Third person effect

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The third-person effect (engl. For effect of the third person ) is a media psychological phenomenon of distorted perception . The effect describes the tendency to believe that the mass media influence others more than they do themselves. It occurs in the event of negative or undesired media influence (e.g. in the case of depictions of violence) and in unspecified comparators (not in the case of specific, known persons).

General

The third-person effect can have an impact on human behavior and social processes, for example through measures to bring up children and young people or calls for censorship, which are based on the assumption that "third parties" are particularly strongly influenced by the media and therefore require special protective measures.

The third-person effect was first described by W. Phillips Davison in 1983 using anecdotal evidence. Since then, numerous studies have supported Davison's considerations with empirical data. The third-person effect also relates to other theories of human behavior and media impact research , for example to the theory of the spiral of silence .

nomenclature

The described effect is also used under other names in the literature. Apparently, no uniform designation has established itself in the German-speaking area. Michael Schenk, for example, writes about the third-person effect in his standard work on media effects research . Further names are:

  • Different people effect
  • Third person phenomenon

Designations such as second-person effect or third-person perception (engl. Third-Person Perception ) are not different names, but rather denote elements within the theory of the third-person effect.

Extension of the hypothesis

First person effect

The first-person effect describes a phenomenon in which the relationship between self-perception and perception of others is inversely to the third-person effect (hence also called the reverse third-person effect). This means that people see the influence of the mass media on themselves as greater than the influence on others. This effect occurs especially with media content, the influence of which is seen as positive and is desired by the recipient. The first-person effect is currently more likely to be found in science as a side effect of the third-person effect, as it occurs much less often and has hardly been investigated so far.

literature

  • Carolus, A. & Schwab, F .: Third person effect. In NC Krämer, S. Schwan, D. Unz & M. Suckfüll (Eds.), Media Psychology: Key Terms and Concepts (pp. 269–273). Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2008.
  • Dohle, M .: Third-Person-Effect. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2013.

swell

  1. ↑ Kimmerle, J. (2020). Third person effect. In MA Wirtz (ed.), Dorsch - Lexicon of Psychology. Retrieved on March 1, 2020, from https://portal.hogrefe.com/dorsch/third-person-effekt/
  2. ↑ See Kunczik, Michael / Zipfel, Astrid (2001): Publizistik. Cologne, Weimar, Vienna: Böhlau. P. 384.
  3. ↑ See Davison, W. Phillips (1983). The third-person effect in communication. In: Public Opinion Quarterly, 47, pp. 1-15.
  4. ↑ See Perloff, Richard M. (1993): Third-Person Effect Research 1983-1992: A Review and Synthesis. In: International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 5, pp. 167-184.
  5. ↑ See Mutz, Diana C. (1989): The Influence of Perceptions of Media Influence; Third-Person Effects and Public Expression of Opinion. In: International Journal of Opinion Research 1, pp. 3-23.
  6. ↑ See Schenk, Michael (2007): Media Effects Research. 3rd completely revised edition. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, p. 550.
  7. ↑ Cf. Kepplinger, Hans Mathias (2009): Effect of the mass media. In: Noelle-Neumann, Elisabeth / Schulz, Winfried / Wilke, Jürgen (eds.): Fischer Lexikon Publizistik Massenkommunikation. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, p. 676.
  8. ↑ See Wirth, Werner / Bonfadelli, Heinz (2005): Media Effects Research. In: Bonfadelli, Heinz / Jarren, Otfried / Siegert, Gabriele (eds.): Introduction to journalism. Constance: UVK, p. 564.
  9. ↑ cf. Schenk (2007), pp. 554ff.
  10. ↑ cf. Innes, JM; Zeitz, H. (1988). "The public's view of the impact of the mass media: A test of the" third-person "effect". European Journal of Social Psychology 18 (5): 457-463.
  11. ↑ cf. Huck, I .; Brosius, H. (2007). "The Third-Person Effect - About the Presumed Influence of the Mass Media". 52 (3): 355-374.