First- and Third-Person Perceptions: Using the Ostensible Audience as a Comparison Anchor in the Processes of Downward and Upward Social Comparisons

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session and Reception
  In Interactive Paper Session: Mass Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

This study represents an attempt to draw attention to the neglected “ostensible audience” implied in Davison’s original specification of the third-person effect, and emphasizes the importance of the role of the ostensible audience as a comparison anchor in the downward and upward self-enhancing social comparison processes to achieve what the estimators consider to be accurate social judgments under uncertainty.
Two studies were conducted: a survey concerning the perceived self-other differences in media vulnerability to negative political advertisements; and an experiment concerning how viewers assessed their and others’ receptivity to a documentary film that raises awareness of global climate change. The results confirmed that using the most vulnerable audience as a comparison anchor in a downward social comparison process resulted in third-person perception estimation, whereas the most fortunate recipients of socially desirable messages were used as comparison anchors for making first-person perception judgments in a process of upward social comparison.

Author

• Sue-Jen Lin, I-Shou University