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48 J. Broad. & Elec. Media 675 (2004)
Media Dependency and Perceived Reality of Fiction and News

handle is hein.journals/jbem48 and id is 685 raw text is: Media Dependency and Perceived Reality of Fiction and News Michael A. Shapiro and T. Makana Chock Two studies examined whether familiar and unfamiliar contexts influ- enced the relationship between the typicality of a news or entertainment story and the perceived realism of that story. For shopping mall patrons in the United States, typicality had a significantly weaker effect when news events were presented as coming from Brazil rather than from the United States. Entertainment stories presented as coming from Brazil were seen as more real than identical stories presented as coming from the United States. However, the familiarity of the setting did not influence the story typicality and perceived reality relationship for entertainment stories. To understand the people and events portrayed in media stories, audience members must make a variety of judgments as events unfold and people interact. Understanding audience responses to media people and events requires understand- ing the mental processes involved in processing stories in news, fiction, and advertising (Escalas & Stern, 2003; Gerrig, 1993; Sarbin, 1986; Schank & Abelson, 1995; Strange & Leung, 1999). One judgment that may be important in the mental processing of media stories is that of the perceived reality of the events, people, and settings portrayed on television. Recent studies found that the more typical the people and events described or portrayed in media stories, the more realistic those people and events were judged to be (Shapiro & Chock, 2003). It seems unlikely that this is always true. One possibility is that this is only true when the context of the story is familiar. People tend to be more influenced by media when they have few other sources of information available to them (Ball-Rokeach, 1998; Ball-Rokeach & DeFleur, 1976). When we process stories about unfamiliar settings we have fewer sources of information than when we process stories about familiar settings (Perry, 1987; Prentice, Gerrig, & Bailis, 1997; Slater, 1990). The studies reported on here test the possibility that, compared to a familiar setting, people are more likely to accept Michael A. Shapiro (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Cornell University. His research interests include the psychology of narrative, in particular the psychological factors influencing realism judgments. T. Makana Chock (Ph.D., Comell University) is a Lecturer in the Department of Telecommunication at Indiana University-Bloomington. Her research interests include media processes, effects, and self-other distinctions in health and relational communication. Q 2004 Broadcast Education Association Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 48(4), 2004, pp. 675- 695 675

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