Page 39 - Media Effects Advances in Theory and Research

28 ZILLMANN

Access to exemplars is primarily controlled by two variables (Higgins,
1996; Kahneman, Slovic, & Tversky, 1982; Nisbett & Ross, 1980). First, the
likelihood of spontaneous availability of exemplars is known to increase
with the recency of their activation. Recently activated exemplars, there-
fore, may be expected to exert greater influence on the perception of
issues than exemplars whose activation occurred at a more distant time.
Consideration of the recency of exemplar activation thus provides an
explanation of the priming of numerous phenomena (Bargh, 1996; Jo &
Berkowitz, 1994).
Second, the likelihood of spontaneous availability of exemplars is
known to increase with the frequency of their activation. Frequently acti-
vated exemplars, then, are bound to exert greater influence on issue per-
ception than rarely activated ones. In contrast to the recency of exemplar
activation, which creates only a short-lived accessibility enhancement
because of the continual supersedure by more recent activations of alter-
native concepts, the frequency of exemplification is thought capable of
fostering enduring and stable influence on the perception of phenomena.
Accessibility from frequent and consistent exposure to exemplars, in par-
ticular, is not considered to be transitory but chronic (Bargh, 1984; Bargh,
Lombardi, & Higgins, 1988; Higgins, 1996). Such chronic accessibility is piv-
otal, as its effects are likely to dominate those of the recency of activation
in most situations, barring only those of immediately preceding activa-
tion. Consideration of the frequency of exemplar activation therefore
explains many cultivation phenomena (cf. Gerbner et al., 1986). Most sig-
nificant media effects are, after all, thought to be built on frequent and
consistent exposure to largely redundant concepts, most of which fall well
within the conceptual range of exemplification.
We are now in a position to articulate predictions concerning media
influence. In making these predictions, we shall adjust our nomenclature
to the language of media effects. Specifically, we shall abandon the
nomenclature of sampling and speak of issues and their perception. It is
implied that issues are not defined by singular events, but by a multitude
of events, and that all individual events of a multitude function as its
exemplars.

1. A series of exemplars of concrete events influences issue percep-
tion more strongly than an abstract account of the issue. In rela-
tive terms, the superior influence of such exemplars increases
with time.

This prediction addresses the dominant influence of the display of con-
crete situations over potentially more reliable, available quantitative base-
rate information. It follows from Assumption 1 in connection with both