Results are discussed in relation to social identity and biased perception of news media.
* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: Media Parenting: Why some parents are not letting electronic media raise their children • Sarah Fisher, University of Florida • Parental mentoring has been partially replaced by technology in many families today. The parental influence and open channels of communication between parents and children which have historically been the foundation for a healthy society, have been largely exchanged for technology. Media Parenting describes the use of electronic media as a replacement for parental mentoring. However, some parents are choosing to limit their children’s electronic media use and this study examines their reasoning for this choice.
Oh Snap!The Relationship Between Snapchat Engagement, Jealousy, and FoMO • Kandice Green; Zanira Ghulamhussain • “This online study identified jealousy as a factor in the relationship between snapchat engagement (SE) and fear of missing out (FoMO). The mediation model assessed 349 Snapchat users (M=32.47, SD= 8.61). Four hypotheses were tested:1)SE predicts FoMO;2) SE predicts jealousy;3) Jealousy predicts FoMO;4)Jealousy mediates the relationship between SE and FoMO. The first three hypotheses were supported. Jealousy partially mediated the relationship between SE and FoMO. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
“He’s so bad but he does it so well”: Interviews with writers of One Direction RPF • Ashley Hedrick, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This study focused on interviews with writers of real person fiction (RPF)—a type of fanfiction—about British boy band One Direction. Most interviewees began writing these romantic, often sexually explicit, stories between ages 12 and 16. The findings of this research suggest revisions to sexual super peer theory and sexual scripting theory, as well as contribute to the field of psychology’s knowledge about adolescents’ participation in online contexts involving sex.
From Tweet to Headline: The Influence of Twitter Topics on the Coverage of Democratic Debates • Luna Liu, University of Colorado Boulder; Carlos Eduardo Back Vianna, University of Colorado Boulder • “This study investigates how topics discussed on Twitter during democratic presidential debates
influence the coverage of the debates on The New York Times. By using the reverse agenda- setting theory and Granger Causality tests, the results show that two topics, election and Trump, were transferred from Twitter to The New York Times in the days following the debates. Correlation tests suggest an agenda divergence phenomenon between legacy media agenda and public agenda, which begs additional research.”
* Extended Abstract * Pornography Consumption and Attitudes Toward Sex: A Meta-Analysis • Farnosh Mazandarani, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill • A meta-analysis on pornography consumption and attitudes toward sex. A preliminary assessment yielded fourteen studies. We coded four moderating variables: gender, age, study location, and publication. A random-effects model was conducted to estimate combined weighted mean effects of correlations. Cumulative effect size demonstrated a significant positive association between higher pornography consumption and positive attitudes toward sex. Fail-safe N suggested 138 studies is needed to nullify effect size. Study location was the only significant moderator.
Influence of social media use for news on tolerance for disagreement and social tolerance • Aditi Rao, University of Connecticut • Despite a rich body of literature on social media effects, little is known about the influence of social media on social attitudes. This survey study (N = 538) tests the relationships between social media use for news, tolerance for disagreement, and social tolerance, across three datasets. Social media use for news positively predicted social tolerance, and this relationship strengthened after the 2018 midterm elections, indicating that social media may positively influence attitudes on social issues.
Digital Discussions of Women Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints: Intimacy in Private Facebook Groups Grounded in Motherhood • Alexis Romero Walker, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill • Latter-Day-Saint women find comfort in community, including online community. This study is a digital observation of a private Facebook group with thousands of LDS mothers. The study recognizes patterns around conversations of religion, politics, and gender roles. It examines how LDS women categorize themselves/create identity, and recognizes intimate topics presented in the large “private” space. The study expresses importance to better understand groups of religious women, and communicative practices within private online spaces.
Parental and Peer Mediation in Relation to Adolescents’ Perceptions of On- and Off-screen Risk Behavior • Anne Sadza, Radboud University • Adolescents’ media-related cognitions predict their perceptions of social norms regarding risk behavior, and may be shaped by discussions of media content (i.e. active mediation). A survey was conducted among 278 adolescents to compare the relative contributions of parental and peer mediation within this process. Findings indicate both mediation types are related to adolescents’ media-related cognitions and perceived social norms in different but equally important ways, and that their valence determines the direction of these associations.
Relationships with News in the Modern Socio-Media Ecology • Carin Tunney, Michigan State University • This conceptual paper calls for a paradigm shift that considers the complexity and fluidity of today’s news consumption beyond the snapshots of use captured in previous works. The paper elaborates upon three problems with today’s news consumption research including measurement, ecological concerns, and assumptions of the inverse. The new paradigm incorporates relationship variables of satisfaction, interdependence, and endurance as a more robust method of measurement. Finally, new strategies to study consumption and avoidance are discussed.
Motivating Face-to-Face and Online Contact with Immigrants • Ryna Yeoh • This study investigates how perceived intergroup permeability and out-group status predicts intergroup contact with immigrants. This study also draws comparisons between face-to-face and online contact. A sample of 330 university students participated in a survey. Results show that out-group status predicted contact quantity, while permeability predicted contact quality. However, permeability predicted the quantity of face-to-face contact, but not online contact, suggesting some differences between contact through the online and offline setting.
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