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1.
This study investigated the extent to which the third-personeffect—the tendency of people to estimate greater impactof media messages on ‘other people’ than on themselves—mightdepend upon question-contrast effects (i.e. self-serving comparisonstriggered by back-to-back questions dealing with effect on othersand oneself), the order of questions, and respondents' levelsof background political knowledge. Two hundred and eighty-sevensubjects participated in two experimental studies involvingquestions about media coverage of President Clinton's possiblerole in the ‘Whitewater Affair’, his alleged frequentpolicy reversals, the O. J. Simpson murder trial, and childmolestation charges against Michael Jackson. Both experimentsresulted in significant third-person effects that did not dependupon having the same respondents answer both questions; meansfor single-question (no contrast) conditions did not differsignificantly from comparable means in two-question (contrast)conditions. No significant main effects of question order wereobserved. In Experiment 1 a significant interaction betweenpolitical knowledge and question order was found, such thata negative relationship between knowledge and perceived impacton oneself emerged when the ‘self’ question followeda question about perceived effects on others. Experiment 2 replicatedthe interaction for two of three news stimuli, and indicatedthat it was not a product of differences in the personal importanceof issues. Implications of these results for understanding thethird-person effect are discussed.  相似文献   

2.
Over the last few years, questions in the Australian polls aboutthe rate of immigration and the rate of Asian immigration havegenerated a remarkably wide range of response. While most ofthe polls conducted since 1984 suggest majority opposition tothe rate at which immigrants, including Asian immigrants, havebeen coming to Australia, other polls suggest majority support.Differences between the 1984 poll figures and some of the morerecent polls may reflect changes over time. Other polled differencesalmost certainly reflect differences in the way the questionswere worded. However, the most remarkable if least obvious causeof the difference seems to be the contexts in which the questionswere asked; more precisely, differences in the length and focusof the various questionnaires in which questions on immigrationwere embedded. Public opinion on the rate of immigration isnot only ‘soft’, it is created in the very attemptto measure it. Under these circumstances there is little pointin trying to isolate ‘majority opinion’ or in attemptingto establish which of the polls provides the most accurate reading.Where different readings are a product of differing contextsthey may be best understood in terms of competing conceptionsof what ‘public opinion’ itself is all about.  相似文献   

3.
This paper presents the results of a relatively large numberof public opinion surveys conducted in Britain during the Gulfcrisis—August 1990 to February 1991—many at weeklyintervals. The questions detailed here not only dealt with publicattitudes to the crisis itself but on its impact on the perceptionof the superpowers and the Arab world; again comparative trends,stretching back for almost forty years. There is also a discussionof the Gulf crisis and the British domestic political situation—wouldthe so-called ‘Falklands effect’ of 1982-1983 bereplicated by a ‘Gulf effect’ in 1991? This collectionof surveys probably represents one of the largest databaseson the topic in Britain. The paper shows a fairly stable positionof public opinion during the crisis; an improvement in the imageof the United States but a deterioration in that of the SovietUnion; but no significant effect on the British domestic politicalscene.  相似文献   

4.
This paper is in the tradition of social analysis aimed at creatingframeworks to join mass media and public opinion processes (e.g.Clarke and Evans, 1983; Gamson, 1975; Gitlin, 1980; Hall, 1977;Iyengar and Kinder, 1987; Lang and Lang, 1968, 1983; Lippman,1922; Mollotch and Lester, 1974; Noelle-Neuman, 1974; Paletzand Entman, 1981; Shaw and McCombs, 1977; Turner and Paz, 1986).After a brief review of media system dependency (MSD) theory,we illustrate how it may apply to public opinion processes thatentail contested issue ‘value-frames’ (Ball-Rokeachand Rokeach, 1987). In such cases, the media system is directlyimplicated in the negotiation of legitimacy of opposing positionson an issue. Our illustrative case is the abortion issue asit has been played out in the United States over recent decades(Luker, 1984). We focus upon the respective capacities of pro-and anti-abortion movements to control the value-frame of mediacoverage of the issue (Guthrie, 1989). A value-frame may beconceived as ‘... the main substantive theme of a moralityplay’ (Ball-Rokeach and Tallman, 1979) wherein the distinctionbetween ‘good’ and ‘bad’ hangs in thebalance; in this case, between positions on abortion. We suggestthat change in the value-frame of media coverage and publicdiscourse may be understood, at least in part, as an outcomeof change in contestants' MSD relations.  相似文献   

5.
In recent years, a number of new techniques have been developed—includingdeliberative polls and educational surveys—that attemptto gather measures of public opinion that is of higher quality(i.e. better informed or more deliberative) than that recordedin typical mass opinion surveys. This paper addresses severalgeneral sets of questions. What is meant by ‘quality’in public opinion? What criteria can be enumerated by whichthe quality of public opinion can be assessed? In grapplingwith these questions, the paper argues that conceptions of qualityin public opinion are inextricably bound to broader conceptionsof quality in democratic decision making, a complex processinvolving multiple phases and collective participants. In addition,a number of important contradictions and ambiguities underlieconceptions of quality in public opinion.  相似文献   

6.
This paper presents a content analysis of the manner in which‘world opinion’ is used in stories and editorialsof two nations' major newspapers. The authors studied the InternationalHerald Tribune and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung for themonths of February, March, and April 1986 for articles whichcontained implicit or explicit references to ‘world opinion’.These refernces were studied using a pre-designed survey instrument,which analyzed several features of the term's usage. Topicsfor discussion included: (1) the various syonyms for world opinion;(2) the agenda for world opinion; (3) the timing of referenceto particular issues on the agenda; (4) the moral and pragmaticcomponents of world opinion; and (5) the link between worldopinion and the ‘international isolation’ of nationsor individuals. The paper concludes by combining the resultsof the study into a preliminary definition of ‘world opinion’,based upon the common usage of this term. The definition comparesthe characteristics of ‘world opinion’ and ‘publicopinion’, and discusses the possible ramifications ofunderstanding the concept in this manner.  相似文献   

7.
Greece became an EEC member in 1981, following a parliamentaryvote in the then New Democracy (conservative)–controlledparliament. Opinion polls indicated though that were a referendumheld at the time, membership would have been rejected, as thegovernment had lost its popular support (and lost power in thecourse of that year) and an across-the-board anti-western majorityhad emerged in a country whose people's national identity wasfirst defined during and as a defense against the crusades.Ten years later, there exists in Greece a very large consensusin favor of EEC membership which includes even the communistleft, at least programmatically. The spectacular, and unprecedentedamong Community countries, pro-EEC conversion is the subjectof this paper. First, using the European Commission's Eurobarometerand Eurodim's Helleno-barometer data, the evolution of Greekpublic opinion towards the EEC is documented. Secondly, thetrend data in the various voting groups show that this conversionis basically the result of the transformation of the socialistelectorate from anti-EEC to pro-EEC, but with a lag behind thesimilar change in the party's (PASOK) policies during its eight-yearrule (1981–9). Thirdly, evidence is provided that anti-westernismhas not died out in Greece, but that it has both mellowed andbecome ‘selective’. So, we conclude that the pro-EECconversion was not the result of some general ‘Westernization’of Greek public opinion, but the outcome of a ‘learningexperience’: during their country's ten-year EEC membership,the Greeks discovered that the benefits from this internationalcommitment far outweighed the costs. In fact, it is argued thatthe pro-EEC conversion of Greek public opinion has contributedto the mellowing of its anti-westernism: whereas the crusadeswere instrumental in cutting the Greeks from Europe, the EECappears now the vehicle of their reintegration into a worldin whose development they have historically played a major role.  相似文献   

8.
Three aspects of the ‘most important problem’ questionused in agenda-setting research to measure issue salience amongthe public were examined. A split-ballot design in a state-widesurvey compared versions of the public agenda with a socialframe of reference versus a personal frame of reference, versionsusing the traditional term ‘problem’ versus ‘issue’,and the effects of question order. High correlations betweenthe different versions were found in all three sets of comparisons.  相似文献   

9.
When reporting frequencies and quantities in self-administeredsurveys using open-ended questions, respondents make use ofestimation strategies in order to provide a reasonable response.Accordingly, respondents do not only report pure numbers usingdigits, instead they extend their response to alphanumeric informationand explicit estimates (e.g. "about 10–20 cigarettes perday"). Such responses are not only of reduced quality, but theyalso require a lot of editing and cleaning in the post-fieldphase of a survey. While previous methodological work on frequencyquestions has focused on question wording, reference periodsand other text elements that have traditionally been consideredsignificant for high quality frequency responses, in this articlewe test the impact of various graphical characteristics of theresponse field in order to reduce the number of alphanumericelaborations and explicit estimates. The field-experimentalstudies reported are based on the assumption that respondentsinterpret formal characteristics of frequency questions as meaningfulinformation throughout the question answer process. The findingsreported will help survey designers reduce the proportion ofestimated responses. Received for publication October 24, 2007. Accepted for publication August 12, 2008.  相似文献   

10.
The dictatorship that ruled Greece between 1967–74 hadlasting consequences on the country's political culture. FromWorld War II and the Greek civil war until the dictatorship'scollapse, pro-Western, anti-communist, pro-business, sociallytraditional values had dominated public opinion. The dramaticfall of the dictatorship amidst a ‘national tragedy’made it a scapegoat and made what it stood for very unpopularespecially among the younger generation. So, when the lattercame of age, it contributed to the emergence of a new set ofvalues that were anti-rights, anti-Western, anti-business, anti-traditionalistand even historically revisionist, and were majoritrian in the1980s. These values have been so strongly entrenched that neitherthe Panhellenic Socialist Movement's (PASOK's) poor record inpower, nor the indictment of some of its leaders for seriousscandals in 1989, nor even the emergence, under PASOK rule,of a new more moderate generation, have helped the right toregain the absolute majority of the votes so to govern the country,although it has led to a partial moderation of the radical ‘juntageneration’.  相似文献   

11.
Since the introduction of the opinion leadership conceptualization,both practitioners and academics have been keenly interestedin its applicability in modern society. Numerous studies havebeen conducted to identify potential opinion leaders, learnof the characteristics distinguishing them from their ‘followers,’and understand how they exert their personal influence to changeopinions and behaviors of the masses. Despite the growing researchon opinion leadership, the identification of appropriate opinionleaders for practical purposes continues to be a challenge.Several methods were used to identify opinion leaders. The existenceof numerous methods and their use in various societies, socialsettings and cultures and the variance across domains of opinionleadership raises questions on the applicability and validityof the modern, advanced measures when applied to other socialsettings. The present study is in fact a first attempt to applythe modern personality strength (PS) scale to a traditionalcommunity. The PS scale was found to be an efficient, valid,and useful instrument to identify opinion leaders in numerousstudies. However, it was always used, tested, and validatedin Western societies (e.g., Germany, USA, and Israel). Whenwe applied the method in the Skukuza community, a small villagein South Africa, the findings revealed the inapplicability ofthe scale in a traditional community. Several factors are suggestedto explain the futility of the PS scale in a traditional society.  相似文献   

12.
This paper explores the role of perceptions of the opinionsof others as they relate to the formation of public opinion.Two interrelated theories involving such perceptions, the thirdperson effect and the spiral of silence, are tested in the contextof public opinion regarding divestment of financial interestsin South Africa. As hypothesized by the third person effect, perceptions of theinfluence of media reports on others were found to be consistentlygreater than perceptions of influence on self. Findings werestrongly supportive of this component of the ‘third personeffect’ hypothesis. Perceptions of the opinions of otherswere also explored in relation to respondents' willingness toexpress their opinions publicly. As suggested by the spiralof silence theory, respondents were found to be more willingto express their opinions publicly when they perceived a trendin support of their viewpoint, or when there was a greater perceivedlikelihood of achieving success for their issue position. The size of the effect produced from joining these two processesis moderated by the role of issue salience. People perceivingdivestment as a highly important issue are more likely to ascribegreater media influence to others than to themselves, but theirwillingness to express their opinions publicly is least likelyto be influenced by perceptions of the climate of opinion.  相似文献   

13.
This study examines the triangular relationship of the press,the president and public opinion about the drug issue in theUnited States from 1985 to 1990. Agenda-setting theory servesas the theoretical foundation for the ARIMA time-series analysis,which attempts to address who is driving the public opinionformation process about drugs: the press, the president, orthe public. The study employs a unique method in that ‘mostimportant problem’ survey results from nine organizationsare quilted into a time-series of 70 monthly points to measurethe public agenda. The press agenda is based on a computerizedcontent analysis of the frequency of coverage of the drug issue,and the presidential agenda is based on a similar analysis ofthe presidents’ public relations agendas. The three univariatetime-series are identified, estimated, and diagnosed. Then thewhite-noise component of each is used in a cross-correlationanalysis to address the research question. The results indicatethat public opinion mirrors or immediately follows the press,though public opinion also drives the press agenda. Second,the study suggests that the president is following the publicagenda, though the president also has strong immediate influenceon public opinion. And, finally it suggests the president mirrorsand follows the media, in addition to following public opinion.The trend of opinion, when viewed in relation to the historyof events surrounding the issue, suggests that the public opinionformation process, as measured through the lens of public opinionpolls, may be a matter of public perceptions of the realityof the issue and of the pseudo-realities of information campaignsand presidential and press attention, which may have their originsback in the heart of the public concern.  相似文献   

14.
For the first time in more than four decades, Central and EastEuropeans can openly voice their opinion about everything fromthe price of bread to the performance of the government. Publicopinion has become a dynamic factor in the decision-making processof the new governments of Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakiaand will play an important role in determining what kind ofpost-communist societies develop in these countries. In an effortto explore public sentiment about what kind of society theywant to develop, we analyze results from 14 nationwide, representativepublic opinion polls commissioned by the United States InformationAgency's Office of Research between June 1989 and January 1992in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. After tracing trendsin public opinion over this period, we look at some aspectsof the political culture in these countries. We then reporton our preliminary attempts to understand the determinants ofindividual preferences for either a society that emphasizesindividual freedom and responsibility (‘individual opportunities’society) or one in which the state assumes responsibility forassuring public welfare (‘state guarantees’ society).  相似文献   

15.
This study analyzes actual and perceived support for the PersianGulf War in the United States. Data were collected from 292residents of New Castle County, Delaware, during the 1991 GulfWar. Results show that support for the war was not the strongconsensus reported in mainstream media. In fact, 53.1 percentof the respondents fell within the neutral, disagree, or stronglydisagree ranges of a support for the war scale. Only 6.6 percentof the respondents were in the strong support range. However,responses were significantly higher on an item measuring perceivedsupport for the war. Consistent with Noelle-Neumann's spiralof silence theory, perceived public support for the war wasa significant predictor of support for the war even after 13variables were controlled. The alternative explanation thatsubjects were ‘projecting’ their own perceptionsonto the public, is discounted by the finding that liberals,moderates and conservatives did not differ in their perceptionsof public support.  相似文献   

16.
This paper provides an empirical test of the argument that thebroadcast newsmedia help create a ‘national’ publicopinion and mute localized opinion rooted insociodemographiccharacteristics. Using Canadian data, we provide evidence thatmajor social cleavages are reduced as exposure to the broadcastmedia goes up. However, we also provide evidence that exposureto media directed toward segmented aaudiences exacerbates socialcleavages. We conclude by speculating that public opinion maybecome more polarized around sociodemographic cleavages as narrowcastmedia become more dominant and we suggest that this has implicationsfor the study of media effectsusing survey research.  相似文献   

17.
Based on interviews with political party officials and journalistsas well as a content analysis of election poll stories, thispaper discusses opinion polling in Ghana's emerging democracy.Highlighted in the discussion are the relevance of surveyingpublic opinion in a neo-democracy and the journalistic reportingof poll results. The paper describes the surveying of publicopinion in a political climate in transition from long historicalexperience of authoritarianism and dictatorship including aperiod of a ‘culture of silence’, to freedom ofexpression, as a challenge. In an examination of local ‘polls’conducted by newspapers during the 1996 presidential and parliamentaryelections, it characterizes those exercises as unscientificand inaccurate. Technical details about surveys were mostlymissing in the stories, suggesting lack of poll reporting knowledgeamong journalists as a major challenge. There is an attemptto address these challenges for the purpose of strengtheningthe enabling role of political polling and journalistic reportingof poll results in Ghana's new democracy. Adequate responsesto these challenges would, it is proposed, contribute to a scientificand an objective assessment of issues in political decision–makingincluding measuring voter support for political parties andcandidates.  相似文献   

18.
Ambivalent Social Networks and Their Consequences for Participation   总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2  
Does perceived disagreement in political discussion help orhinder citizens’ political participation? Some argue thatdisagreement prompts reflection, perspective-taking, and tolerance.Challengers argue that disagreement fosters ambivalence andhinders participatory activities and turnout. One seminal studythat tackled this dilemma formulated the ‘cross-pressures’hypothesis (Lazarsfeld, Berelson, & Gaudet, 1944/1968),which posited that the more individuals are betwixt and betweenconflicting social positions, the longer the time for theirvote intention to crystallize (and the lower the likelihoodthey would vote). This paper offers a critique and refinementof the cross-pressures hypothesis. First, previous studies confoundedintra-individual and structural sources of cross-pressures.Second, past operationalizations of exposure to disagreementfocused on the sheer amount of opposition to the individual’spoint of view, rather than his or her exposure to two conflictingpoints of view. A new measure—network ambivalence—isproposed to capture the latter dynamic. Conceptual and methodologicalrefinements of the cross-pressures hypothesis are tested ona representative sample of voting-age respondents in the UnitedStates, interviewed on the American National Election Study2000 panel (N=1,555). Results suggest that not only were thesepressures hardly detrimental to participation, but they alsofacilitated the formation of considered electoral preferences.  相似文献   

19.
It is a common assumption that in many countries mass mediacensorship is imposed by an authoritarian government on an unwillingpublic. This study examines public opinion about televisioncensorship in the island nation of Singapore. More specifically,we tested the third-person effect hypothesis, which suggeststhat people expect media content to have more negative influenceon others than on themselves, and that some support for censorshipis based on that perceptual bias. Data for the study came from face-to-face interviews with 506randomly selected Singaporeans who evaluated ten categoriesof ‘sensitive’ television content. Results revealed(1) a substantial perceptual bias in all content categories;(2) generally strong opinion favoring censorship of televisioncontent; and (3) a significant relationship between these twofactors, suggesting that people may support censorship of mediain part because of a tendency to overestimate its negative influence.  相似文献   

20.
THE ACCESSIBILITY BIAS IN POLITICS: TELEVISION NEWS AND PUBLIC OPINION   总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1  
The influence of television news over public opinion is tracedto the ‘accessibility bias’ in processing information.In general, the argument stipulates that information that canbe more easily retrieved from memory tends to dominate judgments,opinions and decisions. In the area of public affairs, moreaccessible information is information that is more frequentlyof more recently conveyed by the media. Four different manifestationsor the accessibility bias in public opinion are described includingthe effects of news coverage on issue salience, evaluationsof presidential perfomance, attributions of issue responsibility,and voting choices.  相似文献   

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