What is Third Person Effect Essay Example

a third-person effect. Racially extremist groups, however, had a first-person effect, which Tiedge, Silverblatt, Havice, and Rosenfeld (1991) described it as the media has more of an influence over the individual than other people (as cited in Conners, 2005). Political parties and religious denominations didn’t have any significance in the first survey, but political parties had significance in the second survey, and this was possibly because the first survey was before the 2004 election and the second survey was after the election, so more people must have thought political advertisements were more offensive afterwards (Jensen and Collins, 2008).

The final study that demonstrates the third-person effect is a study from Guerrero-Solé (2016). This study explains how the third-person effect is portrayed on television and on the internet. Some of the things that were studied between the two were news, advertisements, violence and pornography. Guerrero-Solé (2016) found that there was indeed a third-person effect across these two, and in general, it was found that the internet was more influential on others than TV was, which is interesting.

With everything, there are some advantages and disadvantages to the third-person effect. An advantage would be an example from the New York Times (September 16, 1975), where there was news about aerosol and how it’s ruining our earth, so manufacturers began making products that weren’t cans but instead plastic containers, and people thought aerosol cans would be turned off so they mass produced a better option in a way (as cited in Davison 1983). This would be an advantage and would say it’s an example of creative thinking. New York Times (September 16, 1975) said that the manufacturers had to find

a new way to sell these aerosols because the majority of the people would stop buying it if they were from a can (as cited in Davison 1983). Some disadvantages are that Davison (1983) discussed pluralistic ignorance, which is when the individual thinks that other people are brainwashed when they think they have a correct way of interpretation and other people do not. This would be something that would relate to politics, because either side, the Republicans or the Democrats, think the other side is brainwashed, and we see this on social media with the two parties are bickering back and forth with no idea when it’ll possibly end. Jensen and Collins (2008) also discussed the concept of censorship, which they talk about in terms of if an individual thinks something would be offensive to show to others because they are more likely to be influenced, then they’d regulate what is shown. Finally, Noelle-Neumann (1980) talks about the “spiral of silence” (as cited in Davison, 1983), which is when one side is more open with their opinions while the other side is more closed off. Noelle-Neumann (1980) discussed that this would be used in politics, where at the voting booth, people see that a candidate is receiving more votes, and so they cast their vote for that candidate (as cited in Davison, 1983).

In the beginning, there was a mention of the first-person effect which is the opposite of the third-person effect where the individual is more influenced than others are by the media. This would possibly be an override to the third-person effect because it’s not thinking that more people are influenced, but the individual

themself. From Hayee and Kamal (2014), they explain that the third-person effect is when more negative media is to influence others while positive influences one’s self. Positivity, in a sense, is kind of an override to negativity, so thinking in terms of that, when one is thinking positive and the prompt is positive, they could possibly override the third-person effect because those positive thoughts would be stronger. Another possible override is to think about all sides. You can think about how you are more influenced or others are more influenced, but just thinking and having an idea isn’t going to work. Researching how and why others are more influenced would be more beneficial since you’re actually doing something rather than assuming with no evidence.

In my personal life, I think people are more susceptible to flashy advertisement than I am, when in reality, I am, too, also susceptible. Even with posts on social media, I believe others are more influenced by photos of people who workout or promote diet products, while even not realizing it, I already take part in dieting because I eat way less while I’m here on campus than I am at home.