Comfortably Numb: Effects of Prolonged Media Coverage. (October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hoffman, Aaron M.; Kaire, José
• Is Part Of: Journal of conflict resolution. Volume 64:Number 9(2020)
• Page Start: 1666
• Page End: 1692
• Publication Date: 2020-10
• Subjects: terrorism -- media -- political psychology -- experiment -- emotion; War and society -- Periodicals; Peace -- Periodicals; Arbitration (International law) -- Periodicals; 327.16
• DOI: 10.1177/0022002720907675
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-0027

Abstract

Exposure to a single report about terrorism in the mass media can trigger a range of emotional and political reactions. The consequences of exposure to several terrorism reports in row, however, are a matter of controversy. We examine the effects of prolonged terrorism coverage using an experimental design that combines self-report measures of emotions and political attitudes with instantaneous biometric data on emotions. Consistent with research on nonassociational learning, we find that exposure to multiple videos habituates people to depictions of terrorism: the longer people watch terrorism coverage, the less intense their reactions are to the images of terrorism they see. Some images and videos, however, contribute to this result more than others. This suggests that the ultimate effects of terrorism coverage depend on the interplay between the quantity and quality of reporting, not the quantity alone.