Mass Communication by Anne Bartsch
Journal of Children and Media, 2017
This study examines joint influences of parental socialization and socialization via mass media o... more This study examines joint influences of parental socialization and socialization via mass media on children’s expression of emotions. The effect of parental approval of their child’s expression of emotions, on the child’s approval of TV characters expressing the emotion, and the influence of both on the child’s expression of emotions within the past seven days is tested for the emotions fear, sadness, anger, and happiness with a representative survey of children (N = 1458) aged 6–19 in Germany. Moderating age and gender effects were also considered. Consistent across the four emotions, results showed that socialization of emotions via mass media is driven by internalized parental socialization but has a comparably strong effect of its own on the child’s expression of emotion that adds to the variance explained, especially with regard to anger and happiness. Implications for the conceptualization of parental emotion socialization and emotional socialization via media are discussed.
Communication Methods and Measures, 2016
Measuring audiences’ selective exposure to media content in naturalistic settings constitutes a m... more Measuring audiences’ selective exposure to media content in naturalistic settings constitutes a methodological challenge that has only partly been resolved. We present a new methodological approach that is based on the open-source web analytics software Piwik. This method allows for the tracking of selective exposure and facilitates the integration of selective exposure data with online survey data. To ease data handling, we created a plug-in turning Piwik into a scientific research tool. After discussing the theoretical and methodological background of collecting data on user selections, we provide step-by-step instructions on the integration of Piwik with online content, survey software, and the merging of tracking and survey data. Finally, we discuss research applications, advantages, and limitations of the new research tool.
Journal of Communication, 2016
Media violence research has mainly focused on aggression effects so far. But are audiences' thoug... more Media violence research has mainly focused on aggression effects so far. But are audiences' thoughts about violent portrayals actually confined to aggressive fantasies? This study examines more complex thought processes about violent portrayals that involve reflection, meaning-making, and truth-seeking about violence as a fact of social reality. We conducted qualitative in-depth interviews with 39 participants from different backgrounds, including professions at risk for exposure to violence, media professionals, and interviewees from the general population. The interviews revealed three main categories of reflective thoughts about violent media content, including thoughts about (a) the truth value, (b) the life-world relevance, and (c) the psychological and moral implications of the violence depicted. Participants also discussed unrealistic content features that interfered with meaning-making.
Communication Research
Theories of eudaimonic entertainment and destigmatization concur to suggest that empathic feeling... more Theories of eudaimonic entertainment and destigmatization concur to suggest that empathic feelings elicited by portrayals of Paralympic athletes can increase audience interest in para-sports and can lead to prosocial attitude change toward persons with disabilities in general. Three experiments were conducted to examine this dual, mutually reinforcing function of empathy in promoting public awareness and destigmatization. Participants watched television spots about the Paralympics that elicited different levels of empathy. As expected, structural equation modeling revealed indirect effects of empathy on audience interest, attitudes, and behavioral intentions that were mediated by elevation and reflective thoughts (Studies 1 and 2), and by feelings of closeness, elevation, and pity (Study 3). Mediation effects were positive for reflective thoughts, elevation, and closeness, but were negative for pity. Results are discussed with regard to problematic effects of pity, and concerns that elevating “supercrip” narratives might lead to negative perceptions of persons with disabilities in general.
Papers by Anne Bartsch
Journal of Communication, 2014
ABSTRACT Research on audience interest in violent media content is extended to include individual... more ABSTRACT Research on audience interest in violent media content is extended to include individuals' appreciation of certain types of violent portrayals as a meaningful and valuable reflection of reality. A sample of 482 German and U.S. adults aged 18–82 watched movie trailers that varied in pretest ratings of gore and meaningfulness, but were equivalent in suspense. As hypothesized, perceived levels of gore and meaningfulness interacted to predict individuals' reported likelihood of watching the full movie, such that a negative influence of gore on viewing likelihood was compensated at high levels of meaningfulness. These findings suggest that, in addition to other motivations such as suspense, some types of violent and even gory content might be sought as an opportunity for meaning-making.
Human Communication Research, 2010
Acknowledgements: We extend our thanks to Matt Jordan and Matt McAllister for their assistance wi... more Acknowledgements: We extend our thanks to Matt Jordan and Matt McAllister for their assistance with data collection. We also thank Ron Tamborini for his helpful discussions with us about the issues addressed in this article.
Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts
SPIEL
This article presents an extended dual-process model of entertainment effects on political inform... more This article presents an extended dual-process model of entertainment effects on political information processing and engagement. We suggest that entertainment consumption can either be driven by hedonic, escapist motivations that are associated with a superficial mode of information processing, or by eudaimonic, truth-seeking motivations that prompt more elaborate forms of information processing. This framework offers substantial extensions to existing dual-process models of entertainment by conceptualizing the effects of entertainment on active and reflective forms of information seeking, knowledge acquisition and political participation.
Most people have one or more favorite pieces of media entertainment (e.g., movies, TV shows, nove... more Most people have one or more favorite pieces of media entertainment (e.g., movies, TV shows, novels, video games), and some personal candidates for the worst of them ever. But how exactly are such evaluative judgments formed? What are the underlying psychological processes of media entertainment evaluations? And why do we sometimes feel that the heart and mind are in conflict about those evaluations? To cover the whole complexity of individual media entertainment ratings, we apply the associative–propositional evaluation (APE) model (Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2006a, 2011) to the case of movie evaluation processes before, during and after exposure. After defining evaluation and introducing the APE model, we discuss its theoretical and methodological implications for movies and entertainment research. Moreover, we highlight similarities and differences concerning common related concepts (e.g., enjoyment).
Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft
Populäre Krisendiagnosen zur Verbreitung von Falschinformationen, zur Erosion einer gemeinsamen W... more Populäre Krisendiagnosen zur Verbreitung von Falschinformationen, zur Erosion einer gemeinsamen Wissensbasis und zur Infragestellung epistemischer Autoritäten haben in den letzten Jahren nicht nur Sorgen um die Wissensordnung in liberalen Demokratien ausgelöst, sondern auch zu erheblichen Forschungsaktivitäten in der Kommunikationswissenschaft geführt. Allerdings steht eine Integration der empirischen Befunde zu den zahlreichen Einzelaspekten in einen Theorierahmen noch aus. Der Zweck eines solchen Rahmens besteht darin, den digitalen Wandel der Genese, Prüfung, Distribution und Aneignung von Wissen in der medienöffentlichen Kommunikation systematisch zu beschreiben und zu erklären. Ausgehend von den Grundbegriffen Wahrheit, Wissen und Rationalität wird ein Modell der Wissensordnung entwickelt, das Phasen, Kontexte, Hierarchiestufen und Rollen unterscheidet. Das Internet tendiert zur Auflösung der bisherigen Wissensordnung, d. h. zu einem Kollaps der Kontexte, zur Nivellierung der e...
International Journal of Advertising
Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication
Emotions are an important part of how audiences connect with health and risk messages. Feelings s... more Emotions are an important part of how audiences connect with health and risk messages. Feelings such as fear, anger, joy, or empathy are not just byproducts of information processing, but they can interact with an individual’s perception and processing of the message. For example, emotions can attract attention to the message, they can motivate careful processing of the message, and they can foster changes in attitudes and behavior. Sometimes emotions can also have counterproductive effects, such as when message recipients feel pressured and react with anger, counterarguments, or defiance. Thus, emotion and cognition are closely intertwined in individuals’ responses to health messages. Recent research has begun to explore the flow and interaction of different types of emotions in health communication. In particular, positive feelings such as joy and hope have been found to counteract avoidant and defensive responses associated with negative emotions such as fear and anger. In this c...
Grazer Philosophische Studien
This paper explores the phenomenon of meta-emotions. Meta-emotions are emotions people have about... more This paper explores the phenomenon of meta-emotions. Meta-emotions are emotions people have about their own emotions. We analyze the intentional structure of meta-emotions and show how psychological findings support our account. Acknowledgement of meta-emotions can elucidate a number of important issues in the philosophy of mind and, more specifically, the philosophy and psychology of emotions. Among them are (allegedly) ambivalent or paradoxical emotions, emotional communication, emotional self-regulation, privileged access failure for repressed emotions, and survivor guilt.
Journal of Children and Media
This study examines joint influences of parental socialization and socialization via mass media o... more This study examines joint influences of parental socialization and socialization via mass media on children’s expression of emotions. The effect of parental approval of their child’s expression of emotions, on the child’s approval of TV characters expressing the emotion, and the influence of both on the child’s expression of emotions within the past seven days is tested for the emotions fear, sadness, anger, and happiness with a representative survey of children (N = 1458) aged 6–19 in Germany. Moderating age and gender effects were also considered. Consistent across the four emotions, results showed that socialization of emotions via mass media is driven by internalized parental socialization but has a comparably strong effect of its own on the child’s expression of emotion that adds to the variance explained, especially with regard to anger and happiness. Implications for the conceptualization of parental emotion socialization and emotional socialization via media are discussed.
Uploads
Mass Communication by Anne Bartsch
Papers by Anne Bartsch