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Both perceived vote outcomes & actual vote behaviors are used in an investigation of the spiral of silence theory advanced by Elisabeth Noelle-Neuman (see SA 25:4/77I7781), according to which proponents of opinions perceived as losing ground tend to remain silent & thus contribute to the loss of ground. Telephone interviews regarding the 1980 presidential elections were conducted in Sept, Oct, & after the Nov election with eligible voters in Dane County, Wisc (N = 98 in Sept & 465 in the latter two panels). Support was found for the hypothesis that those who see their position as gaining support will be more likely to discuss that position than those who see their position as losing support; partial support was also found for the hypothesis that those individuals perceiving support for a candidate are more likely to express preference for the candidate. The distinction between the resistant hardcore & other types of citizens was also found valid, as was the relative independence of perception of opinion judgments from own preferences. 3 Tables, 8 References. Modified HA.

The present study examines third-person perceptions using an integrated model which takes into account the relationship between oneself and media messages, oneself and a comparison group, and the perception of the relationship between the comparison group and the message. Respondents were asked to estimate media effects on themselves, as well as perceived media effects on others regarding news coverage of sex scandals concerning priests in the Roman Catholic church. Results suggest that the integrated model can be used to better understand the perceptual component of third-person effects by simultaneously examining issue interest, group categorization, and issue relevance for comparison targets as factors contributing to overall third-person perceptions.

We examined how people's willingness to speak their opinions in a real situation varied as a function of perceived support for those opinions. When given a list of six potential topics to discuss with a real group of people, the participants reported a greater willingness to discuss a topic if they perceived greater support for their own opinions on that topic. The relationship we observed was much larger than the average correlation reported in a recent meta-analysis (Glynn, Hayes, & Shanahan 1997). Methodological & psychological explanations for the discrepancy are discussed. 2 Tables, 21 References. Adapted from the source document.

The research question examined is whether reliance on television makes a difference in the way people make voting decisions. Considerable support was shown for the hypothesis that television reliant voters use candidate image characteristics in making their voting choices more than do the newspaper reliant. Little support was given to a second hypothesis that the perceptions of candidates' stands on issues will play a stronger role among the newspaper reliant. The generally strong image findings did not obtain for the judgments of the third candidate, John Anderson, nor among the voters deciding early in the campaign. Possible reasons for these exceptions are discussed. It is also shown that the media reliance image findings were not replicated by differences in the relative use of public affairs content in the two media, thus indicating the need for research attention to the meaning of television and newspaper reliance.

Most work on selective exposure comes from the United States or other western democracies and typically examines partisan attitudes as the cognitive or motivational drivers of selectivity. This study extends the boundary conditions of existing literature by studying the factors affecting media choice in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a drastically understudied context. Within the overarching framework of motivated reasoning, we propose two theoretically relevant factors that should drive selective exposure into regime media or non-regime alternatives in authoritarian contexts: (1) system-justifying attitudes and (2) regime-sanctioned identities, here religiosity. Relying on two different surveys conducted within Iran in 2012 and 2016, we find that religiosity strongly predicts the reliance on non-regime media in both studies, whereas system-justifying attitudes predict selectivity in Study 2. Theoretical implications for the selectivity literature are discussed.