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DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE 1/98 chlRC/DateOquS—p.“ THE EFFECTS OF EXEMPLIFIED CRIME REPORTS ON SELF PROTECTIVE RESPONSE By Satoru Awano A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Telecommunication 1999 ABSTRACT THE EFFECTS OF EXEMPLIFIED CRIME REPORTS ON SELF PROTECTIVE RESPONSE By Satoru Awano Crime reports in the media seem to influence people's self-protective behavior toward reported crime. Four reporting styles: (1) base rate information, (2) exemplar, (3) enhanced exemplar, and (4) combination of base rate information and exemplar were examined to measure relative strength and endurance of self-protective responses. Exemplar theory explains that vividness of the exemplar makes it more accessible in human memory, and thus it yields stronger priming effect than base rate information. Findings indicated that there were no significant differences between conditions, however the exemplar theory was supported in the comparison between base rate condition and three other conditions. Based on the priming theory, self- protective responses would be short-lived. Findings supported the short- term effect of self-protective responses in accordance with the priming theory. Findings also revealed that the superiority of exemplar over base rate information on self-protective responses disappeared over time. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Most of all, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Bradley S. Greenberg, my principal advisor, for his guidance, comments, and encouragement. I would also like to thank the member of my committee, Dr. Thomas F. Baldwin, for his helpful suggestions. In addition, I would like to thank Professor Melissa Camacho for helping with the data collection. I must express my appreciation to Secom Co., Ltd. for providing me with the opportunity to study abroad. Thanks to my parents, Takeshi and Yoshiko Awano, for all their support and encouragement. Finally, I must thank Robert Brady, Michael Morris and all my friends for assistance in many ways. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER TWO Previous Studies ............................................................................................. 4 CHAPTER THREE Hypotheses ..................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER FOUR Study Method ................................................................................................. 17 Subjects ................................................................................................ 17 Procedure ............................................................................................. 18 Independent Variables ........................................................................ 19 Crime story variation ............................................................ 19 Base rate information ........................................................... 19 Exemplified story (Exemplar) ............................................... 21 Enhanced version of exemplar (Enhanced exemplar) ......... 22 Combination of base rate and exemplar .............................. 24 Dependent Variables ........................................................................... 26 CHAPTER FIVE Results ............................................................................................................ 28 Reliability of Scales ............................................................................. 28 Immediate Self-Protective Responses ................................................ 28 Table 1 ................................................................................... 29 Table 2 ................................................................................... 30 Table 3 ................................................................................... 32 Table 4 ................................................................................... 33 Time Effect ........................................................................................... 34 Table 5 ................................................................................... 36 Table 6 ................................................................................... 37 iv Delayed Self-Protective Responses ..................................................... 39 Table 7 ................................................................................... 40 Table 8 ................................................................................... 41 CHAPTER SIX Discussion ....................................................................................................... 42 Interpretations of Findings ................................................................. 42 Unsolved Problems .............................................................................. 45 Implications ......................................................................................... 47 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................... 50 APPENDICES ................................................................................................ 53 Appendix A ........................................................................................... 53 Appendix B ........................................................................................... 54 CHAPTER ONE Introduction We sometimes find that, after a particular type of crime is reported in the media, similar crimes will be reported one after another for a certain period. It is still fresh in our memories that several shootings by teenagers happened consecutively at different schools within a short time. This might be interpreted as being that similar crimes happened just coincidentally, or that the media took up similar incidents just to maintain the audience's interest. On the other hand, there seems to be some correlation between news reports and a chain of similar events. An indiscriminate murder with poisoned food occurred in Wakayama, Japan in the 1998 summer. After the incident was reported nationwide, many similar cases occurred and were reported by the media. In the Wakayama case, poisonous substance, arsenic, was put into a food served for a summer festival; in consequence, three died. In subsequent cases, other ways were used to attempt murder: cyanide in a teapot and in a canned tea, pesticide in a bottled drink, cresol in a diet drink, needles in food, and so on. Those cases took place in a variety of places such as a company office, supermarkets and convenience stores. Unfortunately there are no statistics available about those cases except that Asahi Shinbun (a newspaper) reported that seven needle-in-food cases were reported to Morioka City Police from January 29 to February 13, 1999 and virtually simultaneously, from January 30 to February 13, seven needle-in- food cases were reported to Kochi Prefecture Police. Whether or not media reports influenced those imitation crimes, there were too many incidents for them to be merely coincidental. What also drew my attention were not only these imitation crimes but also the fact that many people sought medical help, complaining of stomach ache and/or experiencing a strange taste after having what turned out to be unpoisoned drink or food. Moreover, many people stopped buying food that others might have put something into. Not only copycat crime but also apprehension and self-protective response toward similar crime might be evoked by news reports dealing with events in the real world. The mechanism of how crime reports affect people's feelings and behaviors in relation to the original reported crime has not been sufficiently studied in the area of media effects. Reporting style might be another important factor of the impact of a news report on an audience. There are many types of media reporting. Some reports only tell when and what happened, who was the suspect, and where it took place. Others report more precise information such as how did the suspect look, how was the crime committed, what was the motive, and so on. And some media treat a crime in a very sensational way. There might be a difference in response according to the style of reporting. How long the effect lasts is also an important question. A murder by 2 cyanide in a teapot in Nagano was followed by 30 similar cases. Those cases had been reported to Nagano Prefecture Police 20 days after it happened. Victims claimed that something was wrong with food or drink they had had, but in all the cases, no harmful substance was found. After 20 days past, no further such cases were reported. We would assume that the effect of the crime report lasts for only a brief period of time. There are many aspects to be considered in this phenomenon. In this study, they will be approached from the aspect of strength and endurance of the effects of news reports, dealing with crime, on self-protective responses toward the reported crimes in terms of priming theory. This theory is usually used to explain the relation between media violence and viewers‘ aggression. At the same time, the effect of different reporting styles will be investigated in the context of comparing the exemplar in priming effect with base rate information. CHAPTER TWO Previous Studies The influence of messages via the media on audience’s feelings and behavior has been studied mainly in the context of the impact of media (especially television) violence on aggression. Berkowitz is one of the leading researchers of media violence. He has explained the relationship between media violence and aggression adopting a psychology theory of priming. The priming effect is referred to as; ...when people witness, read, or hear of an event via the mass media, ideas having a similar meaning are activated in them for a short time afterwards, and these thoughts in turn can activate other semantically related ideas and action tendencies. (Jo & Berkowitz, 1994) Berkowitz believes that the process of memory and recall is important to understand media effects and that the concept of cognitive- neoassociationism (Anderson & Bower, 1973; Landman & Manis, 1983) provides a good framework to explain them. He indicates the importance of that concept. What is important is that memory is regarded as a collection of network consisting of units or nodes (representing substantive 4 elements of thought, feelings, and so on) that are interconnected through associative pathways. The strength of these pathways is presumably a function of a variety of factors, including contiguity, similarity, and semantic relatedness. (Berkowitz, 1984) According to his explanation of the priming effect, when a thought element is activated, it comes out from "a particular node along the associative pathways to other nodes", that means other semantically related thoughts come to mind again. Many experiments have shown proof of the impact of media violence on people's aggressive behavior based on priming effect. In general those studies brought about the following conclusion; ...under certain circumstances and for a short period of time, there is an increased chance that the viewers will (a) have hostile thoughts that can color their interpretation of other people, (b) believe other forms of aggressive conduct are justified and/or will bring them benefits, and (c) be aggressively inclined. (Jo & Berkowitz, 1994) As already mentioned in the definition of the priming effect, the observation of aggression evokes not only aggressive behavior but also semantically related ideas. Wyer and Srull (1981) found an evidence of priming effect by requiring their participants to describe a target person with given word sets. Primed subjects described an unfavorable target person with aggression-related words. The priming effect has been mostly studied in the context of media violence on television and movies, but there is evidence that portrayals of aggression in other media such as radio, print media, video games and music videos bring priming effects. (Berkowitz pp49-50) The priming theory could be applied to the mechanism of the chain effect of particular incidents in the real world. The question I presented first is whether media reports that deal with naturally occurring events influence people or not. There have been a few studies approaching media effects by observational methods. Phillips, as a sociologist, directed his attention to the fact that many media effects literature consisted of laboratory-based studies of children or youth and it was doubtful if those laboratory studies could apply to media effects on adults in the real world. Phillips (1974) approached this real-world effect and has found that monthly suicide rates rise significantly just after publicized suicide stories appear in the news media. Phillips (1979) also found that the number of automobile fatalities was increased for a brief period after a widely publicized suicide; many of the accidents were single-vehicle incidents, those were considered suicide. Although there still is controversy about the causality between suicide stories and car accidents, it is important that he found a clue that there might be a relation between media coverage of naturally occurring events and people’s self-directed aggressive behavior in the real world. Phillips explained those findings in terms of imitation, which is one of the observational learning theories and is named "the Werther effect," after 6 Goethe's literary hero whose suicide was imitated. However Berkowitz disagreed with his interpretation and maintained that it should be interpreted in terms of priming. According to Berkowitz, "imitation generally implies that the reproduced action is physically similar to the portrayed behavior." He added, "it may be better to say that the observers responded to the meaning of the media event and exhibited behavior having the same general meaning." Priming does not necessarily evoke the identical behavior as the media presented. Therefore, some so-called copycat crimes and other kinds of reactions such as people's self-protective response toward particular crimes reported in news media could be interpreted as priming response. Following Berkowitz' way of explanation, the interpretation of the copycat phenomenon would be as follows: after an audience read or watched a crime report, for example poison in a drink incident, the idea (construct) of drink poisoning would be activated in the person's mind for a while. And then, when that person happens to drink something, the construct would come up to the person's mind again and it would lead to semantically related thoughts or behavior such as checking out whether it tastes right or whether there is a small hole in the can, etc. Another question is whether a variety of reporting styles yields different priming response or not. First, I need to discuss the difference between news reports and fictional violent programs to approach this question. There are major differences between a news report and a violent program in terms of content, construction and purpose. In fictional 7 programs, producers can depict an event in many ways and that gives an audience different impressions toward the content of the programs. Aggression-related thoughts will not be activated unless the viewers consider the depicted scenes aggressive. When the people who observed violent media depictions think the aggression is unjustified and/or is risky behavior, aggressive thoughts and inclinations could be restrained. On the other hand, news reports deal with events occurring on a daily basis for the purpose of presenting what is factual. There are no plots and no special effects to impress on audience, as there are on a fictional TV show. It seems that audiences of news reports do not respond in different way as long as they report the same event, because they lack dramatic effects. However, when we take a close look at the construction of a news report, there could be various ways of sending information according to characteristics of incidents, time and space in the media, editors' intentions and so on. According to Zillmann (1994) typically news reporters use two types of information in stories about social phenomena: (a) base rate information detailing the number or proportion of people or things involved in a given social phenomenon and (b) exemplifying information, or exemplars, about individuals whose circumstances illustrate the phenomenon under review. Zillmann has examined the effects of those styles of news reports in terms of the exemplar theory. His studies have been focused on the relationship between exemplar and people’s perception of events, depicted by the exemplar, in the real world. For example, it was shown that subjects who read the exemplar of a carjacking story 8 overestimated the number of persons killed during carjackings in the real world, but subjects who read base rate information about carjackings did not (Zillmann, 1994). The larger effect exemplar on self-protective response against base rate information has been verified in perceptions of reported events in the real world. But the relationship between priming effects and exemplar theory has not been sufficiently studied. If the exemplar theory could be applied to the priming effect, then an exemplified crime story would have stronger priming effects than base rate information, and a self-protective response would be evoked more easily by exemplifying information than by base rate statistics. In this study, four types of crime story (conditions) were examined: 1) base rate information, 2) exemplar, 3) enhanced exemplar and 4) combination of base rate information and exemplar. They investigated the relative strength and duration of self-protective response toward reported crimes. 7-7 CHAPTER THREE Hypotheses Zillmann has studied and theorized about the effect of exemplar in the context of its impact on perception. His hypothesis that exemplar would have stronger impact on perception than base rate information was based on the following findings. People have difficulty comprehending and processing statements involving specific information such as quantities, percentages, and probabilities. (Brosius & Keyser, 1991) Vivid or dramatic exemplars are more likely to attract readers or viewers, are more persuasive, and are often better remembered. (Bar-Hillel & Fischoff, 1981) Zillmann also refers to the availability heuristic (Tversky & Kahneman) as a rationale of the effect of exemplars. It means people evaluate the frequency or likelihood of an event on the basis of how quickly exemplifying instances come to mind. More vivid, recent or frequent events tend to have superior recalls and they would have a greater impact on people’s perception of the phenomenon. Therefore exemplars as the vivid depictions of events help people to recall the event more quickly, and affect them more severely. Now I will explain how the effect of exemplar relates to priming. I discussed earlier that the exemplar theory was based on the idea of availability heuristic. Priming effect can also be based on that same idea, 10 because a construct must be activated (available) in mind for a while in the process of priming. Sanbonmatsu expanded the idea of availability heuristic and presented the idea of construct accessibility. (Sanbonmatsu & Fazio, 1991) He distinguishes availability from accessibility in the report of construct accessibility. Generally, ideas available in memory are not equally accessible. He explains priming and priming effect in terms of accessibility heuristic. “Priming is simply a procedure that increase the accessibility of a construct or response pattern in memory.” “A priming effect is an instance where an increase in the accessibility of a construct has an impact on subsequent perceptions or behavior.” (Sanbonmatsu & Fazio, 1991) An exemplar is a vivid and concrete depiction of a construct. Zillmann explained in his recall study that the vividness of the exemplar heightened the accessibility of a construct in person's memory and that influenced the speed of recall of the construct. Therefore, we can assume that a priming effect is occurring in the process of the exemplar effect on recall. Hence it can be concluded that an exemplar can be an effective prime. Many experiments, for example conducted by Iyenger and Kinder (1987), Iyengar (1991), and Zillmann and his associates (1992, 1994), have supported the belief that the exemplar has a stronger effect than base rate information in terms of overestimation of reported phenomena in the real world. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that an exemplar is a more 11 effective prime than base rate information. As discussed, vivid, recent and frequent exposure to a construct makes it more likely to be primed, because vividness, recency and frequency are strong factors to heighten the accessibility of a construct. (Sanbonmatsu & Fazio, 1991). Another question is how far semantically related ideas re- activate the construct in mind. Different types of associated constructs can come to a person's mind to help prime a construct. Srull and Wyer (1979, 1980) succeeded to prime the construct "dog" by presenting a exemplar of the construct "poodle" and Loftus (1973) also did it by presenting a superordinate category "pet." A person's need at the time of exposure to a construct can affect the priming effect. For example, moderate hunger increases the accessibility of food-related constructs (Levine, Cein, & Murphy, 1942; Wispe & Drambarean, 1953). Take crime reports as an example. If exposure to the reports of a particular crime were very recent or frequent, the crime as a construct might be more likely to be primed. The exposure to the reports also might remind a person of related constructs such as a similar type of crime or a measure to prevent the crime. In addition, people who are cautious with crime from the first might be more likely to be primed than those who are not. Therefore, it is a reasonable idea that when subjects are asked the degree of need for prevention of particular crimes such as theft and burglary on campus, the subjects who are exposed to exemplified reports of those crimes will have a higher degree of need for prevention (self- 12 T protection) toward those reported types of crime than those who are not. From the discussions above, I hypothesize the effect of exemplars as follows. Hla: Subjects who read exemplars are more likely to have self- protecting responses than those who read base rate information. Hlb: Subjects who read combination articles of exemplars and base rate information are more likely to have self-protecting responses than those who read only base rate information. Even though researchers like Brosius & Kayser (1991) indicate that people have difficulty comprehending and processing statements involving specific information such as quantities, percentages, and probabilities, it is reasonable to think that when base rate information is presented with exemplar, it will not inhibit the effect of the exemplar. Because the exemplar is representation of the base rate information which adds concreteness to the report, this duplication of information would double the chance for subjects to perceive the construct and that would make it more strongly accessible rather than weaken its accessibility. ch: Subjects who read combination articles of exemplars and base rate information are more likely to have self-protection responses than those who read exemplars. 13 ”A ‘51". If. ‘2 (6’- .‘fij ii: ‘1‘“: ~— ' - 4| As Zillmann explained in his recall study, the exemplars that heighten their vividness by enhancing contents might increase the accessibility and consequently can be the stronger prime. Zillmann manipulated exemplars of carjacks according to the degree of victims' physical harm with different adjectives for each degree. (e.g. "lucky" for no injury, "unfortunate" for the severest injury) Subjects who were exposed to the stories in which victims suffered severer injuries overestimated fatalities occurring in carjackings more than those who read stories in which victims suffered less severe injuries. Hld: Subjects who read more enhanced exemplars are more likely to have self-protecting response than who read less-enhanced exemplars. I also wish to study the duration of the priming effects by conducting a second post test three weeks after the exposure (posttest 2) to the same subjects. How long the effect will last is an important question because the length of the effect could be a measure of strength of the effect. I expect that the priming effects will last a relatively short time after the exposure. Phillips found that the publicity given to suicide stories on television evening news programs did not produce a heightened probability of other suicides more than ten days after the initial report. (Bollen & Phillips, 1982) Berkowitz concluded that thought activation often was only 14 ir-I'L‘ “tr—mom. art-H‘sfln temporary, and the communication’s impact typically declined with the passage of time. (Berkowitz, 1984) However, there is an opposing idea about the duration of media effects. Gerbner argued that media violence could have a long-lasting influence on perceptions of the real world. His cultivation theory is opposed to Berkowitz’s priming theory in terms of duration of media effects. However, Berkowitz is skeptical about the fact that activated judgments can be turned into a persistent perception. (Berkowitz, 1984) Sanbonmatsu noted that priming is not a change in belief or attitude, or the formation of a new belief or attitude. (Sanbonmatsu & Fazio, 1991) Therefore, the self— protective response would not last long; the effect would be short-term. Phillips found that suicide rate increased after a suicide report published but the impact didn’t last more than ten days. Zillmann took two weeks to investigate the time effect of exemplar on perception. Thus, at least two weeks were needed between two posttests. However, because of difficulty in scheduling, the interval was extended by an extra week. The time effects will be investigated with three weeks interval. H2: Self-protective responses are stronger right after the subjects were exposed to the materials than three weeks after exposure. Even though the effect subsides very quickly, there must be difference in durability of the effect between base rate information and exemplars. Zillmann’s research resulted in showing longer lasting effects of the 15 exemplar on perception. Therefore the priming effect of exemplar on self- protective response would last longer than that of base rate information because accessibility is more likely to remain. H3a: The subjects who read exemplars have stronger self protection responses after three weeks from the exposure than those who read base rate information. H3b: The subjects who read combination of base rate information and exemplar have stronger self protection responses after three weeks from the exposure than those who read only base rate information or those who read only exemplars. H3c: The subjects who read enhanced exemplars have stronger self—protection response after three weeks from the exposure than those who read less-enhanced exemplars. 16 “I. "“4“ ‘0 [Fl—307w.— Q." t. CHAPTER FOUR Study Method The degree of self-protection responses toward particular crimes presented in different styles of news reports (IVs), which are (1) base rate information, (2) exemplar, (3) enhanced exemplar and (4) combination of base rate and exemplar were compared to find out the relative strength of the effects. Four groups of subjects read respectively one of four styles of fictional crime reports dealing with theft in the MSU library and burglary in a residence hall, and the subjects rated their own self-protection feelings, that is, to what degree they feel the need to protect themselves from those kinds of crimes. Posttests were conducted immediately after the session and again three weeks after the session. SUBJECTS The survey sessions were conducted in April of 1999. Undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory telecommunication course (TC200) receiving class credit for participation served as subjects. Subjects were informed that the participation was voluntary, they could chose not to answer questions they did not want to answer and could discontinue the survey at any time without penalty. Subjects were also told that their voluntary agreement to participate would be indicated by their completion and return of 17 TY the questionnaire. The informed consent policy was also stated on the cover sheet of a survey booklet, and subjects were given time to read it. ERQCEILURE Survey booklets titled "A Survey for Students' Attitude toward Prevention of Crime", that consisted of cover sheet (included consent information), stories, questionnaire and code name form, were distributed to the subjects randomly. A male experimenter told subjects that they would participate in two studies: one on that day and a second session 21 days later at the same place. Subjects were given about five minutes to read crime stories. After exposure, subjects were told to fill out the questionnaire in about ten minutes. They were not allowed to go back to the stories. After the questionnaire, subjects were told to create their own codename and write it on the codename form in order to match the results of two surveys and ensure anonymity. After filling out the form, booklets were collected, and subjects were thanked and reminded the next survey session would be held three weeks from that day. Three weeks later at the same class, students who participated in the first survey picked up their codename sheets attached with consent forms and questionnaires right before starting the survey. They were told not to look at the questionnaire until they were told to start it. The same experimenter as the first survey explained to the subjects about the informed consent policy again. Subjects were told to fill out a questionnaire in about ten minutes. After filling out a questionnaire, subjects were thanked and booklets were 18 :va. ,l I‘Flr ‘- -_ collected. W The independent variables consist of four types of crime stories: base rate information, exemplified story (exemplar), enhanced exemplar and combination of base rate information and exemplar. Crime Story Variation Two topics were prepared for the stories for manipulation to enhance generalization. If only one topic were used, the subjects might respond based upon their feelings about that topic, and not crime in general. One topic was theft in the MSU library and the other was burglary in a residence hall. These topics were chosen because those incidents are not uncommon for subjects who are university students and because they could happen to everyone regardless of gender. Base Rate Information Base rate information is a type of story based on statistical numbers and an explanation of them. Both theft story (story A) and burglary story (story B) contain a number of incidents in the past, statistical evidence that those kind of incidents are increasing, major causes of the crimes and a way of prevention. $191111 19 iltfi“ 7"”:‘771—71’ '- z .571 |‘ ‘. Fir-t ATE—WW." MSU police focus on library thefts The MSU Police & Public Safety Department is now focusing on prevention of frequent thefts in the MSU library as of the beginning of 1999. In 1998, police reported 778 thefts on campus. 85 occurred in the MSU main library. This is about 11 % of the total number of thefts on campus. The MSU main library had the highest theft rate of all campus facilities, followed by the International Center, 5%. MSU police took these statistics seriously and have been trying to reduce thefts by increasing patrols and calling users' attention toward their belongings. Fliers have been used since January 1999 to promote anti theft procedures. So far, they have not worked well. The number of larcenies reported in January was 10, two more than the same month last year. There were 13 in February compared to 10 a year ago. Other statistics show that 90% of thefts occurred when a person left his/her belongings unattended. MSU police Detective Maureen Ramsey said "It is our job to fight crime, but the most efficient way to prevent this type of crime is to pay more attention to belongings." SLQDLB Recent campus thefts remind students to lock dorm rooms A recent series of attempted thefts at MSU residence halls might cause more students to attend to security in their rooms. MSU police Capt. Tony Kleibecker said there has been a substantial problem regarding break-ins in student residence halls. In 1997 MSU police reported 106 larcenies and 100 breaking-and-enterings in residence halls. In 1998, larcenies increased to 149 and break-ins increased to 134. The average estimated loss also increased from $400 to $580 between 1997 and 1998. The biggest loss reported last year was $6000 that included a stereo, a watch, accessories and a laptop computer. Often, the thieves are not MSU students, MSU police Capt. Tony Kleibecker said. They victimize people who aren't careful about locking their rooms, he said. MSU police said the best ways to prevent break-ins are: 20 I Always lock doors, even when leaving for a short time or sleeping. I Keep expensive things in a safe place. (drawer, safety box etc.) I Immediately report suspicious people to police. Exemplified Story (Exemplar) Two versions of both the theft and burglary stories were created. The first one was exemplified stories of those two topics (crimes). An exemplar depicted the incidents in detail including the situation of the crime, the methods used in those crimes, the extent of damage. Exemplars were created as typical stories for each topic, theft in the library and burglary in the dormitory. Major causes written in base rate information were adopted in created exemplars as the methods of crimes. Steam Police Brief On February 15, 1999, an MSU student, 21, reported her wallet stolen on the first floor of the MSU library. She left her belongings on the study desk unattended to look for some books, and returned to find her backpack opened and her wallet stolen. There were about twenty other people in the room at the time, but no one could identify the person who stole her wallet, MSU police said. Police believe that someone stole the victim's wallet when she left her study desk. The loss is estimated at 85 dollars. $1;de Police Brief A Shaw Hall resident, 19, reported his stereo stolen after he discovered someone had broken into his room between 10 a.m. and 5 pm. on February 10, 1999. The student returned to his 21 ”Cd. room after classes to find the door closed, but unlocked. The stereo on his desk was missing. There was evidence that the lock was picked, MSU police said. The theft is similar to several other recent larcenies in student dormitory rooms in the last four weeks, MSU police said. There were no witnesses. MSU police have no suspects in the case. Losses are estimated at $150. Enhanced Version of Exemplar (Enhanced Exemplar) Meanwhile the second crime stories were created to add more vividness to the exemplar. Three rules of enhancement were adopted to create vivid version of exemplars. First of all, concrete information about victims, the person who committed the crimes, and measures of the crimes were added. Second, some adverbial phrases were added. Zillmann examined the effect of exaggeration of news report on perception. In his study, he exaggerated a carjacking story in four levels by changing the degree of injury that the victim suffered. He added an adverb in each story such as "luckily" for the lowest injury version and "unfortunately" for the severest version. This method was applied to this experiment. For example, She carelessly left her belongings on the desk unattended. Unfortunately there were no witnesses. Finally, the amount of the loss was raised. The measure was based on the assumption that larger loss evokes more attention toward the crimes. In story A $85 of loss was raised to $200 in the enhanced exemplar. In story B $150 was raised to $400 in the enhanced version. .37! L vu‘fi.‘ .1 "b «u‘ 75. :. is“ I Fi“: d Steam MSU STUDENT HAS MONEY STOLEN IN LIBRARY On February 15 1999, Laura Foster (21), Junior, Psychology, had her wallet stolen on the first floor of the MSU library. After finishing the last class of the day at 5 PM, she went to the library to study. At around 6:30 PM she left the study desk to look for some journals. Because the journals were in the periodical corner in front of her desk, she carelessly left her belongings (backpack, books, and stationery) on the desk unattended. When she came back to the desk, she found that her backpack was open and the wallet was stolen. Since people were coming and going in that area at that time, there was no way anyone could identify the person who stole her wallet. However another student said he saw a suspicious looking man hanging around the floor. Police believe that the man stole her wallet by taking advantage of her absence. Police also assume that the person had been waiting for her to leave because she was only gone for a minute or two. Losses are estimated at 200 dollars. SthLB ROBBER HITS ANOTHER MSU STUDENT RESIDENCE Shaw Hall resident, Joe Swanson (19), sophomore, Political Science, reported his stereo stolen after he discovered someone had broken into his room between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., October 10. The student returned to his room after class at 5 pm. to find the door closed, but unlocked although he made sure to secure the door when he left the room in the morning. His stereo and some money on the desk were stolen. MSU police assume that the crime might have been committed by a professional because there was evidence that the lock had been skillfully picked. The occurrence is similar to several other recent larcenies that have plagued student residences since last month in East Lansing, MSU police said. Unfortunately there were no witnesses. Thefts generally occur in a place where there are few expected witnesses, MSU police said. MSU police have 23 no suspects in the case. Losses are estimated at $400. Combination of Base Rate and Exemplar Base rate information and exemplar, explained in detail above, were simply put on the same sheet of paper. Steam MSU police focus on library thefts The MSU Police & Public Safety Department is now focusing on prevention of frequent thefts in the MSU library as of the beginning of 1999. In 1998, police reported 778 thefts on campus. 85 occurred in the MSU main library. This is about 11 % of the total number of thefts on campus. The MSU main library had the highest theft rate of all campus facilities, followed by the International Center, 5%. MSU police took these statistics seriously and have been trying to reduce thefts by increasing patrols and calling users' attention toward their belongings. Fliers have been used since January 1999 to promote anti theft procedures. So far, they have not worked well. The number of larcenies reported in January was 10, two more than the same month last year. There were 13 in February compared to 10 a year ago. Other statistics show that 90% of thefts occurred when a person left his/her belongings unattended. MSU police Detective Maureen Ramsey said "It is our job to fight crime, but the most efficient way to prevent this type of crime is to pay more attention to belongings." Police Brief On February 15, 1999, an MSU student, 21, reported her wallet stolen on the first floor of the MSU library. She left her belongings on the study desk unattended to look for some books, and returned to find her backpack opened and her wallet stolen. There were about twenty other people in the room at the time, 24 but no one could identify the person who stole her wallet, MSU police said. Police believe that someone stole the victim's wallet when she left her study desk. The loss is estimated at 85 dollars. Stand} Recent campus thefts remind students to lock dorm rooms A recent series of attempted thefts at MSU residence halls might cause more students to attend to security in their rooms. MSU police Capt. Tony Kleibecker said there has been a substantial problem regarding break-ins in student residence halls. In 1997 MSU police reported 106 larcenies and 100 breaking-and-enterings in residence halls. In 1998, larcenies increased to 149 and break-ins increased to 134. The average estimated loss also increased fiom $400 to $580 between 1997 and 1998. The biggest loss reported last year was $6000 that included a stereo, a watch, accessories and a laptop computer. Often, the thieves are not MSU students, MSU police Capt. Tony Kleibecker said. They victimize people who aren't careful about locking their rooms, he said. MSU police said the best ways to prevent break-ins are: I Always lock doors, even when leaving for a short time or sleeping. I Keep expensive things in a safe place. (drawer, safety box etc.) I Immediately report suspicious people to police. Police Brief A Shaw Hall resident, 19, reported his stereo stolen after he discovered someone had broken into his room between 10 a.m. and 5 pm. on February 10, 1999. The student returned to his room after classes to find the door closed, but unlocked. The stereo on his desk was missing. There was evidence that the lock was picked, MSU police said. The theft is similar to several other recent larcenies in student dormitory rooms in the last four weeks, MSU police said. There were no witnesses. MSU police have no suspects in the case. Losses are estimated 25 at $150. W The dependent variables are the degree of self-protective response toward the reported crimes. Twelve statements that express needs and the opposite feelings for prevention of reported crimes were prepared. Six of them were for Story A and six for Story B. Three of those six statements were statements of needs for prevention and the other three were statements of the opposite feelings. Subjects were asked their agreement and disagreement with each statement and to rate with 7 - point Likert scales. 1 represents strong agreement and 7 represents strong disagreement with the statement. Data from statements of needs for prevention were reversed in data analysis so that a larger number represents stronger self-protective feelings. Twenty-eight statements about other crimes were also prepared as dummy questions to prevent internal validity, demand characteristics. All forty questions were randomly arranged and rearranged in the second survey to ensure external validity. Only the ratings of twelve statements related to the reported crimes were analyzed. The twelve statements were as follow. Scores of statements with (R) were reversed in analysis. StoryA 1. I don’t want to leave my coat on a chair unattended in the MSU library. (R) 2. I want someone to keep an eye on my bag on a study desk in the MSU library when I leave the desk to look for books. (R) 3. I want to bring all my stuff with me when I go to a rest room in the MSU 26 library. (R) There will be no problem when I leave my textbooks on a study desk and go look for some journal in the MSU library. I will leave my stuff on a study desk unattended when I look for books in the MSU library. It is not necessary to ask someone to keep an eye on my stuff when I leave a study desk to go to a rest room in the MSU library. Story B 1. 2. I don’t want to keep expensive things in my room. (R) I want to lock the door of my room every time I go out even it is just for 2 or 3 minutes. (R) I want one more lock for the door of my room. (R) There will be no problem when I leave the door of my apartment or room unlocked when I go out just for a couple of minutes. Where I live, there will be no problem if I leave expensive things unattended. The security of my room against burglary is adequate. 27 CHAPTER FIVE Results 106 students took the first test. 105 subjects were valid, and one was invalid because the questionnaire was incomplete. Each condition had the following number of subjects: (1) base rate information 26, (2) exemplar 29, (3) enhanced exemplar 25, and (4) combination 25. One sample was eliminated from condition 1, and 4 were eliminated from condition 2 randomly to make each number per cell even, 25 each. W Factor analysis was performed respectively on self-protective response data measured by six questions for story A, theft in the library story, and story B, burglary in a dormitory room. All six story A items were unidimensional, and the standardized reliability coefficient was .81 (alpha) (Fable 1&2). The analysis for story B items yielded three factors. Question 2,4,and 5 were extracted from items and factor analysis was performed on those items again. The result was unidimensional, and the standardized reliability coefficient was .73 (alpha). (Tables 1&2) W Hypothesis 1a predicted that subjects who read exemplars would have 28 Table 1: Correlations among Items StQDLA Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Question 1 1.0 Question 2 .31 1.0 Question 3 .36 .38 1.0 Question 4 .29 .44 .32 1.0 Question 5 .38 .41 .63 .49 1.0 Question 6 .38 .44 .48 .51 .51 1.0 51:91:31.8 Q1 Q2 Q3 Question 2 1.0 Question 4 .67 1.0 Question 5 .27 .47 1.0 *Item wording in Chapter Four, pages 26,27. 29 Table 2: Standardized Reliability Coefficients for Scales Scales Alpha Story A .81 Story B .73 3O stronger self-protective responses than those who read base rate information. One-way omnibus analysis of variance was performed on self-protective response data for story A and story B. Both story A [F(3,92)=1.17, n.s.] and story B [F (3,92)=1.34, n.s.] failed to yield significant difference of means between conditions. (Table 3) Thus, the results failed to support hypothesis 1a. Independent samples t-test was performed on self-protective response data to compare between base rate condition and other three conditions. In the t-test of story A, small difference was found [t(98)=-1.30, p<.10(1-tailed)]. The t-test of story B yielded significant difference between condition 1 and others[t(98)=-1.97, p<.05(1-tailed)]. (Table 4) The results indirectly supported hypothesis 1a that predicted stronger effect of exemplar over base rate information. Hypothesis 1b predicted that subjects who read combination articles of exemplar and base rate information would have stronger self-protective responses than those who read only base rate information. From omnibus ANOVA results (Table 3), hypothesis 1b could not be tested. But the results of t-test (Table 4) indirectly supported the hypothesis that predicted stronger effect of combination condition over base rate condition. Hypothesis 1c predicted that subjects who read combination article of exemplars and base rate information would have stronger self-protective responses than those who read exemplars. Omnibus AN OVA failed to yield significant differences between conditions (Table 3). Therefore, hypothesis 31 Table 3: Analysis of Variance for Immediate Posttest StonLA Base Rate Information Exemplar Enhanced Exemplar Combination F=1.17, n.s. StomB Base Rate Information Exemplar. Enhanced Exemplar Combination F=1.34, n.s. 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 32 Mean Stiller. 29.8 30.6 31.6 33.2 Mean StrLDev. 12.5 14.6 14.0 14.6 6.2 7.4 6.5 6.5 4.5 3.8 4.7 4.1 Table 4: T-Test for Immediate Posttest SIQDLA N Base Rate Information 25 Other Conditions 75 t=-1.30, p<.10 (1-tailed) SLQIXB N Base Rate Information 25 Other Conditions 75 t=-1.97, p<.05 (1-tailed) Mean 29.8 31.8 12.5 14.4 33 6.2 7.1 4.5 4.2 1c could not be tested. Hypothesis 1d predicted that subjects who read more enhanced exemplars would have stronger self-protective responses than who read less enhanced exemplars. This hypothesis could not be tested because omnibus ANOVA didn't find significant differences between conditions (Table 3). TIMREEEEQT 91 students took the second test that was conducted three weeks after the immediate posttest. The data provided by a participant whose data were invalid in the first test were eliminated. Only matched data in both immediate and delayed posttest were used for the analyses. Each cell has the following number of subjects: (1) 23, (2) 22, (3) 21, and (4) 22. Hypothesis 2 predicted that self-protective responses would be stronger right after the subjects were exposed to the materials than three weeks after exposure. Paired samples t-tests were performed on self- protective response data to compare means between immediate posttest and delayed posttest. The t-test for story A yielded significant difference between total mean of post test 1 and post test 2 [t(87)=2.09, p<.025(1-tailed)]. The t- test for story B also yielded significant difference [t(87)=4.43, p<.01 (1-tailed)]. (Table 5) In comparison between total means of posttest 1 and those of posttest 2, hypothesis 2 was supported. Paired samples t-tests were also performed to compare means in each condition between immediate posttest and delayed posttest. The t-test in condition 1, base rate information condition, failed to yield significant 34 difference between posttest 1 and posttest 2 in both story A [t(22)=1.04, n.s.] and story B[t(22)=1.31, n.s.]. The t-test in condition 2, exemplar condition, failed to yield significant difference in story A [t(21)=.70, n.s.] but yielded significant difference in story B [t(21)=3.31, p<.01]. The t-test in condition 2, enhanced exemplar condition, failed to yield significant difference in both storyA [t(20)=.78, n.s.] and story B[t(20)=.83, n.s.]. The t-test in condition 4, combination condition, yielded significant difference both in story A [t(21)=.1.88, p<.05] but yielded small difference in story B [t(21)=3.52, p<.01]. (Table 6) In comparison between means in each condition, hypothesis 2 was supported only in the exemplar condition (story B) and the combination condition (story A and B). Paired samples t-tests were also performed to compare means in each condition between immediate posttest and delayed posttest. The t-test in condition 1, base rate information condition, failed to yield significant difference between posttest 1 and posttest 2 in both story A [t(22)=1.04, n.s.] and story B[t(22)=1.31, n.s.]. The t-test in condition 2, exemplar condition, failed to yield significant difference in story A [t(21)=.70, n.s.] but yielded significant difference in story B [t(21)=3.31, p<.01]. The t-test in condition 2, enhanced exemplar condition, failed to yield significant difference in both story A [t(20)=.78, n.s.] and story B[t(20)=.83, n.s.]. The t-test in condition 4, combination condition, yielded significant difference both in story A [t(21)=1.88, p<.05] and in story B [t(21)=3.52, p<.01]. (Table 6) In comparison between means in each condition, hypothesis 2 was supported only in the exemplar condition (story B) and the combination 35 Table 5: Matched Samples T-Test for Time Effect Stan/LA N Time 1 88 Time 2 88 t=2.09, p<.025 (l-tailed) SteriLB N Time 1 88 Time 2 88 t=4.43, p<.01 (1-tailed) 31.8 30.8 14.1 12.7 36 6.8 7.0 4.2 4.0 Table 6: Matched Samples T-Test for Time Effect 2 StonLA Base Rate Information Time 1 Time 2 t=1.04, n.s. Exemplar Time 1 Time 2 t=.70, n.s. Enhanced Exemplar Time 1 Time 2 t=.78, n.s. Combination Time 1 Time 2 t=1.88, P<.O5 (1-tailed) 23 23 22 22 21 21 22 22 30.6 29.4 31.3 30.6 32.3 31.4 32.9 31.6 37 5.6 6.9 7.7 6.0 6.9 7.6 6.8 7.8 Table 6 (cont'd) 510113 Base Rate Information Time 1 Time 2 t=1.31, n.s. Exemplar Time 1 Time 2 t=3.31, p<.01 (1-tailed) Enhanced Exemplar Time 1 Time 2 t=.83, n.s. Combination Time 1 Time 2 t=3.52, P<.01 (1-tailed) 23 23 22 22 21 21 22 22 12.9 12.0 15.4 13.3 13.5 13.0 14.5 12.3 38 4.5 4.1 3.1 3.7 4.4 3.9 4.4 4.4 condition (story A and B). W Hypothesis 3a predicted that the subjects who read exemplars would have stronger self-protective responses than those who read base rate information. One-way omnibus analysis of variance was performed on self- protective response data in delayed posttest for story A and story B. Both story A [F(3,87)=.45, n.s.] and story B [F(3,87)=.62, n.s.] failed to yield significant difference of means between conditions. (Table 7) Therefore hypothesis 3a could not be supported from the ANOVA results. Independent samples t-test was performed on self-protective response data in the delayed posttest to compare base rate condition (condition 1) and other three conditions (condition 2,3 and 4). The t-tests yielded no significant difference for both story A [t(89)=-.93, n.s.] and story B.[t(89)=-.96, n.s.]. (Table 8) Therefore hypothesis 3a again could not be supported. Hypothesis 3b predicted that the subjects who read combination of base rate information and exemplars would have stronger self-protective responses after three weeks from the exposure than those who read only base rate information or those who read only exemplars. Both ANOVA and t-test results did not support hypothesis 3b (Table 7&8). Hypothesis 3c predicted that the subjects who read enhanced exemplars would have stronger self-protective responses after three weeks from the exposure than those who read less-enhanced exemplars. Both ANOVA and t- test results did not support hypothesis 3c (Table 7&8). 39 Table 7: Analysis of Variance for Delayed Posttest StoryA Base Rate Information Exemplar Enhanced Exemplar Combination F=.45, n.s. SthLB Base Rate Information Exemplar Enhanced Exemplar Combination F=.62, n.s. 23 25 21 22 23 25 21 22 40 Mean 29.4 30.2 31.5 31.6 Mean 12.0 13.4 13.0 12.3 Std. Dev. 6.9 7.0 7.6 7.8 Stiljlex. 4.1 3.5 3.8 4.4 Table 8: T-Test for Delayed Posttest StemA Base Rate Information Other Conditions =-.93, n.s. StemB Base Rate Information Other Conditions t=-.96, n.s. N 23 68 29.4 31.1 12.0 13.0 41 6.9 7.4 4.1 3.9 CHAPTER SIX Discussion The results of the analyses indicate that, (a) subjects who are exposed to crime reports containing some kind of exemplar have fairly stronger self- protective response than those who read base rate information, (b) the self- protective response decreases over time, and (c) the exemplar effect found in the immediate posttest disappears over time. W It cannot be concluded that there was enough manipulation effect between conditions because of the failure in omnibus ANOVA. However, there were some effects on the readers of crime reports containing exemplars compared to the readers of base rate information. I hypothesized that exemplar and enhanced exemplar would yield stronger self-protective responses than base rate information (H1,a,b). Assuming an exemplar heightens the accessibility of a construct formed by reading a crime report, the self-protective response as a priming response should be stronger in the exemplar condition. The results are consistent with those hypotheses. Thus, it could be considered that this is the evidence of the superiority of exemplar against base rate information in priming effect, not only in perception and recall as Zillmann and other researchers have proved. 42 I hypothesized that the self-protective response would decrease over time. The point of the hypothesis is whether the effect of the crime report is consistent with a general priming effect in terms of its endurance or needs other explanation. The results of paired sample t-tests between immediate posttest and delayed posttest found that the self-protective response significantly declined after three weeks both in story A and story B. As far as these overall analyses are concerned, it can be concluded that the self- protective response lasted only a short period of time. In condition by condition comparisons, significant decreases were found only in the exemplar condition and in the combination condition. These results thus do not perfectly support the conclusion I made from the overall analysis. However, considering the fact that the change of the effect was in the right direction, in other words, all the means in four conditions decreased over time regardless of significance level, it could be said that the self-protective response tends to decrease over a period of time under any condition. Based on that finding, the self-protective response after reading crime reports can be better explained by the priming theory, which assumes a short-term effect in contrast to cultivation theory, which argues more than a transient effect. The exemplar effect found in the immediate posttest no longer existed after three weeks. That is, crime report readers have the same degree of self-protective feelings regardless of the reporting styles of crime reports they read three weeks ago. This result is contradictory to the hypothesis I made, which said there would still be stronger self-protective response among 43 exemplar readers than among base rate readers in delayed posttest (H3 a,b). The rationale of the stronger self-protective response on exemplar condition in posttest 2 is that the construct primed by an exemplar is still accessible in memory after certain periods of time while the effect of base rate reading becomes trivial, and then only the construct primed by the exemplar is re- activated by stimuli. However, the result indicates that the superiority of exemplar does not exist after three weeks. It is thus considered that the accessibility of the construct primed by an exemplar dissipated with the passage of time, and did not remain enough to yield difference in response. A hypothesis predicted that exemplar would yield stronger self-protective responses than base rate information after three weeks. The hypothesis did not have enough rationale to support that an exemplar would leave its accessibility after three weeks. Therefore the hypothesis should not be maintained. Unexpectedly, however, the result verifies that the rationale of exemplar theory that is based on priming theory and availability/accessibility heuristic is convincing. Because if exemplar effect was not based on those ideas, there must be some effects of exemplar conditions remaining in the delayed posttest. The disappearance of exemplar effect also indirectly supports the short-term endurance of self-protective response that is the consequence of priming. The constructs primed by crime reports lost their accessibility to yield both exemplar effects and priming response in a short period of time. This explanation of short-term effect of crime reports on priming response by using accessibility heuristic rationale is more reasonable than the 44 explanation by just an indication of decrease of overall self-protective response from posttest 1 to posttest 2. W Manipulation in this study was not effective enough to distinguish each condition's impact on participants. Zillmann pointed out the difficulty to compare the effects of base rate information and exemplar (Zillmann, 1999). It is not informative comparison if an exemplified story is contradictory to the quantitative information in the base rate. Thus, it cannot be denied that there could have been another factor to yield difference in priming effect between conditions. For instance, in the combination condition that is found to have highest mean, base rate information and an exemplar of both story A and B were presented to subjects. Subjects in this condition read four stories in total, compared to two stories in other conditions. The volume difference might have influenced on the strength of self-protective response. If this assumption was true, it could explain the effect of amount of exposure on priming effect, but not the exemplar effect on priming. Base rate information contained actual examples of prevention, while exemplars and enhanced exemplars had only suggestion. That might have decreased the difference in self-protective responses between the base rate condition and the exemplar/enhanced exemplar condition, because prevention is directly related to the dependent variable, self-protective response. Subjects in base rate condition might have recognized exactly what should be done for prevention from the stories and that might have enticed them to rate their 45 self-protective feelings higher. Inconsistency between conditions must be eliminated to improve the results by not mentioning any example of prevention or by including the same prevention examples in all conditions. I concluded that the exemplar condition yielded stronger self-protective response than the base rate condition immediately after the exposure to crime reports. However, it might be too early to generalize this conclusion from the two crime stories presented in this study. The reliability analyses indicated that the measure of independent variables of Story A (theft in the library) was more reliable than that of Story B (burglary in a dormitory room). All six items in Story A were found to be unidimensional. The t-test results revealed, however, that Story A had less exemplar effect than Story B. Briefly, the self-protective response toward Story A was higher but more uniform than that toward Story B. This could be interpreted that the crime that Story A dealt with was too familiar for subjects. Subjects might have already recognized the possibility or danger of library theft, and semantically related ideas about library theft might have been available in memory to some extent. As explained previously, recent and frequent exposure to an event heightens accessibility of an idea semantically related to the witnessed event. This idea suggests that a highly accessible construct might absorb the effect of the exemplar when it is re-activated. Conversely, this idea also suggests that base rate information could yield as strong priming effect as an exemplar does, if the presented idea has already been highly accessible somehow or other. Hence, it is necessary to eliminate the effect of predominant construct that is previously acquired in order to draw a 46 generalization of exemplar's superiority on priming effect in future research. Scales for story B, should be improved. Three statements for story B, which had less correlation with others (1,3 and 6, see p.p.27), were relatively short and general. They should be changed to be more specific notions of prevention. For example, statement number 3, "I want one more lock for the door of my room," could be changed to "I don't want to have a lock that is easy to be picked by a burglar." IMELICATIQNS The findings of this research do not explain everything about the mechanism of the chain reaction of similar crime, and that is not the main purpose of this study, either. Especially, whether or not the self-protective reaction observed in this study really causes the same behavior is still another issue to investigate. However, the research findings have some implications that might give an account of the phenomenon in the light of media effects. The self-protective response is proved to be short-lived. As I took as an example in introduction, many people were reported to feel ill after taking food or drink with no poison after a murder by poison is reported, and two weeks later it stopped. This occurrence suggests the short-term priming effect of news reports on peoples' reactions toward them. It could not be proven in this study that the more vivid the contents of reports, the stronger the effect on priming in comparison between exemplar condition and enhanced exemplar condition. However, the fact that an 47 exemplar as vivid information had stronger effect compared to less vivid base rate information gives some reality to the hypothesis. This hypothesis is important because if it were true it would suggest that sensationalism in the media might take part in a series of copycat crimes and paranoid reactions of people. The self-protective response was short-lived in an experimental setting. However it might not be the case in the real world. The media choose events that they consider are important, and cover repeatedly. That media behavior doesn't give enough time to decrease the accessibility of primed construct. Therefore, the priming response toward particularly exceptional events like the April 1999 school shooting in Colorado could take longer to come to an end. It is necessary, however, to have broader perspective beyond the field of media study in order to investigate how this kind of phenomenon really occurs. In addition, this study method could be applied to investigation of effects of crime reports in other media. Reports on television especially could bring larger self-protective response than other conventional media such as radio, magazine and newspaper do, because television can present people more vivid information. For manipulation we could show the testimony of an eyewitness, a picture of a person who committed a crime, and even the scene of a crime actually committed with videotape taken by a surveillance camera. On the other hand, it would be more difficult to create consistency between stories because of the numerous ways TV can be used for depiction. The final issue to be raised deals with the content and structure of the exemplar. No one has yet specified the different ways in which an exemplar may be created. How long? 48 How much emotion? How many examples? Those kinds of questions remain for future research. 49 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bar-Hillel, M., & Fischoff, B. (1981). When do baserates affect predictions? Journal of Personality and Social Psycholigy; 41, 671-680. Berkowitz, L. (1984). 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Paper presented at the 1994 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication national conference, Atlanta, GA, Aug. 10-13. 51 Zillmann, D., Perkins, J. W., & Sunder, S. S. (1992). Impression- formation effects of printed news varying in descriptive precision and exemplification. Medienpsychologie, 3, 168-185. Zillmann, D., Gibson, R (1994) Exaggerated versus representative exemplification in news reports. Communication Research, 603-624. 52 APPENDIX A A Survey for Students' Attitude toward Prevention of Crime The purpose of this survey is to find out whether different ways of writing up crimes make you feel differently about those reported crimes. You will be surveyed twice. In the First Survey 0 You will read a report about two crimes in about 5 minutes. 0 You will be asked to answer questions to determine your attitude toward the crime and crime prevention in 5 minutes. 0 You will be asked to create a CODE NAME for yourself and write it on the "code name form" attached to this booklet. This code name will be used to ensure your anonymity and to permit us to match the results of the first and second survey. The total time involved will be about 15 minutes. In the Second Survey (about three weeks after the first survey) 0 You will again be asked to answer questions about crimes, crime reports, and crime prevention in 5 minutes. The total time will be about 10 minutes. Your participation is voluntary. You may choose not to participate. You may choose not to answer questions you don’t want to answer, and you may discontinue the survey at any time without penalty. You indicate your voluntary agreement to participate by completing and returning the questionnaire. The information you provide on the questionnaire is private. The researcher will protect your confidentiality to maximum extent allowable by law. Satoru Awano 332-3420 For question about your rights as a human subject of research: University Committee in Research Involving Human Subjects Chair: David E. Wright 355-2180 53 APPENDIX B A Survey for Students' Attitude toward Prevention of Crime. INSTRUCTION The statements in this questionnaire are about crime prevention. Read each statement and check the scale according to your agreement or disagreement with it. Example: I deal]; want to walk on campus streets alone at night. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE T Neutral 1. I don't want to stay in a laundry room alone at night. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE 2. I don: want to leave my coat on a chair unattended in the MSU library. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE 3. I would ask police to help if I were harassed with nuisance phone calls very often. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE 4. I dorm want to keep expensive things in my room. Strongly 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly AGREE DISAGREE 5. I want someone to keep an eye on my bag on a study desk in the MSU library when I leave the desk to look for books. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE 6. I don: want to bring more than $100 with me. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE 7. There could be more patrol cars driving around on and off campus. 8 tArGoRnEgEl y 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 SDt I rSoAnGgRIEyE 8. I think the best way to get away from a stalker is to move to a different place. 8 tArGonnEgEI y 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 80t I rSoAmGngIEyE 9. I want to learn the art of self-defense (tae kwon do, aikido, karate...) 54 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE A car alarm system will net prevent car theft. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE There will be me problem when I leave my textbooks on a study desk and go look for some journal in the MSU library. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE People 5119;115:1113 be allowed to carry a weapon even for self-defense. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE I will ask police to help if someone stalks me for a long period of time. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE I want to walk on main streets with streetlamps and avoid deserted streets on campus at night. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE I want to lock the door of my room every time | go out even it is just for 2 or 3 minutes. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE I will leave my stuff on a study desk unattended when I look for books in the MSU library. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE If alcohol were completely prohibited in East Lansing, crime involving MSU students would decrease sharply. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE I would rather walk than use the safe-ride transportation service when l have to go through the campus at night. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE There will be no problem when I leave the door of my apartment or room unlocked when I go out just for a couple of minutes. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 3 7 DISAGREE If there were domestic violence in my neighborhood, I would stay away from it. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE To walk on campus alone in the night will be me problem. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 3 7 DISAGREE I want to bring all my stuff with me when I go to a rest room in the MSU library. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 3 7 DISAGREE I think the best way to defend myself from assault is to learn the art of self-defense. 55 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 35. 36. 37. 38. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 6 4 6 6 7 DISAGREE Where I live, here will be he problem if I leave expensive things unattended. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 6 4 6 6 7 DISAGREE I want to use the safe-ride transportation service when I have to go through the campus in the night. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 6 4 6 6 7 DISAGREE Drinking alcohol causes more crime than drug use. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 6 4 6 6 7 DISAGREE If I found evidence of domestic violence in the neighborhood, I would report it to police. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 6 4 6 6 7 DISAGREE I think the best way to avoid nuisance phone calls is to change my current phone number. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 6 4 6 6 7 DISAGREE It is net necessary to ask someone to keep an eye on my stuff when I leave a study desk to go to a rest room in the MSU library. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 6 4 6 6 7 DISAGREE I am; want to have friends under 21 drink alcohol at a party. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 5 7 DISAGREE I think every car should have an alarm system or a special lock to prevent car theft. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 6 4 6 6 7 DISAGREE l den'_t want someone who gets drunk to drive me home. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 6 4 6 6 7 DISAGREE I want one more lock for the door of my room. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 6 6 7 DISAGREE I den‘j care if I walk on deserted streets on campus at night. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 6 4 6 6 7 DISAGREE The security of my room against burglary is adequate. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 6 4 6 6 7 DISAGREE I want to ask the floor manager or the rental office to settle any trouble I have with a roommate/neighbor instead of dealing with it by myself. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 6 6 7 DISAGREE I want to carry some kind of weapon for self-defense. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 6 4 6 6 7 DISAGREE There could be more plainclothes police officers walking around campus. 56 Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE 39. It is not dangerous to stay in a laundry room at night. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE 40. There should be surveillance cameras in every university facility. Strongly Strongly AGREE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DISAGREE 57 MICHIGAN STRTE UNIV. LIBRARIES llllllllIllIllllllllllllllllllllllll 31293018341929