Suchergebnisse

This study examined social and parasocial interaction from interpersonal attribution perspectives. Parasocial interaction is a perceived interpersonal relationship on the part of a television viewer with a mass media persona. We proposed that attributional confidence associated with parasocial interaction would mirror that resulting from social interaction and that personal construct theory and uncertainty reduction theory might add to knowledge about the nature of attributional confidence. Soap-opera-viewing college students (N = 105) completed questionnaires. Analysis revealed that, similar to social relationships, parasocial relationships with favorite soap opera characters were based, to some extent, on reduction of uncertainty and the ability to predict accurately the feelings and attitudes of the persona. The discussion focuses on implications of these findings for uncertainty reduction theory and personal construct theory.

The variable nature of audience activity was examined with a sample of 329 local television news viewers. Instrumental news viewing was expected to be related to audience intentionality, selectivity, and involvement with local news. Hierarchical regression found that affinity, selectivity, and involvement predicted intentionality; pass time motives, perceived realism, and reduced intentionality predicted nonselectivity; pass time motives and reduced affinity predicted distractions; and information and nonentertainment motives, perceived realism, and intentionality predicted involvement. Canonical correlation found two news viewing orientations. Instrumental use, or seeking exciting and entertaining information gratifications, was related positively to perceived news realism, affinity, intentionality, and involvement. Ritualized use, or more habitual and time-consuming viewing, was related negatively to news affinity, selectivity, and intentionality, and positively to coviewing distractions. Implications of the links between instrumental media use and audience activity for uses and effects research are discussed.

The cultivation perspective holds that heavy exposure to television's consistent messages leads viewers to be more fearful and mistrustful of others. The widespread adoption and use of new television technologies, however, may alter how television viewing cultivates social reality beliefs by allowing for greater programming diversity and greater viewer control. Two random-digit-dialed telephone surveys of adults in two U.S. cities were conducted to test the impact of cable, VCRs, and remote control devices on fear of crime and interpersonal mistrust. It was found that whereas interpersonal mistrust was linked to greater exposure to cable's broadcast-type channels, both fear of crime and mistrust were negatively related to increased exposure to more specialized and diverse cable channels. Fear of crime was also linked negatively to VCR ownership. The discussion suggests that mass communication researchers continue to explore the impact of new television technologies on traditional media effects.

Two issues in clutivation research were considered. First, because cultivation methodology contains an apparent response bias, relationships were examined between television exposure and positive statements of social perceptions: faith in others, life control, interpersonal connection, political efficacy, and safety. Second, an instrumental media uses and effects model was tested. Social perceptions were expected to be linked to viewing selectivity, intention, perceived realism, and attention. Questionnaires were administered to 392 adults. Partial correlations showed television exposure to be unrelated to the social attitudes; program selectivity was related to all social attitudes except interpersonal connection. Hierarchical regression analyses added that individual demographic differences, program selectivity, and perceived realism accounted for most of the variance in personal perceptions. Methodological and conceptual implications were discussed.