Television realism measures: The influence of program salience on global judgments |
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| Authors: | Rick W Busselle |
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| Institution: | Associate Professor in the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication , Washington State University , 226 Murrow East, Pullman, WA, 99164‐2520 E-mail: busselle@wsu.edu |
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| Abstract: | Five versions (four experimental and one control) of a questionnaire were randomly distributed to 190 participants as part of an experiment investigating whether judgments of global television realism are influence by the salience of program genre. Questionnaires contained items asking respondents how often they watch either 1) news programs, 2) reality‐based crime programs, 3) crime drama programs, or 4) day and evening soap operas, followed by perceived realism and demographic items. Global measures of television realism were influenced by the viewing questions that preceded them, such that questions about more realistic programming prompted judgments that television programming in general is more realistic. Except for one condition, questions measuring the perceived realism of a specific genre, rather than television in general, were not influenced by the salience manipulation. These results call into question the utility of global television realism items. |
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| Keywords: | Entertainment Media Social Cognition Theory Television Verbal Aggression |
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