Suchergebnisse

Perception of pro-social reality on TV improvedprediction of children's social behavior.

Two laboratory experiments tested the proposition that attention to television is the product of an interaction between message structure and content. Cuts (structure) were hypothesized to affect attention differently, depending on whether they linked related or unrelated content. Subjects viewed six semantically related and six semantically unrelated sequences of television. In Experiment 1, attention was measured using reaction times to a secondary task at one video frame, 1 second and 2 seconds following a cut. Unrelated sequences required more attention 1 second after the cut. Attention to related sequences decreased over the course of the entire sequence, whereas attention to unrelated sequences remained constant over time. Experiment 2 assessed attention during the first second after the cut. Related sequences produced longer reaction times immediately following the cut at 10 and 20 frames; unrelated sequences produced longer reaction times further from the cut, at 20 frames, and 1 second. This pattern of results is explained using a dual process model of attention to television.

This article summarizes results from a series of psychological experiments about how people process information from television. Results are discussed in relation to six issues: (1) size of stimulus units; (2) complexity of television stimuli; (3) interdependence of time units in television presentations; (4) intra- versus interstimulus differences in processing; (5) message form versus message content; and (6) active versus passive processing. Each issue is related to the processing concepts of attention, mental effort, and memory, and to the design of laboratory experiments using television stimuli.

Although large numbers of young children watch news programs, researchers have paid little attention to nonproduction variables involved in learning from the news This field experiment with 435 third through seventh graders focuses on the relationship between childrens' perceptions of the news and learning and the effect of news story context on their per ceptions The study predicts that four perceptual variables—liking the story, liking the program, believing the story, and understanding the function of the story—will have a positive relationship to learning Because some news for children is presented in the context of cartoons and fantasy drama- such as the CBS "In the News" series—the study explores the effect of news story context on learning through the perceptual variables listed above

Does incivility in political discourse have adverse effects on public regard for politics? If so, why? In this study we present a theory suggesting that when viewers are exposed to televised political disagreement, it often violates well-established face-to-face social norms for the polite expression of opposing views. As a result, incivility in public discourse adversely affects trust in government. Drawing on three laboratory experiments, we find that televised presentations of political differences of opinion do not, in and of themselves, harm attitudes toward politics and politicians. However, political trust is adversely affected by levels ofincivilityin these exchanges. Our findings suggest that the format of much political television effectively promotes viewer interest, but at the expense of political trust.

The rubric levels of analysis is a popular organizing theme for communication research, and there are arguments for both separating and combining levels. This article replaces the notion of levels, traditionally defined along a biopsycho-social continuum, with that of domains, a specification of any class of entities or things to which research can apply. Domains provide four advantages for communication research: (a) Domains define the set of entities to which theories and operations can refer; (b) domains are consistent with traditional levels but permit partial inclusion and exclusion of entities from multiple levels; (c) domains differentiate and link theories and operations; and (d) domains explain when theories can and cannot "cross" levels, and specify how to adjust inappropriate "cross-level" theories. Domains are defined and discussed separately in relation to theory and data collection.

In an experiment, the influence of story schema development on children's attention to television was examined. A factorial design was used: story schema development (low, high) × story content (central, incidental) × story structure (story, nonstory), requiring two separate testing sessions. In the first, children (5 to 8 years old) watched two stories on television and completed story schema assessment tasks; performance was used to assign children to high or low story schema groups. In the second session, children were randomly assigned to view a television program structured like a story or a program with no underlying story structure. Dependent variables were attention (measured with a secondary task) and recognition memory. Advanced story schema skills were related to reduced processing effort, increased memory of central story content, greater flexibility of allocation strategies, and better coordination between attention and memory.