Open Access Publications

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https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/27387
Open access publications by faculty, postdocs, and graduate students in the Department of Communications.

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    Media Use, Interpersonal Communication, and Attitudes Toward Artificial Intelligence
    (Science Communication, 2022-10-17) Brewer, Paul R.; Bingaman, James; Paintsil, Ashley; Wilson, David C.; Dawson, Wyatt
    This study examines how members of the public frame artificial intelligence (AI) along with how news use predicts “frames in mind” for AI. The study also tests whether news use, science fiction viewing, and discussing technology influence attitudes toward AI independently and in conjunction with one another. The analyses use data from a nationally representative online panel survey. Respondents invoked social progress and Pandora’s box frames for AI, and technology news use predicted mentioning each frame. Use of technology news also predicted change in support for AI, while science fiction viewing and discussing technology were conditionally related to such change.
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    Factors associated with COVID-19 masking behavior: an application of the Health Belief Model
    (Health Education Research, 2022-10-18) White, Allie; Maloney, Erin; Boehm, Michele; Bleakley, Amy; Langbaum, Jessica
    Wearing a face mask is effective in minimizing the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among unvaccinated individuals and preventing severe illness among the vaccinated. Country, state and local guidelines promote, and at times mandate, mask-wearing despite it being publicly perceived as an individual’s choice. Guided by the Health Belief Model (HBM), structural equation modeling was used to analyze longitudinal data in a sample of US adults aged 18–49 years to identify constructs that contribute to face mask-wearing. Results indicated that perceived COVID-19 severity, perceived masking benefits and self-efficacy were positively associated with masking behavior, and masking barriers were negatively associated with masking behavior. Perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 and cues to action were nonsignificant correlates of masking behavior. These results’ theoretical and practical implications contribute to the literature on the HBM and the COVID-19 pandemic. Future directions and limitations are discussed.
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    Athletes Drink Gatorade: DMA Advertising Expenditures, Ad Recall, and Athletic Identity Influence Energy and Sports Drink Consumption
    (Health Communication, 2022-10-10) Ellithorpe, Morgan E.; Bleakley, Amy; Hennessy, Michael; Jordan, Amy; Stevens, Robin; Maloney, Erin
    Understanding why sports and energy drinks remain increasingly popular among adolescents despite declines in other sugar sweetened beverages is critical. This study points to memory for advertising exposure and adolescent athletic identity as two aspects that together help to explain consumption. An online survey of U.S. adolescents aged 14–18 (n = 503) was combined with Nielsen data for television and social media advertising expenditures by sports and energy drink brands in participants’ designated market areas (DMAs). Advertisement recall mediates the relationship between social media DMA expenditures and sports and energy drink consumption. Recall for television advertisements is related to consumption but is unrelated to television DMA expenditures. Athletic identity moderated the relationship between recall and consumption such that consumption increased as both recall and athletic identity increased, suggesting a role for motivated memory and motivated processing of ad messages based on athletic identity consistent with the limited capacity model of motivated media message processing. Based on these results, we conclude that effectiveness of expenditures in influencing behavior is dependent upon both ad recall and ad relevance, and that athletic identity is an important factor in ad effectiveness in the context of sports and energy drinks advertising.
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    Nonverbal immediacy cues and impression formation in video therapy
    (Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 2022-08-01) Pfender, Emily; Caplan, Scott
    The increased use of video-mediated communication (VMC) due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to widespread acceptance of mediated healthcare appointments. Mental health care is one area in which researchers might examine the effects of VMC. Therefore, the current study employed an experiment to test the relative influence of video therapists’ eye contact and gesture on a patient. Each participant was assigned to one of the four possible video conditions using a 2 (Gestures present versus absent) x 2 (Eye contact present versus absent) factorial design. Study participants (n= 359) rated actors portraying themselves as video therapists on items related to impression formation (i.e. likable, warm, understanding). Findings suggest that participants in the eye contact condition reported more positive impressions than in the no eye contact condition. Similarly, participants in the gesture condition reported more positive impressions than in the no gesture condition. However, gestures had a larger effect on impression formation than eye contact, and there was no interaction effect considering the combined impact of gestures and eye contact. These results contribute to understanding how nonverbal cues impact health outcomes in VMC.
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    Would they save me, too? Victim race recall when the hero is Black vs. White and its influence on expectations of reciprocity
    (Media Psychology, 2022-05-22) Ellithorpe, Morgan E.; Holt, Lanier F.; Ewoldsen, David R.
    Bounded Generalized Reciprocity (BGR) hypothesizes that expectations of reciprocity provide the foundation for ingroup favoritism and outgroup derogation. These expectations can be influenced by interaction with outgroup members, including vicarious interaction through media. This analysis examines how non-Black participants view helping behavior by Black individuals, and how their interpretations of helping scenarios influence intergroup attitudes. Participants (n= 211) were randomly assigned to view a news clip in which a Black or White hero saves someone White, or whose race was not portrayed. When viewing a clip with an ambiguous victim, participants were significantly more likely to report that the victim was not White when the hero was Black – indicating an expectation of helping behavior between Whites and Blacks. However, when a Black hero saved an unambiguously White victim, participants were more accurate in their recall. Victim race recall and hero race interacted to predict future reciprocity expectations, such that Black heroes saving a victim recalled as White (regardless of accuracy) resulted in increased positive reciprocity expectations. Positive reciprocity then predicted motivation to avoid prejudice and prejudiced attitudes. These results have implications for how media depictions of helping behaviors may impact intergroup beliefs and attitudes.
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