544 Appendix B Understanding Mass and Mediated CommunicationThe Third Person Effect
Another way that selectivity may limit media effects is the fact that we tend to
overestimate how much influence media actually have on people. The third
person effect is a well-documented tendency we have to assume that negative
media messages and bias have a much greater influence on other people than on
ourselves or people we think are like us (Davison, 1983; Sun, Pan, & Shen,
2008). The third person effect can lead to censorship when we believe it will
protect “other” people who we (or our government or religious community)
don’t think are able to handle certain media messages. A recent study finds that
the effect is particularly strong for social networking—we think others are more
influenced by Facebook than we ourselves are (Zhang & Daugherty, 2009).
With all media, you need to be aware that you may be overestimating the effect
on others or underestimating the effect on yourself (or both).Influences on Attitudes and Behaviors
Although selectivity may give audiences some power and make them resistant
to being influenced by media, there are several areas where media do have more
substantial influences on audiences. These include encouraging people to imitate
behavior, cultivating cultural attitudes, and setting the political issue agenda.Social Cognitive Theory
According to social cognitive theory, we learn behavior by watching the behav-
iors of those whom we have identified as models (Bandura, 2001). We must first
attend to the modeled behavior, then remember it, and then have the ability and
motivation to imitate it. We are particularly likely to imitate modeled behaviors
when we see that the models are rewarded for what they do—when your big
brother gets lots of praise for playing the guitar, you then try to play the guitar!
How does this apply to media effects? Media provide many modeled behaviors
for children and adults to learn from and imitate, both positive (sharing, giving
to charity) and negative (violence). Decades of experimental studies looking at
the effects of television violence on children’s behavior have found that children
are more likely to be aggressive after viewing rewarded rather than punished
TV violence (see Bushman & Huesmann, 2001, for a review). Most studies are
limited to examining short-term effects (behavior right after viewing), so it is un-
clear whether children would make long-term behavior changes after a one-time
viewing experience, especially if they later get in trouble at home or school for
being aggressive.
There are several factors besides rewards and punishments that can increase
the likelihood of imitating behaviors we witness on television (violent or other-
wise). Children are more likely to imitate behavior that is realistic (as opposed
to fantasy), justified (the character has a good reason for doing it), and commit-
ted by characters the children identify with (the hero or villain) (Wilson et al.,
2002). The good news is that providing strong, likeable, and realistic positive
role models for your children can promote good behavior. But remember that
children are not “sponges” of media behavior—their own unique interests and
motivations also affect their interpretations of media models and their likelihood
of imitation (Ferguson & Dyck, 2012).Do you think that your com-
munication behavior is influ-
enced by media messages?
What about the clothes you
wear? Your use of slang?
Might you be modeling
behaviors based on media
messages without even
realizing it?AND YOU?
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