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Communication Research
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Social Comparisons With News Personae

Selective Exposure to News Portrayals of Same-Sex and Same-Age Characters

Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick

The Ohio State University

Matthias R. Hastall

University of Erfurt

Appeal of personae in news is investigated based on social comparison theory. Participants (N = 276) of two age groups browsed through online news while selective exposure was unobtrusively logged. Manipulated articles focused on individuals and varied along three within factors: sex and age group of portrayed individual and story valence. After browsing news, participants completed a questionnaire including a self-esteem scale. Recipients preferred news on same-sex individuals, and young readers favored articles about same-age characters. Impacts of self-esteem to positive and negative articles, offering upward and downward comparison opportunities, were mediated by sex of recipient. Exploratory analyses indicated that this interaction results from gender-based preferences for comparison contexts—social issues for women and achievement topics for men.

Key Words: social comparison • selective exposure • self-esteem • gender • age

Communication Research, Vol. 33, No. 4, 262-284 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0093650206289152
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