Communication Theory and Methodology 2005 Abstracts

Communication Theory and Methodology Division

Adolescents and the Interactions with Music Media: Self-Concept and Gender Attitudes from a Symbolic Interactionist Perspective • Michelle Arganbright, Washington State • Two hundred eighteen eighth-graders completed questionnaires addressing self-concept, gender attitudes, and involvement with music media: parasocial interaction, identification, desirability, and understanding of persuasive intent. Greater identification, desirability, and parasocial interaction related to lower self-evaluations of physical appearance and self-worth for girls, but not for boys. Media figures may become “significant others,” shaping adolescent self-concept. Therefore, media literacy education may not only mediate behavioral outcomes, but also the cognitive processes which define one’s sense of self.

A New Approach to Television Debate Research: on the Relationship Between Viewing and Voters’ Decision-Making Time • Young-Min Baek, Seoul National • This research divided voters into two groups: early decision-makers who decide on their preferred candidate before television debate season and late decision-makers who make their decisions during television debate season. In addition, the researcher used longitudinal data analysis method to consider the voters’ decision-making time. The result shows that television debates viewing of late decision-makers expedite their decision-making process. This means that late decision-makers decide on their preferred candidate after watching debates.

Wag The Blog? An Analysis of the Frames Used on the 2004 Presidential Candidate Websites • Shannon Bichard, Texas Tech • This study investigates the framing used by candidates in the 2004 presidential election. The analysis specifically focused on the official blog content posted for both George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry. Content analysis was used as an unobtrusive measure to record the time, space, and tone attributes used in the blog text for the 64 days prior to the election. An analysis of each candidate’s distribution of framing content was provided.

The Influence of Individual and Routine Level Gate Keeping Forces on the Professional Role Conceptions of Print and Online Newspaper Journalists • William P. Cassidy, Wisconsin-Whitewater • Utilizing a framework combining gatekeeping theory with Shoemaker and Reese’s (1996) hierarchical model of news influences, this study examined the influence of individual and routine gatekeeping forces on the professional role conceptions of print and online newspaper journalists. Data from a national survey of journalists (N=655) representing 271 daily newspapers found that routine level forces exerted more influence that individual level forces, thus supporting Shoemaker and Reese’s (1996) model.

Open Global Networks, Closed International Flows: World System and Political Economy of Links in Cyberspace • Tsan-Kuo Chang, Itai Himelboim, Adina Schneeweis, Mohamad Elmasry, George Anghelcev, Dong Dong, Sumi Kim, Madhavi Murty, Sela Sar and William Yimbo, Minnesota-Twin Cities • The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to propose a conceptual framework incorporating various theoretical perspectives in sociology and mass communication to identify the determinants of international flow and links of foreign news in cyberspace and second, to test this model using preliminary data collected from online news media in eleven countries. Against the backdrop of the world system theory, three specific hypotheses were tested.

Presidential Approval and Media Agenda Setting: A Test Of Media as Political Institution Model • Young Jae Choi, Hallym • This research tested a ‘media as political institution’ model in the context of the wartime presidency of President George W. Bush (February, 2001 — August, 2003). Employing time series regression analysis, we traced factors impacting the Washington Post coverage on four primary issues — war, economy, domestic and foreign issues. Our data revealed that the prestige paper rallied around the war mood by covering the war issue when it was in accordance with public support for the president.

What Makes Deliberation Possible? Structural Equation Models of Online and Face-to-Face Deliberation Process • Yun Jung Choi and Hyo Jung Kim, Syracuse • This paper identifies factors that influence the deliberation process by proposing a deliberation model. Six ideas, reciprocity, reasoned discourse, freedom of expression, open-mindedness, empathy and public interest were recognized as concepts that compose deliberation construct, and deliberation was measured based on the six concepts.

Building the Media’s Agenda: A Theoretical Model of Influences • Rita F. Colistra, North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This paper argues that a consistent framework is needed when studying influences on media content. Three approaches that have been used to study this area are examined: the hierarchical model, agenda building, and framing. Facets from each approach are incorporated into a new theoretical model of influences on media content (IOMC) that provides a strong framework for researchers interested in who is telling the media what to think about and possibly how to think about it.

Demand Characteristics in Assessment of Body Image Media Effects: Pervasive-Media, Seeming-Naïve, and the Good Subject Characteristics • Prabu David, Tom German and Natalie Guinsler, Ohio State • The purpose of this study was to examine effects of exposure to thin media ideals on perceived effects on satisfaction with weight and attractiveness. Female participants evaluated perceived effects on self, on female friends and female students on campus. In the control condition when respondents where asked about media in general, without priming with any exemplars of fashion models, participants implicated the media for dissatisfaction with ideal body weight and attractiveness.

The Role of Media in Childhood Obesity: A Look Mass Communication Perspectives • Ying Du, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Recent years have witnessed the rapid increase in obesity among American children. Obesity research has been done mostly by scholars in health-related fields. Although there is a wealth of studies regarding the role of media in childhood obesity, most of the address only one or two aspects of the relationships and none has given a panorama to the issues. Moreover, few studies are guided ny media effects theories.

Is it Thinking, Talking, or Both? A Lagged Dependent Variable Model of Discussion Effects on Political Knowledge • William P. Eveland Jr. and Tiffany Thomson, Ohio State • This study extends existing research on political discussion’s influence on political knowledge in two ways. First, it expands the measures of discussion-related cognition to include discussion elaboration and perspective taking. Second, it employs panel data, which permit stronger causal inferences than cross-sectional studies. Our findings indicate that, even controlling for prior knowledge, interest, news use and news elaboration, political discussion frequency and discussion elaboration are positively related to political knowledge.

A Test of Competing Models of the Non-Additive Effects of Political Discussion and News Media Use on Political Knowledge • William P. Eveland Jr., Ohio State and Dietram A. Scheufele, Wisconsin-Madison • We test competing hypotheses put forth in previous research regarding the moderating role of political discussion on the news use to political knowledge relationship. The communication confusion model predicts that discussion attenuates news effects, whereas the differential gains model predicts that discussion amplifies news effects. We report nine separate studies, including both cross-sectional and panel surveys and a laboratory experiment.

Partisan and Structural Balance in Newspaper Coverage of U.S. Senate Races in 2004 with Female Nominees • Frederick Fico, Eric Freedman and Brad Love, Michigan State • Nine newspapers covering U.S. Senate races in 2004 were mostly even-handed in the space and prominence given candidates. Reporter gender, newsroom diversity and newspaper size were associated with partisan imbalance giving more favorable treatment to Democrats. The partisanship of a story’s lead predicted the story’s structural imbalance, regardless of the party the imbalance favored. However, story partisan and structural imbalances were negligibly related, suggesting that news processing conventions rather than journalistic partisanship produced the imbalance.

Learning to Hate Americans In Singapore: A Test of Defleur and Defleur’s Master Theory of Effects of Mass Communicated Entertainment • Jami A. Fullerton, Oklahoma State and Matthew Hamilton, Oklahoma City • This study investigates the relationship between attitudes toward Americans and exposure to U.S.-produced entertainment media among a sample of 328 Singaporean college students. While overall attitudes toward Americans are negative, findings reveal a significant positive relationship between attitude toward Americans and using U.S.-produced media. This finding contradicts DeFleur and DeFleur’s Master Theory of Effects of Mass Communicated Entertainment and suggests that American popular culture may be a positive factor in views toward Americans worldwide.

The Columbia Shuttle Breakup: News Diffusion Comparison of a Local and Distant Phenomenon • Jack Glascock, Illinois State and Larry J. King, Stephen F. Austin State • This study examines the news diffusion process during the 2003 Columbia shuttle tragedy. Subjects in two locations, one local and one distant were surveyed during the week following the breakup. One difference was the prevalence of the telephone for the local group in first hearing about the breakup versus either face-to-face and television for the distant group.

Can Efficacy Manipulation Increase Political Participation? An Experimental Study on a Actual and Persuasory Political Efficacy • Jong Won Ha, Sun Moon University and Jong Hyuk Lee, Syracuse University • This study examined the effect of two types of political efficacy – actual efficacy and persuasory efficacy) experiment was designed and the intention of six different types of political participation were measured. 221 university students participated in this experiment.

Who Accepts News? Nonlinearity in Media Effects Susceptibility • Sungtae Ha, Texas • In this project, voters’ attribute priming susceptibility presidential campaign news was scrutinized for its relationship with one of the most researched variables in political psychology: information processing ability. A nonlinear model of media effectiveness in political communication was developed to test such a curvilinear relationship between attribute priming susceptibility and processing ability. This study found that voters with moderate processing ability were most susceptible to the media effect.

The Effects of Government Censorship of Media Coverage on Interest in the Censored Coverage: A Comparison of Theoretical Explanations • Andrew F. Hayes and Jason B. Reineke, Ohio State • The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush continues the implementation of a policy from the George H. W. Bush administration that forbids journalist access to photographs of caskets containing the U.S. military personnel killed in action returning to U.S. soil. Using experimental and correctional data from a survey conducted just after the 2004 Presidential election, we tested competing predictions from reactance and balance theories on the effects of government censorship of journalist coverage on interest in viewing such images.

The Agenda-Setting Function of National Vs. Local Media: A Time-Series Analysis for the Issue of Same-Sex Marriage • Joe Bob Hester and Rhonda Gibson, North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This study compares the agenda-setting effects of national and local media on public salience in a market where an issue was both local and national with the effects in a market where it was primarily national. A new measure of public salience is also introduced. Results indicate that agenda-setting effects of local and national media are very different, with local media exerting a stronger agenda-setting influence when the issue is both local and national.

Mired in Ire, Engrossed in Gross? The Effects of Negative Emotions on News Readers’ Memory for Information • Elliott Hillback, Wisconsin-Madison • This paper presents a two-study examination of the impact of negative emotions on memory for information during news reading. A newspaper story about a local sewage backup provided content, while quotations by affected residents were varied to provide anger, fear, or disgust stimuli. Overall, readers’ feelings of anger and disgust were generally confounded, even when they correctly identified the emotional tenor of the affected residents.

The Spiral of Silence: Comparing Psychological Antecedents and Opinion Expression in Face-To-Face and Computer-Mediated Discussion • Shirley Soo-Yee Ho, Wisconsin-Madison • Since it was introduced by Noelle-Neumann (1974), spiral of silence theory has been examined extensively in the context of traditional face-to-face communication, but its applicability to computer-mediated communication has been left relatively unexplored. This study examines a key issue in spiral of silence research: whether the nature of the communication setting (i.e., face-to-face discussion versus online chat-room discussion) in which individuals are asked to express opinions affects their willingness to do so.

Among the Youngest and Poorest: A Real-Life Civics Lesson in Baltimore, Maryland and the Political Socialization of 16- and 17-Year-Olds • Edward M. Horowitz, Cleveland State and Michel M. Haigh and Johan Wanstrom, Oklahoma and Kimberly Ann Parker Ivanov, Georgetown College • Research in the political socialization of children, teenagers, and young adults over the past 40 years has also shown that political cognition, attitudes, and behaviors are not only formed at a young age, but are influenced by parents, schools, peers, and the media. Due to a series of unlikely events, sixteen- and seventeen-year-old youth were able to vote in the September 2003 mayoral and city council primary elections in the city of Baltimore, Maryland.

Who’s Listening: Newspaper Coverage of the Presidents’ Weekly Radio Addresses During Times of Crisis • Beverly Horvit and Dave Ferman, Texas Christian • This study examines coverage of the presidents’ 1997-2004 weekly radio addresses in The New York Times and Houston Chronicle. Bush received significantly less coverage in the Times than Clinton; the Houston paper treated the presidents similarly. Foreign-policy speeches received less coverage than domestic speeches but were more likely to be on the front page. Of the seven crises studied, only the 1998 embassy bombings and Sept. 11, 2001, attacks resulted in more coverage of the radio addresses.

Perceived Influence of DTC Prescription Drug Advertising: Do the General Public and the Expert Think Differently? • Jisu Huh and Rita Langteau, Minnesota-Twin Cities • Abstract not available.

Presidential Debate Viewing and Post-debate News Analysis: Effects of Reflective Activation and Preflective Priming on Voting Intentions • Hyunseo Hwang, Seungahn Nah, Melissa Gotlieb and Doug M. McLeod, Wisconsin-Madison • Research on media priming effects examines how certain message features influence subsequent audience reactions by triggering particular frameworks for understanding. Typically, priming is seen as a process that affects future events. However, priming may also operate retrospectively. That is, news content may prompt reflection on a past event. In this paper, we identify two retrospective processes that are outcomes of priming: reflective activation and reflective priming.

Contributions of Personal Norms on the Integrated Framework of College Students’ Alcohol Consumption Behavior • Taejin Jung, Megan Fitzgerald and Xiao Wang, Florida State • The traditional behavioral predictive attempt of Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior and its’ application on the health arena named of integrative model of behavioral prediction has been under critique on the lack of comprehensiveness in that it overlooked “an individual’s internalized moral rules” which contradict with perceived norm construct. This study tried to investigate whether the separate addition of measures of personal norms in evaluating FSU alcohol campaign may substantially improve prediction of individual intentions on drinking.

Communication and Democratic Participation: A Critical Review and Synthesis • Ellen Kanervo, Weiwu Zhang and Caroline Sawyer, Austin Peay State • The past decade has seen the flourishing of scholarly work on citizen participation since Putnam’s provocative thesis that the number of Americans coming together in community organizations for the civic good is declining. However, conclusions concerning citizen participation and media’s role in it are often conflicting and contradictory, and comprehensive assessments of the participation literature are scarce.

Generational Differences in the Connections of Media Use, Civic Participation and Consumption Activities • Heejo Keum, Texas at San Antonio • This study investigates how the media effects on civic participation and consumption activities vary by generational groups. A secondary analysis of the 2000 DDB Life Style Survey data indicated that the effects of the Internet were smaller in the Civic Generation than in the other generational groups whereas the effects of traditional media appeared to be strongest in the Civic Generation. Finally, the inter-relationships between participation and consumption did not differ significantly depending on generation.

TV as a Gap Equalizer in Health Knowledge & Behavior: Effects of Media and Self-Efficacy on Diabetes Knowledge and Behavior Gaps • Jangyul Robert Kim and Youjin Choi, Florida • Using the knowledge-gap hypothesis, this study attempted to investigate the moderating effects of the media use for health information on people with different education level, age, and self-efficacy. Through an analysis of two linked mail surveys conducted among a representative groups of US adults (N=4,397), this study identified the potential of TV programs as a gap equalizer in the context of diabetes-related knowledge. While TV use reduced education-based and self-efficacy-based knowledge gaps, it increased age-based gaps.

Feel Like Learning? an Analysis of the Political Implications of Late Night Talk Shows in the 2004 Presidential Election • Nojin Kwak, Lauren Guggenheim, Xiaoru Wang and Brad Jones, Michigan • Findings of this study demonstrate that late night talk shows mattered for young Americans in the 2004 election. Overall, findings suggest that the impact of late night talk shows on electoral participation is weaker than its role in informing young voter. Notably, among all predictor variables examined, watching candidates on talk shows seems more helpful in getting campaign information among viewers.

A Multilevel Approach to Social Capital • Chul-joo Lee, Wisconsin-Madison • Research on social capital is overshadowed by theoretical and empirical confusions. It is quite natural that the problems prevalent in the conceptual definition of social capital bring about operational problems, making social capital studies fragmented and preventing them from developing into a coherent communication theory. In this paper, I aim to come up with a process model of social capital, which enables us to combine fragmented and disordered approaches to social capital studies under the larger theoretical model.

Framing and Cue Convergence: Moderating Roles of Political Knowledge and Partisanship • Nam-Jin Lee, Wisconsin-Madison • This paper examines the moderating role of political knowledge and partisanship on the effects of news frames and cues on social tolerance and attitudes toward national security and civil liberties. These moderating variables conjoin to exert a complex influence on the framing and cueing process. In this experiment, alternative versions of news stories about government surveillance of Arab groups under the authority of the USA Patriot Act were embedded within a Web-based survey.

Effects of Ideologies and Values on Media Choices: An Examination of Consumers of Conservative Media • Tien-Tsung Lee, Washington State • The increasing popularity of conservative media such as Fox News suggests that many consumers choose news sources that reflect their political views. Utilizing Uses & Gratifications and Hostile Media Perceptions as the theoretical framework, and employing alternative measures, this study is an in-depth analysis of audiences’ ideologies and values. It examines whether and how ideologies and values influence audiences’ media choices and political behavior.

Indexing Hypothesis and Discourse Analysis: A Case Study of the Impeachment of South Korean President • Jeongsub Lim, Missouri-Columbia • This study conducted a case study of the relationship between U.S. foreign policy and the three major U.S. newspapers’ foreign news coverage. The case was the impeachment of South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun on March 12, 2004. This study analyzed a content of four policy statements and 17 news stories regarding the impeachment crisis. Furthermore, thematic and rhetorical structures were qualitatively analyzed.

Using a Split-Ballot Survey to Explore the Robustness of the “M.I.P.” Question in Agenda-Setting Research: A Methodological Study • Young Min, Kyun Hee and Dixie Shipp Evatt, Syracuse and Salma I. Ghanem, Marquette and Spiro Kiousis, Florida and Maxwell McCombs, Texas and Toshio Takeshita, Meiji • Three aspects of the “most important problem” question used in agenda-setting setting research to measure issue salience among the public were examined. A split-ballot design in a state wide survey compared versions of the public agenda with a social frame of reference versus a personal frame of reference, versions using the traditional term “problem” versus “issue,” and the effects of question order. High correlations were found in all three sets of comparisons.

Children’s TV Viewing and Consumption of Unhealthy Foods • Anne M. Ochsenhirt and Sei-Hill Kim, Auburn • Analyzing data from a survey of fifth through seventh graders, this study examined whether television viewing might promote children’s unhealthy eating habits. The overall amount of television viewing was associated with greater consumption of unhealthy foods. Children’s attention to food advertisements also had a significant effect, indicating that food commercials might be responsible, at least in part, for producing the unhealthy consequence of television viewing. More importantly, our data indicated that food commercials might influence children’s conceptions about food.

The Role of Apathy, Complacency and Media Perceptions in Political Decision Making • Bruce E. Pinkleton, Yi-Chun Chen, Myiah Hutchens Hively, Rebecca Van de Vord, Ming Wang, Erica Weintraub Austin and David Cuillier, Washington State • A probability based telephone survey of registered voters in Washington state was conducted the week before the 2004 presidential election to examine citizens’ political decision making. Results showed that some citizens may not participate in public affairs because they are complacent rather than apathetic. These two variables–which separated into two factors in a factor analysis–operated in some ways that were similar and in some ways that were different in citizens’ political decision-making.

Gatekeeping Theory: An Evolution • Chris Roberts, South Carolina • Gatekeeping theory, one of the original theories to come from mass communication research, has remained important since its debut shortly after World War II. While not necessarily the most interesting or controversial of mass communication theories, a series of scholars has advanced it during the past decades. The foremost gatekeeping scholar today says the theory remains relevant, and the emergence of “weblogs” has returned gatekeeping to the forefront of research considerations.

Political Talk and Social Tolerance • Hernando Rojas, Rosanne Scholl, Lucy Atkinson, Seungahn Nah, Alexandra Vilela and Seung Hyun Lee, Wisconsin-Madison and Heejo Keum, Texas-San Antonio and Douglas M. McLeod and Dhavan V. Shah, Wisconsin-Madison • This study investigates the influence of political talk on tolerance in post-9/11 America. We argue that certain features of individuals’ political discussion networks increase tolerance. Three experiments sharing a similar focus — civil liberties — and format — experiment embedded in a Web-based survey — show that people who discuss politics more often are also more likely to support the rights of certain groups. This increased tolerance is extended to groups one is predisposed to dislike or that media have portrayed as extremists.

The Fourth Estate in the Digital Age: Formulating A New Role for Journalists Based in Theories of Civic Discourse • Jack Rosenberry, St. John Fisher College • Ideas drawn from theories of cyber-democracy, or use of the Internet’s interactive nature to foster political discourse, can be used to define new ways in which online journalists can become facilitators of that discourse.

Effects of Mood on Responses to Detective and Preventive Health Behavior Messages • Sela Sar and George Anghelcev, Minnesota-Twin Cities • This study examined the effects of positive and negative on behavioral intentions in response to preventive and detective health messages. We hypothesize that people in a positive mood will be more likely to adopt behaviors recommended in preventive health messages than behaviors recommended in detective health messages. However, people in a negative mood will be more likely to adopt behaviors recommended in detective health messages than behaviors recommended in preventive health messages.

My Friend’s Enemy: How Split-Screen Debate Coverage Influences Evaluation of Presidential Debates • Dietram A. Scheufele, Eunkyung Kim, Dominique Brossard, Wisconsin-Madison • Leading up to the 2004 presidential debates, there was considerable discussion about the mode of presentation of television, i.e., debate coverage with simultaneous reaction shots of the opponent while a candidate was speaking or coverage with isolated shorts of each candidate only. In fact, many commentators argued that split-screen coverage of Bush’s reactions to Kerry’s statements hurt the President during the first debate.

Taking Games Seriously: How Explication and Theory can Improve Video Game Research • Mike Schmierback, College of Charleston • Although mass communication scholars have begun to assess video games, this work lacks coherence in its theorizing and measurement. This paper suggests ways to improve research on video games. First, it presents a typology of potential gaming variables, focusing on the content, context, and technology of gaming. Second, it describes some of the existing literature on games, highlighting ways mass communication theory has been or could be used to improve and coordinate this research.

Constructing Contentiousness: Presidential Debate Modality, Political Talk, and Judgments of News Credibility • Dhavan V. Shah, Jaeho Cho, Seungahn Nah and Dominique Brossard, Wisconsin-Madison • Recent research has found that the levels of incivility in televised debate exchanges adversely affect political legitimacy, particularly when the appearance of contentiousness is intensified through the use of broadcast production of techniques such as close-up camera perspectives (Mutz & Reeves, 2005).

Tracking Presidential Campaign Websites: Similarities and Differences Between 2000 and 2004 • Boubacar Souley and Robert H. Wicks, Arkansas • This study analyzed the content of news releases posted on the presidential candidate websites during the 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns. Findings suggest topics such as education and social security that received significant attention in 2000 were supplanted by other topics such as terrorism and the Iraq War in 2004. Only three of the topics included among the top ten addressed in 2000 appeared in the top ten in 2004.

Internet Communication and its Relationship to Well-Being: Identifying Some Underlying Mechanisms • Patti M. Valkenburg and Jochen Peter, Amsterdam • The aim of this study was to improve our insight into the relationship between Internet communication and well-being. Drawing on a survey of 816 adolescents, we initially found that Internet communication was negatively related to well-being. However, when adolescents’ (a) closeness to friends and (b) their tendency to talk with strangers online were included in our Structural Equations Model, an entirely different pattern of results emerged.

Can You Hear Me Now? Evaluating Online Consultation in Singapore • Kevin Y. Wang, Washington • This paper evaluates the practice of online civic consultation in Singapore with a conceptual framework drawn from liberal democratic theories. The author surveys Singapore’s online consultation portal as well as the content of two selected discussion threads. The study found that while the discourse demonstrates characteristics of strong democratic deliberation, the quality of this communication is hampered by the lack of administrative moderation and the failure to adequately prepare participants before consultation process begins.

The Third-Person Effects of Political Attack Ads in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election • Ran Wei, South Carolina and Ven-hwei, National Chengchi • This study examines the indirect effects of extensive negative political attack ads in the 2004 presidential election from a third-person effects perspective. Results of a survey using a probability sample of 496 college students indicate that they believe attack ads harm others more than themselves. Moreover, the respondents tended to perceive attack ads in traditional media to have a greater harmful effect on self and others than attack ads on the Internet.

Evaluating Self and Others: Systematic Processing vs. Heuristics in the Third-Person Effect • H. Allen White, Murray State and Julie L. Andsager, Iowa • An experiment tested whether systematic reasoning and heuristic cues resulted in perceived third-person influence. A third-person effect was found in that subjects thought “others” would be more influenced by heuristic cues and process information heuristically. Conversely, subjects reported that the “self” was more influenced by systematic arguments and systematic processing. Discussed are implications for the third-person effect hypothesis as it relates to celebrities as sources in persuasive messages and the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion.

Underlying Mechanisms of Indirect Effects of Mood on Attitude: Cognitive vs. Motivation Mediation • JungAe Yang, Indiana • This study investigated the mechanisms of indirect effects of mood on persuasion processes by testing two competing hypotheses, i.e. motivational vs. cognitive hypothese. Consistent with motivational hypotheses, positive mood participants showed reduced processing, compared to those in the other two conditions; their attitudes and thought favorability were not different across strong and week argument groups. For those in the neutral and the negative moods, reading strong arguments produced more positive attitudes and more favorable thoughts.

The Impact of Source Types on Perceived Bias of Online News Sources • Li Zeng, Arkansas State and Walter B. Jaehnig, Southern Illinois-Carbondale • This study examines whether different types of sources quoted within online news stories affect individuals’ perception of source bias. One hundred and five college students participated in an experimental setting. The findings provide evidence for the applicability of the Elaboration Likelihood Model in an online news environment. When exposed to stories arousing a high level of motivation, participants reported that official sources were more biased than individuals affiliated with non-government organizations.

Exploring People’s Conceptions of Privacy in the Virtual World • Lara Zwarun, Texas-Arlington and Mike Z. Yao, California-Santa Barbara • This study uses Q-methodology to explore whether five dimensions of privacy identified from extant literature are meaningful ways of organizing people’s subjective concerns about online privacy. Results indicate that a majority of people display a similar pattern when asked to organize the statements based on spatial and psychological views of privacy, but not on the informational, rights, and boundary management perspectives, suggesting that interpretation of privacy can be subjective and requires more examination.

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