Media Use and National Image: How Americans and Chinese Perceive the U.S.

Abstract

Grounded in the international image theory ( Herrmann and Fischerkeller, 1995), this study argues that individuals maintain general images of foreign nations that shape perceptions of foreign policy issues. Based on two identical national online surveys conducted in the United States (N = 1250) and China (N = 1311) in early 2019, the study explores the structure and composition of these national images among American and Chinese citizens and tests whether they influence perceptions of the U.S.–China trade war. The findings suggest that cognitive and affective components of national image are associated with the perceived favorability of the other nation and support for the U.S.–China trade war among the American and Chinese public. While media exposure played a more prominent role among U.S. respondents, personal traits such as cosmopolitanism, patriotism, cultural affinity, and personal contact with people from the other nation were significantly associated with people's overall favorability of the other nation and their support of the U.S.–China trade war.

Keywords

National image public opinion foreign news survey China the United States

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Albritton

Manheim

(1985) Public relations efforts for the third world: images in the news. Journal of Communication 35(1): 43–59.

Ata

Bastian

Lusher

(2009) Intergroup contact in context: the mediating role of social norms and group-based perceptions on the contact-prejudice link. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 33(6): 498–506.

Barlow

Paolini

Pedersen

, et al. (2012) The contact caveat: negative contact predicts increased prejudice more than positive contact predicts reduced prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 38(12): 1629–1643.

Boulding

(1959) National images and international systems. Journal of Conflict Resolution 3(2): 120–131.

Castano

Bonacossa

Gries

(2016) National images as integrated schemas: subliminal primes of image attributes shape foreign policy preferences. Political Psychology 37(3): 351–366.

Chang

(2017) “多面中国”: 中国国家形象的“他塑”研究. [“Images of China”: A case study of China’s images as constructed by the “others”]. Journalism Bimonthly 2017(3): 138–145, 153.

Cleveland

Laroche

(2007) Acculturation to the global consumer culture: scale development and research paradigm. Journal of Business Research 60(3): 249–259.

Cleveland

Laroche

Papadopoulos

(2009) Cosmopolitanism, consumer ethnocentrism, and materialism: an eight-country study of antecedents and outcomes. Journal of International Marketing 17(1): 116–146.

CNNIC (2019) 44th China statistical report on Internet development. Report, China Internet Network Information Center, Beijing, February.

10.

Cottam

(1999) The enemy image. In: American Psychological Association (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 204–206.

11.

Cuddy

AJC

Fiske

Kwan

VSY

, et al. (2009) Stereotype content model across cultures: towards universal similarities and some differences. British Journal of Social Psychology 48: 1–33.

12.

Davidson

(2019) How the trade war with China could hit you: Higher prices, lost jobs and falling stocks. Available at: www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/05/10/us-china-trade-war-how-affect-shoppers-and-can-tariffs-work/1164965001/ (accessed 4 September 2021).

13.

Davies

Edney

Wang

(2021) National images, trust and international friendship: evidence from Chinese students. International Relations 35(1): 69–89.

14.

Dovidio

Hewstone

Glick

, et al. (2010) Prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination: theoretical and empirical overview. In: Dovidio

Hewstone

Glick

Esses

(eds) The SAGE Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping and Discrimination. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 3–29.

15.

Entman

(1993) Framing: toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication 43(4): 51–58.

16.

Fiske

Cuddy

Glick

, et al. (2002) A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 82(6): 878–902.

17.

Fung

Yan

Akin

(2018) In the eye of the beholder: how news media exposure and audience schema affect the image of the United States among the Chinese public. International Journal of Public Opinion Research 30(3): 443–472.

18.

Gallup (n.d.) In Depth: Topics A to Z: China. https://news.gallup.com/poll/1627/china.aspx.

19.

Galtung

Ruge

(1965) The structure of foreign news: the presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus crises in four Norwegian newspapers. Journal of Peace Research 2(1): 64–90.

20.

Goffman

(1974) Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

21.

Gozenbach

Arant

Stevenson

(1992) The world of US network television news: eighteen years of international and foreign news coverage. Gazette 50: 53–72.

22.

Greenwald

Banaji

(1995) Implicit social cognition: attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological Review 102(1): 4–27.

23.

Gries

Zhang

Crowson

, et al. (2011) Patriotism, nationalism and China’s US policy: structures and consequences of Chinese national identity. The China Quarterly 205: 1–17.

24.

Hartig

(2016) How China understands public diplomacy: the importance of national image for national interests. International Studies Review 18(4): 655–680.

25.

Hartnett

Keranen

Conley

(eds) (2017) Imagining China: Rhetorics of Nationalism in an age of Globalization. East Lansing, MI:Michigan State University Press.

26.

Herrmann

(1985) Perceptions and Behavior in Soviet Foreign Policy. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

27.

Herrmann

(1986) The power of perceptions in foreign-policy decision making: do views of the Soviet Union determine the policy choices of American leaders? American Journal of Political Science 30: 841–875.

28.

Herrmann

(2013) Perceptions and image theory in international relations. In: Huddy

Sears

Levy

(eds) The Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 334–363.

29.

Herrmann

Fischerkeller

(1995) Beyond the enemy image and spiral model: cognitive–strategic research after the cold war. International Organization 49(3): 415–450.

30.

Herz

Diamantopoulos

(2013) Activation of country stereotypes: automaticity, consonance, and impact. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 41(4): 400–417.

31.

Hurwitz

Peffley

(1990) Public images of the Soviet Union: the impact on foreign policy attitudes. The Journal of Politics 52(1): 3–28.

32.

Jin

Lynch

Attia

, et al. (2015) The relationship between consumer ethnocentrism, cosmopolitanism and product country image among younger generation consumers: the moderating role of country development status. International Business Review 24(3): 380–393.

33.

Jura

Kaluzynska

de Carvalho

(2018) “The big brother we appreciate” or a “mafioso”? the emergence of stereotypes concerning China and the Chinese in Angola. Journal of African Media Studies 10(3): 251–271.

34.

Kang

Yang

(2010) Comparing effects of country reputation and the overall corporate reputations of a country on international consumers’ product attitudes and purchase intentions. Corporate Reputation Review 13(1): 52–62.

35.

Karlins

Coffman

Walters

(1969) On the fading of social stereotypes: studies in three generations of college students. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 13(1): 1–16.

36.

Korzenny

Del Toro

Gaudino

(1987) International news media exposure, knowledge, and attitudes. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 31(1): 73–87.

37.

Kunczik

(2002) Globalisation: news media, images of nations and the flow of international capital with special reference to the role of rating agencies. Journal of International Communication 8(1): 39–79.

38.

Leung

AKY

Koh

Tam

(2015) Being environmentally responsible: cosmopolitan orientation predicts pro-environmental behaviors. Journal of Environmental Psychology 43: 79–94.

39.

Leyens

Yzerbyt

Schadron

(1992) The social judgeability approach to stereotypes. European Review of Social Psychology 3(1): 91–120.

40.

Cai

Zheng

, et al. (2018) Stereotype and national attachment in Hong Kong Chinese context: a moderated mediation model of perceived inter-group relationship and age. Social Indicators Research 135(1): 357–371.

41.

Manheim

Albritton

(1983) Changing national images: international public relations and media agenda setting. American Political Science Review 78(3): 641–657.

42.

Maoz

Kuperman

Terris

, et al. (2006) Structural equivalence and international conflict: a social networks analysis. The Journal of Conflict Resolution 50(5): 664–689.

43.

McCombs

(2005) A look at agenda-setting: past, present and future. Journalism Studies 6(4): 543–557.

44.

McNelly

Izcaray

(1986) International news exposure and images of nations. Journalism Quarterly 63(3): 546–553.

45.

Nathanson

(1993) Patriotism, Morality, and Peace. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

46.

National Bureau of Statistics (2021) Briefs on the 7th National Census. http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/zxfb/202105/t20210510_1817176.html (accessed 2 December 2021).

47.

Nincic

Russett

(1979) The effect of similarity and interest on attitudes toward foreign countries. Public Opinion Quarterly 43(1): 68–78.

48.

Nye Jr

(2008) Public diplomacy and soft power. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 616(1): 94–109.

49.

Oberecker

Diamantopoulos

(2011) Consumers’ emotional bonds with foreign countries: does consumer affinity affect behavioral intentions? Journal of International Marketing 19(2): 45–72.

50.

Peabody

(1985) National Characteristics. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

51.

Perry

(1985) The mass media and inference about other nations. Communication Research 12(4): 595–614.

52.

Perry

(1987) The image gap: how international news affects perceptions of nations. Journalism Quarterly 64(2–3): 416–433.

53.

Perry

(1989) Assessing the import of media-related effects: some contextualist considerations. World Communication 21: 69–82.

54.

Pettigrew

Tropp

(2006) A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 90(5): 751–783.

55.

Riefler

Diamantopoulos

(2009) Consumer cosmopolitanism: review and replication of the CYMYC scale. Journal of Business Research 62(4): 407–419.

56.

Schneider

(2005) The Psychology of Stereotyping. New York: Guilford.

57.

Silverstein

(1989) Enemy images: the psychology of U.S. attitudes and cognitions regarding the Soviet Union. American Psychologist 44: 903–913.

58.

Sinkkonen

(2013) Nationalism, patriotism and foreign policy attitudes among Chinese university students. The China Quarterly 216: 1045–1063.

59.

Skrbis

Kendall

Woodward

(2004) Locating cosmopolitanism: between humanist ideal and grounded social category. Theory, Culture & Society 21(6): 115–136.

60.

Swanson

Tankersley

(2019) Tariffs on China don’t cover the costs of Trump’s trade war. The New York Times, 15 July. Available at: www.nytimes.com/2019/07/15/business/trade-war-tariffs-revenue.html

61.

Tan

Suarchavarat

(1988) American TV and social stereotypes of Americans in Thailand. Journalism Quarterly 65(3): 648–654.

62.

Tan

Simpson

(1986) American TV and social stereotypes of Americans in Taiwan and Mexico. Journalism Quarterly 63(4): 809–814.

63.

Techakesari

Barlow

Hornsey

, et al. (2015) An investigation of positive and negative contact as predictors of intergroup attitudes in the United States, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 46(3): 454–468.

64.

Terracciano

McCrae

(2007) Perceptions of Americans and the Iraq invasion: implications for understanding national character stereotypes. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 38(6): 695–710.

65.

Wang

(2006) Managing national reputation and international relations in the global era: public diplomacy revisited. Public Relations Review 32(2): 91–96.

66.

Wang

(2018) “First lady diplomacy” and the construction of national image. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy 14(2): 125–136.

67.

Willnat

Hao

(1997) Foreign media exposure and perceptions of Americans in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Singapore. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 74(4): 738–756.

68.

World Tourism Organization (2021) Yearbook of tourism statistics, Data 2015-2019, 2021 Edition. Available at: https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/book/10.18111/9789284422487 (accessed 2 December 2021).

69.

Xiang

(2013) China’s image on international English language social media. Journal of International Communication 19(2): 252–271.

70.

(1998) Anti-American nationalism in China since 1989. China Report 34(2): 179–198.

71.

Zeng

Chan

(2017) How social media construct “truth” around crisis events: Weibo's rumor management strategies after the 2015 Tianjin blasts. Policy & Internet 9(3): 297–320.

72.

Zhang

(2015) Stereotypes of Chinese by American college students: Media use and perceived realism. International Journal of Communication 9: 1–20.

73.

Zhang

Wang

(2017) 疏通渠道实现中国国家形象的对外立体传播. [Open the channels to communication the national image of China]. Journalism Bimonthly 2017(3): 122–130, 152.

74.

Zhao

(1998) A state-led nationalism: the patriotic education campaign in post-Tiananmen China. Communist and Post-Communist Studies 31: 287–302.

75.

Zhao

(2018) 中美贸易战: 挑战与机遇. [The U.S.–China trade war: Challenges and opportunities]. Available at: www. http://china.chinadaily.com.cn/2018-08/02/content_36694152.htm (accessed 2 December 2021).

Media Use and National Image: How Americans and Chinese Perceive the U.S.–China Trade War

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References