Citation

Hoffner C, Plotkin RS, Buchanan M, Anderson JD, Kamigaki SK, Hubbs LA, Kowalczyk L, Silberg K, Pastorek A. J. Commun. 2001; 51(2): 283-299.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, International Communication Association, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1460-2466.2001.tb02881.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study examines the third-person effect (the belief that others are more affected by media messages than oneself) for two different effects of televised violence, mean world perceptions and aggression, using attribution theory as an explanatory framework. In telephone interviews with a random sample of 253 community residents, third-person effects, as predicted, were observed for both aggression and mean world perceptions, but were larger for the more socially undesirable influence on aggression and for more distant others (in the U.S. rather than the local community). In addition, those who compared themselves favorably with others perceived a larger third-person effect for aggression. The study also explores the role of other factors in the third-person effect, including demographics and liking for and exposure to televised violence.