Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: An experiment was conducted to explore the contributions of sexual and violent images contained in a movie preview for an action/thriller on viewers’ anticipated perceptions of the previewed film. The results showed that sexual and violent images increased anticipations that the film would contain sex and violence respectively, with these perceptions associated with greater anticipated suspense and greater anticipated enjoyment. In addition, for male participants, the presence of violence in the movie preview resulted in more unfavorable perceptions of a competing movie trailer shown in the same setting. These results are discussed in terms of viewers’ responses to media images of sexuality and violence per se, and the importance of these portrayals in the marketing of motion pictures.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: An experiment was conducted to examine individuals’ memories of race-related facial features of an individual pictured in the news. Participants were presented with a series of news stories, including one of four different versions of the news story of interest: non-stereotyped, stereotyped/non-crime, nonviolent crime, violent crime. Subsequently, participants were asked to reconstruct the photograph of the individual pictured in the news story by selecting from a series of facial features (i.e., noses, mouths, skin tones) presented on a computer screen. While selected facial features did not differ from the actual photograph in the non-stereotyped and stereotyped/non-crime conditions, selected facial features in the crime stories featured more African-centered rather than European-centered features, and particularly so for the story concerning violent crime.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The present study utilizes a social cognitive framework in experimentally investigating the relationship between viewers' social judgments and exposure to television news portrayals that intersect race and violent crime. Results revealed significant differences between women and men in evaluations of criminal suspects presented in these TV news reports of rape. However, only minimal support was found in support of the prediction that the race of the perpetrator would be associated with allocations of prison sentences. The hypothesized interaction between sex of participant and suspect race was not supported. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This research examines the influence of physiological arousal on the television viewers’ use of stereotypes in making judgments about characters and people featured on television. In an effort to clarify inconsistencies in past research, an experiment was conducted to assess the influence of arousal on television viewers' stereotype use. We tested the influence of different levels of physiological arousal on participant’s evaluations white women and black men after exposure to stereotypical images of these groups. Results of the study indicate that the inconsistent findings in the affect literature surrounding affect and stereotype use may be due to the effect of physiological arousal rather than the valence of the induced affect. The findings support the hypothesis that both increased levels of physiological arousal and decreased levels of physiological arousal lead to perceptions of greater homogeneity within social groups, and perceived homogeneity is an important element of stereotypic thinking.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Television programs' production value is highly regarded by professionals as a crucial dimension of program quality, but was never examined from viewers' perspective. This study examines the degree to which viewers are sensitive to television programs' production value as a distinct evaluative dimension, their ability to pass educated judgements of production value, and its impact on their overall program appreciation and quality assessment. Based on a large-scale survey among television viewers in Israel, we find that production value makes up a distinct evaluative dimension, indicating that viewers are sensitive to production considerations. Production value assessments also explain television program appreciation and quality evaluations. On the other hand, there are indications that lay viewers are not very good at discerning gradations of production value among different programs and genres. These findings have direct implications on policy-oriented recommendations as to the role of viewers' quality judgments vis-à-vis experts' assessments.