The third-person effect was introduced into communication research by W. Phillips Davison in 1983. The term conceptualizes his impression that people overestimate the impact that mass media content has on others – so-called “third persons”: In its broadest formulation, this hypothesis predicts that people will tend to overestimate the influence that mass communications have on
Television is the world’s storyteller, telling most of the stories to most of the people, most of the time. As such it has become our most common and constant learning environment, one that very few can or even want to escape or ignore. Children today are born into homes in which most stories are told
Discussion of the harmful effects of media violence is as old as the media themselves. There is no medium that has not been suspected of stimulating real-world aggression. Spectacular violent acts such as those in Littleton, Colorado (where in 1999 two teenagers murdered 13 people before committing suicide), or Erfurt, Germany (where in 2002 a
Research on sex media has often been divided into two categories, depending on whether the sexual stimuli are embedded within a larger context or not. The first type, illustrated by a TV soap opera in which some of the scenes, although typically not a majority, include references to or actual portrayals of sexual interactions, depicted
Surveillance, correlation, and transmission functions are basic to the role of mass media in society. Surveillance means locating and disseminating news and information. Correlation deals with interpreting and editorializing about this information. Transmission is the socialization of norms, attitudes, and values between groups and generations (Lasswell 1948). Socialization research, for example, has compared the effectiveness
The term “social capital” has become a popular way for academics, activists, politicians, and the public to describe how an individual’s location in a structure of relationships, and the sense of trust and reciprocity that accompanies this social position, can provide the means for citizens to cooperate on problems requiring collective effort (Coleman 1990). It
Discussion of the harmful effects of media violence is as old as the media themselves. There is no medium that has not been suspected of stimulating real-world aggression. Spectacular violent acts such as those in Littleton, Colorado (where in 1999 two teenagers murdered 13 people before committing suicide), or Erfurt, Germany (where in 2002 a
Human communication is a multichannel reality comprising verbal, paraverbal, and nonverbal signals. Although some authors subsume paraverbal aspects, like pitch, tone of voice, etc., under the heading of nonverbal behavior, it is most common to preserve the term “nonverbal” for those aspects of communicative behavior that are transmitted visually, such as gestures, body posture and
The physical effects of media content are understood as the direct influence of the media on the organism. This includes mainly processes of physiological arousal as well as emotional effects evoking joy or fear, a pleasant mood or stress. Early one-dimensional arousal theories (Lindsley 1951; Duffy 1962) stated that physiological arousal comprises unspecific activation on
Because there are various concepts of public opinion there are no general statements about the effects of mass media on it. Instead, the effects of mass media have to be related to specific concepts. Moreover, different study designs and methods have to be taken into consideration. According to the quantitative concept, public opinion is regarded
Originally, the term “reciprocal effects” was used by Kurt Lang and Gladys Engel Lang (1953) to describe the behavior of people in front of TV cameras. Here it is used in a broader sense. It denotes all the effects of the mass media on actual and potential subjects of media coverage. Included are the effects
The term “indirect effects” denotes the consequences of direct effects on individuals who are not exposed to media content. According to Seymour-Ure (1974, 22), “a primary [=direct] effect takes place when the person affected has himself been involved directly in the communication process. A secondary [= indirect] effect takes place when individuals or groups not
In view of the preponderance of published research on the effects of the communication media, it is astounding, if not disconcerting, how little attention has been given to the systematic examination of the duration of these effects, and, as a result, how little is known about their duration. Such apparent neglect does not necessarily reflect
There is no single commonly accepted definition of framing in the field of communication. In fact, political communication scholars have offered a variety of conceptual and operational approaches to framing that all differ with respect to their underlying assumptions, the way they define frames and framing, their operational definitions, and very often also the criterion
Building upon early research from rural sociology, diffusion of innovations, public opinion poll data, and information campaigns, Tichenor et al. (1970, 159–160) posed the hypothesis: “As the infusion of mass media information into a social system increases, segments of the population with higher socioeconomic status (SES) tend to acquire this information at a faster rate
The importance of credibility in human communication had already been recognized long before modern communication research emerged as a scientific discipline. For ancient rhetoricians like Aristotle or Cicero it was self-evident that the credibility of a communicator had an important impact on the persuasiveness of his performance. At the beginning of the twentieth century credibility
Emotions are commonly understood as a complex of interactive entities encompassing subjective and objective factors and consisting of affective, cognitive, conative, and physiological components. The affective component includes the subjective experience of situations, which is connected to feelings of arousal, pleasure, or dissatisfaction. The cognitive component refers to how situations relevant to emotions are perceived
One of the dominant functions of modern media is entertainment (Zillmann & Vorderer 2000). Moreover, entertainment offerings presented by virtually all mass media seem designed to provide immediate gratification of the diverse hedonic needs of modern media consumers. If entertainment is the primary goal of modern media, why are so many critics concerned that those
One of the most oft-cited approaches to studying media effects that emerged in the early 1970s is known as the agenda-setting effect (or function) of mass media. First tested empirically in the 1968 US presidential election by University of North Carolina journalism professors Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw (McCombs & Shaw 1972), this approach originally
Because of the extensive penetration of media into society, and the different purposes and types of information conveyed, there are a number of possible media effects. For the sake of simplicity, these possible media purposes are categorized as those intended to persuade (e.g., advertising, propaganda), inform (e.g., news), or entertain (e.g., narrative television, film). In
Special effects are those techniques employed in moving image technologies to provide images other than those recorded by simply opening the camera’s shutter and recording. In some cases the entire image may be produced using non-camera techniques. Alternatively, events may be staged or images altered to produce special effects. Special effects (hereafter “effects”) may usefully
The term “exemplification effect” describes the influence of illustrating and aggregating case descriptions in media presentations on the recipients’ perceptions of issues. Aggregating case descriptions emerges whenever media coverage presents any kind of generalizing claim about natural or social phenomena and an arbitrarily selected sample of single cases to illustrate the issue at hand. General
Impersonal effects is an increasingly influential paradigm in media effects research. It argues that media are powerful in shaping our perceptions of what anonymous others are feeling and experiencing, and that such perceptions, in turn, influence our attitudes and behaviors in a variety of areas. The effect suggested by the theory is, thus, indirect: exposure
Special effects technicians work to make the illusions in movies, theater, and television seem real. When a director wants us to see a man turn into a wolf or a train explode in a fiery crash, it is the job of special effects technicians to make it happen. They work with a variety of materials
The concept “mass media” is a collective term that stands for a broad variety of print media like newspapers, magazines, books and electronic media like radio, television, and the Internet. The concept “newspaper,” in turn, comprises daily and weekly newspapers, and “magazines” publications like news magazines, fashion magazines, sports magazines, etc. All mass media offer
/ Health Effects of Illegal Drug Use Introduction The potential health risks associated with using illicit drugs remain the key argument for maintaining their criminal status. And although many studies find that drug users are in worse health than nonusers, the proper interpretation of this evidence is contentious. This is because, in order to conclude
/ Peer Effects in Health Behaviors Introduction Health economists have long been interested in examining the determinants of, and potential policies for, reducing unhealthy behaviors in the population. Although a main focus in this area has historically been on issues of policy involving taxation, access restrictions, advertising, etc., a shift toward evaluating the basic social
For more than 100 years, researchers have noted how exercise enhances the subjective sense of mental and physical energy. Affect refers to the quality of a subjective mental state along the dimensions of valence (pleasant or positive vs. unpleasant or negative) and activation (alert or activated vs. sleepy or deactivated). This entry will summarize research
This article delves into the intricate realm of health psychology, specifically examining the profound psychological effects of chronic oral conditions on individuals’ mental well-being. Beginning with an overview of health psychology and emphasizing the integral role of oral health in overall wellness, the article systematically explores three key dimensions. The first section scrutinizes the impact
Exercise has been proposed as a potential treatment to help people quit smoking and, more recently, to treat addictions to alcohol and other drugs of abuse. This entry discusses the rationale and empirical support for the use of exercise as a treatment for addiction. Rationale Exercise has been proposed as a stand-alone or supplementary treatment
Contrast Effects Definition Most judgments in everyday life are evaluative in nature. People may want to know whether a particular grade is good or bad, whether a person is trustworthy, how well someone performed on a test, or what a person’s athletic abilities are like. Rarely can such questions be answered in absolute terms (e.g.
This article explores the cognitive effects of chronic alcoholism, a severe and persistent manifestation of alcohol use disorder with global implications. The introduction outlines the prevalence and significance of chronic alcoholism while emphasizing the importance of studying cognitive impairments in this context. The subsequent sections delve into specific cognitive domains affected, including memory deficits, executive
For as long as people have been able to draw and write, they have created pornography. Greek vases and Roman brothels contain ancient, sexually explicit images. Modern technologies for delivering sexually explicit images, such as the Internet, have made pornography ubiquitous. The affordability, accessibility, and anonymity of Internet pornography have also proved a boon to
Token Effects Definition A token is the only person of his or her category, or one of very few persons, in an otherwise homogeneous group. A sole female in a group of males is an example of a token individual, as is the only Latino in a group of Caucasians. Being numerically distinctive produces effects
Order Effects Definition Order effects refer to differences in research participants’ responses that result from the order (e.g., first, second, third) in which the experimental materials are presented to them. Order effects can occur in any kind of research. In survey research, for example, people may answer questions differently depending on the order in which
When scientists conduct experiments, influences and errors occur that affect the results of the experiments. Those influences and errors that occur because of some characteristics of the experimenter or because of something the experimenter did are called experimenter effects. Experimenter effects reduce the validity of the experiment, because the results do not really tell about
This article explores the multifaceted realm of long-term workplace stress, a pervasive issue with profound implications for individuals and organizations. Commencing with an exploration of the factors contributing to prolonged workplace stress and its prevalence, the cognitive ramifications are scrutinized, unveiling impaired concentration, memory deficits, and compromised decision-making abilities. Subsequently, the emotional toll is examined
This article explores the multifaceted psychological effects of testosterone within the realm of health psychology. The introduction provides a foundational understanding of testosterone, emphasizing its pivotal role in human development and health. The body of the article explores the biological basis, investigating testosterone’s influence on aggression, dominance, cognitive abilities, and emotional regulation. Examining the health
This article explores the profound psychological effects of religious community participation. Beginning with an introduction that defines religious community and underscores its significance in health psychology, the article navigates through three distinct yet interrelated body parts. The first section elucidates the positive psychological effects, focusing on the role of social support and coping mechanisms within
This article explores the profound and enduring impact of regular meditation on health psychology, delving into its physiological, psychological, and overall health-related ramifications. The introduction provides an overview of meditation, highlighting its contemporary popularity and diverse forms. The first section investigates the physiological effects, elucidating the intricate relationship between meditation and the nervous system, neuroplasticity