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Week 1: Introduction to Media Effects ResearchEmotions Versus Mood Versus Affect
Emotions Mood Affect
Discrete and Temporary State of being that is MORE Construct that characterizes
Responses to Stimuli generalized and enduring level/valence of a mood or
emotion.
This response can influence Can influence one’s BROADER than emotion or
one’s cognitive appraisals, processing of information Mood (ex: positive versus
psychophysiology attitudes, negative)
and behavior.
Three Key Elements:
- Subjective
Experience
- Physiological
Response
- Behavioral Response
Political Communication
Is an interactive process concerning the transmission of information among politicians, the
news media and the public.
Key Questions:
- Are Emotions A Good Thing for Public Political Discourse?
- Does Emotional Media mean Emotional Citizens?
Media Effects Research
● Potential Media Effects:
○ Knowledge
○ Opinions
○ Attitudes
○ Behavior
○ Perceptions, stereotypes, prejudice
○ Emotions
● Different Research Paradigms:
1. Powerful Media (1900-1930):
- The enormous popularity of media is OBSERVED.
, - Principles of Propaganda
- Media as Manipulation
- Psychological and biological theories
- Media as a hypodermic needle
- Ex: Tobacco Ads, War of the Worlds
2. (A Little Bit LESS) Powerful Media (1940-50s):
- Discovering individual differences
- Intervening factors: Existing attitudes, opinions etc
- No isolated individuals BUT CONNECTED MEMBERS OF SMALL
NETWORKS.
3. Limited Effects Model (1950-60s):
- Concerned with how people are using the media
- How does that shape the media effects
- Related to Uses and Gratification Theory
4. (Moderately) Powerful Effects (1970-80s):
- Focus on effects of media on society.
- Shift to long-term effects (effects on social change)
- A sort of fear through the media
5. Return to Powerful Effects:
- Here, it is decided that there are powerful media effects, but, NOT FOR
EVERYONE.
- Agenda-Setting and Framing Theory
- Agenda-Setting: Media affect what people think about
- Framing: Media affect how we think of political issues
- But, not everyone is equally affected: WHO IS AFFECTED? (Study
MODERATORS)
- Underlying effect mechanisms: HOW PEOPLE ARE AFFECTED? (Study
MEDIATORS)
Agenda Setting
The press is successful in telling people what to think about.
● Look at the story selection as a determinant of public perceptions of issue importance.
Framing
Framing refers to the observation that media can portray the same topic in VERY different
ways, EMPHASIZING CERTAIN EVALUATIONS or ONLY PARTS OF AN ISSUE at the
EXPENSE of others.
“
● Does not focus on story selection, but on the particular ways in which those issues are
presented.
● Frames: Simpler models given to audiences to facilitate the understanding
, ● TYPES OF FRAMES (according to Chong & Druckman, 2007):
○ Equivalency Framing: Different presentations of identical decision-making
scenarios influence people’s choices and evaluations. It encourages certain
interpretations and discourages certain others. They are often worded in
opposite terms, like gain vs loss, full vs empty or '80% survive vs 20% die'.
■ In psychology
○ Emphasis/Issue Framing: People cannot fully understand the world around
them, that’s why, they rely on Interpretative Schema or Frames to classify and
interpret information.
■ In Sociology
Common NEWS Frames Used by Journalists:
- Responsibility Frame
- Conflict
- Human Interest Frame (personal impact on lives; sympathy/pity)
- Economic Consequences Frame
- Morality Frame (Moral message; social prescriptions on how to behave)
Other Important Frames:
● Thematic versus Episodic Frames:
○ Thematic: Focus on a broader context, more factual. Uses stats and figures.
■ Effect: Persuading. It also affects OPINIONS.
○ Episodic: Individual story, more emotional.
■ Effect: Mobilizing. It affects EMOTIONS.
● Positive and Negative Emphasis Framing (Valence Framing):
○ Effects: Persuading but can also be (DE-) Mobilizing
○ Ex: Conflict Framing: Has negative effects on opinion, mobilizing (if conflict
is not uncivil attack)
● Strategy Framing (Focus on style and strategic motives of politicians)
○ Effect: Makes people more cynical and also DEMOBILIZES.
Week 2: Frames and Emotions
● Framing works because it affects our COGNITION and EMOTIONS.
● So, there are COGNITIVE and AFFECTIVE framing effects.
Gross (2008): Different Effects of Frames and Emotions as a Mediator
● Studied Emotional Appeals
● Episodic versus Thematic Framing:
○ Episodic: Present an issue using a SPECIFIC example. (Individual issue).
○ Thematic: Place an issue in a broader context. (Societal Issue).
, ● Found that:
○ Episodic themes elicited significantly more emotional responses, particularly
sympathy and pity than thematic frames.
○ Thematic frames led to the most opinion change.
○ EMOTIONS were a PARTIAL MEDIATOR between frame and opinion
change. This effect suppressed the direct effect of episodic frames on opinion.
● Takeaway:
○ Effect of frames operates on two separate tracks: Cognitive and Affective.
○ Cognitive channels refer to the mental processes involved in understanding
and interpreting information.
○ Affective channels pertain to the emotional responses and reactions elicited
by a particular stimulus or message.
○ Both cognitive and affective channels play a role in shaping policy opinions
and are influenced by framing strategies.
Pantti (2010): Journalists’ POV of emotionalized storytelling
● Studied the emotionalization of the public sphere.
● Basically, what do journalists think of the use of emotions in media coverage?
● Found that:
○ Emotions did NOT present a CHALLENGE to the logic of factuality and
objectivity.
○ Presenting relevant emotions= A part of revealing the “whole truth”.
○ Objective of Emotional Storytelling= Enhance the KNOWLEDGE of the
audience and Facilitate the UNDERSTANDING of news.
○ Any attempt to revoke or influence the public’s emotions were REJECTED.
○ Journos said that one cannot really distinguish between good and bad
journalism on the basis of use of emotions.
■ This is because there are different motivations and ways to use them.
De Leon et al. (2021): Emotions and Engagement
● Found that:
○ News Valence Influences how people engage with the news.
○ Expressions of emotions influence sharing on SNSs
■ Sadness has a larger effect than anger
■ Love decreases news sharing
Citizens and Emotionalized Public Debate
● Emotions in public debate: Citizens are mostly responsible for the emotionalization of
public debate.
● Emotions are used by:
○ Journalists to sell their stories
○ Citizens who find emotional discussions more interesting and appealing
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