The Impact of Social Issue Television Programming on Attitudes Toward Rape

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the impact of a television movie about acquaintance rape on subsequent attitudes about rape. To maximize external validity, a nationally representative sample of 1,038 ma& and female adultsfrom three agegroups was selected to participate in the study. These participants were then randomly assigned to view or not view the movie over a clwed-circuit channel, prior to the network broadcast of the film. Afterward, acceptance of rape myths and perceptions of rape as a social problem were measured. The movie incrtnsed awareness of date rape as a social problem acrossall demographicpups. The moviealso had a prosocial effect a older females who wme less likly to attribute blame to women in date rape situations after exposure. However, the opposite effect tended to Dccur among older men. Thefindings suggest that emotional involvement with a movie and selective perception of movie events may mediate the impact of social issue television programming.

Reinforcement or Reactance? Examining the Effect of an Explicit Persuasive Appeal Following an Entertainment-Education Narrative

“…Related past research has also found different effects of entertainment narratives on male and female viewers (e.g., Farrar, ; Moyer‐Gusé & Nabi, ; Moyer‐Gusé, Mahood, & Brookes, ; Wilson et al, ). In this study, perhaps engagement with the narrative played a role.…”

Reinforcement or Reactance? Examining the Effect of an Explicit Persuasive Appeal Following an Entertainment-Education Narrative

“…Related past research has also found different effects of entertainment narratives on male and female viewers (e.g., Farrar, ; Moyer‐Gusé & Nabi, ; Moyer‐Gusé, Mahood, & Brookes, ; Wilson et al, ). In this study, perhaps engagement with the narrative played a role.…”

First Year Campus Acquaintance Rape Education: Evaluating the Impact of a Mandatory Intervention

“…Thus, contrary to expectations, program impact did not appear to differ as a function of participant gender or other background characteristics. This finding is particularly surprising, given the previous suggestion that gender has moderated program impact (e.g., Hamson et al, 1991;Lenihan et al, 1992) and that personal acquaintance with a rape survivor might have a similar effect (Borden et al, 1988, Ellis et al, 1992Wilson et al, 1992). However, it underscores the fact that little is known about the similarities and differences in needs for rape prevention education, based both on gender and personal relation to the topic of acquaintance rape victimization.…”

Misperceptions About Perceptual Bias

“…It is unclear whether the polarization effects would have persisted over a longer period of time, amid further reflection or discussion with others. The issue of external validity is troubling because, to our knowledge, no field studies of the sort described by Wilson et al (1992) have turned up evidence of polarization. 4 In light of this concern, we now briefly examine the most widely studied time series in the study of American politics, namely approval of the incumbent president, to see whether Democrats and Republicans respond differently to political and economic developments.…”

Reinforcement or Reactance? Examining the Effect of an Explicit Persuasive Appeal Following an Entertainment-Education Narrative

“…Related past research has also found different effects of entertainment narratives on male and female viewers (e.g., Farrar, ; Moyer‐Gusé & Nabi, ; Moyer‐Gusé, Mahood, & Brookes, ; Wilson et al, ). In this study, perhaps engagement with the narrative played a role.…”

First Year Campus Acquaintance Rape Education: Evaluating the Impact of a Mandatory Intervention

“…Thus, contrary to expectations, program impact did not appear to differ as a function of participant gender or other background characteristics. This finding is particularly surprising, given the previous suggestion that gender has moderated program impact (e.g., Hamson et al, 1991;Lenihan et al, 1992) and that personal acquaintance with a rape survivor might have a similar effect (Borden et al, 1988, Ellis et al, 1992Wilson et al, 1992). However, it underscores the fact that little is known about the similarities and differences in needs for rape prevention education, based both on gender and personal relation to the topic of acquaintance rape victimization.…”

Misperceptions About Perceptual Bias

“…It is unclear whether the polarization effects would have persisted over a longer period of time, amid further reflection or discussion with others. The issue of external validity is troubling because, to our knowledge, no field studies of the sort described by Wilson et al (1992) have turned up evidence of polarization. 4 In light of this concern, we now briefly examine the most widely studied time series in the study of American politics, namely approval of the incumbent president, to see whether Democrats and Republicans respond differently to political and economic developments.…”

Reinforcement or Reactance? Examining the Effect of an Explicit Persuasive Appeal Following an Entertainment-Education Narrative

“…Related past research has also found different effects of entertainment narratives on male and female viewers (e.g., Farrar, ; Moyer‐Gusé & Nabi, ; Moyer‐Gusé, Mahood, & Brookes, ; Wilson et al, ). In this study, perhaps engagement with the narrative played a role.…”

First Year Campus Acquaintance Rape Education: Evaluating the Impact of a Mandatory Intervention

“…Thus, contrary to expectations, program impact did not appear to differ as a function of participant gender or other background characteristics. This finding is particularly surprising, given the previous suggestion that gender has moderated program impact (e.g., Hamson et al, 1991;Lenihan et al, 1992) and that personal acquaintance with a rape survivor might have a similar effect (Borden et al, 1988, Ellis et al, 1992Wilson et al, 1992). However, it underscores the fact that little is known about the similarities and differences in needs for rape prevention education, based both on gender and personal relation to the topic of acquaintance rape victimization.…”

Misperceptions About Perceptual Bias

“…It is unclear whether the polarization effects would have persisted over a longer period of time, amid further reflection or discussion with others. The issue of external validity is troubling because, to our knowledge, no field studies of the sort described by Wilson et al (1992) have turned up evidence of polarization. 4 In light of this concern, we now briefly examine the most widely studied time series in the study of American politics, namely approval of the incumbent president, to see whether Democrats and Republicans respond differently to political and economic developments.…”