This research examines the distinctiveness of two components of identification with media characters: cognitive and affective. It also explores how these components are differentially affected by the viewing environment. In an experiment, Jewish and Arab Israelis watched a clip depicting the Israeli–Palestinian conflict with either one or two Jewish or Arab co-viewers. As hypothesized, these components of identification loaded on different factors and showed different relationships when referring to in-group and out-group characters. Moreover, the Jewish participants showed more affective identification with the Jewish protagonist when watching with two Arabs, which, in turn, affected their attitudes about the in-group.
AppiahO. (2001). Ethnic identification on adolescents’ evaluations of advertisements. Journal of Advertising Research, 41(5), 7-22. doi:10.2501/JAR-41-5-7-22
2.
BanjoO.AppiahO.WangZ.BrownC.WaltherW. O. (2015). Co-viewing effects of ethnic-oriented programming: An examination of in-group bias and racial comedy exposure. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 92, 662-680. doi:10.1177/1077699015581804
3.
Bar-TalD.TeichmanY. (2005). Stereotypes and prejudice in conflict: Representations of Arabs in Israeli Jewish society. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
4.
BlairR. J. R. (2005). Responding to the emotions of others: Dissociating forms of empathy through the study of typical and psychiatric populations. Consciousness and Cognition, 14, 698-718. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2005.06.004
5.
BusselleR.BilandzicH. (2009). Measuring narrative engagement. Media Psychology, 12, 321-347. doi:10.1080/15213260903287259
6.
ChungA. H.SlaterM. D. (2013). Reducing stigma and out-group distinctions through perspective-taking in narratives. Journal of Communication, 63, 894-911. doi:10.1111/jcom.12050
7.
CohenJ. (2001). Defining identification: A theoretical look at the identification of audiences with media characters. Mass Communication and Society, 4, 245-264. doi:10.1207/S15327825MCS0403_01
8.
CohenJ.Tal-OrN.Mazor-TregermanM. (2015). The tempering effect of transportation: Exploring the effects of transportation and identification during exposure to controversial two-sided narratives. Journal of Communication, 65, 237-258. doi:10.1111/jcom.12144
9.
CohenJ.Weimann-SaksD.Mazor-TregermanM. (2018). Does character similarity increase identification and persuasion?Media Psychology, 21, 506-528. doi:10.1080/15213269.2017.1302344
10.
De GraafA. (2014). The effectiveness of adaptation of the protagonist in narrative impact: Similarity influences health beliefs through self-referencing. Human Communication Research, 40, 73-90. doi:10.1111/hcre.12015
11.
De GraafA.HoekenH.SandersJ.BeentjesJ. W. (2012). Identification as a mechanism of narrative persuasion. Communication Research, 39, 802-823. doi:10.1177/0093650211408594
12.
DelloyeS. (Producer), & AdlerY. (Director). (2013). Beit Lehem [Motion picture]. Israel: Entre Chien et Loup.
13.
GreenM. C.BrockT. C. (2000). The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(5), 701-721. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.79.5.701
14.
HayesA. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York: Guilford.
15.
HeinG.SingerT. (2008). I feel how you feel but not always: The empathic brain and its modulation. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 18, 153-158. doi:10.1016/j.conb.2008.07.012
16.
HoekenH.KolthoffM.SandersJ. (2016). Story perspective and character similarity as drivers of identification and narrative persuasion. Human Communication Research, 42, 292-311. doi:10.1111/hcre.12076
17.
HoganR. (1969). Development of an empathy scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 33, 307-316. doi:10.1037/h0027580
18.
HoggM. A.AbramsD.OttenS.HinkleS. (2004). The social identity perspective intergroup relations, self-conception, and small groups. Small Group Research, 35, 246-276. doi:10.1177/1046496404263424
19.
JolliffeD.FarringtonD. P. (2004). Empathy and offending: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 9, 441-476. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2003.03.001
20.
Kim-JuG. M.LiemR. (2003). Ethnic self-awareness as a function of ethnic group status, group composition, and ethnic identity orientation. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 9, 289-302. doi:10.1037/1099-9809.9.3.289
21.
KonijnE. A.HoornJ. F. (2005). Some like it bad: Testing a model for perceiving and experiencing fictional characters. Media Psychology, 7, 107-144. doi:10.1207/S1532785XMEP0702_1
22.
LiebmanC. S.Don-YehiyaE. (1983). Civil religion in Israel: Traditional Judaism and political culture in the Jewish state. Berkeley: University of California Press.
23.
McGuireW. J. (1984). Search for the self: Going beyond self-esteem and the reactive self. In ZuckerR. A.AronoffJ.RabinA. I. (Eds.), Personality and the prediction of behavior (pp. 73-120). New York, NY: Academic Press.
24.
McGuireW. J.McGuireC. V.WintonW. (1979). Effects of household sex composition on the salience of one’s gender in the spontaneous self-concept. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 15, 77-90. doi:10.1016/0022-1031(79)90020-9
25.
McGuireW. J.Padawer-SingerA. (1976). Trait salience in the spontaneous self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33, 743-754. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.33.6.743
26.
Moyer-GuséE.NabiR. L. (2010). Explaining the effects of narrative in an entertainment television program: Overcoming resistance to persuasion. Human Communication Research, 36(1), 26-52. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2009.01367.x
27.
MullenB.BrownR.SmithC. (1992). Ingroup bias as a function of salience, relevance, and status: An integration. European Journal of Social Psychology, 22(2), 103-122. doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2420220202
28.
PettigrewT. F.TroppL. R. (2011). When groups meet: The dynamics of intergroup contact. New York, NY: Psychology Press.
29.
ReniersR. L.CorcoranR.DrakeR.ShryaneN. M.VöllmB. A. (2011). The QCAE: A Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy. Journal of Personality Assessment, 93, 84-95. doi:10.1080/00223891.2010.528484
30.
SingerT.SeymourB.O’DohertyJ. P.StephanK. E.DolanR. J.FrithC. D. (2006). Empathic neural responses are modulated by the perceived fairness of others. Nature, 439, 466-469. doi:10.1038/nature04271
31.
SolanoC. H.DunnamM. (1985). Two’s company: Self-disclosure and reciprocity in triads versus dyads. Social Psychology Quarterly, 48, 183-187.
32.
TajfelH.TurnerJ. C. (1979). An integrative theory of social conflict. In AustinW.WorchelS. (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33-47). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
33.
Tal-OrN. (2016). How co-viewing affects attitudes: The mediating role of transportation and identification. Media Psychology, 19, 381-405. doi:10.1080/15213269.2015.1082918
34.
Tal-OrN.CohenJ. (2010). Understanding audience involvement: Conceptualizing and manipulating identification and transportation. Poetics, 38, 402-418. doi:10.1016/j.poetic.2010.05.004
35.
Tal-OrN.CohenJ. (2016). Unpacking engagement: Convergence and divergence in transportation and identification. Annals of the International Communication Association, 40, 33-66. doi:10.1080/23808985.2015.11735255
36.
Tal-OrN.TsfatiY. (2016). When Arabs and Jews watch TV together: The joint effect of the content and context of communication on reducing prejudice. Journal of Communication, 66, 646-668. doi:10.1111/jcom.12242
37.
Tal-OrN.TsfatiY. (2018). Does the co-viewing of sexual material affect rape myth acceptance? The role of the co-viewer’s reactions and gender. Communication Research, 45, 577-602. doi:10.1177/0093650215595073
38.
TsaoJ. (1996). Compensatory media use: An exploration of two paradigms. Communication Studies, 47, 89-109. doi:10.1080/10510979609368466
39.
TsfatiY. (2007). Hostile media perceptions, presumed media influence, and minority alienation: The case of Arabs in Israel. Journal of Communication, 57, 632-651. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2007.00361.x
40.
WaiM.TiliopoulosN. (2012). The affective and cognitive empathic nature of the dark triad of personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 52, 794-799. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2012.01.008
41.
XuX.ZuoX.WangX.HanS. (2009). Do you feel my pain? Racial group membership modulates empathic neural responses. The Journal of Neuroscience, 29, 8525-8529. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2418-09.2009
42.
YaarE.HermanT.NadlerA. (1995). The Israeli-Palestinian process: The view of the Israeli public. Tel Aviv: Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research, Tel Aviv University.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
