Josh Pasek

Realizing the Social Internet? Online Social Networking Meets Offline Civic Engagement

ABSTRACT Does Internet use have the potential to build social capital? Emerging evidence suggests that politically knowledgeable, interpersonally trusting, and civically engaged individuals share particular patterns of Internet use. In previous national survey studies, Internet use has been divided into a handful of excessively broad categories, and researchers have been unable to address newer, category-spanning Internet uses as well as the potential impact of individual Web sites. By examining the use of online social networks in a nationally representative sample of young people, this study explores the varied relationships between indicators of social capital and Internet use on a site-specific level (i.e., MySpace vs. Facebook). Indeed, differences between social networking sites are as large as those between more global categories of use (e.g., informational vs. social networking) and are robust to attempts to account for differences between the users of the sites. In explaining these relationships and exploring the differences between social networking sites, we suggest that Web site use induces a site-specific culture that can either encourage or hinder social capital.

America's Youth and Community Engagement How Use of Mass Media Is Related to Civic Activity and Political Awareness in 14- to 22-Year-Olds

This research examines the role of the mass media in young peoples disengagement from politics. In a nationally representative telephone survey (N = 1,501), young people (ages 14 to 22) reported their habits for 12 different uses of mass media as well as awareness of current national politics and time spent in civic activities. Following Putnams hypothesis about the beneficial effects of civic ties on political involvement, the authors predict and find that civic activity is positively associated with political awareness. Contrary to Putnam, they find that media use, whether information or entertainment oriented, facilitates civic engagement, whereas news media are especially effective in promoting political awareness. Although heavy use of media interferes with both political and civic engagement, the overall effect of media use is favorable for each outcome. The results are discussed in regard to the potentially greater use of the media to build community engagement in young people.

Schools as Incubators of Democratic Participation: Building Long-Term Political Efficacy with Civic Education

Despite a growing consensus that civic education is an important aspect of political socialization, little research has prospectively examined how gains made during civics courses are maintained after high school. This study used a quasi-experimental design to examine longer-term effects of the Student Voices program, which was originally evaluated in Philadelphia public high schools during the 2002–2003 school year. Following the 2004 presidential election, researchers recontacted students who had participated in the program for one or two semesters and students who had been in control civics classrooms. A structural equation model indicated that students who experienced two semesters of the program reported greater self-efficacy for political participation and that this effect carried over to increased political attentiveness as well as to knowledge of candidate positions. In addition, political attentiveness increased knowledge and voting in the election. However, neither knowledge nor efficacy had direct effects on voting once attentiveness was controlled. The results suggest that a supplementary civics education program such as Student Voices can increase subsequent participation in politics by building long-term gains in political self-efficacy and skills in using the news media to follow government and political affairs.

Identifying Best Practices in Civic Education: Lessons from the Student Voices Program

School‐based civic education is increasingly recognized as an effective means for increasing political awareness and participation in American youth. This study examines the Student Voices curriculum, implemented in 22 Philadelphia high schools, to assess program activities that mediate gains in outcomes linked to future political participation (following of politics, political knowledge, and political efficacy). The results indicate that class deliberative discussions, community projects, and informational use of the Internet produce favorable outcomes that build over the course of two semesters. Effects were comparable for both white and nonwhite students.

Building Social Capital in Young People: The Role of Mass Media and Life Outlook

In this study we evaluate different models of media use to determine whether television and other popular media facilitate or hinder the development of social capital in young people. We surveyed a nationally representative sample of 14- to 22-year olds (N = 1,800) to assess the media–social capital relationship controlling for pessimistic life outlook. Consistent with Becks (1967) theory of depression, we hypothesized that young people with a pessimistic life outlook will be less trusting of others, will withdraw from civic activity, and will turn to media that have low cognitive demand (e.g., television shows) and avoid media that require greater cognitive resources (e.g., books and informational use of the Internet). Using structural equation modeling, we found that despite support for those predictions, total time spent viewing television remained inversely related to both social trust and civic engagement. However, model tests indicated that civic activity enhances trust by reducing time spent with television and increasing book reading. Furthermore, moderate consumption of entertainment television does not reduce trust. Hence, the results reaffirm the favorable relationships between social capital and media use, including television, in young people but continue to reveal adverse relationships with heavy television use.

Assessing the Carrying Capacity of Twitter and Online News

Communication theorists have long presumed that the capacity of mass media was essentially fixed. This study investigates the relevance of this assumption in the digital environment, where production and broadcasting capacities have become nearly infinite. Examining 2 years of data from Twitter and electronic databases of news articles revealed some differences in the nature of constraint in the two environments. The daily volume of Twitter was more variable than online news coverage once cyclical factors were controlled. Interestingly, the volume of Twitter did not always increase in response to key events.

Understanding and measuring mobile Facebook use: Who, why, and how?

Although social media are increasingly used through mobile devices, the differences between mobile and computer-based practices remain unclear. This study attempts to tease out some of these differences through multiple analytical strategies and samples. Drawing on theoretical expectations about the affordances, motivations, and cognition of mobile use, we investigate who uses mobile Facebook, why they use it, and how they use it. To do this, we first compare those who use Facebook only on a PC with those who also use the service on mobile devices. Then, in order to quantify mobile Facebook use, we propose a new set of survey measures to tap into more and less mobile users among the sample of people who access Facebook through multiple modes. These questions serve to validate measures of mobile Facebook use, and allow us to examine how patterns of use relate to user motivations and experiences. Findings revealed important differences between PC-only and mobile users as well as a distinct and reliable measure of mobileness. Whereas motivations for Facebook use did not differ across users, more habitual and absorbing use of Facebook was strongly, positively associated with mobile practices. These findings illustrate that people use mobile Facebook in more automatic and immersive ways that are independent of overall frequency of use or motivations. Implications for the psychological mechanisms involved in mobile communication, as well as survey measurement of social media use, are discussed.

Perceptions of health risks of cigarette smoking: A new measure reveals widespread misunderstanding.

Most Americans recognize that smoking causes serious diseases, yet many Americans continue to smoke. One possible explanation for this paradox is that perhaps Americans do not accurately perceive the extent to which smoking increases the probability of adverse health outcomes. This paper examines the accuracy of Americans’ perceptions of the absolute risk, attributable risk, and relative risk of lung cancer, and assesses which of these beliefs drive Americans’ smoking behavior. Using data from three national surveys, statistical analyses were performed by comparing means, medians, and distributions, and by employing Generalized Additive Models. Perceptions of relative risk were associated as expected with smoking onset and smoking cessation, whereas perceptions of absolute risk and attributable risk were not. Additionally, the relation of relative risk with smoking status was stronger among people who held their risk perceptions with more certainty. Most current smokers, former smokers, and never-smokers considerably underestimated the relative risk of smoking. If, as this paper suggests, people naturally think about the health consequences of smoking in terms of relative risk, smoking rates might be reduced if public understanding of the relative risks of smoking were more accurate and people held those beliefs with more confidence.

Explaining the Diversity Deficit Value-Trait Consistency in News Exposure and Democratic Citizenship

Although scholars consider it important for citizens to seek diverse information to optimize citizenship, a growing body of research suggests that many people predominantly expose themselves to information that confirms their previous beliefs. Using four waves of survey data from an online panel of 2,450 Americans, this study explores a disconnect between information values and practices to identify (1) whether citizens exemplify the diversity-seeking values endorsed in communication scholarship, (2) whether individuals who hold diversity-seeking values enact these values, and (3) whether diversity-seeking values and traits are emblematic of good democratic citizenship. Results suggest that nearly half of respondents either did not hold diversity-seeking values or failed to actualize the values they expressed. Individuals who held diversity-seeking values were more politically knowledgeable and more likely to have voted in 2014, regardless of their diversity-seeking traits.

It’s not my consensus: Motivated reasoning and the sources of scientific illiteracy:

Individuals who provide incorrect answers to scientific knowledge questions have long been considered scientifically illiterate. Yet, increasing evidence suggests that motivated reasoning, rather than ignorance, may explain many of these incorrect answers. This article uses novel survey measures to assess two processes by which motivated reasoning might lead to incorrect personal beliefs: motivated individuals may fail to identify the presence of a scientific consensus on some issue or they may recognize a consensus while questioning its veracity. Simultaneously looking at perceptions of what most scientists say and personal beliefs, this study reveals that religiosity and partisanship moderate the extent to which Americans identify scientific consensuses and assert beliefs that contradict their perceptions of consensus. Although these pathways predict the scope of disagreement with science for each of 11 issues, the relative prevalence of each process depends on both the scientific issue and motivational pathway under examination.