Media influences on group-serving attribution and prosocial intention: Testing the mediation of group identification and the moderation of independent self-construal

Two experiments ( n s = 98 and 193 college students) were conducted to examine how news stories highlighting either the positive or negative qualities displayed by in-group members during a natural disaster might affect people’s group-serving attribution and prosocial intentions towards those affect...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) N.J.), 2023-02, Vol.42 (5), p.3832-3845
Main Authors: Zhu, Jay Yijie, Hui, Chin-Ming, Chen, Sylvia Xiaohua, Guan, Yanjun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavioral Science and Psychology
China
Earthquakes
Interpersonal relations
Natural disasters
Observations
Psychological aspects
Psychology
Self-construal
Social aspects
Social Sciences
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Summary:Two experiments ( n s = 98 and 193 college students) were conducted to examine how news stories highlighting either the positive or negative qualities displayed by in-group members during a natural disaster might affect people’s group-serving attribution and prosocial intentions towards those affected by the disaster, and the roles of group identification and independent self-construal played. In both experiments, Chinese participants were asked to recall news featuring positive or negative qualities during the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. The results revealed that participants in the positive news condition reported more external attribution for the losses suffered in the Earthquake and higher prosociality toward the sufferers. Additionally, we found that (a) ingroup identification mediated the effects of news on both outcomes (Studies 1 & 2) and (b) the mediation only worked for those who had a lower level of independent self-construal (Study 2). The roles of identity processes involved in the consumption of news were discussed.
ISSN:1046-1310
1936-4733
DOI:10.1007/s12144-021-01615-9