The present study tested the mediation processes outlined in the short-term component of the model of intuitive morality and exemplars (MIME). The MIME holds that narrative media emphasizing certain moral intuitions can increase the accessibility of those intuitions in audiences, which subsequently affects related behaviors among audience members. The present study tested this mediation process in a pre-teen audience. Previous support for this mediation model was limited to adults. Participants (N = 210; 48.8% female; Mage = 11.74; age range 10-13) were exposed to one of five versions of a comic book. Each version was manipulated to emphasize one of four moral intuitions identified in the MIME, or no moral intuition. After exposure, participants completed a measure of intuition accessibility (M-MIA), followed by a moral measure of intuitively motivated behavior (M-MIMB). The M-MIMB was designed to give participants the opportunity to share tokens with intuition-relevant others. Three major outcomes were observed: For participants in all four moral conditions, exposure to a comic book emphasizing an intuition (1) directly increased both the accessibility of that intuition and (2) directly increased their sharing with intuition-relevant others. Moreover, (3) media exposure’s effect on participants’ behavior was mediated by intuition accessibility in models for care and (in one analysis) fairness, but no other intuition. The findings are discussed in terms of their value for children’s media research and the MIME.
Read
