Citation

Benjamin AJ, Oelke SE. Kommunik. Media Gazd. 2016; 13(1): 229-241.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Budapest Metropolitan University)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

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Abstract

The purpose of the present research is to focus on one facet of media portrayals of torture, namely how different approaches to framing the use of torture influence readers' attitudes toward torture. Experiment 1 examined the influence of effectiveness framing on attitudes toward torture, and Experiment 2 examined framing in terms of in-group/out- group biases.

FINDINGS from Experiment 1 demonstrated that participants had more favorable attitudes toward torture when torture was portrayed to be effective than when portrayed to be ineffective.

FINDINGS from Experiment 2 showed that when interrogators were framed as out-group members and detainees as in-group members, respondents showed less favorable attitudes toward torture than when the in-group/out-group designations of interrogators and detainees were reversed. Implications of these findings with regard to the General Aggression Model (Anderson & Bushman, 2002) and mass media influences on attitudes toward torture are examined.

Language: en