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Disseration_Behrouzian.pdf (2.63 MB)

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From Reactance to Political Belief Accuracy: Evaluating Citizens’ Response to Media Censorship and Bias

Behrouzian, Golnoosh
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1523974517249645

Abstract Details

2018, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Communication.
Much of recent media censorship research focuses on the institutional characteristics of media systems that define what we consider open versus closed media environments. The primary focus of these studies is to assess the negative consequences of media censorship on political learning (i.e., political belief accuracy). Despite these scholarly endeavors, the psychological factors that mediate the relationship between the information environment and citizen knowledge are generally overlooked. In order to better understand these factors, we must look beyond the structural nature of media systems, and evaluate the role of affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses of citizens who perceive they are living in a censored information environment. The objective of this project is to address these psychological processes by applying the concept of reactance to a novel theoretical framework that explores the relationship between perceived threat to media freedom, online information seeking, and accuracy of political beliefs. The framework is applied in three studies using samples from three countries with vastly different media systems (Turkey, Iran, and the U.S.). The objective is to assess the hypotheses, which suggest higher levels of reactance towards threats to mainstream media freedom will motivate individuals to turn to alternative online information seeking, which will then influence political belief accuracy with respect to broad social and political issues. The underlying premise of these studies is that those who exhibit negative affective and cognitive responses to threats towards their media freedom are more likely to engage in activities or behaviors that supplement their perceived loss of information. Such active pursuit of information through the diverse alternative online sources is then expected to augment political belief accuracy in largely restrictive media environments. It is further suggested that in circumstances where the mainstream media regularly offers diverse perspective (i.e., the U.S.), this alternative online information seeking will diminish political belief accuracy, due to the ideologically polarized nature of online sources. The moderating influence of internal political efficacy, response efficacy, technological efficacy, perceived affordance of visibility, and learned helplessness are also tested in the model. The results of the three studies broadly demonstrate support for the idea that reactance promotes online information seeking, especially among individuals who experience higher levels of internal political efficacy and perceived visibility of online information (only in Iran). The outcomes also suggest that this online engagement enhances political belief accuracy, with an inverse effect in more politically partisan online information environments (i.e., the U.S.). The implications of the results, as well as limitations and future directions are subsequently discussed.
Erik Nisbet (Advisor)
David Ewoldsen (Committee Member)
Kelly Garrett (Committee Member)
Gerald Kosicki (Committee Member)
127 p.
Communication
Censorship; mass media; reactance; disinformation; political communication; Iran; Turkey

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Behrouzian, G. (2018). From Reactance to Political Belief Accuracy: Evaluating Citizens’ Response to Media Censorship and Bias [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1523974517249645

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Behrouzian, Golnoosh. From Reactance to Political Belief Accuracy: Evaluating Citizens’ Response to Media Censorship and Bias . 2018. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1523974517249645.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Behrouzian, Golnoosh. "From Reactance to Political Belief Accuracy: Evaluating Citizens’ Response to Media Censorship and Bias ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1523974517249645

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1523974517249645
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.