@article{ref1,
title="Effects of Worldview and Mortality Salience in Persuasion Processes",
journal="Media psychology",
year="2009",
author="Magee, Robert G. and Kalyanaraman, Sriram",
volume="12",
number="2",
pages="171-194",
abstract="Individual differences in media effects research have yielded a trove of insights into how media content can have varying effects. One such variable is worldview?a philosophy of life that enables a person to make sense of one's experience?but the notion has largely been unexamined in media effects research. A person's worldview can moderate the way a persuasive message is processed?sometimes in the opposite direction of that intended by communicators. Building on the construct of worldview and terror management theory, two experiments (N = 149 and N = 151) examined the question with worldview as a measured variable and mortality salience as a two-level factor. Worldview had a main effect on global evaluations of ads, as participants who tended toward a relativist worldview had lower evaluations of the ads and lower behavioral intentions, while participants who tended toward a positivist worldview had higher evaluations of the ads and higher behavioral intentions. Also, mortality salience was found to moderate participants' worldview, presumably making their worldview more accessible to exert a greater influence. The importance of worldview as a construct in media effects research, as well as theoretical implications for persuasion and terror management theory, are discussed.Individual differences in media effects research have yielded a trove of insights into how media content can have varying effects. One such variable is worldview?a philosophy of life that enables a person to make sense of one's experience?but the notion has largely been unexamined in media effects research. A person's worldview can moderate the way a persuasive message is processed?sometimes in the opposite direction of that intended by communicators. Building on the construct of worldview and terror management theory, two experiments (N = 149 and N = 151) examined the question with worldview as a measured variable and mortality salience as a two-level factor. Worldview had a main effect on global evaluations of ads, as participants who tended toward a relativist worldview had lower evaluations of the ads and lower behavioral intentions, while participants who tended toward a positivist worldview had higher evaluations of the ads and higher behavioral intentions. Also, mortality salience was found to moderate participants' worldview, presumably making their worldview more accessible to exert a greater influence. The importance of worldview as a construct in media effects research, as well as theoretical implications for persuasion and terror management theory, are discussed.<p />",
language="",
issn="1521-3269",
doi="10.1080/15213260902849919",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15213260902849919"
}