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The Influence of Media Coverage on Responses to a Hypothetical Burglary Scenario 1
Author(s) -
Jonathan Tal,
Alison Laurence J.,
Long Amy
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00178.x
Subject(s) - psychology , persuasion , pride , feeling , social psychology , newspaper , reading (process) , cognition , advertising , neuroscience , political science , law , business
The present study examined whether media coverage was likely to have an effect on burglars' emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to the offense. Questionnaires were distributed to 224 male students, who were asked to imagine that they had committed a “burglary under the influence of alcohol.” They were asked to express their thoughts, feelings, and possible actions, both before and after reading a newspaper article about the offense. A multidimensional scaling procedure identified 4 response themes: guilt, fear, forensic awareness, and pride. Two persuasion variables (inducing guilt and a hidden message) were found to have a multifaceted influence on the 4 themes. Implications for police use of the media as well as limitations of the study are discussed.