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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Third-Person Perception of Television-Viewing Behavior

subject

description

Both conceptually and empirically, the third-person effect has been confined to the effects of mass communication (people tend to believe others are more susceptible to media influences than they are themselves, and people tend to act accordingly). This study investigated whether this phenomenon extends to the perception of other people's media use, and whether it can be explained by a general tendency to underrate the education of others. We interviewed a sample of 200 adults in south-western Germany, focusing on television-viewing behavior. As hypothesized, people tend to perceive others as more inclined toward undesirable viewing behaviors. We also hypothesized and found that third-person perception tends to be stronger if the others are perceived to be less well educated.