Page 41 - Media Effects Advances in Theory and Research

30 ZILLMANN

retention, the predicted perception of the distribution of characteristics is
expected to be stable over time. Retention of the distribution should simply
fade along with that of the exemplars. The indicated condition is rarely met,
however, and predictions of shifts in the perceived distribution of events
become necessary. The following predictions address such over-time shifts.

5. A series of exemplars of emotion-arousing and nonarousing
events fosters issue perception in which the incidence of emotion-
arousing events is overestimated. The degree of this overestima-
tion increases with time.

This prediction extends Prediction 3 to the perception of the distribu-
tion of relevant characteristics of events in a set of events. The prediction
is based on Assumptions 2 and 3 as well as on the availability heuristic.

6. A series of exemplars of events with features that give the events
different amounts of attention fosters issue perception in which
the incidence of particular events is overestimated to the extent
that these events are attentionally favored. The degree of this
overestimation increases with time.

Prediction 5 focuses on emotional reactions to exemplars in projecting
the perception of the relative incidence of subsets of events. The present
prediction expands this focus by giving consideration to any aspect of
exemplars that would give them increased attention, this at the expense of
attention to other exemplars in a given set. Prediction 6 thus applies to
attention that is drawn by presentational features and to attention that
derives from the recipients’ interest. Presentational features involve vari-
ables such as the vividness of displays. The recipients’ interest entails ele-
ments of both epistemic curiosity and hedonistic inclinations. However,
the degree to which aspects of exemplars are motivationally salient to the
recipients, for whatever vital or idiosyncratic reasons, is likely to be the
strongest interest-generating factor.
Prediction 6 derives from Assumption 3 in connection with the avail-
ability heuristic.

DEMONSTRATION OF EXEMPLAR EFFECTS
ON ISSUE PERCEPTION

An exhaustive review of the pertinent research on exemplification in the
media, especially on the effects of various forms of exemplification on the
perception of social issues, has been presented by Zillmann and Brosius