Biases in news media as reflected by personal pronouns in evaluative contexts

• This paper examines whether pronouns in news media occurred in evaluative contexts reflecting psychological biases. Contexts of pronouns were measured by computerized semantic analysis. Results showed that self-inclusive personal pronouns (We, I) occurred in more positive contexts than self-exclusive pronouns (He/She, They), reflecting self- and group-serving biases. Contexts of collective versus individual pronouns varied; Weoccurred in more positive contexts than I, and He/She in more positive contexts than They. The enhancement of collective relative to individual self-inclusive pronouns may reflect that media news is a public rather than private domain. The reversed pattern among self-exclusive pronouns corroborates suggestions that outgroup derogation is most pronounced at the category level. Implications for research on language and social psychology are discussed.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

pronouns in social categorization

language bias

intergroup bias

self-serving bias

latent semantic analysis

implicit attitudes

Psychology

psykologi

pronouns in social categorization

language bias

intergroup bias

self-serving bias

latent semantic analysis

implicit attitudes

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)