Benjamin H. Detenber

Rethinking the Social Distance Corollary Perceived Likelihood of Expsoure and the Third-Person Perception

Researchers have proposed a social distance corollary to the third-person perception to explain the common finding that as comparison groups become more different from the self or more generally described, the size of the third-person perception increases (i.e., media messages are perceived to have greater negative impact on others than self). The two studies presented here investigate whether third-person perceptions are influenced by social distance or perceived likelihood of exposure. We differentiate three ways of operationalizing social distance and examine whether perceived impact increases along each dimension of social distance. The results of our studies demonstrated that perceived likelihood of exposure was a strong predictor of perceived impact, whereas the perceived social distance of the comparison group was not. These findings indicate that previous social distance findings may actually be an artifact of inferences about how likely comparison groups are to be exposed to the media content in question.

The Impact of Synchronicity and Civility in Online Political Discussions on Perceptions and Intentions to Participate

Using a mixed-model factorial design, a laboratory experiment (n=153) was conducted to investigate the effects of two features of CMC-synchronicity and civility-on perceptions of online political discussions and discussants. Results indicate that the synchronous versions of the discussions were perceived as more informative and persuasive than the asynchronous versions. Discussants in the uncivil versions of the discussions were perceived as more dominant and less credible. However, neither synchronicity nor civility had a significant impact on peoples intentions to participate. The results stand in contrast to those of previous content analysis research, suggesting the importance of studying perceptions in future research. The implications of the findings for online political communication are discussed.

Image motion and context: a between- and within-subjects comparison.

In two previous experiments, we studied how stimulus motion affects both the self-report of emotion experience and the physiological sequelae of emotion. In both studies, image motion intensified emotional responding, and the effect of motion was relatively specific to the arousal dimension of the emotion; there was little evidence that image motion altered the valence of the image. Moving images also appeared to sustain the attention of the participants for a longer period of time than did the still images. In these two experiments, however, image motion was manipulated within participants. In the present experiment, we used a between-subjects manipulation of image motion and found a nearly identical pattern of results. These data indicate that motion inherently increments the arousal value of an image and that this increment is not dependent on the context in which motion is introduced.

Framing the Battle for the White House A Comparison of Two National Newspapers’ Coverage of the 2000 United States Presidential Election

The unprecedented 2000 US Presidential Election provided the context for this study, which investigates patterns of news framing in two leading national newspapers. A comparative content analysis was conducted on all the election articles published in Singapore’s The Straits Times and France’s Le Monde between 7 October and 20 December 2000 (N = 484). Significant differences in dominant frames employed in the two newspapers were found, suggesting a link between journalistic ideology and framing. Although both papers used the horse race frame frequently, the authors observed in tandem with this frame an unexpectedly high use of the issue/policy frame in Le Monde, which casts doubt on the assumption that the horse race frame is emphasized at the expense of issue coverage. The study also found that routine framing procedures were disrupted with the inability of the US to elect its president, and a new event-specific constitutional crisis frame emerged.

A Cross-cultural Test of the Spiral of Silence Theory in Singapore and the United States1

This study examines the influence of individual-level characteristics on the spiral of silence effect in two countries, Singapore and the United States, making it the first cross-cultural test of the theory and thereby addressing a gap in the literature highlighted by Schefule and Moy (International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 12, 2000, 3–28). In two identical, representative telephone polls of 668 adults conducted in Singapore and 412 adults in Washington, DC, respondents were asked to indicate how likely they would be to discuss publicly two controversial issues: interracial marriage and equal rights for homosexuals. The proposed model for predicting outspokenness adds a variety of new predictors, such as culturally influenced self-concepts, fear of isolation, and communication apprehension, along with other more traditional predictors of outspokenness, such as a persons perception of the opinion climate, media exposure, issue salience, and demographics. The findings provide partial support for the spiral of silence hypothesis in Singapore, but not in the United States. Respondents’ perception of the future opinion climate in Singapore interacted with issue salience to influence their level of outspokenness; American respondents did not exhibit such an interaction effect. In both countries, however, outspokenness was associated with respondents’ perceived importance of the issue and their communication apprehension. Media exposure was not associated with outspokenness in either country.

Doing the right thing online: a survey of bloggers' ethical beliefs and practices

This study explores the ethical beliefs and practices of two distinct groups of bloggers — personal and non-personal — through a worldwide web survey. A stratified purposive sample of 1224 bloggers provided information about their blogging experience, blogging habits and demographics. They were asked about their beliefs and practices for four ethical principles: truth-telling, attribution, accountability and minimizing harm. The findings reveal that the two groups differ in terms of who they are and what they do in their weblogs (blogs). In addition, there were significant differences in the extent to which they value and adhere to the four principles, and some interesting similarities. For example, both groups believe that attribution is most important and accountability least important. Scholars have proposed blogging ethics codes, and this study found that bloggers themselves support such a code.

Mining the internet plateau: an exploration of the adoption intention of non-users in Singapore

This study1 examines the factors that affect the intention to adopt the internet among non-users against the backdrop of an emerging internet plateau. Using data from a telephone survey with a representative national sample of non-users in Singapore, this study attempts to understand better what may facilitate or impede non-users to adopt the internet in light of the theory of planned behavior. Findings indicate that, in addition to demographic factors, attitudes toward the internet and perceived control of several internal and external factors are predictive of individuals’ intentions to get online in the future. Implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.

Seeking Information About Climate Change: Effects of Media Use in an Extended PRISM

This study replicates and extends the planned risk information seeking model (PRISM) in the context of impersonal risk by incorporating media use as an antecedent of risk information seeking intention. Results indicate that the model applies equally well to Singaporeans’ climate change information seeking intention as it does in the context of personal health information, suggesting that the model is generalizable across different risk and cultural contexts. Findings suggest that media use is an important source of perceived knowledge and, indirectly, sufficiency threshold, which clarifies the role of actual information seeking in risk perceptions and future information seeking.

The Roles of Value Predispositions, Communication, and Third-Person Perception, on Public Support for Censorship of Films With Homosexual Content

This study aims to examine the roles of value predispositions, communication, and third person perception on public support for censorship of films with homosexual content in Singapore. Findings from a nationally representative telephone survey of adults showed that the majority of Singaporeans supported stricter censorship of films with homosexual characters. Conformity to norms, intrinsic religiosity, and Asian orientation were positively associated with public support for censorship. Media exposure and perceived negative media effects on self were negatively associated with public support for censorship. Our results supported the perceptual component but not the behavioral component of the third person effect.

Frame Intensity Effects of Television News Stories About a High-Visibility Protest Issue

This study investigated the effects of the intensity of the protest paradigm frame in news stories about social protests. In contrast to previous research, this experiment examined framing effects in the context of a highly visible and familiar issue. The intensity of the application of the protest paradigm frame and its attendant signifying elements and framing devices were manipulated in television news stories about pro-choice and pro-life protests. Specifically, the high-intensity protest paradigm frame conditions were more critical of the protesters. We tested six hypotheses regarding whether this greater frame intensity would lead viewers to be more negative toward the protesters. Results showed significant main effects of frame intensity for some dependent measures but not others. The findings offer more evidence of framing effects but also suggest limitations on their influence.