Self-efficacy theory suggests one's perceived ability to successfully find facts may motivate pol... more Self-efficacy theory suggests one's perceived ability to successfully find facts may motivate political information seeking. A telephone survey of voters in a presidential campaign attempted to further validate the concept of epistemic political efficacy, or belief one can discover the " truth " in politics, and applied it to modern information seeking behaviors. This study of North Carolina registered voters (N=605) demonstrates that EPE adds predictive power beyond commonly used measures such as individual political efficacy (IPE) for contemporary media use variables like online information seeking and partisan cable viewing. EPE was a stronger positive predictor of online information seeking than IPE. In addition, viewing partisan cable shows had a stronger relationship with EPE than mainstream TV news viewing, and EPE significantly predicted MSNBC viewing, even after controlling for partisanship. In a word, voters who are high in the belief that political facts or " truths " exist, take steps to find and understand them.
Advertisements, movies, and other forms of media content have potential to change behaviors and a... more Advertisements, movies, and other forms of media content have potential to change behaviors and antecedent psychological states by appealing to identity. However, the mechanisms that are responsible for persuasive effects of such content have not been adequately specified. A recently proposed model of communication effects (the prism model) advances the study of mechanisms and argues that identity can serve as both a moderator and mediator of communication effects on behavior-relevant outcomes. These intervening roles are made possible by the complex nature of identity (including multiple self-concepts and sensitivity to cues) and messages that cue the importance of and activate particular self-concepts. This article builds on development of the model by presenting empirical support based on re-analysis of an experiment in which participants viewed either a more-stigmatizing or less-stigmatizing portrayal of a recovering drug addict. In line with the model's propositions, exposure to the less-stigmatizing condition led to increases in perspective taking which then led to more acceptance (mediation by identity), while level of perspective taking also changed the effect of condition on acceptance (moderation by identity). These results provide support for the model's proposition of simultaneous intervening roles. The authors discuss implications for strategic communication research and practice.
This paper argues that the enjoyment of interactive media, especially interactive narratives, can... more This paper argues that the enjoyment of interactive media, especially interactive narratives, can be explained via perceptions of control. Specifically, control over a character's choices, lead to higher perceptions of control which increased user enjoyment. Three different experiments using varying narratives, grammatical perspectives and story outcomes support these arguments consistently. This series of studies demonstrates that perceptions of control over media characters facilitate positive attitudes toward media content, corroborating and expanding upon earlier entertainment research. This research demonstrates a low-tech application of content-based user control in new media environments.
Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Mar 11, 2015
A key component differentiating interactive storytelling from non-interactive media is agency, or... more A key component differentiating interactive storytelling from non-interactive media is agency, or control over character choices. A series of experiments show that providing agency over a character increased the user-character connection, which then increased engagement in a character-consistent charitable act. Findings were observed in technologically simple online narratives that controlled for navigation/controller differences, graphics, sounds, lengthy play, and avatar customization. Effects emerged even though users did not practice these acts by making their character behave charitably. Findings were robust across happy and unfortunate endings and across first-, second-, and third-person narrative perspectives. Findings suggest promise for developing inexpensive ‘‘storygames’’ to encourage supportive behaviors.
Self-efficacy theory suggests one's perceived ability to successfully find facts may motivate pol... more Self-efficacy theory suggests one's perceived ability to successfully find facts may motivate political information seeking. A telephone survey of voters in a presidential campaign attempted to further validate the concept of epistemic political efficacy, or belief one can discover the " truth " in politics, and applied it to modern information seeking behaviors. This study of North Carolina registered voters (N=605) demonstrates that EPE adds predictive power beyond commonly used measures such as individual political efficacy (IPE) for contemporary media use variables like online information seeking and partisan cable viewing. EPE was a stronger positive predictor of online information seeking than IPE. In addition, viewing partisan cable shows had a stronger relationship with EPE than mainstream TV news viewing, and EPE significantly predicted MSNBC viewing, even after controlling for partisanship. In a word, voters who are high in the belief that political facts or " truths " exist, take steps to find and understand them.
Advertisements, movies, and other forms of media content have potential to change behaviors and a... more Advertisements, movies, and other forms of media content have potential to change behaviors and antecedent psychological states by appealing to identity. However, the mechanisms that are responsible for persuasive effects of such content have not been adequately specified. A recently proposed model of communication effects (the prism model) advances the study of mechanisms and argues that identity can serve as both a moderator and mediator of communication effects on behavior-relevant outcomes. These intervening roles are made possible by the complex nature of identity (including multiple self-concepts and sensitivity to cues) and messages that cue the importance of and activate particular self-concepts. This article builds on development of the model by presenting empirical support based on re-analysis of an experiment in which participants viewed either a more-stigmatizing or less-stigmatizing portrayal of a recovering drug addict. In line with the model's propositions, exposure to the less-stigmatizing condition led to increases in perspective taking which then led to more acceptance (mediation by identity), while level of perspective taking also changed the effect of condition on acceptance (moderation by identity). These results provide support for the model's proposition of simultaneous intervening roles. The authors discuss implications for strategic communication research and practice.
This paper argues that the enjoyment of interactive media, especially interactive narratives, can... more This paper argues that the enjoyment of interactive media, especially interactive narratives, can be explained via perceptions of control. Specifically, control over a character's choices, lead to higher perceptions of control which increased user enjoyment. Three different experiments using varying narratives, grammatical perspectives and story outcomes support these arguments consistently. This series of studies demonstrates that perceptions of control over media characters facilitate positive attitudes toward media content, corroborating and expanding upon earlier entertainment research. This research demonstrates a low-tech application of content-based user control in new media environments.
Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Mar 11, 2015
A key component differentiating interactive storytelling from non-interactive media is agency, or... more A key component differentiating interactive storytelling from non-interactive media is agency, or control over character choices. A series of experiments show that providing agency over a character increased the user-character connection, which then increased engagement in a character-consistent charitable act. Findings were observed in technologically simple online narratives that controlled for navigation/controller differences, graphics, sounds, lengthy play, and avatar customization. Effects emerged even though users did not practice these acts by making their character behave charitably. Findings were robust across happy and unfortunate endings and across first-, second-, and third-person narrative perspectives. Findings suggest promise for developing inexpensive ‘‘storygames’’ to encourage supportive behaviors.
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