Reducing Native Advertising Deception: Revisiting the Antecedents and Consequences of Persuasion Knowledge in Digital News Contexts

Building on the persuasion knowledge model, this study examines how audience characteristics and native advertising recognition influence the covert persuasion process. Among a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults (N = 738), we examined digital news readers’ recognition of a sponsored news article as advertising. Although fewer than 1 in 10 readers recognized the article as advertising, recognition was most likely among younger, more educated consumers who engaged with news media for informational purposes. Recognition led to greater counterarguing, and higher levels of informational motivation also led to less favorable evaluations of the content among recognizers. News consumers were most receptive to native advertising in a digital news context when publishers were more transparent about its commercial nature. Beyond theoretical insights into the covert persuasion process, this study offers practical utility to the advertisers, publishers, and policymakers who wish to better understand who is more likely to be confused by this type of advertising so that they can take steps to minimize deception.     

A Normative Approach to Shaping College Students' Attitudes Toward Organ Donation

This study tested the effects of normative influence on increasing college students' attitudes, intentions, and willingness to communicate about organ and tissue donation (OTD). It was hypothesized that students would look to their peers (referent group) in forming their own attitudes about organ donation. Three hundred thirty-nine (N = 339) participants were randomly assigned to one of five experimental conditions: (1) control group; (2) general referent/normative message group; (3) specific referent/normative message group; (4) general referent/counternormative message group; and (5) specific referent/counternormative message group. An interaction effect was predicted between message type (normative > counternormative) and attributed message source (specific referent > general referent). Students reported highly favorable attitudes toward OTD, moderate-to-high levels of intentions to become organ donors and willingness to communicate about OTD. The hypothesis that participants within the normative message condition would report more favorable attitudes, intentions, and willingness to communicate about OTD compared to participants within the counternormative message condition was supported for participants' willingness to communicate about OTD. The second hypothesis that participants within the specific referent condition would express more favorable attitudes, intentions, and willingness to communicate was rejected.     

Nuances about the Role and Impact of Affect in Inoculation

This study examined the role and impact of affect in resistance. A three-phase experiment was conducted. The results indicated that inoculation treatments conferred resistance and exerted nuanced outcomes involving cognitive and affective responses to counterarguments and affect. The investigation also compared the effectiveness of cognitive, affective-positive, and affective-negative treatments. The results revealed that affective-negative messages were superior in eliciting threat, issue involvement, and cognitive counterarguing output and in enhancing the cognitive content of associative networks.     

Media discourse and perception of game regulatory issues

This study examines how the issue of game regulation has been discussed and influenced public perception by exploring ideologically differing media outlets’ distinct uses of frames by analyzing news contents (N = 1,217) and public opinion survey of the national sample of Korean gamers (N = 1,362), who play games currently. The analyses include the influence of media on attitudes toward game regulation, perception of games, and frame adoption, based on the results of news content analysis. The study found that (a) mainstream media was ambivalent about game issues and tended to define gaming and gamers in sensationalistic ways; (b) while the dynamics of media effects on public attitudes toward game regulation are complex, exposure to game-related news content significantly impacted public attitudes; mass media that highlight the negative aspects of games have strong impacts on public perception toward games, which may ultimately affect attitudes toward game regulation.     

Anger,fear, uncertainty,and attitudes: a test of the cognitive-functional model

The cognitive-functional model of discrete negative emotions and attitude change (CFM; Nabi, 1999) attempts to bridge the theoretical gap between “emotional” and “rational” approaches to persuasion by focusing on how emotions motivate attention to and processing of persuasive messages. As a first test of the CFM, this study explored the effects of 2 emotions, anger and fear, and 2 levels of expectation of message reassurance, certainty and uncertainty, on attitudes toward domestic terrorism legislation. Results supported a main effect for emotion type, suggesting that anger promotes deeper information processing than fear, and a main effect for reassurance certainty level, with uncertainty promoting deeper information processing. The expected interaction between emotion type and reassurance expectation level was not found. Implications of these findings for the model and persuasion research generally are discussed.     

Processing of Sexual Media Messages Improves Due to Media Literacy Effects on Perceived Message Desirability

This study tested the double-edged desirability hypothesis to investigate whether a lack of reduction in desirability perceptions signified failure of a media literacy intervention to reduce the appeal of sexual portrayals or whether it instead represented an improved awareness of message-design techniques and, therefore, a successful intervention. Data from two media literacy curriculum evaluations, both pretest–posttest quasi-experiments with control groups (N₁ = 922, M = 14.13, SD = 1.07; N₂ = 1,098, M = 14.26, SD = 1.06) showed that the media literacy treatment in both studies eliminated the effect of desirability on participants’ attitudes, reduced the effect of message desirability on participants’ expectancies, and reduced the effect of message desirability on participants’ efficacy in one of the evaluations. The results supported the double-edged desirability hypothesis, which holds that media literacy education can diminish the influence of desirable but unrealistic sexual media messages on adolescents’ decision making concerning sex, regardless of whether it decreases their affinity for the messages. This approach appears to represent a more effective alternative to demonizing media messages teens find desirable.     

US host nationals' attitudes toward Japanese: the role of communication and relational solidarity in the intergroup contact hypothesis

Guided by the intergroup contact hypothesis and intergroup contact theory, the authors examined US Americans' (N=403) communication experiences and relational solidarity with their most frequent Japanese contact and associations with their attitudes toward Japanese as a cultural group. Structure Equation Modeling (SEM) results showed that both communication frequency and quality had an indirect effect through relational solidarity on affective, behavioral, and cognitive attitudes, demonstrating the critical mediating role of relational solidarity. Results also revealed that communication quality was positively and directly associated with the attitudinal measures. Implications of the findings are discussed with respect to prior literature on relational communication in intergroup and intercultural contexts.     

Children's Literature in the Undergraduate Course on Communication Research Methods

Objective: Students will develop positive attitudes toward communication research by linking new values and principles with the familiar values and principles contained in children's literature

Course: Communication Research Methods

Objective: Students will develop positive attitudes toward communication research by linking new values and principles with the familiar values and principles contained in children's literature     

How less is truly more: Merging library support services

ABSTRACT

In the summer of 2010, to provide a “one-stop shop” service point to Woodruff Library patrons, the Circulation, Reference, and Learning Commons (LC) desks merged into the unified Library Service Desk (LSD) under Access Services. Last year, due to organizational changes in the library and IT, and anticipated support needs of the new LC spaces and technologies, Student Digital Life opened a separate LC Technical Support desk. The lessons of the year of the two desks, funding considerations, and the persistent goal to streamline the experience of our patrons resulted in transitioning the functions of the LC desk to LSD, thus evolving it to new organizational and operational levels.     

“Pick and choose” opinion climate: How browsing of political messages shapes public opinion perceptions and attitudes

ABSTRACT

High-choice media environments allow people to cocoon themselves with like-minded messages (confirmation bias), which could shape both individual attitudes and perceived prevalence of opinions. This study builds on motivated cognition and spiral of silence theory to disentangle how browsing political messages (both selective exposure as viewing full articles and incidental exposure as encountering leads only) shapes perceived public opinion and subsequently attitudes. Participants (N?=?115) browsed online articles on controversial topics; related attitudes and public opinion perceptions were captured before and after. Multi-level modeling demonstrated a confirmation bias. Both selective and incidental exposure affected attitudes per message stance, with stronger impacts for selective exposure. Opinion climate perceptions mediated selective exposure impacts on attitudes.     

Examining the “Blanket of Protection” Conferred by Inoculation: The Effects of Inoculation Messages on the Cross-protection of Related Attitudes

Although the effectiveness of inoculation as a strategy for promoting resistance to attitude change is fairly well established, the potential of inoculation messages to offer cross-protection for related, but untreated, attitudes warrants additional attention from scholars. The reported study tested the “blanket of protection” conferred by inoculation. Participants (N = 118) were randomly assigned to read an inoculation message addressing a target topic and subsequently had their attitudes toward three related, but untreated, topics attacked. The results offer some evidence that inoculation messages can confer cross-protection for related attitudes. Participants in the inoculation condition reported greater perceptions of threat, greater counterarguing, and less attitude change in response to attacks than participants in the control condition for two of the three untreated topics. Counterarguing in response to attacks on untreated attitudes appears to be primarily responsible for cross-protection.     

How Young,Uninsured Americans Respond to News Coverage of Obamacare: An Experimental Test of an Affective Mediation Model

This experiment integrated theory from multiple domains to examine how aspects of news coverage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and differences in participants’ cognitive and emotional contingent conditions interact to shape attitudes and behavioral intentions toward health care legislation. Using a sample of uninsured young adults (N = 1,056), we tested an affective mediation model, which assessed the mechanisms through which media frames, exemplar case studies, and individual predispositions affect this type of news consumer. Results demonstrate the complicated pathways through which emotions mediate the effects of news coverage of ACA based on political predispositions, the need for orientation toward the health care issue, and the influence of equivalency framing in the form of example cases. These findings contribute to a more nuanced explanation of the causal mechanisms underpinning framing effects of public policy news coverage on an understudied population. The need for further examination of emotion along with cognition when investigating framing effects of public policy news is discussed, and the importance of exemplar cases as a significant manifestation of the effects equivalence framing is highlighted.     

The relationship of communication apprehension and interaction involvement to perceptions of computer‐mediated communication

This study investigated how the interpersonal traits of communication apprehension (CA) and interaction involvement (II) are related to one's attitudes toward and use of computer‐mediated communication (CMC). Data were collected by administering a self‐report survey to a sample of 133 participants, and results were analyzed with multiple regression. Findings revealed that CA and II failed to predict CMC attitudes. However, each trait predicted communication style during online interaction. Findings are interpreted within the context of current theories of CMC.     

Taking sides in the war on news: exploring curvilinear associations and group differences related to perceptions of news media as threat

ABSTRACT

The free press performs essential democratic functions, but widespread negative attitudes toward the press threaten its legitimacy and effectiveness as a check on formal institutions. In order to combat these attitudes, media organizations must understand who holds them and why. A survey-based study of U.S. adults (N?=?2052) focuses on associations between perceptions of the news media industry as a threat to political performance and a range of politically oriented behaviors (i.e. news media exposure, political talk, political participation). Analyses reveal a series of non-monotonic relationships. Group differences between those who hold the most extreme views concerning news-media-as-threat are also explored. The opposing groups are distinct in some important ways (e.g. ideology, race), but are also found to be surprisingly similar (e.g. income, education, gender, news media exposure). The results suggest new strategies for maintaining and restoring confidence in media organizations.     

Stereotyped Identification: How Identifying with Fictional Latina Characters Increases Acceptance and Stereotyping

This article applies the concept of stereotyped identification—the idea that cognitively and emotionally identifying with fictional minority characters can simultaneously increase acceptance of minorities while reinforcing stereotypes about how they look, act, and talk—to the context of Latina television characters. Specifically, we employed a national survey measuring participants’ exposure to Latina TV characters; levels of identification with TV characters; and attitudes toward, and stereotypes about, Latinas. Results are consistent with the prediction that through identification, exposure to Latina TV characters is related to more favorable feelings toward Latinas, as well as higher levels of stereotyped views of Latinas as sexualized and melodramatic.     

Populist Twitter Posts in News Stories

Research in information processing suggests that the journalistic practice of embedding right-wing populist Twitter posts in news may stimulate political polarization. To test this notion, we conducted an online experiment (N?=?379). We investigated how highlighted right-wing populist statements affected individuals from different ideological stances and whether potential effects were determined by Twitter-specific characteristics (Twitter frame, profile picture). We exposed participants to two articles, each including a statement by a politician of the Austrian Freedom Party. In the first group, the statements were not highlighted (control group). In the second and third group, the statements appeared as conventional block quotes either without (G2) or with (G3) a picture of the politician. In the fourth and fifth group, the statements were highlighted as Twitter posts, again either without (G4) or with (G5) a picture of the politician. Results revealed that all highlighting conditions increased statement recognition among left-wing individuals. However, the full Twitter post condition exerted the strongest effect. Higher recognition then decreased left-wing individuals’ anti-immigrant attitudes and sympathy toward the right-wing populist candidate. Thus, embedding right-wing populists’ Twitter posts may induce disconfirmation bias among left-wing voters and trigger a process in which they strengthen their initial attitudes.     

Moderating effects of collectivism on customized communication: a test with tailored and targeted messages

A growing body of research has shown that customized messages have certain advantages over non-customized ones such as being more memorable and more persuasive. However, most prior studies tested customization effects with American participants only. It remains a mystery in the literature how people from other cultures may process customized messages. The current article examined the effects of two types of customized information, tailored and targeted, through two studies. Thirty Chinese working professionals and students in the US participated in study 1 and 56 Asian students in Hong Kong participated in study 2. In both studies, participants' tendencies toward collectivistic and individualistic cultures were measured. It was found that more collectivism-oriented participants generated higher recall and more favorable attitudes toward targeted messages, whereas less collectivism-oriented participants generated higher recall and more favorable attitudes toward tailored messages.     

Each Medium Tells a Different Story: The Effect of Message Channel on Narrative Persuasion

Limited attention has been given to the medium of story presentation in this process of narrative persuasion. The present study (N = 243) fills this gap by directly comparing narrative involvement across print and audiovisual versions of the same cervical cancer-related story. The mediation analysis revealed that exposure to an audiovisual narrative was associated with higher levels of cognitive and emotional involvement than exposure to the exact same narrative in its printed form. Yet the higher levels of transportation in the audiovisual condition came at a price of enhancing psychological reactance, eliminating the relative advantage of the film narrative.     

Investigating Neutralization Strategies in Digital Piracy: The Role of Content Preferences and Social Norms

ABSTRACT

Digital piracy is perceived as a victimless crime and therefore still challenges media industries. According to the neutralization theory, criminal behavior is more likely if individuals are able to justify it. As little is known about inhibitors and drivers of these cognitive processes, the current study investigated such preconditions by linking neutralization to social norms and content preferences (movies and series) in order to explain piracy attitudes and behavior. Results of an online survey which adopted a conjoint-task showed that attitudes toward digital piracy mediate neutralization effects on digital piracy behavior. Injunctive norms and the preference for independent movies foster neutralization effects.