Social Comparisons With News Personae

Abstract

Appeal of personae in news is investigated based on social comparison theory. Participants ( N = 276) of two age groups browsed through online news while selective exposure was unobtrusively logged. Manipulated articles focused on individuals and varied along three within factors: sex and age group of portrayed individual and story valence. After browsing news, participants completed a questionnaire including a self-esteem scale. Recipients preferred news on same-sex individuals, and young readers favored articles about same-age characters. Impacts of self-esteem to positive and negative articles, offering upward and downward comparison opportunities, were mediated by sex of recipient. Exploratory analyses indicated that this interaction results from gender-based preferences for comparison contexts—social issues for women and achievement topics for men.