Third-person Effect Hypothesis Research Articles

Research on the Third-Person Effect of Online Commercial Advertisements – Based on the Students from Guangzhou Huashang College

The third-person effect hypothesis has become one of the most important aspects in the research field within the American empirical school. A large number of studies have adopted empirical research methods to verify the reliability of the third-person effect. With the rise of the network society, local research on the third-person effect has gradually extended to the verification or falsification of the third-person effect in the network environment. This article begins with a study on the third-person effect of online commercial advertisements based on the students from Guangzhou Huashang College. Through the study, the research hypotheses have been proposed and questionnaires have been distributed to the research subjects for analysis. Based on a series of quantitative operations, such as data analysis, empirical observations, and empirical research, this study provides a source of reference and reflection for research in this field.

Impact of Internet Pornography on Chinese Teens: The Third-Person Effect and Attitudes Toward Censorship

Based on the third-person effect hypothesis–people’s belief that the media influences others more than it influences themselves–we administered a questionnaire to Chinese teens ( N = 1,538) to discover the impacts of exposure to internet pornography on perceptions of pornography and attitudes toward censorship of pornography. The results validated the third-person effect hypothesis and showed that teens’ subjective perceptions of what constitutes internet pornography and their exposure to it are critical variables for predicting perceptions of negative impacts of pornography on self and others and affirmative attitudes toward censorship. The study also found that the impact on self is the best variable for predicting attitudes toward censorship. The discussion is framed in the context of Chinese collective culture and conservative attitudes toward sex.

Sharing of fake news on social media: Application of the honeycomb framework and the third-person effect hypothesis

Sharing of fake news on social media platforms is a global concern, with research offering little insight into the motives behind such sharing. This study adopts a mixed-method approach to explore fake-news sharing behaviour. To begin with, qualitative data from 58 open-ended essays was analysed to identify six behavioural manifestations associated with sharing fake news. Thereafter, research model hypothesizing the association between these behaviours was proposed using the honeycomb framework and the third-person effect hypothesis. Age and gender were the control variables. Two data sets obtained from cross-sectional surveys with 471 and 374 social media users were utilized to test the proposed model. The study results suggest that instantaneous sharing of news for creating awareness had positive effect on sharing fake news due to lack of time and religiosity. However, authenticating news before sharing had no effect on sharing fake news due to lack of time and religiosity. The study results also suggest that social media users who engage in active corrective action are unlikely to share fake news due to lack of time. These results have significant theoretical and practical implications.

Exposure to news about the South China Sea, nationalism, and government evaluation: examining the mediation roles of third-person effects and online discussion

Based on the communication mediation model, the third-person effect hypothesis was integrated to analyze the influence of the exposure to South China Sea news on its perceived effects on the self and others. In addition, the influences of such exposure on online discussions and political attitudes were examined, specifically in relation to nationalism and government evaluation. The survey (N = 868) found that the respondents perceived a stronger media effect on others than on themselves, whereas exposure to traditional and news media exposure exhibited equivalent effects on the self and on others. Moreover, the perceived effects on oneself promoted online discussion and nationalism, whereas the perceived effects on others improved government evaluation. The findings of this study indicate that the effects of media exposure on nationalism and government evaluation are marginally mediated by perceived effects, online discussion, or both.

Effects of Issue Involvement, News Attention, Perceived Knowledge, and Perceived Influence of Anti-Corruption News on Chinese Students’ Political Participation

Informed by the third-person effect hypothesis, this study used a survey of 1,060 Chinese university students to analyze the impact of anti-corruption news on Chinese audiences’ attitudes and political participation. This study found that university students tended to think the influence of anti-corruption news on others was greater than on themselves. In addition, issue involvement and new media attention to such news were found to reduce the self-other perceptual gap. Furthermore, the perceived effects of such news on self were positively associated with supportive attitude toward the anti-corruption policies. Meanwhile, perceived effects on others were negatively related to respondents’ political participation.

Facebook influences you more than me: The perceived impact of social media effects among young Facebook users

The popularity and prevalent use of Facebook among young people are common pre­occupations for communication researchers. They focus on unveiling people’s motivations, usage be­haviour, and gratifications offered by this communication medium. However, little attention has been invested in examining how young people perceive this new type of media consumption and its effects on themselves as compared to others. Drawing on Davison’s 1983 third-person effect hypothesis, this research paper investigates the a differences in estimated Facebook effects on self versus others, b association between the desirability of the message anti-social versus pro-social and estimated Facebook effects on self versus others, and c association between the type of the message and es­timated Facebook effects on self versus others. These relationships are studied with reference to the behavioural component of the third-person effect. Results confirm that Facebook might influence the magnitude and direction of the perceptual gap of media effects.

Web Third-Person Effect Hypothesis: Do likes and Shares Affect Users’ Perceptions?

Web Third-Person Effect Hypothesis: Do likes and Shares Affect Users’ Perceptions?

Issue Importance, Third-Person Effects of Protest News, and Participation in Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement

How do news coverage of a grassroot protest movement and perceived importance of the movement affect people’s participation in the movement? And does people’s inference of the effect of the news on themselves versus others make a difference in participation? Informed by the third-person effect hypothesis, we examine these questions in the context of the student-led Sunflower Movement in Taiwan that rose in opposition to a trade pact with China. In the study, we advanced three propositions: First, that the perceived effects of the protest news on oneself would be a better predictor of political participation than would perceived effects of such news on others. Second, that the perceived effect on oneself, not on others, would enhance the impact of issue importance on participation in the movement. And third, how people processed protest news would be another intermediate mechanism on subsequent participatory activities. We found support for these propositions in data collected from a probability sample of 1,137 respondents. The implications of the findings for the robust third-person effect research are discussed.

Me versus them: Third-person effects among Facebook users

The immense popularity of Facebook with more than 1 billion active users continues to spark the attention of communication scholars. While much is known about Facebook members’ motivations, usage patterns, and gratifications obtained from this social networking site (SNS), minimal attention has been given to examine the perceived consumption and impact of Facebook on users themselves versus others. Applying the third-person effect (TPE) hypothesis to the context of social media, this research uniquely investigates the (a) difference in estimated Facebook effects on self versus others, (b) relationship between perceptions of Facebook use and estimated Facebook effects on self versus others, and (c) association between perceived desirability of Facebook as a social medium and estimated Facebook effects on self versus others. The aforementioned relationships are also moderated by gender and age. Implications for the relevance of TPE on users of SNSs are discussed.

Perceived Message Influence and Hispanic Women

The third-person effect (TPE) hypothesis states that people typically perceive the media messages to have greater influence on others than on themselves. Though this self-other perceptual bias has been shown to be robust across a variety of message contexts, past research has typically utilized Caucasian college student samples. The current study addresses this shortcoming in the literature by examining whether the TPE hypothesis holds for low-income, low-education, Spanish-speaking female adults with regard to the perceived effects of health news coverage. Our findings showed that most participants chose “equal to others” when estimating health news effects on themselves instead of “less than others” or “more than others.” Results from ordinal logistic regression showed that the propensity toward TPE was related to optimistic bias and certain indicators of acculturation. Our findings suggest the need for future TPE research in Hispanic populations and further efforts to investigate TPE from an intercultural perspective.

Does a Perceptual Discrepancy Lead to Action? A Meta-analysis of the Behavioral Component of the Third-Person Effect

The third-person effect consists of two hypotheses. The perceptual hypothesis states that people assume that communications influence others more than themselves. The behavioral component suggests that people's overestimation of media impact on others lead them to take action or to have some relevant behavioral intentions, perhaps in the hopes to thwart the predicted effects (Peiser & Peter, 2000). The major point of the behavioral component is that the magnitude of third-person perception is a salient, if not the best, predictor of behavioral outcomes. What energizes practitioners and intrigues researchers is the behavioral hypothesis, which suggests that perceptions can hypothetically influence behavior intentions or even actual behavior. To a certain degree, the hypothesis is vague and simplistic in that it ignores the underlying mechanisms that mediate the perception-behavior relationship. Nonetheless, when considering the practical implication, we can appreciate the possibility that perceptions of effects (especially harmful consequences) on third persons propel people to act. The behavioral component of the third-person effect hypothesis has stimulated considerable research in recent years; a majority of which has looked into the possibility that third-person perceptions push people toward censoring content deemed undesirable. Research for the behavioral component, as applied to domains other than censorship, is very much underexplored and the support is largely mixed.

Understanding the Third-Person Perception: Evidence From a Meta-Analysis

The third-person effect hypothesis has generated a vibrant research area. The expansion of this literature poses need for a systematic synthesis of the empirical evidence and assessment of the viability of various theoretical accounts. For this purpose, a metaanalysis is conducted on all published empirical studies of the perceptual component. This analysis covers 60 papers, 106 studies, and 372 effect sizes. Results from a series of multilevel models show that the third-person perception is robust and not influenced by variations in research procedures. Desirability of presumed message influence, vulnerability of referent others, referent others depicted as being similar to self, and others being likely audience of the media content in question are significant moderators. A vote counting analysis is conducted on 124 self‐other comparisons in 29 studies from 13 additional papers that do not have the necessary statistical information. Further analyses are conducted to detect and estimate potential publication bias. Based on the empirical synthesis, the paper evaluates several explanatory factors and offers suggestions for future research.

Perceptual Differences in Assessing the Harm of Patronizing Adult Entertainment Clubs

Prostitution is one of the most severe social problems in Taiwan and a long-term concern of numerous studies (Chiu, 1991). Although it is illegal, prostitution appears almost everywhere in hotels, night clubs, underworld brothels, massage parlors, teahouses, hair salons in business districts as well as residential areas. Among places of prostitution, adult entertainment clubs are the most widespread (Hwang & Bedford, 2003). According to a survey by the Taiwan Academia Sinica in 1994, 68 percent of the respondents perceived prostitution as a serious or very serious problem for Taiwanese society (Chang & Fu, 2002). In 2001, the percentage of Taiwanese who perceived prostitution as a serious or very serious social problem increased to 75 percent. Previous research on prostitution focused on assessing public attitudes toward prostitution and the sex industry (Chang, 1997; Chang & Liu, 2003; Yang, 2003). Other studies analyzed the problem from a legal and policy-making perspective to explore approaches to restrict adult entertainment establishments (Cheng, 2000; C. C. Hsu & Y. S. Chen, 2003; H. Y. Hsu & C. Y. Chen, 2003; Yang, Yi, & Chiu, 2003). None of the previous studies, however, examined the public’s perceptions of the harm of adult entertainment clubs, especially the perceptual discrepancy in assessing the vulnerability of self relative to others. The purpose of this study is to fill the gap by exploring the perceived harm of visiting adult entertainment clubs and whether the perceived harm will influence the public’s support for restrictions on the sex trade. In the context of assessing the effect of media content, the third-person effect hypothesis proposes that people tend to perceive mass media as having a greater effect on others than on self (Davison, 1983). Numerous third-person effect studies suggest that people who tend to overestimate media effects on others are more likely to support restrictions on media content to protect the others (Gunther, 1991; Lo & Wei, 2002; Salwen, 1998). In the context of assessing vulnerability to risks such as contracting HIV/AIDS, the optimistic bias hypothesis holds that people tend to underestimate their probability of encountering negative life events (Weinstein, 1980). The hypothesis explains why people fail to take preventive action (Chapin, 2001). With a self–other comparative perspective, the present study has two goals: (1) it seeks to examine the self–other gap in perceiving the negative influence of sex clubs, with an emphasis on the role of personal experience in visiting these clubs as an influence on the perceptual discrepancy; (2) the study investigates the gender difference in self–other comparisons and in support for restrictions on sex clubs because the relationship between gender and perceptual bias regarding risks

Preparations for Y2K: Revisiting the Behavioral Component of the Third-Person Effect

Although the behavioral component was an integral part of the original formulation of the third-person effect hypothesis, little research has examined the impact of biased media effect perceptions on behaviors that assume others have already been affected. The present study examines how third-person perceptions (the belief that other people are particularly vulnerable to media messages) contributed to intentions to prepare for problems stemming from Y2K, also known as the “millennium bug.” Analyses using data from 2 regional probability samples taken in late 1999 show that perceptions about the potential effects of news messages influenced public anxiety about the Y2K situation and beliefs that other people would overprepare for the new year. These 2 variables, in turn, predicted intentions to stockpile supplies of food, water, gasoline, and cash. The article discusses the implications of these findings for understanding the relationship between perceptions of media effects and an extended range of behaviors.

The Influence of Presumed Influence

Although direct influences of media have been the primary focus of mass communication research recent theoretical developments have suggested powerful and important indirect effects as well. Derived from the third-person effect hypothesis and related research but describing a broader range of phenomena the indirect effects model proposes that people (a) perceive some effect of a message on others and then (b) react to that perception. We call this model the influence of presumed influence. The general model was tested with evaluation data from a maternal health campaign in Nepal. A key aspect of the campaign was a serial radio drama directed at clinic health workers. Results showed however that many women in the general population also listened to the serial. The program had no direct positive influence on this population but we found a significant indirect influence on their attitudes and reported behaviors when mediated by their perceptions of impact on the target population of clinic health workers. (authors)

Third-Person Perception and Sexual Risk Taking Among Minority `At-Risk' Youth

Fifteen years ago, Davison (1983) introduced the third-person effect hypothesis that individuals believe they are less influenced than others by media messages. Although third-person effect is a perceptual bias, Davison believed that individuals act on such misperceptions. Few studies have tested the behavioral aspect of the third-person effect. In addition, previous studies reporting differences in third-person effect due to message type (i.e. Public Service Announcements [PSAs] vs. advertisements) lacked controls to isolate the effects of message type from content and context. In this study, I sought to (a) document third-person effect among minority "at-risk" youth within the context of safer sex messages, (b) determine the differences in third-person effects (if any) between PSAs and advertisements with similar content, and (c) determine the link (if any) between third-person effect and risky sexual behaviors among youth. Findings indicate that third-person effect is an appropriate framework for understanding how at-risk youth perceive safer sex campaigns. I also extend the behavioral aspect of third-person hypothesis by linking it with sexual risk behaviors among at-risk youth. No difference in third-person effect was found as a result of different message types. Relevance of the current findings to the broader areas of health communication and message effects is discussed.

Susceptibility and Severity

The authors posit that 2 distinct perceptual dimensions underlie the third-person effect hypothesis: judgments of susceptibility to communications (a cognitive process) and severity of communications (an affective process). To explore this, 194 adults were asked (a) to estimate their own and others' susceptibility to various types of advertising content and the severity of such advertising's effects on themselves and others, and (b) to express their willingness to censor these classes of commercials. The advertising content fell into 2 broad categories: controversial products (cigarettes, liquor, and beer) and gambling services (casinos and lotteries). Findings indicate that third-person perceptions exist in terms of susceptibility and severity, and that both of these perceptual biases are related to individuals' willingness to censor advertising.

Considering Interacting Factors in the Third-Person Effect: Argument Strength and Social Distance

This study explores the possible relationship among issue involvement, argument strength, and the third-person effect. The study examines Petty and Cacioppo's Elaboration Likelihood Model and the third-person effect hypothesis. The hypothesis in this laboratory experiment was that perceived issue involvement in others would interact with argument strength in a written persuasive message to affect the nature of the third-person effect. That is, it was hypothesized and found that people tend to believe that “others” will be more affected than themselves by a persuasive message that contains weak argumentation, but that “others” will be less affected than themselves by a persuasive message that contains strong argumentation.

Support for Censorship of Violent and Misogynic Rap Lyrics

Recent calls for censorship of rap music have demonstrated the need to test the perceptual and especially the behavioral components of Davison's third-person effect hypothesis. The hypothesis states that people perceive media content to have a greater impact on others than on themselves (perceptual component), and that these perceptions lead people to take actions, such as censorship, to prevent the impact (behavioral component). Results of a survey of college students (N = 202) using rap lyrics as the context revealed strong support for both components of the hypothesis. Limited support was found for the social distance corollary of the perceptual component, while the knowledge corollary of the perceptual component was not supported. A new target corollary to the perceptual component was proposed; it predicts that those groups seen as likely targets of a communication will produce larger third-person perceptions than will generalized others.

What We Think Others Think

The third-person effect hypothesis suggests that people systematically overestimate the extent to which others are affected by mass media messages. It also proposes that people act in accordance with their estimates of effects on others. This study set out to test both estimations and actions and to explain the phenomenon in terms of attribution theory. An experimental design manipulating the trustworthiness of the source of a defamatory newspaper article produced a third-person effect. Subjects' estimates of the damaging effects of the article, however, did not correspond to their assessment of a penalty against the newspaper. They took more account of source motivation than of impact on the audience when taking action.