The Role of Perceived Control in Alcohol Prevention Campaigns

Optimistic bias provides a framework in this study to consider college students' knowledge about and perceptions of control over the effect of alcohol consumption on genes and health. Participants were 339 college students who completed a survey on genetics in the spring of 2001. This study confirmed that there is a significant relationship between knowledge and perceived control. In addition, the prediction that there are no differences between heavy and light drinkers with respect to their perceived knowledge and perceived control was supported. These results suggest the need to reconsider how prevention programs promote control over alcohol's use and effects because of the perceptions of invulnerability that may accompany feelings of control.     

Emotion Matters in Serial Arguments: The Effects of Anger and Compassion on Perceived Resolvability and Relationship Confidence in Dating Relationships

This study is designed to examine the effects of emotion on serial argument processes and outcomes. Specifically, it investigates the effects of anger and compassion on perceived resolvability and relationship confidence in dating relationships. Three main findings are reported. First, anger is negatively related to perceived resolvability, but compassion is positively related to it. Second, anger has a negative correlation with relationship confidence, but compassion has a positive correlation with it. Third, perceived resolvability mediates the effects of anger and compassion on relationship confidence.     

The Affections of the American Pickers: Commodity Fetishism in Control Society

This article examines the widespread popularity and criticism of American Pickers, a show that transforms commodity fetishism into televisual fare. The show presents the pickers as model consumers through three types of images-of-affection: action-images where exchange is presented as reality, affection-images that portray positive affection as spiritual possibility, and impulse-images that naturalize production as a source of value. Such representations have generated significant criticism for exploitation. I argue that these criticisms, although instructive about resistance in control society, remain limited because they consider Pickers a representation of reality rather than an active engineering of it. Instead, Pickers should be envisioned as an expression of control society, a business strategy that circulates images in order to generate feedback that can then be tracked, targeted, and channeled. Such strategies enable Pickers to control markets by transforming products and directing access. Focusing criticism on the representations misses these mechanisms and thus lacks efficacy. Instead, Pickers’ representations, despite exposing rather than concealing commodity fetishism, serve to create a second fetish, one that masks strategies for controlling markets and creating unequal access.     

Two studies concerning the predictive validity of the personal report of communication apprehension in employment interviews

Two studies were conducted to provide evidence concerning the predictive validity of the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension in Employment Interviews (PRCAEI). The first study, conducted in a laboratory setting, indicated that those who scored relatively high on the PRCAEI were recommended to be hired less often than those with relatively low PRCAEI scores. High PRCAEIs were also seen as less trustworthy, less task oriented, and less socially attractive than low PRCAEIs. The second study, conducted in the field, found a negative relationship (‐.84) between candidates’ scores on the PRCAEI and the rank they were given by an interviewer. That is, the higher one's PRCAEI score, the lower interviewers ranked him or her relative to others interviewing for the position. These studies offer strong support for the predictive validity of the PRCAEI and suggest CA is an extremely important variable in job interviews.     

Enacted Support and Well-Being: A Test of the Mediating Role of Perceived Control

This study examined the unique effects of three forms of enacted (i.e., received) support (emotional, unpaid assistance, financial) on well-being and tested the potential mediating role of perceived control. The analysis was based on a national sample collected through the second wave of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) survey conducted in 2004–2006. Findings revealed emotional support exhibited a positive effect direction on well-being, while unpaid assistance and financial support both showed negative effect directions. Perceived control was found to fully mediate the relationships between all three forms of enacted support and well-being: Emotional support boosted well-being through higher perceived control, while unpaid assistance and financial support reduced well-being through lower perceived control. Findings provide evidence that effects of social resources on well-being are mediated through psychological resources.     

In Defense of Gaydar: Reality Television and the Politics of the Glance

The reality dating programs Boy Meets Boy and Playing It Straight purported to illustrate the elusiveness of performing sexual orientation in a culture that increasingly understands sexuality as fluid. By highlighting stereotypes typically associated with both gay and straight men, the shows exposed the difficulties of determining sexual orientation with “gaydar”. Both gay and straight participants were represented as equally incapacitated to identify sexual orientation. In doing so, the programs sought to advance liberal democratic conceptions of tolerance and equality. Employing Foucault's conception of the “glance,” I explore the problems inherent in relocating “gaydar” to the small screen.     

The Desire for Fame: An Extension of Uses and Gratifications Theory

Social network sites (SNSs) enable users to self-disclose to broad and anonymous audiences. Drawing on social cognitive theory (SCT) and the uses and gratifications (U&G) approach, this study investigates how reality television (RTV) cultivates desire for fame in its audience, which is operationalized as a human desire motivating nondirected self-disclosure (NDSD) online, a technique seeking fame. Results from an online survey (N = 221) show that whether watching RTV with friends interacted with time spent viewing RTV to affect desire for fame, which in turn affected the use of SNSs to pursue fame. In addition, exhibitionism, a motive of SNS use for the purpose of fame, fully mediated the relationship between desire for fame and NDSD. These results have implications for refining U&G and new media research.     

Assessing the Relationship Between Perceived Message Sensation Value and Perceived Message Effectiveness: Analysis of PSAs From an Effective Campaign

The current study is an analysis of public service announcements (PSAs) from an effective safer sex campaign that utilized a sensation-seeking targeting (SENTAR) approach. Two random samples of heterosexually active young adults (sample one N = 1,463, sample two N = 895) viewed different sets of safer sex PSAs on a laptop computer and answered questions about their perceived sensation value and perceived effectiveness. Multiple regression analyses examined the impact of (a) demographic, (b) individual difference, (c) sexual context, and (d) message variables including perceived message sensation value (PMSV) on the perceived message effectiveness (PME) of the PSAs. Results indicated that females, African Americans, condom users, and those with less education viewed the PSAs as slightly more effective than males, Caucasians, non-condom users, and those with more education. PMSV and personal utility emerged as the strongest predictors of PME, even after controlling for all of the aforementioned variables. Implications for further research on PMSV and perceived and actual effectiveness of PSAs are offered.     

美国“新闻式电视批评”在媒介体系中的权力角色

美国新闻式电视批评在媒介组织体系中,扮演着联袂聚焦的权力角色。电视媒体因而视其为一种营销途径,水门事件以后,新闻式批评有意识地反抗这种角色,张扬专业主义批评精神。国内的新闻式批评,还没有发挥其应有的产业作用和文化影响,但仍然值得关注,这对于媒介研究本身及理解当下的文化现实,都是极有意义的。     

Queens for a Day: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and the Neoliberal Project

This paper moves beyond a conventional critique of gay stereotyping on Bravo's popular makeover show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy to consider how the show puts gay cultural expertise to work to reform a heterosexual masculinity that is compatible with the neoliberal moment. At issue are the newly public acknowledgement of gay taste and consumer expertise; the “crisis of masculinity” that requires that heterosexual men must now attend to their relationships, image, and domestic habitus; and the remaking of the straight guy as not only an improved romantic partner—the metrosexual—but a more flexible, employable worker. The author concludes by considering how camp deconstructs some of Queer Eye's most heteronormative aims, even while leaving its class and consumption rationales intact.     

Lying and deception detection in television families

This study explores the use of lying and lie‐detection among television families in situation comedies. The findings indicate that (a) lying was prevalent on these television shows; (b) lies to spare others were told most frequently; (c) the majority of lies went undetected; (d) the husband/father character told the most lies; (e) children were the most honest characters in situation comedies and (f) peripheral characters were the recipients of many lies. Two conclusions were drawn from these findings. First, this study gives insight into the content of family communication as presented on television. Secondly', the study suggests television families mirror real families with respect to family structure and the ability to detect deception.     

The Influence of Media Type on the Perceived Influence of Media Contents and on the Support to Restrict Controversial Messages

The aim of this study was to explore the intersection between Medium Theory (MT) and Third-Person Effect (TPE) and evaluate how the research on MT can further our knowledge of the TPE. The study has proven that the perceptual hypothesis of the TPE is confirmed in different media contents and across media types (TV and the Internet) and that media type has an impact on the magnitude of the TPE. In addition, media type can also be a requisite for TPE to occur. On the other hand, the study shows that media type can have an influence on people’s support to restrict controversial content, in particular, pornography.     

高校图书馆员组织支持感的调查与分析

从程序公平程度、上级支持感、组织认可程度3个维度,针对陕西省高校图书馆员组织支持感的调查显示,组织支持感在图书馆人力资源管理中尤为重要,但我国高校图书馆员组织支持感缺失现象严重。对此,高校图书馆可以通过采取主动支持措施、采用个性化支持手段、提高程序公平、构建良好支持性氛围等方式,提升馆员组织支持感。     

Television Viewing,Racial Attitudes,and Policy Preferences: Exploring the Role of Social Identity and Intergroup Emotions in Influencing Support for Affirmative Action

This paper explores how White viewers' perceived portrayals of African-Americans and Latino-Americans on TV influence their real-world feelings and beliefs about these outgroups, which in turn affect their support for race-targeted policies. A computer-based survey (N=323) included measures relating to perceptions about racial/ethnic groups on television, real-world stereotypical beliefs, prejudicial feelings, and support for affirmative action policies. The affective-cognitive model of policy reasoning presented in this paper extends and improves upon prior research in several ways. It considers intergroup emotions as an important mediator by including prejudicial feelings toward racial/ethnic outgroups in the path analyses. Unlike past research that typically grouped all negative stereotypes into one global measure, this study explores how specific types of stereotypes such as criminality and laziness work independently and simultaneously to influence policy preferences. Finally, this integrated cognitive-affective model of policy reasoning is applied to both perceptions of African-Americans and of Latino-Americans, which provides greater confidence in the applicability of the model. Implications of the results and directions for future research are discussed.     

Effects of Actual (Manipulated) and Perceived Similarity on Liking in Get-acquainted Interactions: The Role of Communication

The effects of actual and perceived similarity on interpersonal outcomes (e.g., liking) in initial interactions were examined in a live interaction paradigm, which also included a pre-interaction manipulation of bogus similarity or dissimilarity. Pairs of previously unacquainted students engaged in a two-segment interaction using a structured self-disclosure task. One member of the pair was assigned to disclose while the other listened in the first segment; the two then switched roles in the second segment. Participants who received bogus information (prior to the interaction) that the other was similar expected to experience more liking toward the other and enjoyment of the interaction, relative to those who received bogus dissimilarity information. The pre-interaction manipulation of similarity/dissimilarity, however, did not generally affect liking and other affiliative outcomes once the pairs interacted. Perceived similarity was strongly associated with liking, closeness, and the other affiliative outcomes. Furthermore, more support was found that liking leads to similarity (Morry, 2005) than that similarity leads to liking in the initial interactions.     

The Bachelor: Whiteness in the Harem

This examination of the representation of whiteness and women of color in the reality-based television series The Bachelor shows how the series is “raced.” It is a context in which only white people find romantic partners, a process that women of color work to facilitate. The Westernized trope of the Eastern harem structures The Bachelor, duplicating in the series the imperialist, Orientalist, and oppressive racist premises of the harem trope.     

The Role of Perceived Self-Efficacy in the Information Seeking Behavior of Library and Information Science Students

This study investigated the self-efficacy perceptions of Israeli library and information science students regarding their information seeking behavior. That is, it examined the judgments that participants make of their searching abilities. The study was based on Bandura's four sources of self-efficacy information: past performance or mastery experiences, vicarious experiences of observing the experiences of others, social feedback and affective states. An online survey presenting the Information Seeking Self-Perception Scale (IRSPS) was distributed and 205 students completed the questionnaire anonymously. Findings show that participants reported a high level of self-efficacy and that three of the four sources of self-efficacy information were significant in constructing their self-efficacy beliefs. Correlations between self-efficacy percepts and several socio-demographic variables revealed no gender-based differences. A significant correlation was found between age and degree and the sources with more influence. Older postgraduate students reported being more impacted by their mastery experiences, their affective states and social feedback. The implementation of the Information Seeking Self-Perception Scale (IRSPS) can be valuable when designing and implementing LIS academic programs for different groups of students.     

娱乐节目与快乐哲学——韩国电视娱乐节目分析

本文通过对韩国电视娱乐节目的分析,探讨娱乐节目在韩国公共文化生活中的意义。韩国娱乐节目以快乐主义为价值取向,以娱乐为本位,显示了后现代文化的某些美学旨趣。作为在传播中生产的文本形式,娱乐节目的价值应置于传播情景中理解。     

The Typhoid Marys of the Left: Gender,Race, and the Broadcast Blacklist

Scholarly accounts of gender, race, and television in the 1950s have mainly focused on the ideological content of programming that ultimately made it onto the air. This research has played an important role in reckoning with the political and cultural legacies of 1950s television. But the focus on ideology and content has prevented us from fully understanding the repressive nature of anti-communist thought and action, both in terms of the powerful ways in which the broadcast blacklist made the production of progressive themes and images impossible, and in terms of how the fear that followed from the blacklist repressed the memory that such alternatives had ever existed. Counter to the images of white suburban women we have inherited from the 1950s, the first two casualties of the broadcast blacklist were professional women who were politically active—white actor Jean Muir and African American musician Hazel Scott—whose involvement in civil rights was deemed evidence of their communist sympathies. This essay builds on earlier research on gender and 1950s television not by analyzing the absence of strong women, people of color, immigrants, and working-class families from the televisual landscape, but by looking at the elimination of the very cultural workers writing, agitating, and fighting to broadcast these representations.