Entertainment Media's Satirical Effects on Teenage and Adult Attitudes of Political News Organizations.
Abstract
This study explored the effect of satire in persuasion by comparing attitude changes
between adults and teenagers. It revealed that satire was effective in changing attitudes and
that satire had a greater effect on changing teenage attitudes than adult attitudes. In this
study, participants rated the trustworthiness and competency of political news
organizations and then watched comedic segments from entertainment media that satirized
the political news organizations. After the satirical segments, participants re-evaluated the
trustworthiness and competency of political news organizations. The satire proved to be
effective in negatively changing the perception of trustworthiness and competency among
political news organizations, and teenage attitudes had greater change than adult attitudes.
The factors involved in attitude change were analyzed, and suggestions for future research
were also offered.