Expanding social identity theory for research in media effects: Two international studies and a theoretical model.

In this paper we propose that Tajfel's (1979) social identity theory (SIT) and self-categorization theory (SCT, Turner, Brown & Tajfel, 1987) is a relevant and helpful theoretical groundwork to explain selective exposure to media content in general and to entertainment media in particular. It is hypothesized that gender and national identity have a significant effect on selective exposure to entertainment series when being salient. Two international quasi-experimental studies have been conducted, the first study in the U.S. and Germany (N = 419) and the second in Great Britain and Germany (N = 154). As expected, participants rated series that feature protagonists of their own sex higher with regard to entertainment and intention to watch than those that featured protagonists of the opposite sex. However, national identity did not have the effects expected. Participants from all three countries gave similar ratings to series produced in their home-country as those produced abroad. The use of SIT is discussed in terms of what processes of the theory are of particular importance to explain media related behavior and how to empirically apply the theory in media effects research to make it work. A two-process model of SIT in media effects research is suggested: the process of social comparison is amended with a much simpler process of searching for similarities.