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Operatives working for the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA) infiltrated social media with the goal of disrupting the 2016 U.S. presidential election. We investigate how these operatives or "trolls" leveraged partisan political identities in discussing presidential candidates and parties on Twitter. Adopting a social identity lens, we conceptualize retweeting troll content as a form of identity performance and examine the message properties that led troll tweets to resonate among Twitter users. The findings highlight the importance of partisan trolls' persistence in tweeting about candidates and parties as well as their discussion of the political outgroup and incivility in the form of name-calling. The results collectively indicate that Twitter users were sensitive to messages generated by IRA trolls and responded in a manner consistent with identity performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By relying on literature on counter-stereotypes and media contact, we investigated whether media exposure is associated with counter-stereotypical gender perceptions. Focusing on the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, we recruited samples (N = 2,228) from eight competing countries (China, France, Germany, Italy, Scotland, Spain, England, US) across three continents. We hypothesized that exposure to media coverage of the competition's counter-stereotypical female exemplars would be associated with increased counter-stereotypical perceptions of women. Results revealed that media exposure was associated with greater communion and agency attributed to women. In turn, communion and agency were associated (negatively and positively, respectively) with attribution of stereotypically male abilities (abilities to engage in stereotypically male academic disciplines and jobs) to women compared to men. No effects emerged for perceptions of stereotypically female characteristics. Gender moderated these effects, with associations being stronger among male than among female respondents. Theoretical and practical implications of findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intergroup contact research demonstrates that contact with outgroups (including mediated contact) improves attitudes about those groups. However, people often avoid such contact, including avoiding outgroup media messages. In two studies, we investigated voluntary exposure to outgroup media. Our research builds on intergroup contact theory and the reactive approach model. The latter suggests (counterintuitively) that, sometimes, anxiety can motivate people to engage with the unfamiliar. Both studies measured potential predictors of voluntary contact, provided musical options for respondents, and measured which options people chose as well as their engagement with and enjoyment of those choices. Study 1 provided a simple choice between two musical options (ingroup versus outgroup); Study 2 used a more extensive array of ingroup and outgroup options, including ingroup-outgroup collaborative music. Findings suggest a limited role of personality traits in determining seeking outgroup media, but a more powerful role for diversity-related attitudes and past exposure to outgroup media. Some evidence supported reactive approach models (e.g., self-expansion motives drove time spent listening to outgroup media in Study 1, but only for people who reported high levels of intergroup anxiety). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces a theoretical perspective on media viewing choices, grounded in social identity theory. Content analysis demonstrates that child, younger adult, and older adult television viewers show a preference for viewing characters of their own age. The experiment demonstrates that young adults' preference for viewing young adult characters exists even when the content of the program is controlled. (Author/AEF)

This Epilogue extends themes from the Special Issue, with a particular focus on how communication operates during times of social disruption. Three forms of disruption are discussed: societal-global disruption (manifested in the Covid-19 pandemic), individual-relational disruption (manifested in a dementia diagnosis), and societal progress (manifested in technological change). The Epilogue discusses how these disruptions affect the quality and quantity of intergenerational contact, and feed into hostile and benevolent forms of ageism. The conclusions discuss connections between disruptions and the Communication Ecology Model of Successful Aging, as well as links to societal segregation, thus suggesting the multiplicity of ways that communication serves as a platform for healthier approaches to aging in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined whether stereotypes of warmth and competence can be changed through exposure to outgroup musical behavior. We hypothesized that exposure to an outgroup musician would result in more perceived outgroup warmth, reduced intergroup anxiety, and more pro-diversity attitudes relative to nonmusical outgroup exposure, and that these effects would be mediated by target warmth, synchronization, empathy, and trust. The hypotheses were tested in the context of anti-Asian prejudice early in the COVID19 pandemic. We found substantial support for our mediator predictions: experimental exposure to an Asian musician yielded more positive warmth and synchronization perceptions, for instance, than exposure to an Asian nonmusician. Those perceptions were subsequently associated with more positive perceptions of Asians as a group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sharing music with another person involves the potential for profound emotional connection, rhythmic synchronization and coordination, and the expression of shared social and political values (among other things). We explore whether experiences of shared musical activity are associated with perceptions of communication and positive outcomes in friendships and romantic relationships, using reports from one member of the dyad. Reports of musical activities in the relationship were associated with higher levels of commitment to the relationship, with those effects mediated by perceptions of interpersonal coordination and positive communication. Surprisingly, structured musical activities (e.g., actively playing music together) were associated with lower levels of commitment, both directly and via interpersonal coordination, positive communication, and shared social values. All findings persist when controlling for other forms of shared relationship activities, thus demonstrating effects that are unique to shared musical engagement. The findings are discussed in a framework of music's potential relational power—the Shared Musical Activities in Relationships (SMAR) model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article contends that communication scholars' most influential work is often not identifiably 'communication' research. This phenomenon is a result of: (a) theory, which emphasizes message effects rather than message content, and (b) method, which has failed to provide valid, detailed, and shared methods for the quantitative examination of message content. It is suggested that a stronger focus on message content is required if communication is to maintain a disciplinary identity and a unique disciplinary contribution. Keywords: Communication; Message Content; Message Effects; Theory; Method

This study examined the influence of watching American television on the acculturation levels of Asian Indian sojourners utilizing tenets of cultivation theory. Consumption of Indian print media and Indian movies most strongly and inversely predicted acculturation levels, but American media including television did not predict acculturation. The study also examined theoretically important moderators of media's acculturation effects such as perceived reality of television, filial attachment, intimacy of relationships with Americans and Indians, and acculturation needs. Despite an absence of significant moderator effects, the majority of the proposed moderator variables were associated with acculturation levels in theoretically predictable fashion.

This paper examines stereotypes of lesbians held by college students. Multiple stereotypes are elicited from a free response trait listing task, followed by a sorting task. The results of the sorting task are submitted to cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling to reveal the complexity of cognitive representations of this group. Eight types are described, reflecting underlying distinctions between positive perceptions (e.g., lipstick lesbian, career-oriented feminist) and negative perceptions (e.g., sexually deviant, angry butch) and also between relative strength and weakness. The research is discussed in terms of cognitive perspectives on stereotyping and gender inversion theory. Suggestions for future research are provided, doi: 10.1300/J082v51n03_08 [Article copies available for a fee front The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: Website: KEYWORDS. Homophobia, lesbians, stereotypes, cognition, traits, attitudes, intergroup, gay, cluster analysis

This study investigated communicative and relational aspects of the grandparent-grandchild relationship that lead to perceptions of age salience and shared family identity with the grandparent. The perceptions represent manifestations of inter- and intragroup levels of categorization in dealing with the other family member. The association between these group-oriented categorizations and perceptions of intergenerational contact outside of the family was examined. Participants (N=369) completed questionnaires assessing perceptions of experiences with multiple grandparents. Findings showed that general family identification of the grandchild, parental encouragement, and personal communication (social support and reciprocal self-disclosure) are positively associated with perceptions of shared family identity, whereas intergroup communication (under/overaccommodation) and perceptions of impaired health are associated with age salience. Results suggest that age salience may moderate the relationship between shared family identity and perceptions of older adults in some circumstances. Keywords: Intergenerational Communication; Grandparent-Grandchild Relations; Family Identity; Contact Theory; Attitudes Towards Older Adults

We examined intergenerational communication and conflict management styles in China. Older and younger Chinese adults were randomly assigned to evaluate one of four conversation transcripts in which an older worker criticizes a young co-worker. The young worker's communication was varied across the transcripts to reflect four conflict management styles: competing, avoiding, accommodating, and problem-solving. As expected, older participants favored the accommodating style over the problem-solving style. Young adults either preferred the problem-solving style to the accommodating style, as predicted, or judged the two styles as equally positive. The results illustrate the juxtaposition of tradition and modernization/globalization in the changing Chinese cultural context, and demonstrate how such cultural changes are reflected in interpersonal communication between the generations. Keywords: Globalization; China; Intergenerational Communication; Conflict; Filial Piety

Two studies tested the intergroup contact hypothesis in the context of the grandparent-grandchild relationship. The hypothesis suggests that contact with an out-group member has more influence on attitudes toward the out-group when group memberships are salient. In Study 1, the predicted link was found but only for grandparents with whom the grandchild had more frequent contact. The second study examined only the most frequent grandparent relationship and replicated the effect. This study also investigated the role of various mediators of the link between quality of contact and attitudes, as well as quality of contact and perceived out-group variability. Perspective taking, anxiety, and accommodation mediated the effects of contact on attitudes, whereas individuation and self-disclosure mediated the effects of contact on perceived out-group variability. Moderated mediational analysis indicated that the moderating effect of group salience occurs between quality of contact and the mediator, not between the mediator and attitudes. Keywords: intergroup contact; moderator effects; mediator effects; ageism; grandparent-grandchild relationship

As we seek to understand the nature of human relationships, it is important to examine communication within and about those relationships in a variety of contexts. Such examinations can enhance [...]

Commercials shown on 3 Chinese TV stations in the summer of 2000 are analyzed to expose the dominant value themes. The 13 value themes identified are compared with previous conceptualizations and are discoursed in the context of globalization and Chinese cultural change.

From a contact theory perspective, links between variation in young adults' perceptions of communication with their grandparents and attitudes towards older adults are examined. The analysis pays particular attention to variation in communication with multiple grandparents, and finds links between that and perceived variability in the older adult population as a whole. More variation in perceptions of communication with grandparents is associated with perceptions of older adults as more heterogeneous. However, variation in grandparent relationships is associated with more negative attitudes towards older adults on measures of attitudinal central tendency. The results are discussed in terms of intergroup communication processes, contact theory and possible interventions to reduce prejudice in this and other contexts. KEY WORDS: intergenerational communication, grandparent-grandchild relations, contact theory, attitudes towards older adults, intergroup prejudice

This study investigated the relational turning points experienced by caregiving spouses across the trajectory of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Data were collected using a modified version of the retrospective interviewing technique which facilitated close analysis of relational turning points and the role of communication in shaping and managing these turning points. Caregiving spouses described nine relational turning points across the disease trajectory. The turning points coalesced under four broad changes in the marital relationship: my spouse has dementia, from spouse to caregiver, my spouse is gone, and transcending dementia through love. Participants used five communication strategies to manage their relationships: having open and intimate conversations, avoiding confrontation, avoiding bringing attention to symptoms, engaging in daily conversations and activities, and communicating love and affection. Findings reveal the specific turning points that mark relational change across the disease trajectory and caregiving spouses' strategies to maintain their relationship through this prolonged end‐of‐life transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the intergenerational stake hypothesis in the grandparent-grandchild relationship. The hypothesis predicts that older generations will perceive more closeness in a relationship than younger generations. Grandparent-grandchild dyads are surveyed concerning various aspects of their relationship. Using measures of closeness and an established typology of grandparent-grandchild relationship style (Cherlin & Furstenberg, 1985), the study finds that grandparents perceive their relationship with their grandchildren to be considerably closer than their grandchildren perceive the relationship. However, their grandchildren perceive the relationship to be more active than their grandparents do. Explanations of these findings consistent with the intergenerational stake hypothesis are advanced. It is found that the two parties often disagree as to the nature of their relationship on the Cherlin and Furstenberg typology. Details of these disagreements are examined in detail, and implications for the grandparent-grandchild relationship are discussed.

The study focuses on the frequency of communication between grandparents and their grandchildren. The study concludes that such communication, when limited by geographical distance, is facilitated by media communications.

The current paper examines younger and older adults' cognitive representations of intergenerational conversations. In interviews, younger and older adults were asked to imagine various types of conversations with older and younger targets. They were prompted to provide a wide variety of information about the targets and the conversations. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed to uncover types of conversations commonly reported. Through a combination of coding and hierarchical cluster analysis, a hierarchical arrangement of types of conversations emerged in younger and older adults' descriptions. Each of the types is described in detail. In a second study, exemplars of each type were sorted by younger and older adults and subjected to multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis. The results supported the validity of the types from Study 1, and suggested dimensions underlying this arrangement (positive-negative and helping-not helping for the younger adults; positive-negative and high-low change orientation for the older adults). The findings are discussed in terms of the communication predicament of aging model, and the role that these representations of conversations may play in future research. It is argued that knowledge of these cognitive representations of communication provides a new perspective on the ways in which intergenerational interactions may progress. Key words: Intergenerational Communication, Schemas, Older Adults

Intergroup contact is key to social cohesion, yet psychological barriers block engagement with diversity even when contact opportunities are abundant. We lack an advanced understanding of contact seeking because intergroup contact is often an independent variable in research, and studies on contact seeking have favoured experimental probing of selected factors or measured only broad behavioural intentions. This research carried out the first ecological tests of a novel multilayer‐multivariate framework to contact seeking/avoiding. These tests were centred on a Muslim‐led community contact‐based initiative with visible support from local authorities following a terrorist attack. Non‐Muslim Australian women (N = 1,347) contributed field data on their situated contact motivations, choices, and attendance at an intercultural educational stall; many (N = 559) completed a profiling test battery. Among those who responded to the initiative invite, the rate of taking up the high‐salience contact opportunity in this heated setting was high and reflected multiple approach/avoidance motivations. Contact seeking/avoiding was not just allophilia/prejudice; it presented as new typologies of politicized solidarity, courage, apathy, and moral outrage. While intergroup predictors were significant across all profiling analyses, intrapersonal and interpersonal predictors also regularly contributed to explain variance in non‐Muslims' contact motivations and choices, confirming their multilayer‐multivariate nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young adults' cognitive representations of intergenerational conversations were investigated in an effort to examine a wider variety of ways in which young people analyze their experiences and those of their partners in intergenerational interactions. The study sought to find common patterns or differences in given narratives of intergenerational encounters. It also examined a possible relationship between the type of description of such encounters and the quantitative evaluations of these interactions. The findings are discussed.

Research has revealed that patronizing speech is viewed as less competent and respectful than non-patronizing speech; while assertive speech gives the impression of greater competence, but less respect and benevolence. The research included 162 male and female undergraduates who gave their views on a conversational sketch featuring a driver and bystander after a car accident.

This article examines young people's perceptions of their conversations with older people (age 65-85) across nine cultures -- five Eastern and four Western. Responses from more than 1,000 participants were entered into a cross-national factor analysis, which revealed four initial factors that underlie perceptions of intergenerational conversations. Elder nonaccommodation was when young participants reported that older people negatively stereotyped the young and did not attend to their communication needs. On the other hand, elder accommodation was when older people were perceived as supportive, attentive and generally encouraging to young people. A third factor was respect/ obligation and a fourth factor labeled age-irrelevant positivity described a situation where young people felt conversations with much older people were emotionally positive and satisfying, age did not matter Examining cross-cultural differences, some East versus West differences were observed, as might be expected, on the basis of simplistic accounts of Eastern collectivism versus Western individualism. However, the results challenge commonsense notions of the status of old age in Eastern versus Western cultures. On some dimensions, participants from Korea, Japan, People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, and the Philippines appear to have relatively less positive perceptions of their conversations with older people than the Western cultures -- the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. But there was also evidence of considerable cultural variability, particularly among Eastern cultures -- variability that has heretofore all too often been glossed over when global comparisons of east versus West are made. A range of explanations for these cultural differences is explored and implications for older people in these societies are also considered., In spite of a recent surge of research interest in communication and aging, there has been little work in the field of communication concerned with matters of the life span, [...]

Some 778 television commercials were analyzed based on the presence of older adults in them and the nature of the portrayals. The study revealed that, compared to their presence in the population, older adults were underrepresented in the commercials examined, especially elder women and members of ethnic minorities. However, they were presented in a positive light as active, happy and strong individuals. It was further shown that older adults were most underrepresented in automobile and travel services advertisements and least underrepresented in ads for financial services and retail chains.

Two experiments investigated effects of imagined intergroup contact (IIC) on young adults' stereotypical perceptions of and intention to communicate with older adults. Both studies tested a third-person variant of IIC (extended IIC). Also, Study 1 explicitly manipulated the perceived normativity of intergenerational contact by providing relevant information, and Study 2 implicitly manipulated perceived normativity via task repetition. In Study 1, IIC (including extended IIC) had few effects. However, the explicit norms manipulation changed perceptions of norms, which improved perceptions of older adults and increased desire for future intergenerational communication. In Study 2, some forms of IIC reduced intergenerational anxiety, which translated into more positive intergenerational perceptions. Moreover, repeated IIC had positive effects on intergenerational perceptions that were mediated by perceptions of norms and that persisted for a week. We advocate more attention to the effect of IIC on norms, and to the conditions under which IIC works (and does not). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]