Communication Research

Three studies were conducted to investigate effects of narrative’s discourse structures and factuality on suspense, curiosity, and reading enjoyment. Data collected with a questionnaire to measure suspense and curiosity substantiated the discriminant validity of these dimensions. In a Web-based study and two paper-pencil studies, respondents read texts that were manipulated for type of discourse structure (linear, reversal, or inverted type). To manipulate factuality (high vs. low), texts were presented either as news reports or as novel excerpts, a treatment that proved to be effective. All assumptions gained empirical support. The linear type evoked more suspense than either reversal or inverted type. Curiosity was higher in reaction to reversal-type narratives than it was for either linear-type or inverted-type narratives. The linear and the reversal type both produced greater reading enjoyment than the inverted type. These effects were independent of factuality of media content.

There is a paucity of studies of infants’ and toddlers’ preferences of television content. This home observation study investigated how young children’s attention to television is determined by auditory, visual, and content features of the program and by program difficulty. Fifty 6- to 58-month-olds were presented with a videotape consisting of segments of the news, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, and Lion King II. Results agreed with the moderate-discrepancy hypothesis, which states that young children pay most attention to television content that is only moderately discrepant from their existing knowledge and capabilities. Among infants, salient auditory and visual features (e.g., applause, visual surprises) particularly attracted their attention. These features also attracted older children’s attention, but older children predominantly allocated their attention to television content on the basis of nonsalient (e.g., moderate character action) and content features (e.g., letters/numbers, meaningful dialogue). The attentional shift from salient to nonsalient and content features started between 1.5 and 2.5 years of age.

Contrary to research that suggests Blacks can only be reached effectively with Black-oriented media, this research demonstrates that there appears to be a subset of the Black population that can be reached equally well with White targeted media as they can with Black-targeted media. The study findings confirm expectations that Blacks’ differential responses to race-targeted Web sites are mediated by their level of ethnic identification. Blacks with strong ethnic identities spent more time browsing a site and viewing each story when the site was targeted to Blacks than Whites. Blacks with strong ethnic identities also rated the site and the stories more favorably when browsing the Black-targeted site compared to the White-targeted site. In contrast, Blacks with weak ethnic identities displayed no difference in their browsing time on the sites and stories or their rating of the sites and stories based on the racial target of the Internet site.

The goal of this study was to assess the effects of comforting messages using both experienced emotional change by the help recipient and help recipients’ judgments of the helper’s competence. A hypothesized path model proposed relationships between two comforting message factors (verbal person centeredness and nonverbal immediacy) and the two outcomes (emotional change and evaluations of helper competence). Data were generated from an experiment in which 258 participants disclosed a mildly upsetting event to a confederate trained to display different levels of person centeredness and nonverbal immediacy. Participants subsequently completed a set of instruments tapping both their emotional state and the perceived competence of the helper on four dimensions (help motivation, supportiveness, conversation management, and expressiveness). A modified model with two added paths fit the data well and revealed not only that people felt significantly better but also that they viewed the helper as more supportive and caring after having received person-centered comforting messages. Nonverbal immediacy only influenced evaluations of perceived helper competence, such that immediate helpers were perceived as more competent than nonimmediate helpers.