Social identity motivations and intergroup media attractiveness

Abstract

In this experiment we manipulated three features (intergroup social comparison, outgroup character stereotypicality, intergroup intimacy) of an intergroup TV pilot proposal. We examined how two underlying social identity motivations (social enhancement, social uncertainty reduction) were gratified by the aforementioned features, and whether this gratification predicted media attractiveness. Findings indicate that when social comparison was manipulated to advantage the ingroup, intergroup media gratified existing social enhancement motivations and led to audiences rating the show as more entertaining and attractive. This finding was most clearly evident in the absence of intergroup romance. The gratification of social uncertainty reduction motivations was also shown to increase audience perceptions of intergroup media attractiveness, but outgroup stereotypicality was weakly associated with the gratification of this motivation. These results are discussed in terms of both theoretical implications as well as applications to media campaigns.

Seeking and avoiding intergroup contact: Future frontiers of research on building social integration

“…The proliferation of social media and mass media exposure to out-groups in this globalized world also contributes to intergroup contact's conceptual and empirical elasticity (McIntyre et al, 2016). Intergroup contact has progressively become a generative umbrella term for the investigation of a broad "contact continuum" (Crisp & Turner, 2012) and "contact space" (Harwood, 2010), where direct and indirect contact experiences (e.g., observational or vicarious contact, Mazziotta, Mummendey, & Wright, 2011;parasocial or contact through the media, Harwood, Qadar, & Chen, 2016;Joyce & Harwood, 2017;intergroup storytelling, Vezzali, Hewstone, Capozza, Giovannini, & Wölfer, 2014;and imagined contact, Crisp & Turner, 2012) coexist and interact in a complex way (e.g., Christ et al, 2010;Paolini, Hewstone, & Cairns, 2007) to shape intergroup responses for individuals and groups. The effects of direct and indirect contact on group-level outcomes can occur at multiple levels of analysis; contemporary research (e.g., Christ et al, 2014) now shows that contact at the societal level (e.g., aggregate levels of contact within a school class, a whole school, a neighborhood, or an organization) has effects over and above those of individuals' own direct experiences of contact.…”

“…These structural barriers extend to our mediated communication environments: Growing evidence shows that people selectively seek media featuring in-group members and avoid content featuring out-group members (Harwood, 1997;Iyengar & Hahn, 2009;Knobloch-Westerwick, Appiah, & Alter, 2008;Knobloch-Westerwick & Hastall, 2006). These findings are largely interpreted in terms of in-group (vs. out-group) media consumption supporting in-group identity needs (Abrams & Giles, 2009;Joyce & Harwood, 2017), although the actual motivations might be more complex (Ron, Solomon, Halperin, & Saguy, 2017;Stürmer & Benbow, 2017).…”

“This Is Who We Are!” National Identity Construction and the 2014 FIFA World Cup

“…We measured self-enhancement gratifications with 15 items rated on a 9-point Likert-type scale (Joyce, 2014). Example items follow: “I enjoyed the game because it allowed me to feel good about groups I belong to”; and “I enjoyed the game because it allowed me to see people I identify with.” Principal components analysis (PCA) revealed that the scale was bidimensional with 5 items clearly loading on one component.…”

“…We measured social uncertainty reduction gratifications with 6 items rated on 9-point Likert-type scale (Joyce, 2014). Example items include: “I enjoyed the game because it allowed me to see how other people like me interact with other groups”; and “I enjoyed the game because it allowed me to see how other types of people behave.” We averaged the items to form an overall measure of social uncertainty reduction gratifications (Cronbach’s α = .90; M = 3.73; SD = 1.84).…”

Imagining the desirable homeland: Nation-related belonging and social media use of young Kazakhstani Russians

“…From the perspective of social identity theory (SIT), social media can also provide a space for creating and revising in-and outgroup relations (Harwood, 1999;Joyce & Harwood, 2020). As Harwood (1999, p. 130) has demonstrated with the example of television, media can be used in obtaining social identities or making them more positive (social identity gratification).…”