MEASURING THE 3RD-PERSON EFFECT OF NEWS - THE IMPACT OF QUESTION ORDER, CONTRAST AND KNOWLEDGE

This study investigated the extent to which the third-person effect-th e tendency of people to estimate greater impact of media messages on ' other people' than on themselves-might depend upon question-contrast e ffects (i.e. self-serving comparisons triggered by back-to-back questi ons dealing with effect on others and oneself), the order of questions , and respondents' levels of background political knowledge. Two hundr ed acid eighty-seven subjects participated in two experimental studies involving questions about media coverage of President Clinton's possi ble role in the 'Whitewater Affair', his alleged frequent policy rever sals, the O. J. Simpson murder trial, and child molestation charges ag ainst Michael Jackson. Both experiments resulted in significant third- person effects that did not depend upon having the same respondents an swer both questions; means for single-question (no contrast) condition s did not differ significantly from comparable means in two-question ( contrast) conditions. No significant main effects of question order we re observed. In Experiment 1 a significant interaction between politic al knowledge and question order was found, such that a negative relati onship between knowledge and perceived impact on oneself emerged when the 'self question followed a question about perceived effects on othe rs. Experiment 2 replicated the interaction for two of three news stim uli, and indicated that it was not a product of differences in the per sonal importance of issues. Implications of these results for understa nding the third-person effect are discussed.