Suchergebnisse

Data from a representative, national sample of American adults are used to examine the impact of varying reference periods (the "past week" as opposed to a "typical week") in survey questions about mass media use. Results from a split-sample experiment comparing the alternative question wordings suggest that providing respondents with the more specific and recent time period (i.e., the "past week") results in significantly lower overall reports of usage across a variety of media. Results further suggest the potential atypicality of the narrower time period, which might in principle adversely affect the validity of responses, is not a serious concern.

An investigation of the interaction between people's social identities & mass media reports of public issues emphasizing conflicts of opinion between social groups. Current theory & research on social identification & intergroup behavior are used to develop a three-stage model of the cognitive, perceptual, & behavioral processes that may be triggered by media reports of group conflict. According to the model, a news report emphasizing group conflict over an issue cues its recipients to think about the issue through their particular group perspective, which leads to polarized or exaggerated perceptions of group opinions, & to expressions of personal opinion consistent with these exaggerated perceptions of group norms. Factors contributing to & inhibiting this kind of response are also incorporated into the model. Analyses of experimental data from college undergraduates (N = 126) who read & responded to experimentally prepared newspaper articles covering a campus issue are reviewed. The results generally support the social identification model, & illustrate how media reports emphasizing group conflicts may play an important role in the formation of public opinion. 4 Tables, 45 References. Modified AA

A new information-processing paradigm, drawing heavily upon concepts generated by the cognitive sciences, has emerged in research on mass communication and public opinion. To make significant contributions to public opinion theory, however, this new cognitive paradigm must properly incorporate the "public" aspects of opinion formation—finding suitable ways to link individual-level information processing to the higher-level processes of public communication and social organization. Fundamental to public opinion theory is the notion that members of a public organize collectively through communication over a point of conflict. Researching this communicative process requires the analysis of cognition and opinion formation as individual-level phenomena that operate within, and that are thus largely dependent upon, the wider social context of public debate and collective organization. It is suggested that current developments in social identification theory may be particularly important in helping us to understand better how a mass of individuals can become a structured public through communication.