Page 36 - Media Effects Advances in Theory and Research

2. EXEMPLIFICATION THEORY OF MEDIA INFLUENCE 25

been made between exemplifications at different times (e.g., Seggar, 1977)
or between different program genres, as well as between occurrences
within genres (e.g., Brosius, Weaver, & Staab, 1993; Sapolsky & Molitor,
1996; Zillmann & Weaver, 1997).
Regarding the entertainment media, the less-than-perfect representa-
tion of known realities may be obtrusive, but its documentation is, by
itself, largely inconsequential. The situation is different for the news and
educational media. The news media, in particular, are ostensibly commit-
ted to correct representation. Given that events of interest usually vary
along known parameters, one might assume that reports would involve
exemplars in accordance with these parameters. For both practical and
principal reasons this is often not possible, however (cf. Zillmann & Bro-
sius, 2000). Correct representation should nonetheless be the objective
that is to be pursued as best as the circumstances allow. If violations are
unavoidable, corrective base-rate information may be added. In the pre-
sumably infrequent situations in which the parameters of variation within
groups of events are not known, such objectives cannot be constructed,
and representation is simply rendered unachievable.
It should be noted that demonstrations of misexemplification that are
based on the comparison of manifest media content with existing parame-
ters do not provide evidence of the creation of misperceptions of the mis-
represented phenomena. Misrepresentation does not necessarily foster
misperceptions. Skeptics are quick to argue that “people know better”
than to let themselves be mislead by a few atypical exemplars. The bur-
den of proof thus rests on the empirical demonstration of perceptual and
dispositional effects of exposure to sets of exemplars that vary in the
degree to which they represent or misrepresent issues of consequence.
Such proof shall be provided. First, however, we must delineate the
theoretical framework that projects specific perceptual and dispositional
consequences of exemplifications.

PREDICTION OF EXEMPLAR EFFECTS ON ISSUE PERCEPTION

In keeping with the evolutionary considerations outlined earlier, exempli-
fication theory is based on three basic assumptions.

1. Comprehension, storage, and retrieval of elemental, concrete
events are generally superior to those of complex, abstract events.

This is because concrete, usually observable occurrences place fewer
demands on cognitive processing than do abstract events that require
construction and generalization.