I see, but I don't believe
the Third Person Effect in the context of the 2018 presidential campaign
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21878/compolitica.2020.10.3.383Keywords:
third person effect, WhatsApp, electionsAbstract
People generally believe in the media's ability to influence others. Moreover, they also believe in their own ability to evaluate the type and degree of this influence and they can act accordingly - a phenomenon known as Third Person Effect (TPE). How then do people often perceive the influence of media content on the voting decision of others? The purpose of this study, therefore, is to examine if some assumptions of the third-person effect hypothesis can explain people's perceptions of the influence of four types of content (news, debates, elections polls, and WhatsApp’s content) on their voting decision and the voting decision of others during the 2018 Brazilian presidential campaign. The data were collected through an online survey spread among WhatsApp groups, after the first electoral round; 155 people responded to the survey. The results confirmed the main hypotheses related to TPE, especially with regard to the content that circulated on WhatsApp.
References
AGGIO, Camilo. Hipótese do efeito de terceira pessoa: as estimativas de fumantes e não-fumantes sobre os efeitos dos anúncios anti-tabagismo. Organizações & Sociedade, v. 17, n. 54, p. 463-478, 2010.
ALMADA, Maria Paula; ROSSETTO, Graça P. N. Efeito de terceira pessoa e distância social: Percepção da influência dos media no eu, no semelhante e no outro na propaganda da Prefeitura Municipal de Salvador. Animus. Revista Interamericana de Comunicação Midiática, v. 13, n. 25, 2014.
BANNING, S. A.; SWEETSER, K. D. How Much Do They Think It Affects Them and Whom Do They Believe?: Comparing the Third-Person Effect and Credibility of Blogs and Traditional Media. Communication Quarterly, v. 55, n. 4, p. 451–466, 4 out. 2007.
BRAGA, Vitor. Efeito de Terceira Pessoa na política alagoana: impacto da cobertura midiática na Operação Taturana. Lumina, v. 4, n. 1, 2010.
CHUNG, S.; HEO, Y.-J.; MOON, J.-H. Perceived Versus Actual Polling Effects: Biases in Perceptions of Election Poll Effects on Candidate Evaluations. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, v. 30, n. 3, p. 420–442, 4 out. 2018.
COHEN, Jeremy et al. Perceived Impact of Defamation: An Experiment on Third-Person Effects. Public Opinion Quarterly, v. 52, n. 2, p. 161, 1988.
COHEN, J.; TSFATI, Y. The Influence of Presumed Media Influence on Strategic Voting. Communication Research, v. 36, n. 3, p. 359–378, 4 out. 2009.
DALMONTE, Edson. Dos efeitos fortes à hipótese de percepção do efeito de terceira pessoa: uma verificação empírica. Contemporânea, v. 4, n. 1, 2006.
DAVISON, W. Phillips. The Third-Person Effect in Communication. Public Opinion Quarterly, v. 47, n. 1, p. 1, 1983.
DOS SANTOS, João Guilherme Bastos et al. WhatsApp, política mobile e desinformação: a hidra nas eleições presidenciais de 2018. Comunicação & Sociedade, v. 41, n. 2, p. 307-334, 2019.
DUCK, Julie M.; HOGG, Michael A.; TERRY, Deborah J. Me, us and them: Political identification and the third-person effect in the 1993 Australian federal election. European Journal of Social Psychology, v. 25, n. 2, p. 195–215, mar. 1995.
ELDER, Tracey J.; DOUGLAS, Karen M.; SUTTON, Robbie M. Perceptions of social influence when messages favour ‘us’ versus ‘them’: A closer look at the social distance effect. European Journal of Social Psychology, v. 36, n. 3, p. 353–365, maio 2006.
EVELAND, W. P.; MCLEOD, D. M. The Effect of Social Desirability on Perceived Media Impact: Implications for Third-Person Perceptions. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, v. 11, n. 4, p. 315–333, 1 dez. 1999.
GOLAN, G. J.; DAY, A. G. The First-Person Effect and Its Behavioral Consequences: A New Trend in the Twenty-Five Year History of Third-Person Effect Research. Mass Communication and Society, v. 11, n. 4, p. 539–556, 4 out. 2008.
GOMES, Wilson; BARROS, Samuel. Influência Da Mídia, Distância Moral e Desacordos Sociais: Um Teste Do Efeito de Terceira Pessoa. In: FRANÇA, VERA VEIGA; ALDÉ, ALESSANDRA; RAMOS, MURILO CÉSAR (Org.). Teorias Da Comunicação No Brasil. Salvador: EDUFBA, 2014. p. 245–66.
GUNTHER, Albert. What We Think Others Think: Cause and Consequence in the Third-Person Effect. Communication Research, v. 18, n. 3, p. 355–372, jun. 1991.
GUNTHER, Albert C. Overrating the X-Rating: The Third-Person Perception and Support for Censorship of Pornography. Journal of Communication, v. 45, n. 1, p. 27–38, 1 mar. 1995.
GUNTHER, Albert C.; MUNDY, Paul. Biased Optimism and the Third-Person Effect. Journalism Quarterly, v. 70, n. 1, p. 58–67, mar. 1993.
GUNTHER, Albert C.; STOREY, J. Douglas. The Influence of Presumed Influence. Journal of Communication, v. 53, n. 2, p. 199–215, 1 jun. 2003.
GUNTHER, Albert C.; THORSON, Esther. Perceived Persuasive Effects of Product Commercials and Public Service Announcements: Third-Person Effects in New Domains. Communication Research, v. 19, n. 5, p. 574–596, out. 1992.
HAYES, A. F. Statistical methods for communication science. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2005.
HOFFNER, C. et al. The Third-Person Effect in Perceptions of the Influence of Television Violence. Journal of Communication, v. 51, n. 2, p. 283–299, 4 out. 2001.
HOORENS, Vera; RUITER, Suzanne. The optimal impact phenomenon: beyond the third person effect. European Journal of Social Psychology, v. 26, n. 4, p. 599–610, jul. 1996.
JANG, S. M.; KIM, J. K. Third Person Effects of Fake News: Fake News Regulation and Media Literacy Interventions. Computers in Human Behavior, v. 80, p. 295–302, 4 out. 2018.
JENSEN, Jakob D.; HURLEY, Ryan J. Third-Person Effects and the Environment: Social Distance, Social Desirability, and Presumed Behavior. Journal of Communication, v. 55, n. 2, p. 242–256, 1 jun. 2005.
JUNIOR, Francisco Gilson Rebouças Pôrto. Entre fronteiras: explorando o efeito da terceira pessoa. Estudos em Jornalismo e Mídia, v. 6, n. 2, p. 45-59, 2009.
LEV-ON, A. The Third-Person Effect on Facebook: The Significance of Perceived Proficiency. Telematics and Informatics, v. 34, n. 4, p. 252–260, 4 out. 2017.
LO, Ven-Hwei; WEI, Ran; LU, Hung-Yi. Issue Importance, Third-Person Effects of Protest News, and Participation in Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, v. 94, n. 3, p. 682–702, set. 2017.
MCLEOD, Douglas M.; EVELAND, William P.; NATHANSON, Amy I. Support for Censorship of Violent and Misogynic Rap Lyrics: An Analysis of the Third-Person Effect. Communication Research, v. 24, n. 2, p. 153–174, abr. 1997.
PARK, Hee Sun et al. Perceived media bias and third person effect: Comparisons of Americans, Korean Americans, and Koreans in the United States. The Social Science Journal, v. 49, n. 2, p. 139–149, jun. 2012.
PERLOFF, Richard M. Ego-Involvement and the Third Person Effect of Televised News Coverage. Communication Research, v. 16, n. 2, p. 236–262, abr. 1989.
PERLOFF, Richard M. The Third Person Effect: A Critical Review and Synthesis. Media Psychology, v. 1, n. 4, p. 353–378, dez. 1999.
PERLOFF, Richard M. The Third-Person Effect. In: BRYANT, JENNINGS; ZILLMANN, DOLF (Org.). Media Effects: advances in theory and research. 2. ed. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, p. 489–506, 2002.
PERLOFF, Richard M. Third-Person Effect Research 1983–1992: a review and synthesis. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, v. 5, n. 2, p. 167–184, 1993.
PRICE, V.; STROUD, N. J. Public Attitudes toward Polls: Evidence from the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, v. 18, n. 4, p. 393–421, 20 dez. 2005.
PRICE, V.; TEWKSBURY, D.; HUANG, L.-N. Third-Person Effects on Publication of a Holocaust-Denial Advertisement. Journal of Communication, v. 48, n. 2, p. 3–26, 4 out. 1998.
ROJAS, H.; SHAH, D. V.; FABER, R. J. For the Good of Others: Censorship and the Third-Person Effect. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, v. 8, n. 2, p. 163–186, 1 jun. 1996.
RUCINSKI, Dianne; SALMON, Charles T. The ‘Other’ as the Vulnerable Voter: a Study of the Third-Person Effect in the 1988 U.S. Presidential Campaign. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, v. 2, n. 4, p. 345–368, 1990.
SALWEN, Michael B. Perceptions of Media Influence and Support for Censorship: The Third-Person Effect in the 1996 Presidential Election. Communication Research, v. 25, n. 3, p. 259–285, jun. 1998.
SALWEN, Michael B.; DUPAGNE, Michel. The Third-Person Effect: Perceptions of the Media’s Influence and Immoral Consequences. Communication Research, v. 26, n. 5, p. 523–549, out. 1999.
SCHARRER, Erica. Third-Person Perception and Television Violence: The Role of Out-Group Stereotyping in Perceptions of Susceptibility to Effects. Communication Research, v. 29, n. 6, p. 681–704, dez. 2002.
SCHARRER, E.; LEONE, R. First-Person Shooters and the Third-Person Effect. Human Communication Research, v. 34, n. 2, p. 210–233, 4 out. 2008.
SHEN, L.; SUN, Y.; PAN, Z. Not All Perceptual Gaps Were Created Equal: Explicating the Third-Person Perception (TPP) as a Cognitive Fallacy. Mass Communication and Society, v. 21, n. 4, p. 399–424, 4 out. 2018.
TIEDGE, James T. et al. Discrepancy between Perceived First-Person and Perceived Third-Person Mass Media Effects. Journalism Quarterly, v. 68, n. 1–2, p. 141–154, mar. 1991.
TSAY-VOGEL, Mina. Me versus them: Third-person effects among Facebook users. New Media & Society, v. 18, n. 9, p. 1956–1972, out. 2016.
TSFATI, Y.; COHEN, J. Object-Subject Distance and the Third Person Perception. Media Psychology, v. 6, n. 4, p. 335–361, 4 out. 2004.
WHITE, H. Allen. Considering Interacting Factors in the Third-Person Effect: Argument Strength and Social Distance. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, v. 74, n. 3, p. 557–564, set. 1997.
WILLNAT, L. Mass Media and Political Outspokenness in Hong Kong: Linking the Third-Person Effect and the Spiral of Silence. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, v. 8, n. 2, p. 187–212, 4 out. 1996.
ALMADA, Maria Paula; ROSSETTO, Graça P. N. Efeito de terceira pessoa e distância social: Percepção da influência dos media no eu, no semelhante e no outro na propaganda da Prefeitura Municipal de Salvador. Animus. Revista Interamericana de Comunicação Midiática, v. 13, n. 25, 2014.
BANNING, S. A.; SWEETSER, K. D. How Much Do They Think It Affects Them and Whom Do They Believe?: Comparing the Third-Person Effect and Credibility of Blogs and Traditional Media. Communication Quarterly, v. 55, n. 4, p. 451–466, 4 out. 2007.
BRAGA, Vitor. Efeito de Terceira Pessoa na política alagoana: impacto da cobertura midiática na Operação Taturana. Lumina, v. 4, n. 1, 2010.
CHUNG, S.; HEO, Y.-J.; MOON, J.-H. Perceived Versus Actual Polling Effects: Biases in Perceptions of Election Poll Effects on Candidate Evaluations. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, v. 30, n. 3, p. 420–442, 4 out. 2018.
COHEN, Jeremy et al. Perceived Impact of Defamation: An Experiment on Third-Person Effects. Public Opinion Quarterly, v. 52, n. 2, p. 161, 1988.
COHEN, J.; TSFATI, Y. The Influence of Presumed Media Influence on Strategic Voting. Communication Research, v. 36, n. 3, p. 359–378, 4 out. 2009.
DALMONTE, Edson. Dos efeitos fortes à hipótese de percepção do efeito de terceira pessoa: uma verificação empírica. Contemporânea, v. 4, n. 1, 2006.
DAVISON, W. Phillips. The Third-Person Effect in Communication. Public Opinion Quarterly, v. 47, n. 1, p. 1, 1983.
DOS SANTOS, João Guilherme Bastos et al. WhatsApp, política mobile e desinformação: a hidra nas eleições presidenciais de 2018. Comunicação & Sociedade, v. 41, n. 2, p. 307-334, 2019.
DUCK, Julie M.; HOGG, Michael A.; TERRY, Deborah J. Me, us and them: Political identification and the third-person effect in the 1993 Australian federal election. European Journal of Social Psychology, v. 25, n. 2, p. 195–215, mar. 1995.
ELDER, Tracey J.; DOUGLAS, Karen M.; SUTTON, Robbie M. Perceptions of social influence when messages favour ‘us’ versus ‘them’: A closer look at the social distance effect. European Journal of Social Psychology, v. 36, n. 3, p. 353–365, maio 2006.
EVELAND, W. P.; MCLEOD, D. M. The Effect of Social Desirability on Perceived Media Impact: Implications for Third-Person Perceptions. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, v. 11, n. 4, p. 315–333, 1 dez. 1999.
GOLAN, G. J.; DAY, A. G. The First-Person Effect and Its Behavioral Consequences: A New Trend in the Twenty-Five Year History of Third-Person Effect Research. Mass Communication and Society, v. 11, n. 4, p. 539–556, 4 out. 2008.
GOMES, Wilson; BARROS, Samuel. Influência Da Mídia, Distância Moral e Desacordos Sociais: Um Teste Do Efeito de Terceira Pessoa. In: FRANÇA, VERA VEIGA; ALDÉ, ALESSANDRA; RAMOS, MURILO CÉSAR (Org.). Teorias Da Comunicação No Brasil. Salvador: EDUFBA, 2014. p. 245–66.
GUNTHER, Albert. What We Think Others Think: Cause and Consequence in the Third-Person Effect. Communication Research, v. 18, n. 3, p. 355–372, jun. 1991.
GUNTHER, Albert C. Overrating the X-Rating: The Third-Person Perception and Support for Censorship of Pornography. Journal of Communication, v. 45, n. 1, p. 27–38, 1 mar. 1995.
GUNTHER, Albert C.; MUNDY, Paul. Biased Optimism and the Third-Person Effect. Journalism Quarterly, v. 70, n. 1, p. 58–67, mar. 1993.
GUNTHER, Albert C.; STOREY, J. Douglas. The Influence of Presumed Influence. Journal of Communication, v. 53, n. 2, p. 199–215, 1 jun. 2003.
GUNTHER, Albert C.; THORSON, Esther. Perceived Persuasive Effects of Product Commercials and Public Service Announcements: Third-Person Effects in New Domains. Communication Research, v. 19, n. 5, p. 574–596, out. 1992.
HAYES, A. F. Statistical methods for communication science. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2005.
HOFFNER, C. et al. The Third-Person Effect in Perceptions of the Influence of Television Violence. Journal of Communication, v. 51, n. 2, p. 283–299, 4 out. 2001.
HOORENS, Vera; RUITER, Suzanne. The optimal impact phenomenon: beyond the third person effect. European Journal of Social Psychology, v. 26, n. 4, p. 599–610, jul. 1996.
JANG, S. M.; KIM, J. K. Third Person Effects of Fake News: Fake News Regulation and Media Literacy Interventions. Computers in Human Behavior, v. 80, p. 295–302, 4 out. 2018.
JENSEN, Jakob D.; HURLEY, Ryan J. Third-Person Effects and the Environment: Social Distance, Social Desirability, and Presumed Behavior. Journal of Communication, v. 55, n. 2, p. 242–256, 1 jun. 2005.
JUNIOR, Francisco Gilson Rebouças Pôrto. Entre fronteiras: explorando o efeito da terceira pessoa. Estudos em Jornalismo e Mídia, v. 6, n. 2, p. 45-59, 2009.
LEV-ON, A. The Third-Person Effect on Facebook: The Significance of Perceived Proficiency. Telematics and Informatics, v. 34, n. 4, p. 252–260, 4 out. 2017.
LO, Ven-Hwei; WEI, Ran; LU, Hung-Yi. Issue Importance, Third-Person Effects of Protest News, and Participation in Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, v. 94, n. 3, p. 682–702, set. 2017.
MCLEOD, Douglas M.; EVELAND, William P.; NATHANSON, Amy I. Support for Censorship of Violent and Misogynic Rap Lyrics: An Analysis of the Third-Person Effect. Communication Research, v. 24, n. 2, p. 153–174, abr. 1997.
PARK, Hee Sun et al. Perceived media bias and third person effect: Comparisons of Americans, Korean Americans, and Koreans in the United States. The Social Science Journal, v. 49, n. 2, p. 139–149, jun. 2012.
PERLOFF, Richard M. Ego-Involvement and the Third Person Effect of Televised News Coverage. Communication Research, v. 16, n. 2, p. 236–262, abr. 1989.
PERLOFF, Richard M. The Third Person Effect: A Critical Review and Synthesis. Media Psychology, v. 1, n. 4, p. 353–378, dez. 1999.
PERLOFF, Richard M. The Third-Person Effect. In: BRYANT, JENNINGS; ZILLMANN, DOLF (Org.). Media Effects: advances in theory and research. 2. ed. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, p. 489–506, 2002.
PERLOFF, Richard M. Third-Person Effect Research 1983–1992: a review and synthesis. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, v. 5, n. 2, p. 167–184, 1993.
PRICE, V.; STROUD, N. J. Public Attitudes toward Polls: Evidence from the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, v. 18, n. 4, p. 393–421, 20 dez. 2005.
PRICE, V.; TEWKSBURY, D.; HUANG, L.-N. Third-Person Effects on Publication of a Holocaust-Denial Advertisement. Journal of Communication, v. 48, n. 2, p. 3–26, 4 out. 1998.
ROJAS, H.; SHAH, D. V.; FABER, R. J. For the Good of Others: Censorship and the Third-Person Effect. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, v. 8, n. 2, p. 163–186, 1 jun. 1996.
RUCINSKI, Dianne; SALMON, Charles T. The ‘Other’ as the Vulnerable Voter: a Study of the Third-Person Effect in the 1988 U.S. Presidential Campaign. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, v. 2, n. 4, p. 345–368, 1990.
SALWEN, Michael B. Perceptions of Media Influence and Support for Censorship: The Third-Person Effect in the 1996 Presidential Election. Communication Research, v. 25, n. 3, p. 259–285, jun. 1998.
SALWEN, Michael B.; DUPAGNE, Michel. The Third-Person Effect: Perceptions of the Media’s Influence and Immoral Consequences. Communication Research, v. 26, n. 5, p. 523–549, out. 1999.
SCHARRER, Erica. Third-Person Perception and Television Violence: The Role of Out-Group Stereotyping in Perceptions of Susceptibility to Effects. Communication Research, v. 29, n. 6, p. 681–704, dez. 2002.
SCHARRER, E.; LEONE, R. First-Person Shooters and the Third-Person Effect. Human Communication Research, v. 34, n. 2, p. 210–233, 4 out. 2008.
SHEN, L.; SUN, Y.; PAN, Z. Not All Perceptual Gaps Were Created Equal: Explicating the Third-Person Perception (TPP) as a Cognitive Fallacy. Mass Communication and Society, v. 21, n. 4, p. 399–424, 4 out. 2018.
TIEDGE, James T. et al. Discrepancy between Perceived First-Person and Perceived Third-Person Mass Media Effects. Journalism Quarterly, v. 68, n. 1–2, p. 141–154, mar. 1991.
TSAY-VOGEL, Mina. Me versus them: Third-person effects among Facebook users. New Media & Society, v. 18, n. 9, p. 1956–1972, out. 2016.
TSFATI, Y.; COHEN, J. Object-Subject Distance and the Third Person Perception. Media Psychology, v. 6, n. 4, p. 335–361, 4 out. 2004.
WHITE, H. Allen. Considering Interacting Factors in the Third-Person Effect: Argument Strength and Social Distance. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, v. 74, n. 3, p. 557–564, set. 1997.
WILLNAT, L. Mass Media and Political Outspokenness in Hong Kong: Linking the Third-Person Effect and the Spiral of Silence. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, v. 8, n. 2, p. 187–212, 4 out. 1996.
Downloads
Published
2020-12-28
How to Cite
Azevedo, D. (2020). I see, but I don’t believe: the Third Person Effect in the context of the 2018 presidential campaign. Compolítica, 10(3), 79–108. https://doi.org/10.21878/compolitica.2020.10.3.383
Issue
Section
Artigos
License
Autores mantém os direitos autorais e concedem à revista o direito de primeira publicação, com o trabalho simultaneamente licenciado sob a Creative Commons Attribution License que permite o compartilhamento do trabalho com reconhecimento da autoria do trabalho e publicação inicial nesta revista.
