Perpetuating Gender Inequality via the Internet? An Analysis of Women’s Presence in Spanish Online Newspapers

This study examines women’s representation in Spanish national online newspapers. For this purpose, we developed an automatic content analysis method to analyze an extensive sample of 34,235 news articles gathered from March to May 2006. Our general objective was to investigate possible gender bias in Spanish online news. To do so we focused on three journalistic routines, one at the individual level of the reporter (gender) and two at the media routine level (sections, publication day, and article length). The results of the estimated multivariate models revealed that women are still linked to traditionally “female” sections, such as people, society, and culture. Analysis of article length and publication day showed that women appear more frequently in shorter news items and in the Sunday news, which we interpreted as indicators of male association with newsworthiness. We also found differences in gender reporting since female journalists tend to include more women in the news they report than their male peers. These results provide evidence that online newspapers continue to perpetuate underrepresentation, stereotyping, and discrimination of women in web news thereby reinforcing gender inequality.     

Identity,ideology, and personality: Examining moderators of affective polarization in New Zealand

Affective polarization (i.e., differences in evaluations of the in-party and out-party) has important implications for political outcomes including civic engagement and partisan-motivated attitudes and behaviours. In this study, we add to the burgeoning literature on affective polarization by examining moderators of the effect of in-party support on out-party opposition across the three main political parties in New Zealand. Using a large national probability sample of adults (N = 19,078), we assessed the effects of social demographics, Big-Five personality traits, liberal-conservative ideology, political identity centrality, and weekly news exposure on the relationship between in-party and out-party support. Results show political identity centrality is the strongest and most consistent moderator. The effects of some other moderators (e.g., personality, news exposure) are party-specific.     

The mobilizing and protective role of national identification in normative and non‐normative collective action

In the context of the financial crisis in Europe and drawing on social identity and perceived disadvantage literature, this research explored national identification, perceived prejudice, perceived ostracism, and anger as predictors of intentions to engage in normative collective action and support for non‐normative and destructive action. Correlational data were collected in Greece (N = 218), Portugal (N = 312), and Italy (N = 211) during the financial crisis that affected several European countries in the early 2010s. Hierarchical regressions showed that national identification, above and beyond all other variables, positively predicted normative collective action intentions, and negatively predicted support for non‐normative action. That is, people who were identified more strong with their national identity were more likely to report that they will engage in collective action to enhance the position of their (national) in‐group, and less likely to support destructive collective action. Mediation analyses revealed that in the case of Portugal and Italy, national identification associated negatively with anger, while anger positively predicted normative collective action. The findings of this research point to the importance of national identification as a factor, that, on the one hand motivates people's mobilization toward supporting the rights of the ingroup but on the other hand impedes the more negative and destructive side of collective action. The contextual and instrumental role of national identity in contexts of threat is discussed.     

Crime news in newspapers: A case study in Tamil Nadu,India

As part of a large‐scale study of juvenile delinquency and public perceptions and attitudes regarding youthful misconduct in India, two English‐ and one Tamil‐language newspapers in Tamil Nadu, India were content analyzed for the extent of their crime‐news coverage. The data demonstrate that crime‐news coverage resembles the pattern found in countries like the United States. Crime news was a staple, albeit a small portion, of the newspapers’ space, closer to the lower percentages in Western newspapers. But unlike Western newspapers, the focus is on the illegal conduct of public officials and public‐disorder events, such as riots and demonstrations. Personal‐crime coverage tends to receive less attention in Indian newspapers than it does in the United States. To some extent, as in the Western world, the Indian newspapers present a mediated image of crime in that although property crimes are the most frequent offenses recorded in official statistics, they do not receive the most coverage.     

From ‘Virgin Births’ to ‘Octomom’: Representations of Single Motherhood via Sperm Donation in the UK News

The use of sperm donation by single women has provoked public, professional and political debate. Newspapers serve as a critical means of both broadcasting this debate and effecting a representation of this user group within the public sphere. This study uses the theory of social representations to examine how single motherhood by sperm donation has been represented in the UK news over time. The study sampled news coverage on this topic in eight British newspapers during three 4‐year periods between the years 1988 and 2012. The dataset of news reports (n = 406) was analysed using a qualitative approach. Findings indicated that UK media reports of single women using donor sperm are underpinned by conventional categories of the ‘personal’, the ‘traditional’ and the ‘natural’ that when paired with their corollaries produce a representation of this user group as the social ‘other’. The amount of coverage on this topic over time was found to vary according to the political orientation of different media sources. Using key concepts from social representations theory, this article discusses the relationship between themata and anchoring in the maintenance of representations of the social ‘other’ in mass mediated communication. Findings are explained in relation to theoretical conceptions of the mass media and its position within the public sphere. It is argued that the use of personal narratives in news reports of single mothers by sperm donation may have significant implications for public understandings of this social group. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Diffuse-Avoidance,Normative, and Informational Identity Styles: Using Identity Theory to Predict Maladjustment

Expanding on the identity status paradigm, this investigation uses 3 forms of identity styles (diffuse-avoidance, normative, and informational) to assess the association among identity and maladjustment. A sample of 2,001 junior and senior high school students in Calgary and Edmonton, Canada completed a self-report that included, among other questions, items assessing the 3 identity styles and degree of adjustment or maladjustment in conduct, hyperactivity, and emotional states. Avariety of analyses indicate that adolescents who are escaping identity formation through a diffuse-avoidance identity style are more likely to manifest conduct and hyperactivity disorders. In contrast, adolescents who establish commitments from prior generations through a normative-identity style, or who engage in an active informational-identity style, are less likely to manifest conduct and hyperactivity problem behavior. Few gender or age differences were observed, suggesting that the technique applied here can be useful with both genders and all ages of adolescents. This study is an initial investigation of contemporary adolescents attempts to escape the self.     

College Students’ Attitudes Toward Blacks and Arabs Following a Terrorist Attack as a Function of Varying Levels of Media Exposure1

Attitudes toward Blacks and Arabs immediately following a terrorist attack on the United States, as well as 1 year later, were investigated. White undergraduate students completed a modified version of the Should‐Would Discrepancy Questionnaire (Monteith & Voils, 1998), assessing beliefs about what they should do in certain situations pertaining to race and what they would do in these situations. Additionally, daily self‐reported levels of news exposure were measured. The result was that the participants both believed that they should and would be more prejudiced toward Arabs than toward Blacks, at both Time 1 and Time 2. Furthermore, at Time 1, there was a trend for participants reporting high levels of daily news exposure (television, radio, Internet, and newspapers) to be more prejudiced toward Arabs than were participants who reported low levels. No effect of news exposure on attitudes toward Blacks was found at Time 1. At Time 2, however, participants reporting greater amounts of news exposure were more prejudiced toward Blacks than were participants reporting medium or low levels. Possible reasons for and implications of these findings are discussed.     

Twice Hurt: How Newspaper Coverage May Reduce Empathy and Engender Blame for Female Victims of Crime

In a content analysis of 148 newspaper articles we examined whether victims of violent crime (excluding sex crimes) are treated differently according to their gender. Articles taken from 4 newspapers showed that accounts of violent crime personalize male victims more than female victims: more personal information was included about male victims, and males were significantly more likely to be referred to by name rather than by a noun (“the victi”) or pronoun. In a second study we investigated whether such treatment could affect both empathy for the victim and victim blame. Participants read an account of a murder that manipulated victim gender, degree of personal information, and the manner in which the victim was described. Empathy for the victim was increased across victim gender by both inclusion of personal information and referring to the victim by name. Victim blame was also reduced by the inclusion of personal information. Implications of how the news media may subtly reduce empathy and engender blame for female victims are discussed.     

Constructing content and delimiting choice: International coverage of KAL Flight 007

For more than two decades, international debate over a New World Communication and Information Order has called attention to the question of whether or not newspapers around the world are limited by the alleged dominance of the international news flow by the Western media. Looking at how six newspapers from around the world covered the 1983 downing of KAL Flight 007 by the Soviet Union, we find that papers are in fact able to shape their coverage of major international events through their choice of providers, their selection and interpretation of subjects and facts, and their use of headlines to emphasize and frame information. Thus, newspapers can delimit choice to suit their own needs and goals.     

Identity Processes and Environmental Threat: the Effects of Nationalism and Local Identity upon Perception of Beach Pollution

This study examines the importance of local and national identity processes in predicting the perception of a threat to the local environment: pollution of British beaches defined in terms of European Union (EU) regulations concerning cleanliness. Place identity and social identity theories would predict that English people would exhibit positive discrimination when evaluating both their local and national beaches and would allow ingroup preferences to influence their estimates of beach pollution. The study involved administering questionnaires to 347 English students drawn from secondary schools in six seaside resorts (three with ‘polluted’ beaches, and three with ‘unpolluted’ beaches according to the EU criteria). It was hypothesized that degree of both local and national identification would predict variance in perceived levels of pollution independently of either the EU categorization or the physical evidence of pollution available. On the whole, results confirmed this main hypothesis: subjects who were more attached to their town or their nation tended to perceive their local and national beaches as less polluted. Traditional predictors of environmental evaluation (such as socio-demographic variables, environmental concern, use of the environment) did not play an important role in predicting beach pollution perception. Denial of physical assessments of pollution was interpreted as a strategy used to cope with the threat to place identity posed by the labelling of local beaches by a powerful outgroup (the EU).     

Being Chinese or being Scottish: National identification and intergroup attitudes of British born Chinese children

This study explored the age differences in national identification, and intergroup attitudes among British born Chinese (BBC) living in Scotland. Participants comprised 70 children in three age groups (8, 11 and 14 years). The study included three tasks: task 1 investigated children's national self-categorization; task 2 examined children's national self-identification; task 3 explored children's perception of the positive and negative traits of Chinese and Scottish people across the age groups (using card-sorting tasks). The results indicated that BBC children identified their national identity as Scottish, however, it varied with age and national contexts. Most BBC children identified themselves as both Chinese and Scottish but they attributed significantly more positive traits to Chinese than to Scottish people and showed significantly more liking for Chinese people than Scottish. The study concludes that BBC children experience a dual identity in which different components are integrated.     

License to Ill: The Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility and CEO Moral Identity on Corporate Social Irresponsibility

Although managers and researchers have invested considerable effort into understanding corporate social responsibility (CSR), less is known about corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR). Drawing on strategic leadership and moral licensing research, we address this gap by considering the relationship between CSR and CSiR. We predict that prior CSR is positively associated with subsequent CSiR because the moral credits achieved through CSR enable leaders to engage in less ethical stakeholder treatment. Further, we hypothesize that leaders’ moral identity symbolization, or the degree to which being moral is expressed outwardly to the public through actions and behavior, will moderate the CSR–CSiR relationship, such that the relationship will be stronger when CEOs are high on moral identity symbolization rather than low on moral identity symbolization. Through an archival study of 49 Fortune 500 firms, we find support for our hypotheses.     

Representations of Poverty in British Newspapers: A Case of ‘Othering’ the Threat?

The meanings of social problems like poverty develop within the public sphere. This paper uses the theory of social representations to examine how poverty is represented in British newspapers. Poverty has been discussed and interpreted in numerous ways, and newspapers not only provide a platform for these elaborations but also contribute to shaping public understanding on the issue. The study sampled news coverage on poverty in four British newspapers during two randomly chosen one‐month periods in the years 2001 and 2011. The data set of news reports (n = 274) was thematically analysed to examine representations of poverty. The study found that in the domestic context, media represents poverty as a problem limited to vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly. With a lack of discussion on the wider socio‐economic causes and contributing factors, poverty within the UK appears as an ‘orphan phenomenon’ with an unknown genesis. In contrast, the representations of poverty outside the UK are vivid and elaborate, and the news reports hold the socio‐political inefficiency of countries responsible for poverty. The study also found that the media uses poverty to make sense of catastrophic events in society: the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States and the London riots of 2011 were both anchored using poverty. This paper discusses the representational dynamics of these findings and argues that the media representations distance general society from poverty, representing it as a problem of the other. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Observational Study on How Situational Factors Influence Media Multitasking With TV: The Role of Genres,Dayparts, and Social Viewing

This study responds to the need for research on individuals' media multitasking behavior using observational data. Media multitasking can have a profound impact on media processing and effects. However, we have little knowledge on when people are likely to engage in media multitasking and, consequently, when these effects are likely to occur. This study examines how three important situational factors—television genres, dayparts, and social viewing—influence the amount of media multitasking. Granular observational data obtained by directly monitoring and recording media consumption behaviors of a large panel at 10-second intervals are used for the analysis. The study reveals that media multitasking with television is most prevalent when people watch sports or engage in channel surfing and less prevalent with commercials, news, and entertainment. Furthermore, the extent of media multitasking is greater in the morning and afternoon than in the evening, and also greater when individuals watch television alone than in the presence of others. Daypart differences are larger for genres associated with incidental viewing (commercials and channel surfing) than for genres associated with intentional viewing (news, entertainment, and sports). Sports is the only genre that is associated with higher amounts of media multitasking when watching television with others.     

对公共媒体信息的加工偏向：内外群体属性的调节作用

本研究采用两个实验在公共媒体信息背景下考察人们对不同效价新闻的加工偏向,以及新闻群体属性在加工偏向中的调节作用。实验1、2均以不同效价的内外群体的真实新闻为实验材料,实验1采用选择接触范式,从行为选择层面间接考察被试阅览不同新闻时的注意选择偏向;实验2采用点探测范式,增加两种SOA（200ms / 500ms）条件,进一步直接地揭示被试加工新闻信息时的注意偏向特点选择行为偏向背后的注意偏向特点。结果表明,实验1中被试倾向加工积极的内群体新闻以及消极的外群体新闻;同样,在实验2的注意后期,也发现人们对内群体新闻的积极注意偏向,与对外群体新闻的消极注意偏向,而在注意早期,人们对积极新闻存在注意偏向,且不受群体属性影响。结果符合社会认知加工的内群体偏好与外群体贬低偏向。     

The Effect of a Majority Group's Orientation Toward Acculturation on a Minority Group's Feelings of National Identity

In the present study, 136 ethnic Russian students in Estonia read one of two fictitious scenarios about the results of a national survey. The first scenario led participants to believe that members of the majority group (Estonians) prefer minority groups to assimilate to the dominant, majority culture. The second scenario led participants to believe that the majority group prefers a multicultural orientation that values all cultural groups. After reading one of the two scenarios, participants completed measures of national identity and ethnic identity. Participants' responses revealed that the effect of the majority's acculturation orientation on feelings of national identity was moderated by the minority group's self-identification and the strength of their ethnic identity. Specifically, the different acculturation scenarios produced different intensities of national identity, but only for persons who identified as monocultural or reported a high degree of ethnic identity.     

Global news – global identity? The relationship between media consumption,perception of identity,and ethnocentrism

In line with the common ingroup identity model, the present research investigated whether factors beyond contact conditions are associated with the emergence of a shared identity perception and outgroup attitudes. Concretely, we reasoned that higher consumption of global news would be positively related to a stronger global identity, which in turn would be negatively correlated with ethnocentrism. In contrast, consumption of local news should be associated with a local identity, which would then be positively related to ethnocentrism. To test these ideas, one cross-sectional (N = 576) and one longitudinal study (N = 410) were carried out at an Austrian university. As hypothesized, global news consumption was associated with a stronger global identity, which then accounted for reduced ethnocentrism. However, only in the cross-sectional study, we found empirical evidence that local news interest is positively correlated with ethnocentrism mediated by local identity.     

Deceptive Strategic Identity Support: Misrepresentation of Information to Protect Another Individual's Public Self‐Image1

Two laboratory studies identified conditions under which individuals are willing to misrepresent information regarding another person's performance to protect that other person's public self‐image (i.e., to provide deceptive strategic identity support). The extent to which deceptive strategic identity support arises is determined by the salience of another person's need for impression‐management assistance. Factors increasing the salience of a person in need (including performance discrepancy, relationship closeness, location of the target, and trait empathy) motivated individuals' willingness to engage in deceptive strategic identity support. State empathy was found to mediate the effects.     

Identity threat and antisocial behavior in organizations: The moderating effects of individual differences,aggressive modeling,and hierarchical status

This study examines whether the experience of identity threat predicts antisocial behavior directed towards other employees. A social interactionist model is used as a theoretical framework for predicting that employees who are frequent recipients of actions that challenge or diminish their sense of competence, dignity, or self-worth will engage in higher levels of antisocial behavior. However, it is predicted that the strength of this relation will be moderated by individual (gender, age, and attitudes toward revenge) and situational (aggressive modeling, hierarchical status) factors. Data from 308 employees from three organizations supported moderating effects of age, revenge attitudes, and hierarchical status. A three-way interaction was also found showing that identity threat was more strongly related to antisocial behavior for low as compared to high status employees, but only when they were exposed to low levels of aggressive modeling.