TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of exemplification in shaping third-person perceptions and support for restrictions on video games
AU - Schmierbach, Mike
AU - Xu, Qian
AU - Boyle, Michael P.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - The origins of third-person perceptions remain uncertain, with most research focusing on psychological mechanisms. We investigate whether media content might also play a role, using a 2 × 2 experiment presenting a single story describing video games as harmful or harmless and using either research and statistics or a specific anecdotal exemplar to illustrate this claim. Results show perceived effects on others are influenced by the use of an exemplar but do not show an effect for explicitly describing games as harmful. The findings suggest that media may influence third-person perceptions and subsequent support for censorship in previously unexplored ways.
AB - The origins of third-person perceptions remain uncertain, with most research focusing on psychological mechanisms. We investigate whether media content might also play a role, using a 2 × 2 experiment presenting a single story describing video games as harmful or harmless and using either research and statistics or a specific anecdotal exemplar to illustrate this claim. Results show perceived effects on others are influenced by the use of an exemplar but do not show an effect for explicitly describing games as harmful. The findings suggest that media may influence third-person perceptions and subsequent support for censorship in previously unexplored ways.
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U2 - 10.1080/15205436.2011.616278
DO - 10.1080/15205436.2011.616278
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84871322121
SN - 1520-5436
VL - 15
SP - 672
EP - 694
JO - Mass Communication and Society
JF - Mass Communication and Society
IS - 5
ER -