Karyn Riddle

Always on My Mind: Exploring How Frequent, Recent, and Vivid Television Portrayals Are Used in the Formation of Social Reality Judgments

Prior research has found consistent support for the heuristic processing model of cultivation effects, which argues that cultivation effects can be explained by the availability heuristic. The present study represents an experimental test of the heuristic processing model and tests the impact of frequency, recency, and vividness on construct accessibility and social reality beliefs. 213 students participated in a 2 × 2 × 2 prolonged exposure experimental design varying the frequency of exposure to violent television programs, the level of vividness in the programs, and recency of exposure. Dependent measures were accessibility and social reality beliefs. Results showed that reaction times were largely unresponsive to the independent variables. Although there were no main effects for frequency on social reality beliefs, there was a significant interaction between frequency and vividness on beliefs: People watching vivid violent media gave higher estimates of the prevalence of crime and police immorality in the real world in the 3× viewing condition than those in the 1× viewing condition. In concluding, it is argued that this study has important implications for the heuristic processing model, cultivation theory, and research into vividness effects.

Beyond Cultivation: Exploring the Effects of Frequency, Recency, and Vivid Autobiographical Memories for Violent Media

Using Shrums (1996) heuristic processing model as an explanatory mechanism, we propose that people who hold vivid autobiographical memories for a specific past experience with media violence will overstate the prevalence of real-world crime versus individuals without vivid memories. We also explore the effects of frequency and recency on social reality beliefs. A survey was administered to 207 undergraduate students who were asked to recall one violent television program or movie seen in the past. Participants were asked to write essays describing the violence, which were coded for vividness. Results support not only cultivation theory, but also the effects of memory vividness: participants with more vivid memories of blood and gore gave higher prevalence estimates of real-world crime and violence than participants with less vivid memories. Findings also suggest that females had more vivid memories for prior media violence than males. Implications for cultivation, the heuristic processing model, and vividness research are discussed.

Descriptions of Media-Induced Fright Reactions in a Sample of US Elementary School Children

Grade-school children (N = 219, M age = 8.5 years) reported their experiences of media-induced fear in their own words and using forced-choice items. Seventy-six per cent reported a specific instance of media-induced fright; most were responding to movies (seen in theaters or homes) and media content they had not chosen to view. The most commonly mentioned content involved supernatural themes. More than one-third of children scared by movies named a movie rated G or PG. Frequent symptoms included sleep disturbances and anxieties in normally nonthreatening situations. Having a television in ones bedroom was the best predictor of fright severity. Findings demonstrate the value of using open-ended questions and underscore the need for further research on prevention and coping strategies.

''People Killing People on the News'': Young Children's Descriptions of Frightening Television News Content

This article investigated childrens fear responses to everyday exposure to the news in the absence of a recent crisis or major event. From March to May 2006, a survey was conducted of 218 kindergarten through 6th-grade children regarding their fright reactions to the news. Results showed that 35.3% of children reported being frightened by the news. Reporting on what frightened them in their own words, children most frequently mentioned natural disasters (24.7% of children frightened), followed by kidnappings (10.4% of children frightened), the Iraq War (7.8%), and burglaries (7.8%). A qualitative analysis suggests that some children have vivid memories of disturbing news content. The accessibility of television in childrens households was not related to news exposure or fear. Implications for parental guidance and research methods are discussed.

Transportation into Vivid Media Violence: A Focus on Attention, Emotions, and Mental Rumination

Prior research suggests violent narratives can transport viewers, affecting attitudes and beliefs. This research project explores whether a factor related to a media text —vividness—affects the degree to which audience members become transported into a violent narrative. Furthermore, this study focuses on the various subcomponents of the transportation experience (e.g., attention, emotional involvement, and mental imagery processes) to see if vividness affects some components more than others. In an experiment, 179 participants were exposed to vivid or non-vivid versions of violent television programs. Findings reveal that viewers of vivid violence exhibited stronger emotional reactions and higher attention levels. Vividness did not impact mental imagery processes or excitation levels, however. Implications for transportation, vividness, and media violence research are discussed.

The influence of violent video game enjoyment on hostile attributions

Violent video games did not lessen aggressive cognition among frustrated players.Playing a video game helped frustrated participants purge negative emotions.Frustrated participants rated gameplay as more enjoyable, regardless of content.Enjoyment of violent games moderated the effect of game on hostile attributions.High enjoyment increased hostile attributions; low enjoyment decreased them. Although catharsis theory as applied to violent media has been repeatedly refuted in the literature, scholars have recently proposed methods by which a cognitive form of catharsis might occur for people who utilize games to manage negative affect. Drawing on these ideas, the current study tests how video games are used to manage feelings of frustration and boost ones sense of competency. It also explores how these emotional processes influence game enjoyment and hostile attribution bias (HAB). We frustrated half of 82 participants prior to randomizing them to play a violent or nonviolent game. Our results showed that frustrated participants were motivated to progress farther in a video game. This in-game performance decreased their feelings of frustration, boosted their sense of competency, and increased their enjoyment of the game. However, for those who played a violent game, this enjoyment predicted hostile attributions: high enjoyment of violence increased HAB, while low enjoyment of violence decreased HAB. These findings have implications for how video games are used to manage negative feelings.

The Addictive Potential of Television Binge Watching: Comparing Intentional and Unintentional Binges.

This study proposes media audiences engage in 2 types of TV binge watching: intentional and unintentional. Using the differential susceptibility to media effects model as a framework, we draw from research on sensitivity theory and uses and gratifications to test whether unintentional binges are more likely to result in addiction symptoms, and whether this is due to impulsivity as a personality trait. Using an online survey, we find (a) most of our sample has engaged in both types of binge watching, (b) addiction symptoms were more common after unintentional binges, and (c) impulsivity exerts an indirect effect on addiction in the case of unintentional binging only, by increasing unintentional binging frequency. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Men’s and women’s situation models for violent movies and television programs.

This study explores gender differences in memories for graphic media violence. More specifically, this project measures the level of complexity in men’s and women’s situation models for violent movies and TV programs seen in the past. Using the theory of vivid media violence, negative emotions, accessibility, and memory vividness are tested as predictors of situation model complexity. In a nationwide survey, 254 participants wrote essays describing memorable violent movies and TV programs. The essays suggest more similarities than differences among men’s and women’s situation models, although men described more details about blood and gore. Among both men and women, negative emotions at the time of exposure indirectly predicted situation model complexity as mediated by accessibility and memory vividness. Implications for scholars studying media violence effects are discussed.

The unexpected comfort of wearing headphones: Emotional and cognitive effects of headphone use when playing a bloody video game

Abstract This study tests the theory of vivid media violence, exploring whether the presence of blood in a violent game and the use of headphones impacts emotions (frustration, fear, anxiety) and the level of cognitive elaboration. Results of an experiment suggest participants felt stronger negative emotions when playing a bloody game with headphones off. When the video game was not bloody, headphones did not affect emotions. In addition, frustration was related to cognitive elaboration whereas fear and anxiety were not. Implications for research exploring discrete emotions, as well as the intersection between auditory and visual features in video games, are discussed.