Type of Document	Dissertation
Author	Kinnally, William
URN	etd-07142008-083757
Title	Reactance and the Hostile Media Effect: Placing the Effect within the Theory
Degree	Doctor of Philosophy
Department	Communication, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Laura Arpan Committee Chair Arthur A. Raney Committee Member Ashby Plant Committee Member Gary Heald Committee Member
Keywords	Reactance Hostile Media Effect News
Date of Defense	2008-04-23
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract This project examined whether the theory of reactance can be used to explain the hostile media effect (HME). Two studies representing traditional and relative HME contexts examined whether variables associated with reactance such as personality characteristics, involvement, and social power were related to bias judgments that are commonly associated with the HME. Measures of self esteem and trait aggression were found to have no association with bias judgments in either study. Partisanship and third-person effect in the HME were used as parallels to involvement and social power in reactance. Partisanship was strongly correlated to involvement. Partisanship and third-person effect (perception of threat) were positively associated with bias in a traditional HME experiment. Perceptions of a source’s persuasive intentions and third-person effect (perception of threat) were found positively associated with bias judgments in a relative HME study. Some behavioral intentions reflecting freedom-restoring activities that are associated with reactance were found to be positively associated with bias judgments in both studies. Additionally, the project used affective/cognitive models of reactance as guides for developing affective/cognitive path models of the HME. The hypothesized models were not a good fit for the data. However, the subsequent exploratory models suggested that viewing the HME from the perspective of reactance could expand the HME from its bias orientation to include affect and behavior which the results suggest are important aspects of the HME experience.
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