The relationships of trait verbal aggressiveness and frequency of viewing and enjoyment of television sitcoms

Verbal aggressiveness is the tendency to attack the self‐concept of another person with the intent to inflict psychological pain (Infante & Wigley, 1986). This study focused on how low and high verbally aggressives differ in the television sitcoms they watch and how enjoyable they find those shows. Participants (N = 555) first completed the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale. Then they were asked how often they watch particular television sitcoms and if they watched a given sitcom, how entertaining they found that show to be. The sitcoms included in this study were those that were televised in April 1996. Of the 33 shows included in the analyses, low verbal aggressives differed from high verbal aggressives on 8 shows for frequency of watching and on 11 shows for entertainment value.     

The Indirect Association Between Television Exposure and Self-Protective Behavior as a Result of Worry About Crime: The Moderating Role of Gender

Persistent fear of crime can have serious consequences for one’s social behavior. Previous research has shown that people who fear crime are more likely to engage in self-protective behavior. Although a substantial amount of research has examined the relationship between television exposure and fear of crime, research on the association between television exposure and self-protective behavior is scarce. Based on cultivation theory and the mediated fear model, the current study aimed to examine whether news and crime drama television viewing are indirectly related to self-protective behavior via fear of crime. Structural equation modeling of data from 392 undergraduate students showed that news viewing and crime drama viewing is indirectly associated with self-protective behavior. The current study provided evidence for the importance of accounting for gender when investigating the complex issue of media effects on fear of crime and self-protective behavior.     

How user comments affect news processing and reality perception: Activation and refutation of regional prejudice

An experiment (N?=?177) examined how user-generated comments on a crime news article, which attribute the reported crime to the local residents’ predispositions, affect individuals’ processing of the news and their reality perception. Participants who viewed the regionalism-invoking comments estimated the crime rates of the featured region to be higher than those exposed to regionalism-irrelevant or regionalism-counterbalancing comments, and such effects were more pronounced for those with a stronger regional self-identity. Moreover, those who read regionalism-related comments, either regionalism-invoking or regionalism-counterbalancing, (a) recalled better the locations featured in the focal and the subsequent, yet unrelated, news articles and (b) attributed greater responsibility to news media coverage for the persistence of regionalism, as compared to those who viewed regionalism-irrelevant comments.     

Do You Enjoy TV,while Tweeting? Effects of Multitasking on Viewers’ Transportation,Emotions and Enjoyment

The present study seeks to extend the extant body of work on media multitasking by examining the impact of second screen use (tweeting while watching television) on transportation into a narrative and enjoyment of a TV sitcom, mediated through affective experiences. In a between-subjects experiment, participants watched a TV show with or without tweeting about it. The findings support the assumption that media multitasking decreases people’s experience of transportation, which then impairs their emotional responses; reduced emotions further decrease enjoyment of the show. However, trait empathy does not moderate the impact of concurrent TV-viewing and tweeting.     

Crime Cultivation: Comparisons Across Media Genres and Channels

This study tests the idea that TV genres (crime drama, reality cop shows, news) and channels (TV and newspapers) vary in their potential to cultivate perceptions, fears, and behavior related to exposure and attention to crime content. Randomly selected adults (505) over the age of 18 in Indiana were interviewed. Regression analyses indicate significant variance across media genres and channels in their influence on viewer orientations to crime. Yet overall, media use is a relatively weak predictor of crime orientations.     

The relationship between unemployment in society and the popularity of crime drama on TV

This research explores the hypothesis that social stress, as indexed by rising unemployment in society, leads to increased preference for crime drama on TV. This hypothesis is tested by relating the unemployment rates in the U.S., Canada, and Germany over several years with national trends for the relative popularity of crime drama (i. e., as compared to the popularity of other program categories). Support for this hypothesis is found in the U.S. and in Canada.     

Mitigating Colorblind Racism in the Postnetwork Era: Class-Inflected Masculinities in The Shield,Sons of Anarchy,and Justified

This analysis explores the relation between class-stratified White masculinities and moral ambiguity in FX crime drama. Conflicts between morally ambiguous White men in The Shield (2002–2008), Sons of Anarchy (2008–present), and Justified (2010–present) support colorblind racial ideology by positioning a central antiheroic protagonist in opposition to overtly racist characters who embody stereotypes associated with the White underclass. In comparison with traditional crime dramas, these juxtapositions provide realistic depictions of contemporary America by acknowledging the existence of racial prejudice while the antihero’s ultimate victory stands as a rejection of anachronistic racial sensibilities drawing attention away from issues related to systemic inequality.     

Emotion and political cognition: A test of bipolar,two-dimensional,and discrete models of emotion in predicting involvement and learning

This study assesses the usefulness of voters' emotions toward presidential candidates in predicting voter attitudes toward, involvement with, and learning of the candidates' statements at a debate. Three different models of the effects of emotions, including the bipolar model, Marcus and MacKuen's (1993) two-dimensional model, and a discrete emotions model were tested for their efficacy in predicting the responses of 81 participants who watched the 2000 Presidential Debate at Wake Forest University. Overall, the bipolar model in which positive and negative emotion terms fall along one continuum of affective valence was most consistent with the data. With regard to both presidential candidates, the more positive the emotion felt toward the candidate, the more positive the voters' attitudes were toward that candidate. Likewise, attitudes predicted greater involvement with the candidates, which subsequently predicted greater learning from the candidate at the debate.     

Disposition-Content Congruency and the Negation of Media Stereotypes

A critical assessment of mass-mediated stereotypes by media users can be deemed as beneficial for an open and humane society. One important concept in this regard is negation, which refers to an internal attempt to negate newly encountered stereotypic media content. This study predicted that disposition-content congruence moderates the negation process. In fact, it investigated whether those whose prejudicial dispositions are congruent with the stereotypic content negate less. An experiment (N = 245) using a quota-based sample was used to test the hypothesis. Participants read stereotypic crime texts including the “criminal foreigner”-stereotype or matched control texts. As hypothesized, unprejudiced readers who held favorable attitudes toward the social minority group negated the stereotypic information. Conversely, highly prejudiced individuals showed even less negation when exposed to the stereotypic versions of the crime texts. Highly prejudiced readers might have viewed exposure to criminal foreigners as a confirmation of their attitudinal predispositions.     

Television realism measures: The influence of program salience on global judgments

Five versions (four experimental and one control) of a questionnaire were randomly distributed to 190 participants as part of an experiment investigating whether judgments of global television realism are influence by the salience of program genre. Questionnaires contained items asking respondents how often they watch either 1) news programs, 2) reality‐based crime programs, 3) crime drama programs, or 4) day and evening soap operas, followed by perceived realism and demographic items.

Global measures of television realism were influenced by the viewing questions that preceded them, such that questions about more realistic programming prompted judgments that television programming in general is more realistic. Except for one condition, questions measuring the perceived realism of a specific genre, rather than television in general, were not influenced by the salience manipulation. These results call into question the utility of global television realism items.     

Trait verbal aggression,sports fan identification,and perceptions of appropriate sports fan communication

This study attempted to further the preliminary research in the area of sports and communication. Specifically, communication constructs including verbal aggression and context appropriateness were applied to the sports setting. Participants (n ‐ 407) completed questionnaires based on a team sporting event that they had recently watched. It was found that fans who were high in trait verbal aggression were (a) more likely to see verbal communication directed at the players and coaches during sporting events as appropriate, and (b) less likely to see fan display of support for their teams as an appropriate form of communication at sporting events. Participants who were high in fan identification were more likely to see displaying the team's insignia and verbal communication toward players and coaches as appropriate. Limitations and future directions for the area of sports communication are discussed.     

Effects of “Meaningful” Entertainment on Altruistic Behavior: Investigating Potential Mediators

Recent research has shown that exposure to entertainment media depicting moral beauty may not only influence viewers' affective responses, but also lead to altruistic behavior. Although the process has been tied to a set of feelings commonly referred to as elevation, the mechanisms by which the effects take place have not been examined. This experiment (N = 107) showed that participants who watched a clip portraying moral beauty were more likely to help with an unrelated volunteer task after viewing than those who watched a non-meaningful clip. The effect of the clip was mediated by the degree to which the clip produced mixed affective response in participants. Although the clip portraying moral beauty led to increased empathy with the character and increased feelings of elevation, neither of these predicted helping behavior after controlling for clip content. Helping behavior also increased when the help recipient was less similar to the participants (age, race, and university affiliation).     

Ways of Seeing Matter: The Impact of a Naturally Mapped Perceptual System on the Persuasive Effects of Immersive Virtual Reality Advertising

This study examines whether the naturalness of a device’s perceptual system, which defines the way users look around in the virtual environment, influences the persuasive effects of immersive virtual reality (IVR) advertising. In a between-subject experiment (N = 115), participants watched a 360-degree advertisement using one of three devices with different perceptual systems (a head-mounted display [HMD], a tablet, or a desktop computer, representing high, medium, and low naturalness respectively). The results revealed that participants who watched IVR advertising using a more naturally mapped perceptual interface (i.e., an HMD) reported higher levels of perceived naturalness than did those who used devices lower in naturalness (i.e., a tablet or a desktop computer). The use of a perceptual system with a higher level of natural mapping positively affected the sense of presence, which in turn enhanced advertising enjoyment and further improved the effects of IVR advertising, thereby yielding a three-step serial mediation model.     

Multitasking With Television Among Adolescents

Using Ecological Momentary Assessment, we explored predictors of adolescents' television (TV) multitasking behaviors. We investigated whether demographic characteristics (age, gender, race/ethnicity, and maternal education) predict adolescents' likelihood of multitasking with TV. We also explored whether characteristics of the TV-multitasking moment (affect, TV genre, attention to people, and media multitasking) predict adolescents' likelihood of paying primary versus secondary attention to TV. Demographic characteristics do not predict TV multitasking. In TV-multitasking moments, primary attention to TV was more likely if adolescents experienced negative affect, watched a drama, or attended to people; it was less likely if they used computers or video games.     

论互联网对电视情景喜剧创作的影响

网络为电视情景喜剧创作提供了内容元素,创造幽默的表现手段,实现了从网络语言到喜剧语言的转换,而且,网络资源的优势还丰富了电视情景喜剧的展示平台,创新了电视剧的营销模式。电视情景喜剧越来越多的借助互联网的各种元素,汲取网络文化的养分,必定是电视情景喜剧创作的一条创新之路。     

Repetition Increases Children's Comprehension of Television Content—Up to a Point

Two studies examined the effects of repeated viewing on children's comprehension of videos. In Study 1, 72 children aged 6–8 watched The Sword in the Stone. Afterwards, children who had seen the film before were compared with those for whom the film was novel. In Study 2, 291 children aged 4–8, watched one of two versions of a short story in which the main character's appearance was incongruous with her behavior. Children were tested after one or four exposures. Results of both studies indicated that repetition reduced initial developmental differences in comprehension and helped younger children inhibit the perceptual salience of characters’ appearance. However, children's understanding of the more complex causal sequences and the moral of the film in Study 1 remained low, despite prior exposure.     

Public interest programming: Taxation by regulation

This study examined the relationships among viewers’ family communication patterns, sex and pregnancy experience, music video viewing motivations, and viewers’ cognitive processing of a music video about teenage pregnancy. Respondents were high school students, who watched a music video and filled out questionnaires on two occasions. Results of a path analysis demonstrated different paths for girls and boys: For girls, family communication patterns and sexual/pregnancy experience were directly related to the activity with which they processed the video; for boys, family communication patterns had a direct path to activity, but also had a path through observational goals. Results suggest that family communication patterns may operate as enduring general cognitive structures that predict viewer activity.     

The Cultivation of Idealistic Moral Expectations: The Role of Television Exposure and Narrative Engageability

The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of how fictional television shapes people’s expectations about the moral workings of the real world, relying on cultivation theory and models of narrative and moral effects as theoretical frameworks. Using a cross-sectional sample of the general German adult population, this study investigated the relationship between television viewing time (overall television and three genres—crime drama, medical drama, sitcoms) and narrative engageability with three idealistic moral expectations (just world beliefs, professional altruism of doctors, tolerance of otherness). Although genre viewing was not related to idealistic moral expectations, overall television viewing and narrative engageability proved to have consistent positive relationships. Results indicate that television viewing, the audience’s eagerness to engage with narratives (narrative engageability), and moral expectations about the real world are intertwined and mutually dependent.     

Ambivalence Amplifies College Smokers' Negative Emotional Responses to Antismoking Information

Many smoking college students hold ambivalent attitudes toward smoking. Although ambivalence is widely believed to evoke negative affect, little research attention has been paid to how ambivalence may influence emotional responses to persuasive information. Participants in this study (N = 133 college smokers) completed a survey that included a presentation of novel and credible antismoking information. Structural equation modeling analyses showed that pre-exposure ambivalence was positively associated with postexposure negative emotions. Negative emotions, in turn, were associated with greater perceived message effectiveness. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.