Content area
Abstract
Because public opinion is fundamentally a social and communicative process, individuals' opinions are dependent, for both form and content, on the social context surrounding public issues. Consequently, this research investigates the interaction between (a) people's social identities and (b) mass media reports of public issues emphasizing conflicts of opinion between social groups.
Current theory and research on social identification and intergroup behavior are used to develop a three-stage model of the cognitive, perceptual and behavioral processes which may be triggered by media reports of group conflict. According to the model, a news report emphasizing group conflict over an issue (1) cues its recipients to think about the issue through their particular group perspective, which leads (2) to polarized or exaggerated perceptions of group opinions, and finally (3) to expressions of personal opinion consistent with these exaggerated perceptions of group norms. Factors contributing to and inhibiting this kind of response are also incorporated into the model.
Analyses of data from 126 college undergraduates who read and responded to experimentally prepared newspaper articles covering a campus issue are reviewed. The results are found generally to support the social identification model, and serve to illustrate how media reports emphasizing group conflicts may play an important role in the formation of public opinion.
