Yoori Hwang

Revisiting the Knowledge Gap Hypothesis: A Meta-Analysis of Thirty-Five Years of Research:

This knowledge gap meta-analysis examines (a) average effect size of the gap, (b) impact of media publicity, and (c) moderators of the gap. Positive correlation between education and level of knowledge (r = .28) was found, with no differences in the size of the gap (a) over time and (b) between issues of higher and lower publicity. However, gap magnitude was moderated by topic, setting, knowledge measure, and study design, but not by publication status, country, and sampling method. Relatively smaller gaps were found for (a) health-science topics compared to social-political topics and (b) local/personal issues compared to international issues.

Science TV News Exposure Predicts Science Beliefs

The authors attempt here to address a dilemma faced in recent investigation of science and health communication effects: the difficulty of assessing exposure impact in situations beyond the laboratory. Based on social representation theory, we posit that TV news exposure, especially for stories framed as relevant to the everyday lives of individual audience members, can affect people’s beliefs about science and that such exposure also should interact with interpersonal conversation to jointly predict beliefs. To assess these relationships in a real world setting, we integrated market-level and individual-level data from a science TV news project funded by the National Science Foundation and employed multilevel modeling to predict beliefs about science. This move allowed us to combine information about TV Designated Market Areas with responses from a national Internet-based survey and permitted a model that included both market-level and individual-level variables. Results indicate both main effects and interaction effects. Presence of relevant science stories in a TV market, for example, positively predicted subsequent beliefs about the general accessibility of science among audience members in that market even after controlling for individual-level variables.

Can a Personality Trait Predict Talk About Science?: Sensation Seeking as a Science Communication Targeting Variable

Sensation seeking, a trait that has been invoked by public health campaign scholars as a targeting variable, also holds promise for informal science education professionals who seek to engage social networks in their promotion efforts. The authors contend that sensation seeking should positively predict talk about science, even after controlling for often-cited predictors such as education, relevant employment, perceived understanding of science, perceived relevance of science, and attitude toward science. Data from a random digit dial telephone survey (N = 667) supported the authors hypothesis. The authors note connections to the science communication and opinion leadership literatures and encourage future work in this vein.

Public's Responses to Aviation Accidents: The Role of Exemplification and Attributions

Although aviation accidents are due to various causes, the media may focus on particular causes, which is likely to contribute to the publics perceptions about aviation accidents. This research examines how the publics prevalence estimates of the causes of aviation accidents can vary when the media provides exemplars of internal causes (pilot error and mechanical failure) and on external causes (weather). The distribution of these exemplars varied between the two experimental messages: internal attribution message and external attribution message. Compared with the external attribution message, the internal attribution message resulted in higher prevalence estimates of internal causes. The internal attribution message had indirect effects on punitive opinions mediated by responsibility judgments. In addition, exemplification effects were observed two weeks after exposure, and the effects were greater among respondents who better recalled the exemplifying information. The results of this study suggest that journalists need to be cautious when using exemplars, corporate communication and public relations practitioners should actively respond to biased exemplification in the media, and the public would benefit from enhanced media exemplification literacy.

Entertainment Tonight? The Value of Informative TV News Among U.S. Viewers

Local television news professionals face audience declines and a rapidly changing information environment. Faced with such circumstances, many have suggested that sensational and entertaining fare might offer a way to bolster viewership. Our data from a national survey of local TV news viewers in the United States (n = 2,728) suggest that view might be incomplete. Although a variety of beliefs about TV news, including those related to how exciting or entertaining the news is, predicted general attitude toward TV news viewing, the most important predictor of such attitude was the extent to which a person found programming to be informative. TV professionals might be wrong about the need to chase audiences with dramatic and entertaining fare, sacrificing substantive reporting in the process.

Effects of Media Attributions on Responsibility Judgments and Policy Opinions

This study tests how the public’s responsibility judgments and their policy opinions could be affected by different types of attributions made by the media. Study 1 examined three types of attributions regarding smartphone addiction: (a) individualistic (e.g., lack of self-control), (b) societal (e.g., the media industry or government), and (c) none (i.e., control group). Results showed that individualistic attributions by the media did not affect perceived individual responsibility and support for smartphone-addicted children. On the other hand, societal attributions increased perceived industry responsibility, which subsequently increased punishment opinions for the smartphone industry. Study 2 examined three types of attributions regarding childhood obesity (child vs. parent vs. societal) by two types of exemplar formats (“interviews” vs. “user comments”). Consistent with Study 1, results showed that the societal attribution condition resulted in greater perceived industry responsibility and greater punishment opinions for the food industry. However, the effect was not moderated by the type of exemplar format.