Peers Influencing Adolescents’ Moral Permissibility and Preferences for Media Portraying Antisocial, Risky, and Norm-Crossing Behaviors

• In Event: Finding Myself, for Better or Worse: Adolescents and Media

Abstract

While both media and peers play an important role in the lives of adolescents, research on the interaction between the two is limited. The present study aimed to explain adolescents’ preferences and moral judgments of media portraying antisocial behaviors from social exclusion and peer pressure. We designed an experiment in which social exclusion (vs. acceptance) was manipulated. Then, participants were presented descriptions of media-clips which were combined with either approving, disapproving, or no peer comments in a YouTube format to manipulate peer pressure. Results showed that socially-excluded adolescents made more permissible moral judgments of the antisocial behaviors portrayed in the media and reported higher preferences for such contents compared to their accepted counterparts. As for peer pressure, media preferences were highest when peers approved the media content. Interestingly, peer pressure did instigate moral permissibility in socially-accepted adolescents, but did not affect the moral judgments of socially-excluded adolescents. Implications for adolescent development and media effects research are discussed.

Authors

• Xanthe S. Plaisier, VU University, Amsterdam

• Elly A. Konijn, VU University - Amsterdam

• Jolanda Veldhuis, VU U Amsterdam