Measuring Reactance to Camcorder Symbols Linked to Online News

Abstract

The aim of the study is to test the validity of a short-scale measuring reactance to a camera symbol associated with online news, indicating the possibility of viewing video footage. The operationalization of reactance means a mixture of anger and negative cognitions preceded by the sense of danger of losing one’s freedom (Reynolds-Tylus, 2019). As the brief reactance scale elaborated by Hall and colleagues (2017) contains these elements, we assumed that it would constitute the appropriate basis for the elaboration of further brief reactance scales. Thus, we elaborated a brief reactance scale adequate for measuring reactance to camcorder symbols linked to online news. Data collection took place among the students of Sapientia University (Romania). For analysing the adequacy of the scale, we used confirmatory factor analysis, reliability analysis, and convergent validity analysis. We also checked to what extent the elaborated measuring tool could predict the avoidance of news linked with camcorder symbols. The results of this analysis show that in the case of people with high reactance to camcorder symbols, the increase of reactance leads to these people choosing less and less news linked with camcorder symbols. All these prove that despite its limitations the scale constitutes an adequate tool for the measuring of reactance to camcorder symbols.