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Feeling Connected via Television Viewing: Exploring the Scale and Its Correlates
Abstract
Contextualized in television program viewing, the current study seeks to develop a new scale that captures individuals' feelings of being connected to others via media consumption. Literature on general human motivation and media consumption motivation sheds light on social relatedness in television experiences. Data suggest a three-factor structure of the focal concept of feeling connected via television viewing (FCTV): (1) a perception of shared viewing among one's immediate social circle and anticipation of subsequent communication as aided by television programs, (2) a sense of global community enhanced by shared television experiences, and (3) communication with distant unknown others. A stronger sense of FCTV predicts a greater tendency for an individual to watch a program when it is first released, and to watch it together with one's friends, as well as a higher level of general involvement with television. Further, we differentiate the focal concept of feeling connected to other television viewers via television viewing from the related concept of parasocial interaction with television characters. Relative to parasocial interaction, FCTV better predicts collective viewing and first-run viewing.
... Social presence is desirable in any viewing context (Shin, 2013;Shin and Kim, 2015;Xu and Yan, 2011). According to previous research, an individual's awareness of the digital presence of other viewers is a key experiential element for the social viewing experience. ...
... For example, research on social TV has found that social presence as a feature of social TV influences perceived usefulness and ease of use, which in turn results in intention to continue using social TV (Shin, 2013). Likewise, a greater sense of social presence leads to feeling socially connected with other viewers in the social TV context (Xu and Yan, 2011). Following this line of reasoning, we expect that social presence will lead to higher authentic consumer viewing experience. ...
... Theoretically, our findings extend the application of social impact theory by showing that social influence cues (social presence and synchronicity) authenticate consumer viewing experience, which in turn impacts consumers' search, subscribing and purchase intention. Although social influence cues have impacted consumer perceptions in the past (Shin, 2013;Shin and Roh, 2016;Shin and Shim, 2017;Xu and Yan, 2011), we discover an interesting moderating effect on the relationship between social influence cues and, consumer experiences and behavioral intentions. Specifically, we observe that social viewing strategies moderate some of these relationships. ...
Purpose
Marketing researchers currently lack a systematic and empirical understanding of digital social viewing strategies. Drawing on social impact theory, this study aims to investigate if and how firm-initiated digital social viewing strategies (livestreaming vs pre-recorded) influence consumer viewing experiences and consequential behavioral intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
A scenario-based experiment was conducted with 462 participants. The study involved social viewing strategies in a new product launch context. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
This study demonstrates that social influence cues (social presence and synchronicity) inherent in a livestreaming strategy induce a more authentic consumer viewing experience than a pre-recorded strategy, which in turn increases consumers’ searching and subscribing intention. However, a company’s social viewing strategy does not moderate the effect of search and subscribe intention on purchase intention.
Research limitations/implications
This study extends the application of social impact theory by showing that social presence and synchronicity impact authentic consumer viewing experiences, which influence consumers’ searching, subscribing and purchasing intention.
Practical implications
This study validates the importance of using social viewing as a viable digital marketing strategy for practitioners. The paper provides marketers ways to increase consumer purchase intention via livestreaming marketing content, particularly for new products.
Originality/value
This study extends the traditional research on social viewing into the realm of digital social viewing. It is among the first to delineate the advantages of both livestreaming and pre-recorded social viewing approaches.
... Enjoyment is the core of media entertainment, referring to the result of the experience of watching (Xu and Yan, 2011;Lu et al., 2019;Xu and Yan, 2011) or consuming media content (Vorderer et al., 2004). It is commonly described as a general positive disposition and preference towards media content (Lu et al., 2019;Nabi and Krcmar, 2004). ...
... Enjoyment is the core of media entertainment, referring to the result of the experience of watching (Xu and Yan, 2011;Lu et al., 2019;Xu and Yan, 2011) or consuming media content (Vorderer et al., 2004). It is commonly described as a general positive disposition and preference towards media content (Lu et al., 2019;Nabi and Krcmar, 2004). ...
Background
The globalization of the media market is forcing decision-makers to understand the psychological processes behind local audiences’ enjoyment of foreign TV dramas. Transportation is a well-established psychological theory and framework utilized to elucidate and anticipate audience engagement and enjoyment in the cognitive process of experiencing a narrative text. Although there is a substantial body of literature on transportation and media enjoyment, there is a noticeable absence of studies on the relationship between audiences being “transported” into the narrative world of TV dramas and, particularly, the pleasure audiences derive from interacting with media content within a cross-cultural acceptance context.
Method
The research employs a quantitative design, with responses collected from 353 students enrolled at a Malaysian public university. It aims to validate the influence of social norms, cultural identity, and affective disposition on narrative immersion while watching foreign TV dramas, as well as the subsequent enjoyment of media among local audiences.
Results
The results indicate that social norms, cultural identity, and affective disposition significantly influence transportation and enjoyment. Furthermore, the influence of cultural identity on social norms has a positive moderating effect on transportation.
Discussion
Storytelling that complies with social norms while offering new perspectives can maximally engage audiences, potentially altering their narrative cognition and deepening their immersion in fictional narratives. Cultural identity can shape audience perceptions and reactions to cross-cultural media consumption, ultimately influencing the degree to which audiences are drawn into the narrative. Furthermore, the audience’s emotional connection to characters in the narrative or to situations in the drama significantly influences the overall cognitive and immersion levels.
... Olympics. We also note that this conception of social TV is closely connected to the theory of social presence (Shin, 2013;Xu and Yan, 2011). Kim and Biocca (1997) discussed that the sense of presence in the mediated environment would explain television audiences' interactions with other viewers. ...
... H2: the higher the convenience motives for social TV, the greater is the perceived social presence. Social TV also allows sports viewers to maximize the feeling of social connection, which is regarded as the primary motive for sports spectatorship (Xu and Yan, 2011). It also expands the boundary of social connectedness from the living room to geographically distant other viewers across the nation and around the world. ...
... Concerning 'connectivity' , there is an extensive body of literature highlighting social capital and sense of belonging as key drivers for multi-screening (i.e. Xu and Yan, 2011;Riedler, Köbler, Goswami and Krcmar, 2013). Saxbe, Graesch and Alvik (2011) accompanied the activities of 30 families over 4 days. ...
La proliferación de las tecnologías digitales, junto con el aumento de las tasas de adopción de internet y dispositivos móviles, están reconfigurando el panorama mediático contemporáneo y fomentando nuevas prácticas de uso. La televisión está pasando por un proceso de remediación o hibridación, ya que el contenido se está convirtiendo en transmedia y los espectadores en multiplataforma. Este artículo trata del multi-pantalla, es decir, el uso de dispositivos con pantalla mientras se ve la televisión. El objetivo de esta investigación es la identificación de las prácticas multi-pantalla más comunes y las motivaciones, usos y gratificaciones detrás de esas conductas. Nuestro enfoque teórico articula el concepto de multi-pantalla, y la descripción de las prácticas multi-pantalla más comunes, con una visión general de la investigación sobre las comunicaciones móviles y las motivaciones para su adopción y uso. Nuestro trabajo empírico consiste en focus groups con usuarios multi-pantalla, donde fueron explorados sus objetivos, necesidades, preferencias y expectativas asociados a estas prácticas. Nuestros resultados identifican dos tipos principales de motivaciones para el multi-pantalla: utilitaria (asociado con hacer un mejor uso del tiempo y ser más eficaces en el cumplimiento de tareas) y afectiva (relacionado con una necesidad constante e inevitable de estar puesto al día con lo que está pasando en el mundo y estar conectado a la red de estrechas relaciones de uno). Los dispositivos móviles añaden un estrato digital a la televisión, y esto se caracteriza, más a menudo, por no tener relación con el contenido de la televisión.
... De plus, les individus peuvent établir non seulement une connexion verticale, à savoir une relation entre un spectateur et le contenu télévisuel et/ou ses personnages, mais également une connexion horizontale, soit celle qui lie entre elles des personnes qui s'intéressent à un même contenu (Russell et al., 2004). Le contenu visionné peut ainsi servir de « colle sociale » (Xu et Yan, 2011) entre les individus qui partagent un intérêt commun à son égard. Ces connexions se manifestent à travers diverses formes de sociabilités, en personne ou numériques, et permettent d'entretenir des relations, de consolider l'appartenance au groupe de pairs, de se définir soi-même (Balleys, 2017) et, selon l'hypothèse faite ici, d'influencer la construction du rapport au monde. ...
... Besides, in a proposed model (Cyr et al., 2007), social presence is observed to influence the enjoyment of an e-service website to achieve e-loyalty. In addition, several TV programmes, like sports, can create excitement, and thus enhance social connectivity amongst viewers (Xu and Yan, 2011). According to the findings of Hwang and Soo (2015), a stronger excitement motive can lead to a better social presence for the social TV platform. ...
Abstract
Purpose – Existing literature affirms that almost half of the young generation has remained unemployed
worldwide. On the contrary civic engagement can be a powerful tool in combating this problem. However, the
influencing factors that encourage the active participation of young adults yet to be identified. The purpose of
this paper is to fill the research gap by creating and validating a research model by including three motives
social presence commitment and online offline civic engagement.
Design/methodology/approach – The study took a quantitative approach to conduct a cross-sectional
study. In total, 214 data were collected from the member of a Facebook group of Bangladesh named
Foodbank, a restaurant review page through the online questionnaire. After that structural equation
modelling techniques have been used to analyse the data, test the model validity and hypothesis.
Findings – The result shows that both commitment and social presence influence offline and online civic
engagement. Excitement motives have a higher effect than information and convenience motive. Besides, 8
out of 10 hypotheses have shown significant results, with only the convenience motive not having any
positive influence and effect on social presence and commitment.
Practical implications – Almost 47.6 out of 158.5 million are young people who are incapable of
contributing fully to national development due to a lack of civic engagement. The outcome of this study will
be useful for the Government of Bangladesh, as well as for non-governmental organisations and decisionmaking
authorities to form assessments and develop policy on how to engage the young generation in civic
activities to achieve further socio-economic development in the country.
Originality/value – This study contributes to existing literature with newly developed relationships
between social presence-civic engagement and commitment-civic engagement. These unique relationships
have been empirically tested and resulted insignificant. The study also identifies that it is vital to engage
young people more in social works and increase their participation in offline and online activities.
... This indicates that social pressures may have an impact on what individuals watch. Additionally, Xu and Yan (2011) suggest that individuals can feel connected to others through television viewing, specifically because shared television program choices can strengthen bonds between the viewer and her immediate social circle, a global community of fellow watchers, and even 12 unknown others. According to Levy (1987), viewers use television viewing, including the method by which they consume television programming, to fulfil social utility. ...
... This indicates that social pressures may have an impact on what individuals watch. Additionally, Xu and Yan (2011) suggest that individuals can feel connected to others through television viewing, specifically because shared television program choices can strengthen bonds between the viewer and her immediate social circle, a global community of fellow watchers, and even 12 unknown others. According to Levy (1987), viewers use television viewing, including the method by which they consume television programming, to fulfil social utility. ...
... Continuing in the vein of media consumption, B. Wang (2019) proposed that relatedness as a motivator of media consumption needs to be considered above and beyond eudaimonic and hedonic enjoyment. Research by Xu and Yan (2011) speaks to this idea: The authors constructed a measure to assess three social dimensions motivating media use: ...
Researchers across disciplines have been studying the psychology of fans for decades. Seeking to better understand fan behavior and the various factors motivating fans, researchers have studied dozens of variables in hundreds of studies of different fan groups. To date, however, there have been relatively few attempts to integrate this sizable body of work, pulling together findings across from the field to with a broader, more holistic perspective. This book does exactly that, identifying and concisely summarizing research on 28 separate lines of inquiry on the psychology of fans and integrating it all into an empirically-validated model known as the CAPE model. Useful as a textbook for a fandom studies course and as a handbook for fan researchers, this book is essential reading for anyone looking to better understand the state of fan psychology and wanting to conduct their own research exploring the ins and outs of fans of all sorts!
... The third dimension concerns about Danmaku viewers' sense of belonging to viewers' communities. This dimension was measured with the factor of "global community" under the scale of "Feeling Connected via Television Viewing" developed by Xu and Yan (2011). This measurement had 3 items on 7 point Likert scales and had been applied to a prior social TV study about people's feeling of being connected to viewers' communities (Lim et al., 2015b). ...
Danmaku video (video with overlaid comments) is a relatively new social TV format and is getting popular in China. This study conducted a 3-condition experiment to examine Danmaku video watching experience in terms of 5 aspects: attention allocation, social presence, transportation into narrative, cognitive workload and enjoyment. 61 Chinese college students from the Northeast region of US were recruited to participate the study. Result indicated out that Danmaku distracted some attention from the initial video content but fostered a feeling of joint viewing with others. The presence of Danmaku also had some effect on the enjoyment of watching videos, but did not affect cognitive workload or the degree of feeling being transported into video's narrative.
... Our determination about the way that users created a collective community speaks to previous research on Twitter demonstrating how users create an imagined community (Chen, 2011;Gruzd, et al. 2011;Xu and Yan, 2011;Harrington, et al., 2012). But not all researchers agree on the idea of online community. ...
On 21 January 2017, over three million women participated in the Women’s March throughout the U.S., one day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. This article investigates the digital component of this historic protest as a powerful moment of hashtag feminism, one that exemplifies the vital role of affect in contributing to social change. Through qualitative analysis of 2,600 #WhyIMarch tweets from the day of the March, we identify the rhetorical strategies that best leverage affect to further the social justice goals of the March — dedications, personal narratives, the use of first-person, and the use of humor — and describe the affective outcomes of these strategies, including motivational affect, vicarious affect, and collective affect. Using Raymond Williams’ concept of “structures of feeling,” we argue that these rhetorical strategies and their affective outcomes create a digital archive of affect that captures the cultural climate surrounding the Women’s March and mediates the way this cultural moment is affectively remembered. This study reveals that affect is vital for effective hashtag feminism
... Besides, in a proposed model (Cyr et al., 2007), social presence is observed to influence the enjoyment of an e-service website to achieve e-loyalty. In addition, several TV programmes, like sports, can create excitement, and thus enhance social connectivity amongst viewers (Xu and Yan, 2011). According to the findings of Hwang and Soo (2015), a stronger excitement motive can lead to a better social presence for the social TV platform. ...
Purpose
Existing literature affirms that almost half of the young generation has remained unemployed worldwide. On the contrary civic engagement can be a powerful tool in combating this problem. However, the influencing factors that encourage the active participation of young adults yet to be identified. The purpose of this paper is to fill the research gap by creating and validating a research model by including three motives social presence commitment and online offline civic engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
The study took a quantitative approach to conduct a cross-sectional study. In total, 214 data were collected from the member of a Facebook group of Bangladesh named Foodbank, a restaurant review page through the online questionnaire. After that structural equation modelling techniques have been used to analyse the data, test the model validity and hypothesis.
Findings
The result shows that both commitment and social presence influence offline and online civic engagement. Excitement motives have a higher effect than information and convenience motive. Besides, 8 out of 10 hypotheses have shown significant results, with only the convenience motive not having any positive influence and effect on social presence and commitment.
Practical implications
Almost 47.6 out of 158.5 million are young people who are incapable of contributing fully to national development due to a lack of civic engagement. The outcome of this study will be useful for the Government of Bangladesh, as well as for non-governmental organisations and decision-making authorities to form assessments and develop policy on how to engage the young generation in civic activities to achieve further socio-economic development in the country.
Originality/value
This study contributes to existing literature with newly developed relationships between social presence-civic engagement and commitment-civic engagement. These unique relationships have been empirically tested and resulted insignificant. The study also identifies that it is vital to engage young people more in social works and increase their participation in offline and online activities.
... The comedic tweets indicated an expectation for synchronous communication-posts intended for an imagined audience of fellow viewers watching the program during the live broadcast. The idea that Twitter provides users with an imagined community is well documented in scholarship (Chen, 2011;Gruzd, Wellman, & Takhteyev, 2011;Huimin and Ruoh-Nan, 2011;Harrington, Highfield, & Bruns, 2012). Unsurprisingly, the sexual encounter prompted a slew of jokes referencing the sounds and actions editors allowed viewers access to during the eight minute scene (Table 3). ...
This article analyzes live tweets posted by viewers of ABC's The Bachelorette during a network-promoted scandal concerning the star's sexual activity on the reality TV program. This study notes how problematic gender norms were reinforced within the conversation unfolding on Twitter and how a subset of tweets served to critique the sexism found within the program, the Twitter feed, and in society more generally. As these tweets attempting to combat gender norms can be considered a form of digital activism, this study also analyzes the ways in which Twitter's particular communication format might complicate and/or interfere with their desired societal critiques. On June 22, 2015, the Twitterverse erupted when the star of ABC's The Bachelorette had sex with one of her male suitors prior to the show's pre-approved, pre-scripted timeline. Far from being a PG-rated reality TV franchise, the long-running show is well known for broadcasting a slew of make out sessions and an entire episode devoted to speculating on whether the bachelor or bachelorette will sleep with any or all of his or her final three contestants in the fantasy suite. Yet when an episode aired revealing that Kaitlyn Bristowe, the season's bachelorette, and repeat contestant, Nick Viall, had slept together at the close of their one-on-one date, Kaitlyn faced a wave of criticism from viewers through social media. Over 80,000 tweets with the hashtag #TheBachelorette appeared in the 24 hours surrounding this episode, and a vast majority of them were negative posts consisting of judgmental quips and derogatory slurs focusing on Kaitlyn's sexual activity. These tweeters, the majority of whom were female, were quick to affix all the normal labels used to discuss so-called female promiscuity. Among the tamer tweets were chastising posts, such as "Kaitlyn needs to learn how to keep it classy & not so trashy" (@otrat_rowyso). Amid the caustic remarks were also hundreds of tweets defending the star. For example, comedian Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) posted: "Oh no someone slept with a guy they're dating and considering marrying! Showing love for @kaitlynbristowe." Tweets that challenged slut shaming began to enter the feed, as did posts that specifically criticized ABC's producers for the ways in which the show participated in and encouraged such shaming. While some important conversations resulted from this sensationalized reality television episode (Gray, 2015; Uffalussy, 2015; Yahr, 2015), the initial social media response it provoked reveals how expectations for single women on the dating market today are entrenched in problematic sexual double standards that have remained unaltered for decades. Consider, for example, this tweet posted during the episode: "you can turn a housewife into a hoe. But you can't turn a hoe into a housewife" (@HeatherGossman). As the negative twitter posts prove, many still believe that certain behaviors determine whether a woman is good girlfriend or wife material, and at the top of the list remains her sexual history. This study notes the pervasiveness of these problematic gender norms within the collected tweets and analyzes a subset of posts that serve to critique these norms and provide broader cultural commentary. It could be argued that these latter tweets combatting gender norms are a form of digital activism. As such, this study analyzes the ways in which Twitter's particular communication format might complicate or interfere with their societal critiques.
... The comedic tweets indicated an expectation for synchronous communication-posts intended for an imagined audience of fellow viewers watching the program during the live broadcast. The idea that Twitter provides users with an imagined community is well documented in scholarship (Chen, 2011;Gruzd, Wellman, & Takhteyev, 2011;Huimin and Ruoh-Nan, 2011;Harrington, Highfield, & Bruns, 2012). Unsurprisingly, the sexual encounter prompted a slew of jokes referencing the sounds and actions editors allowed viewers access to during the eight minute scene (Table 3). ...
... The comedic tweets indicated an expectation for synchronous communication-posts intended for an imagined audience of fellow viewers watching the program during the live broadcast. The idea that Twitter provides users with an imagined community is well documented in scholarship (Chen, 2011;Gruzd, Wellman, & Takhteyev, 2011;Huimin and Ruoh-Nan, 2011;Harrington, Highfield, & Bruns, 2012). Unsurprisingly, the sexual encounter prompted a slew of jokes referencing the sounds and actions editors allowed viewers access to during the eight minute scene (Table 3). ...
... Some recent studies suggest that emotional engagement could be a significant predictor in building loyalty through some theory-based mediating variables, depending on the research context. Xu and Yan (2011) found that individuals who feel socially connected with other viewers are more likely to watch popular television shows. Bowden (2009) and Sashi (2012) found that emotional engagement influenced brand loyalty through affective commitment. ...
Grounded in Bandura’s (2001) social cognitive theory of mass communication and Giles’ (2002) model of parasocial relationship (PSR) development, the current research examines how a viewer’s wishful identification with an online video game streaming personality and emotional engagement with other viewers lead to behavioral loyalty through PSR with their favorite live-streamer. To test the proposed mediation model, the researchers conducted a survey using a representative sample drawn from a national panel of a professional survey firm in South Korea. Results of a mediation analysis employing structural equation modeling reveal that both wishful identification and emotional engagement have indirect effects on behavioral loyalty through PSR. Put another way, a viewer’s likeliness to continue viewing a live-streaming game increase as the viewer develops stronger PSR. The current research also demonstrates that wishful identification and engagement with others/streamers develop into PSR, as suggested by Giles’ PSR development model.
... Second-screen engagement offers an effective way for building a sound social space, facilitating social activities, and enhancing social connectivity among NFL fans. Considering that social connection appears as one of the primary motives in sport consumption (Xu & Yan, 2011), second-screen engagement is a significant factor in reinforcing social outcomes. NFL media professionals-such as television programming producers and sponsors-could provide more accessible information and platforms to encourage their audiences to engage in second-screen activities when watching NFL games, which could potentially emerge as an effective strategy in enhancing NFL television sport-viewing experiences while also appealing to a wider NFL audience. ...
A national sample of 393 NFL (National Football League [professional]) fans were surveyed about their use of ancillary devices when consuming NFL media products. Results indicate that male, younger, and highly educated participants were more likely to use second-screen options. Such second-screen activities were just as likely to be used for distraction (multitasking other content not related to the NFL) as for enhancement (bolstering NFL consumption with other NFL-related content). Moreover, the more participants used second screens for multitasking and distracting purposes, the more they felt that second-screening helped build, interact, and maintain vast social networks; advanced social interactions among their social groups for a shared purpose; and made them feel psychologically present among other people. Fantasy-sport participation was also found to be a relevant predictor of second-screen use.
... Rather than focusing on the closeness of the parasocial relationship as an outcome, Xu and Yan (2011) expanded the focus of their parasocial research to assess activities outside the media channel. In their experimental research, they found that the more socially connected a television viewer felt, the more the viewer would prefer to watch the television program with other like-minded people, or what they termed "collective viewing" (p. ...
An online questionnaire completed by 660 nonprofit stakeholders supported the idea that having a social media based personal connection to the nonprofit, resembling a parasocial friendship, had a significant impact on the stakeholder's intentions to support the organization in the offline community (e.g., volunteer, donate). Findings also indicate that when a stakeholder has a higher level of social connections and time spent online, there is a decrease in the intention to behaviorally support the organization.
... This confirms a trend reported by Bennett (2006, p. 210) as regards the consumption of nature/history documentaries more widely, and which he uses to conclude that "distinction Understanding the public experience of archaeology in the UK and Italy... on the [television] box is not … sharply drawn". Since it appeals to both the segments with the lowest and highest levels of education, archaeological TV, more than other kinds of archaeological communication, performs the social function of fostering a sense of belonging to a common culture (Xu, Yan 2011). It can be a tool for social cohesion, through the promotion of a shared (across different socio-demographics) awareness of what archaeology is and has the potential to do for contemporary society, and of local and national history. ...
Despite the continuing growth of Public Archaeology as a field of studies, the composition and behaviour of the ?public? for archaeology are still heavily under-investigated. This paper addresses the neglected area of archaeological audiences and offers insights into the public?s experience of archaeology in the UK and Italy, focussing on museums and television and using a primarily quantitative and case study-based approach. Conclusions provide evidence and suggest aims, theory and methods for the start of a ?sociological movement? in Public Archaeology. Nonostante il crescente sviluppo del settore della Public Archaeology a livello internazionale, la composizione e il comportamento dei ?pubblici? dell?archeologia sono stati scarsamente studiati e rimangono, ad oggi, poco conosciuti. Questo articolo affronta il tema del ?pubblico? in archeologia nel Regno Unito e in Italia, a partire dall?analisi prevalentemente quantitativa di casi studio di comunicazione museale e televisiva. Il contributo propone obiettivi e linee di teoria e metodo per una Archeologia Pubblica di orientamento sociologico.
... Social TV is an environment that allows the viewer to be aware of the presence of others and to interact with them synchronously (Shin, 2013;Xu & Yan, 2011). In mediated environment social presence refers to the degree to which users perceive one or many others as being present via the mediated interface. ...
... Second, the four individual-level variables that were chosen were closely related to television programming; however, other personality measures could potentially impact the effectiveness of product placements as well. Future research could incorporate measures of prior exposure to the episode, audience engagement (Scott and Craig-Lees, 2010), and connectedness to others via television watching (Xu and Yan, 2011). ...
Consumers usually experience product placements in the presence of others, such as watching a movie or television show together. In this study, the role of social context on attitudes toward prominently placed brands is explored. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze data from 382 participants who watched a sitcom episode in dyads, with a friend or with someone they did not know. Additionally, dyads were allowed to interact during the viewing or required to remain passive. Attitudes toward product placements were more favorable when coviewing with friends than with strangers, but only toward a high intensity plot placement. No attitude differences emerged between interactive and passive viewing, suggesting that talking while viewing does not distract viewers to the extent that it impacts attitudes. No significant differences in attitudes emerged between the friend-interactive experimental condition and the other conditions. However, a significant difference in brand attitudes between friends and strangers emerged within the passive viewing context for a high intensity plot placement. Implications are such that chatting with a friend while watching product placements was no different from chatting with a stranger, but when watching silently, the presence of a friend improved brand attitudes compared to the presence of a stranger for high intensity plot placements. This is the first known study to investigate social context effects on attitudes toward product placements, the results of which are important to brand strategy. Brands with high intensity plot placements should encourage consumers to view with friends. Other managerial implications and limitations are discussed.
Copyright
Purpose
This study examines factors influencing viewers' impulse buying intention in live streaming. The authors draw upon the value theory to theorize how the product (i.e., local presence) and para-social interaction (PSI) in live-streaming shopping improve customers' shopping values and how these values subsequently influence their urge to buy impulsively. In addition, the authors examine value differences in live-streaming shopping through gender differences and previous shopping experiences.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was conducted in this study. Members with browsing or shopping experience of live-streaming shopping sites were invited. The structural equation model was used to conduct confirmative factor analysis (CFA) to assess the convergent validity (item loadings), internal consistency (reliability), discriminant validity, causality hypotheses, and mediating effects.
Findings
Utilitarian value appears more important than hedonic value in influencing consumers' urge to buy impulsively. Moreover, PSI with the co-viewers is more influential than PSI with the streamer on utilitarian and hedonic values. Finally, gender differences and prior live-streaming shopping experience moderate the relationship between shopping values and the urge to buy impulsively.
Originality/value
The authors extend the concept of PSI from a celebrity (the streamer) to co-viewers and find that PSI with co-viewers is crucial to impulse buying in live streaming. Additionally, the authors’ finding reveals that consumers with individual differences may react differently to the same set of perceived values in determining the level of their impulse shopping intention.
After COVID-19, mobile application is getting attention because it can make up for losses from limited food service operations. Although several researchers have started to understand the food delivery industry, extant studies fail to empirically address the question of who customers respond to positively in food delivery application. Customers’ experience on forming patronized behaviour, the important emerging area of tourism industry is examined in this study. Customers’ perceived enjoyment and social presence are hypothesized to affect attitude, which patronized behaviour to delivery brand. In line with positive psychology and social facilitation theory, the impact of customers’ perceived cognitive enjoyment and social presence on favourable attitude is found using data collected from an online survey. Moreover, the causality between attitude and brand loyalty is discovered. Lastly, the mediating role of attitude in the relationship between food delivery application experience and loyalty is supported. Finally, how food delivery application influences their behaviour is enlightened and useful practical implications for service providers are provided in this study.
This chapter discusses ways of rethinking and reconfiguring advertising models and tools, in order to explore all the potential of mobile devices. The chapter presents a literature review on perceptions and opportunities related to mobile devices and advertising, focusing themes such as branded content, branded apps, advergames, second screening and m-commerce. It also presents results from an exploratory qualitative study conducted in Portugal on perceptions about mobile devices and advertising, based on 4 focus groups with users of mobile devices aged between 18 and 35 years old. The empirical results show that users have negative perceptions and attitudes towards traditional advertising models, such as banners, pop-ups and pre-videos on YouTube. On the contrary, they use some branded apps and value both engagement and community building and providing useful services and information. Thus, opportunities, possibilities, preferences and dislikes were discussed.
Rooted in the Uses and Gratification approach, this study investigated the motives of live posting, a media behavior that is fundamental to Social TV/second screening. Focus group interviews with 33 participants generated 19 motivational items that were original to live posting. Factor analysis based on college student samples (n = 259) revealed four classes of motivations: social connection, catharsis, engagement, and extending enjoyment. Of these, extending enjoyment significantly predicted the frequency of live posting in general. Although there were no gender differences across the identified motives, different patterns in predicting the frequency of live posting via specific platforms such as Twitter and instant message services were revealed. Results were discussed in light of their theoretical and practical implications.
This chapter discusses ways of rethinking and reconfiguring advertising models and tools, in order to explore all the potential of mobile devices. The chapter presents a literature review on perceptions and opportunities related to mobile devices and advertising, focusing themes such as branded content, branded apps, advergames, second screening and m-commerce. It also presents results from an exploratory qualitative study conducted in Portugal on perceptions about mobile devices and advertising, based on 4 focus groups with users of mobile devices aged between 18 and 35 years old. The empirical results show that users have negative perceptions and attitudes towards traditional advertising models, such as banners, pop-ups and pre-videos on YouTube. On the contrary, they use some branded apps and value both engagement and community building and providing useful services and information. Thus, opportunities, possibilities, preferences and dislikes were discussed.
This chapter discusses ways of rethinking and reconfiguring advertising models and tools, in order to explore all the potential of mobile devices. The chapter presents a literature review on perceptions and opportunities related to mobile devices and advertising, focusing themes such as branded content, branded apps, advergames, second screening and m-commerce. It also presents results from an exploratory qualitative study conducted in Portugal on perceptions about mobile devices and advertising, based on 4 focus groups with users of mobile devices aged between 18 and 35 years old. The empirical results show that users have negative perceptions and attitudes towards traditional advertising models, such as banners, pop-ups and pre-videos on YouTube. On the contrary, they use some branded apps and value both engagement and community building and providing useful services and information. Thus, opportunities, possibilities, preferences and dislikes were discussed.
In den vergangenen Jahren hat sich die wissenschaftliche Forschung dem noch recht jungen Phänomen der Second-Screen-Nutzung bereits intensiv gewidmet. Die Frage nach den konkreten Praktiken der Second-Screen-Nutzung, also wie mit den zwei Bildschirmen tatsächlich umgegangen wird, ist dabei bisher noch nicht näher untersucht worden. Für eine solche Forschungsperspektive wirbt dieser Beitrag und bietet einen konzeptionellen Rahmen für eine differenzierte Beobachtung und Beschreibung solcher Praktiken an. Dazu wird auf der Grundlage der bisher vorhandenen Literatur zunächst eine Arbeitsdefinition für Second-Screen-Nutzung entwickelt und aus verschiedenen Ansätzen der Mediennutzungs- und Rezeptionsforschung zentrale Aspekte für dessen Untersuchung herausgearbeitet. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden schließlich verschiedene Praktiken der Second-Screen-Nutzung anhand von Beobachtungen aus einer Studie zur Twitter-Nutzung während der ARD-Krimiserie „Tatort“ beispielhaft beschrieben und Vorschläge für deren weitere Untersuchung unterbreitet.
In contemporary society, the media landscape is complex and dynamic. Smartphones and tablets are proliferating, while the TV set is being passed over by other devices as the channel for TV content. These changes have implications on user behaviour, business models, technological platforms and content development. This article explores multi-screening, an emergent practice that combines watching TV and using a mobile device in articulation, by addressing the users’ motivations to engage in such practices. Our theoretical framework presents the state of the art of research on multi-screening and debates the main issues in the field using contributions from Mobile Communication Research and Uses and Gratifications Theory. Our empirical work consists of focus group discussions with multi-screeners, exploring the goals, needs, preferences and expectations associated with these practices. Our results identify uses where the activities on the TV and the mobile device are unrelated as more common, and two main gratifications are drawn out of these practices: utilitarian (associated with making a better use of time and being effective in accomplishing tasks) and affective (related to a constant and pressing need of being up-to-date with what is going on in the world and being connected to one’s network of relationships).
This chapter discusses the new social configurations society is undergoing on the basis of media emergence. Media are embedded in the arousal of communication and information transmission becoming the form, the infrastructure and the institution for the social and culture. This chapter focuses on mobile communication, having as central goal to debate on the processes of mediatization and mediation of society, as well as on the processes of belonging and social cohesion. Data from mobile internet adoption and use will be discussed in the light of the above mentioned theoretical approaches. An empirical case study will also be approached and results will provide contributions for the understanding of this type of technology adoption processes and the increasing importance of mobility in cultural and social practices, promoting an exciting discussion on the centrality of media nowadays and the current transformation processes society is undergoing.
Media companies are facing the problem of modeling the increasingly volatile and complex forms of emergent media use and of channeling them through their services in order to create a sustainable business model. Anticipating these patterns and converting them into stable forms of use allows for companies to identify new ways of value creation.
The authors argue that concepts other than the value chain are necessary to model this type of value creation. Although it has seldom been used with regard to media as of yet, especially the value network is considered to be relevant in this context. In times of digitization and convergence, media companies become increasingly granular and depend on strategic co-operations within networks, e.g. regarding production and marketing. Moreover, the consumers become an active part in value creation as “prosumers”.
This chapter attempts to investigate the manifold points of contact between media use and corresponding concepts of value creation in networks of micro business models. For that purpose, the authors combine approaches from media management and media studies.
Social networking services like Twitter have changed the way people engage with traditional broadcast media. But how social is "second screen" activity? The purpose of this study is to determine if patterns of connected viewing (augmenting television consumption with a second screen) and co-viewing (watching television together) are different for traditionally broadcast, "appointment" television shows versus streaming, asynchronous television releases. This study explores this phenomena of "co-connected viewing" - a combination of connected and co-viewing - on Twitter for four programs that were all released within seven days of each other: Parks and Recreation, Downton Abbey, House of Cards, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Complete datasets (over 200,000 tweets) from 72 hours' worth of Twitter activity for four television programs, two traditional and two streaming, were collected and analyzed. In terms of co-connected viewing, the study found that despite radically different broadcast models and corresponding shapes in Twitter activity, the ratios of social to non-social tweets were nearly identical. Additionally, the study found that the asynchronous, streaming Netflix shows saw more engagement from active Twitter users. Finally, implications are discussed for viewers, fans, advertisers, and the television industry, as well as directions for future research.
The literature on advertising effects is massively loaded in its assumption that advertising does things to people. This paper asks what is known about what people do with advertising and, more significantly, how could we learn more? A review of 15 years' published research into advertising effects located 619 conceptual or empirical studies. Of these, just over 30 considered the integration of advertising into everyday life. Five thematic questions were found to account for the entire literature. First, what do people do during television commercial breaks? Second, what is the social context of advertising reception? Third, how does advertising find expression in interpersonal communication? Fourth, how do intra-family relationships and processes mediate the effects of advertising on children? Fifth, how are advertisements used by family members in their social interactions? The evidence, though somewhat insubstantial, points to an active audience which manages its relationship with advertising and integ...
Data from three computer-administered panel studies at the University of North Carolina were analyzed to explore relationships between motivations for television viewing and six individual-differences measures, including shyness, loneliness, self-esteem, and three measures of social support. Viewing motivations were supposed to be related to needs arising from two distinct sources: (a) social compensation, which included companionship, pass time, habit, and escape motivations, and (b) mood management, which included relaxation, entertainment, arousal, and information motivations. The results based on a sample of 290 undergraduates revealed that self-esteem and the three other social-support variables correlated positively with the mood-management viewing motive and negatively with the social-compensation viewing motive. Also as hypothesized, shyness and loneliness correlated positively with the social-compensation viewing motive.
Attachment theory was investigated as an alternative inter-personal theory for understanding how audience members form parasocial relationships with television personalities. Attachment theory posits that people develop relationships in either a secure or insecure fashion. We explored whether attachment styles influenced the extent to which individuals engage in parasocial interaction. A total of 115 students completed the parasocial scale and two attachment style questionnaires. Results provided evidence that attachment styles are related to parasocial behavior: Anxious-ambivalents were the most likely to form parasocial bonds, Avoidants were the least likely to develop such relationships, and Secures were in the middle, with the more mistrusting Secures showing a tendency to engage in parasocial interaction. The discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for the attachment process.
Addressed the question of how learners' a priori perceptions of message categories relate to their perceived self-efficacy in handling them, and how perceptions relate to the amount of invested mental effort (AIME) and learning. The AIME was defined as the number of nonautomatic mental elaborations applied to material and measured by learners' self-reports. It was hypothesized that in the absence of instructions, AIME expended in elaborating materials varies as a function of initial perceptions even when the material warrants otherwise. TV and print were considered categories for which children have general perceptions. 124 6th graders were tested for their perceptions of self-efficacy with print and TV, perceived media realism, and attributions of failure and success with each medium. Half the Ss viewed a silent film, while the other half read a comparable text. Measures of AIME and achievement were then taken. As expected, Ss felt more efficacious with TV, and perceived it as more realistic and easy. Print was reported to demand more effort, but led to better inference making. Efficacy correlated positively with AIME in print and negatively in TV. Discussion focuses on the roles of a priori perceptions and AIME in learning. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Drawing from both self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1991) and Carstensen's (1993) socioemotional selectivity theory, we hypothesized that well-being and health would be facilitated by: (a) greater personal autonomy; (b) perceived support for autonomy from both nursing-home staff and residents friends and relatives; and (c) the emotional quality (rather than quantity) of residents' contacts with friends and family. Results based on structured interview and survey data from 50 nursing-home residents, showed that both autonomy support and relatedness indexes correlated with psychological out-comes. Personal autonomy also was significantly related to mortality at a 1-year follow-up. It also was found that subjective vitality (Ryan & Frederick, 1997) was associated with lower distress and greater well-being, and perceived autonomy and relatedness.
This article introduces the idea of brand community. A brand community is a specialized, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relations among admirers of a brand. Grounded in both classic and contemporary sociology and consumer behavior, this article uses ethnographic and computer mediated environment data to explore the characteristics, processes, and particularities of three brand communities (those centered on Ford Bronco, Macintosh, and Saab). These brand communities exhibit three traditional markers of community: shared consciousness, rituals and traditions, and a sense of moral responsibility. The commercial and mass-mediated ethos in which these communities are situated affects their character and structure and gives rise to their particularities. Implications for branding, sociological theories of community, and consumer behavior are offered. Copyright 2001 by the University of Chicago.
Although the relationship metaphor dominates contemporary marketing thought and practice, surprisingly little empirical work has been conducted on relational phenomena in the consumer products domain, particularly at the level of the brand. In this article, the author: (1) argues for the validity of the relationship proposition in the consumer-brand context, including a debate as to the legiti- macy of the brand as an active relationship partner and empirical support for the phenomenological significance of consumer-brand bonds; (2) provides a framework for characterizing and better understanding the types of relationships consumers form with brands; and (3) inducts from the data the concept of brand relationship quality, a diagnostic tool for conceptualizing and evaluating relation- ship strength. Three in-depth case studies inform this agenda, their interpretation guided by an integrative review of the literature on person-to-person relationships. Insights offered through application of inducted concepts to two relevant research domains—brand loyalty and brand personality—are advanced in closing. The exercise is intended to urge fellow researchers to refine, test, and augment the working hypotheses suggested herein and to progress toward these goals with confidence in the validity of the relationship premise at the level of consumers' lived experiences with their brands.
A bipolar adjective scale, the Personal Involvement Inventory (PII), was developed to capture the concept of involvement for products. The scale successfully met standards for internal reliability, reliability over time, content validity, criterion-related validity, and construct validity. Tests of construct validity demonstrated that the scores were positively related to perceived differences among brands, brand preferences, interest in gathering information about the product category, and comparison of product attributes among brands.
The meanings of 18 verbal probability expressions were studied in 3 ways: (a) frequency distributions of what single number best represented each expression; (b) word-to-number acceptability functions from what range of numbers from 0% to 100% best represented each expression; and (c) number-to-word acceptability functions from which expressions were appropriate for multiples of 5% from 5% to 95%. These results agreed highly with others and were highly consistent across methods. Expressions incorporating the stem probable were quantitatively synonymous with expressions incorporating the stem likely. Except for expressions using the word chance, positive expressions (e.g., likely) were closer to 50% in meaning than corresponding negative expressions (e.g., unlikely). This method proved very useful in deriving fuzzy-set membership functions for probability words, encouraging us in our ongoing codification effort.
The purpose of this article is to determine whether the positive association between social support and well-being is attributable more to an overall beneficial effect of support (main- or direct-effect model) or to a process of support protecting persons from potentially adverse effects of stressful events (buffering model). The review of studies is organized according to (a) whether a measure assesses support structure or function, and (b) the degree of specificity (vs. globality) of the scale. By structure we mean simply the existence of relationships, and by function we mean the extent to which one’s interpersonal relationships provide particular resources. Special attention is paid to methodological characteristics that are requisite for a fair comparison of the models. The review concludes that there is evidence consistent with both models. Evidence for a buffering model is found when the social support measure assesses the perceived availability of interpersonal resources that are responsive to the needs elicited by stressful events. Evidence for a main effect model is found when the support measure assesses a person’s degree of integration in a large social network. Both conceptualizations of social support are correct in some respects, but each represents a different process through which social support may affect well-being. Implications of these conclusions for theories of social support processes and for the design of preventive interventions are discussed.
A hypothesized need to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships is evaluated in light of the empirical literature. The need is for frequent, nonaversive interactions within an ongoing relational bond. Consistent with the belongingness hypothesis, people form social attachments readily under most conditions and resist the dissolution of existing bonds. Belongingness appears to have multiple and strong effects on emotional patterns and on cognitive processes. Lack of attachments is linked to a variety of ill effects on health, adjustment, and well-being. Other evidence, such as that concerning satiation, substitution, and behavioral consequences, is likewise consistent with the hypothesized motivation. Several seeming counterexamples turned out not to disconfirm the hypothesis. Existing evidence supports the hypothesis that the need to belong is a powerful, fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation.
Human beings can be proactive and engaged or, alternatively, passive and alienated, largely as a function of the social conditions in which they develop and function. Accordingly, research guided by self-determination theory has focused on the social-contextual conditions that facilitate versus forestall the natural processes of self-motivation and healthy psychological development. Specifically, factors have been examined that enhance versus undermine intrinsic motivation, self-regulation, and well-being. The findings have led to the postulate of three innate psychological needs--competence, autonomy, and relatedness--which when satisfied yield enhanced self-motivation and mental health and when thwarted lead to diminished motivation and well-being. Also considered is the significance of these psychological needs and processes within domains such as health care, education, work, sport, religion, and psychotherapy.
Three studies explored the role of television viewing in eliciting subjective self-awareness and positive self-feelings. Study 1 assessed the effects of self-awareness manipulations via exposure to a neutral television program on actual-ideal discrepancies. Those who watched television showed significantly smaller self-discrepancies than those who did not, independent of mood. Study 2 demonstrated the ecological validity of this finding by replicating it with people watching television in their own homes. Study 3 investigated whether manipulations of self-feelings affected television watching. Results indicated that those who received failure feedback watched television longer than those in a control condition who likewise watched television longer than those who received success feedback. Television appears to be an effective stimulus to direct the focus away from oneself and to render people less aware of how they are falling short of their standards.
The mass media are ranked with respect to their perceived helpfulness in satisfying clusters of needs arising from social roles and individual dispositions. For example, integration into the sociopolitical order is best served by newspaper; while "knowing oneself" is best served by books. Cinema and books are more helpful as means of "escape" than is television. Primary relations, holidays and other cultural activities are often more important than the mass media in satisfying needs.
Television is the least specialized medium, serving many different personal and political needs. The "interchangeability" of the media over a variety of functions orders televisions, radio, newspapers, books, and cinema in a circumplex. We speculate about which attributes of the media explain the social and psychological needs they serve best. The data, drawn from an Israeli survey, are presented as a basis for cross-cultural comparison.
The diffusion of television may increase the proportion of a population that recognizes various public figures and more abstract cultural symbols. This hypothesis is tested with time series of the labeling used in 1,154 editorial cartoons of five leading U.S. metropolitan newspapers. The sample includes at least a hundred cartoons published in each of the nine presidential election years, 1948-1980. Both the proportion of actual persons labeled and the mean number of labeled symbols per cartoon decreased by one-half to two-thirds over the period; both trends were downward with a high degree of statistical significance. Several explanations other than the hypothesized increase in the shared symbolic environment are considered and rejected. Temporal correlation and other indirect inference suggest that television is at least a partial cause of the change. Television's influence on shared images is also noted by the cartoonists themselves. The findings suggest that television may increase the likelihood that cultural symbols can be used to direct a nation's attention, to manipulate public opinion, and to mobilize behavior.
The parasocial interaction relationship development process was explored by applying principles of uncertainty reduction theory. Results suggested that parasocial relationship development follows a path from (a) social and task attraction to (b) parasocial interaction to (c) a sense of relationship importance. Length of exposure to the television character was not related to parasocial interaction in the path model. The study affirmed the contribution of interpersonal communication theories to understanding relationships people have with television personalities. Implications for future research were explored.
The study examined the relationship of interpersonal homophily and self‐esteem with the development of parasocial interaction. “Attitude”; homophily was found to be the strongest predictor, among the independent variables, of parasocial interaction for all three groups of television performers. The results also indicated that certain dimensions of a person's self‐esteem helped to predict and to explain parasocial interaction. The study showed how an integration of interpersonal and mass communication theories contributes to our knowledge of parasocial interaction.
Putnam [J. Democracy 6 (1995) Putnam, R. D. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (2000). New York: Simon & Schuster.] claims that Americans are socially and civically disengaged because they watch too much TV. I contend that, because evolved psychological mechanisms have difficulty comprehending entities that did not exist in the environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA), humans should fail to distinguish between real friends and the imaginary ones they see on TV. Consistent with my contention, the analysis of the US General Social Survey (GSS) data indicates that people who watch certain types of TV are more satisfied with their friendships as if they had more friends and socialized with them more often.
In this article I argue that although the notion of identification with media characters is widely discussed in media research, it has not been carefully conceptualized or rig- orously tested in empirical audience studies. This study presents a theoretical discus- sion of identification, including a definition of identification and a discussion of the consequences of identification with media characters for the development of identity and socialization processes. It is suggested that a useful distinction can be made be- tween identification and other types of reactions that media audiences have to media characters. A critical look at media research involving identification exposes the in- herent conceptual problems in this research and leads to hypotheses regarding the antecedents and consequences of identification with media characters. The impor - tance of a theory of identification to media research and communication research, more broadly, is presented. When reading a novel or watching a film or a television program, audience members often become absorbed in the plot and identify with the characters portrayed. Unlike the more distanced mode of reception—that of spectatorship—identification is a mechanism through which audience members experience reception and interpreta- tion of the text from the inside, as if the events were happening to them. Identification is tied to the social effects of media in general (e.g., Basil, 1996; Maccoby & Wilson, 1957); to the learning of violence from violent films and television, specifically (Huesmann, Lagerspetz, & Eron, 1984); and is a central mechanism for explaining such effects. As Morley (1992) said: "One can hardly imagine any television text having any effect whatever without that identification" (p. 209). The most promi-
Described as the face of American culture, World Wrestling EntertainmentTM (WWE) events are broadcast in over 162 countries and draw more than 500 million regular viewers. This paper explores the proposition that the WWE fan base represents a product-based subculture in American society. Using a value laddering methodology, shared values of WWE fans are exposed and the proposition of core and unique cultural values is supported. Practitioner and theoretical implications of the results are discussed.
In this paper are reported four experiments which investigated the effects of context on the interpretation of quantifiers of frequency such as often and seldom. The proportion that a quantifier was assumed to signify was influenced by certain aspects of context, especially the expected frequency of the event or activity described. However, the order of presentation of the quantifiers, set size and the number of other quantifiers available produced no significant effects. It is concluded that caution must be exercised when interpreting the results of questionnaires which use such quantifiers. In addition, the difficulty of producing a scale of quantifiers with equal interval properties is clearly illustrated.
In studying media enjoyment, communication scholars have assumed a measurable, internally valid relationship between program content and viewer response. Drawing on literature from sport and social psychology in addition to communication, this article posits that media enjoyment reflects a coalescence of 3 factors: (a) social norms, (b) viewing situations, and (c) program content. The article explores this conceptualization with televised football as a content source, social norms that reflect hegemonic masculinity, and a viewing situation in which audience members are part of a homogenous social group. Drawing on uses and gratifications, social identity, disposition, and uncertainty reduction theories, the article suggests that social norms and viewing situations are ultimately as central to enjoyment as content is.
A conceptual model was developed predicting parasocial interaction from both a social interaction need due to loneliness and instrumental television news use. Questionnaires were completed by 329 persons. Pearson and partial correlations supported hypotheses linking loneliness with less interpersonal communication and both loneliness and parasocial interaction with more television reliance. Loneliness and parasocial interaction were not correlated. Canonical correlation analysis supported expectations that instrumental news viewing for information was related to more parasocial interaction and perceived news realism; viewing news for exciting entertainment, news affinity, and news viewing levels correlated positively with this pattern. Ritualized news viewing for time consumption was related to more television viewing, but to less news viewing, duration, and affinity. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis identified news affinity, perceived news realism, and information news viewing motives as salient predictors of parasocial interaction with a favorite local television news personality. Implications of results were discussed in light of uses and gratifications research and communication interaction.
The purpose of this study is to investigate how the process of consumer socialization will determine adolescents’ decision-making styles. Eight decision-making styles were conceptualized as outcomes of the socialization process, which is acquired via interaction with socialization agents, namely parents, peers, printed media, television commercials and in-school education. The study also proposed five social structural variables (social class, gender, ethnicity, residence and religion) as being associated with the socialization agents and decision-making styles. The study sample consisted of 934 adolescents between the ages of 16 and 19 years. The data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analysed with the SPSS computer program. As a result of regression analyses, significant relationships were found between social structural factors and socialization processes, suggesting that the influence of socialization agents on adolescents may vary according to certain demographic characteristics. Significant relationships were also found between social structural factors and socialization processes. Peers appeared to be the most important agents of consumer socialization, contributing to a variety of desirable as well as undesirable consumer decision styles. Printed media and television commercials were also found to be significant sources of the acquisition of both desirable and undesirable decision-making styles. Parents and in-school education, however, were insignificant in the acquisition of any decision-making styles among adolescents. Information obtained from this study could be useful to government agencies and consumer educators. The most revealing finding of this study is that parents did not contribute to the formulation of decision-making orientation for adolescents. This points to the need for consumer educators to take steps in designing programmes that will involve parents as primary socialization agents at home; this may be facilitated via printed materials. Apart from this, the information can also be helpful in enabling marketers to be more effective in targeting various adolescent markets by formulating marketing strategies according to demographic factors, socialization process and decision-making styles.
A person exposed to a persuasive communication in the mass media sees this as having a greater effect on others than on himself
or herself. Each individual reasons: “I will not be influenced, but they (the third persons) may well be persuaded.” In some
cases, a communication leads to action not because of its impact on those to whom it is ostensibly directed, but because others
(third persons) think that it will have an impact on its audience. Four small experiments that tend to support this hypothesis
are presented, and its complementary relationship to a number of concepts in the social sciences is noted. The third-person
effect may help to explain various aspects of social behavior, including the fear of heretical propaganda by religious leaders
and the fear of dissent by political rulers. It appears to be related to the phenomenon of censorship in general: the censor
never admits to being influenced; it is others with “more impressionable minds” who will be affected.
Book clubs are everywhere these days. And women talk about the clubs they belong to with surprising emotion. But why are the clubs so important to them? And what do the women discuss when they meet? To answer questions like these, Elizabeth Long spent years observing and participating in women's book clubs and interviewing members from different discussion groups. Far from being an isolated activity, she finds reading for club members to be an active and social pursuit, a crucial way for women to reflect creatively on the meaning of their lives and their place in the social order.
Time use is described for adults who recorded no television viewing in diaries kept in conjunction with the 1975–76 University of Michigan national probability survey on time use. Results show nonviewers more active than viewers in almost all forms of activity involving work, child rearing, recreation, personal care, education, and social interaction.
The purpose of this article is to encourage research on the social aspects of consumer behavior, particularly as found in groups of consumers and manifested through group action. Based on work by leading contemporary philosophers, a new concept of social facts is presented that is grounded in the way members of a group see themselves and the implications of this for group action. Group action, in turn, is shown to require different conceptual schemes than commonly used for individual action or interpersonal and macro social perspectives. Among other ideas, the notion of what it means for a group member to intend that the group act and how individual intentions are contributory to group action are discussed. Copyright 2000 by the University of Chicago.
Advertising research has focused exclusively on the solitary subject at the expense of understanding the role that advertising plays within the social contexts of group interaction. We develop a number of explanations for this omission before describing the results of an ethnographic study of advertising's contribution to the everyday interactions of adolescent informants at a number of English high schools. The study reveals a series of new, socially related advertising-audience behaviors. Specifically, advertising meanings are shown to possess social uses relating to textual experience, interpretation, evaluation, ritual use, and metaphor. The theoretical and managerial implications of these social uses are then discussed. Copyright 1999 by the University of Chicago.
The tripartite classification of mental activities into cognition, affection, and conation originated in the German faculty psychology of the eighteenth century, but was adopted by the association psychologists of the nineteenth century of Scotland, England, and America. Its influence extended into the twentieth century through the writings of William McDougall. It is proposed that the classificatory scheme is still useful in the assessment of contemporary emphases in psychology, such as the present prominence of cognitive psychology to the relative neglect of affection and conation.
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Fact: College kids now watch more TV. Media Life. Retrieved from http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2 Parasocial relationships to TV series characters: Completion or replacement? Medienpsychologie
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