Media Impact on Fright Reactions and Belief in UFOs:
The Potential Role of Mental Imagery
Glenn G. Sparks Cheri W. Sparks Kirsten Gray
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47906
(317) 494-3316
THIS PAPER WAS THE CO-WINNER OF THE FIRST PLACE PAPER AWARD
IN THE DEBUT CATEGORY OF THE RESEARCH DIVISION
AT THE 1994 BEA CONVENTION IN LAS VEGAS
Running Head: MEDIA IMPACT AND THE ROLE OF MENTAL IMAGERY
Glenn G. Sparks (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison) is
an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at
Purdue University.
Cheri W. Sparks (M.A., Purdue University) is a doctoral
candidate in the Department of Psychology at Purdue
University.
Kirsten Gray (B.A., Purdue University) is an M.A. student in
the Department of Communication at Purdue University.
This study was partially supported by a grant awarded to the
first author by the School of Liberal Arts, Purdue
University.
Media Effects- 2
Media Impact on Fright Reactions and Belief in UFOs:
The Potential Role of Mental Imagery
Abstract
SPARKSG IMAGERY BEA94 IMAGERY & MEDIA IMPACT
Given the fact that the content of television and
movies can be described as a rapidly changing stream of
audio and visual information, it is puzzling that little
research in mass communication has focused upon the
cognitive processes relating to mental imagery. In this
study, the potential role of visual imagery for moderating
two different types of media effects is explored: 1)
emotional responses to frightening mass media, and 2) the
effects of the media on beliefs in UFOs. The results of the
study indicate that individual differences in vividness of
imagery may play a crucial role in moderating both types of
media impact. Implications and suggestions for future
research are outlined.
Media Effects- 3
Media Impact on Fright Reactions and Belief in UFOs:
The Potential Role of Mental Imagery
Most media scholars would agree that the essential
character of television and movies can be described in terms
of a rapidly changing stream of audio and visual
information. It seems obvious that researchers who study
media impact should be concerned with how people perceive,
store and retrieve such information, and the role that these
processes might play in media effects. Curiously, however,
there is little, if any, concern among media effects
scholars with these cognitive processes relating to visual
imagery.
This lack of concern is especially puzzling given the
vast literature in psychology that is devoted to various
aspects of mental imagery. This literature includes work on
imagery and the brain (Farah, 1988; Goldenberg, Artner, &
Podreka, 1991; Kosslyn, 1991; Richardson, 1991), the
structural features of the imagery system (Morris & Hampson,
1983), the relationship between imagery and memory for
emotional events (Christianson & Loftus, 1991; Heuer &
Reisberg, 1990), and individual differences in mental
imagery (Kosslyn, Brunn, Cave, Wallach, 1984; Miller, Leven,
Kozak, Cook, McLean, & Lang, 1987; Slee, 1980).
One possible reason for the relative neglect of the
imagery literature by media effects scholars is that much of
Media Effects- 4
this research is conducted on stimulus materials that are
relatively impoverished and significantly less complex than
the varied and rapidly changing stimuli presented in
television and film. For example, research by Kosslyn et
al., (1984) employs simple line drawings of geometric shapes
to study individual differences in imagery ability. One
task presented to subjects in this research was to mentally
rotate a line drawing and subsequently identify the correct,
rotated, configuration of the original figure. The
conceptual link between skill at such tasks and the
processing of televised images seems remote.
Nevertheless, some of the measures of individual
differences in mental imagery appear to assess a construct
that, plausibly, might be related to the processing of media
images. For example, one of the most widely used measures
of mental imagery is the Vividness of Visual Imagery
Questionnaire (VVIQ) (Marks, 1972; 1989), a 16-item, self-
report measure that purportedly assesses differences in the
extent to which individuals experience "vivid" images.
Marks (1972) defined vividness as, "...a combination of
clarity and liveliness. The more vivid an image, therefore,
the closer it approximates an actual percept" (p. 83).
The primary purpose of this paper is to explore how
individual differences in the tendency to experience vivid
imagery relate to the impact of mass media. Two different
potential effects of media were selected for this
exploration. One of these, the effects of frightening media
Media Effects- 5
on emotional responses, has been a focus of research for the
last 10-years. The second potential effect has only been
investigated recently: the impact of the media on
paranormal beliefs. Below, the potential relevance of
individual differences in mental imagery for each of these
research areas is outlined and some tentative hypotheses are
proposed. An experiment that tests these hypotheses is
reported.
EMOTIONAL EFFECTS OF FRIGHTENING MEDIA
In recent years, a number of studies have been devoted
to understanding emotional reactions to frightening mass
media. Some of these studies reflect a developmental
perspective and report research on children's responses to
scary media (Cantor & Sparks, 1984; Hoffner & Cantor, 1985;
Palmer, Hockett, & Dean, 1983; Sparks, 1986a, Sparks &
Cantor, 1986; Wilson, 1989; Wilson & Cantor, 1985). Other
studies focus upon the factors that may contribute to either
enjoyment or dislike of frightening media (Mundorf, Weaver,
& Zillmann, 1989; Sparks, 1986b; Sparks, 1989; Sparks &
Spirek, 1988; Tamborini & Stiff, 1987; Tamborini, Stiff, &
Heidel, 1990; Tamborini, Stiff, & Zillmann, 1987; Zillmann,
1980; Zillmann, Weaver, Mundorf, & Aust, 1986).
One phenomenon that is commonly reported in the
literature on emotional reactions to frightening media is
that many individuals report that they occasionally
experience very intense fright reactions that last anywhere
from minutes to years after initial exposure to the
Media Effects- 6
stimulus. Even though this phenomenon is common, few
studies have examined it directly. However, Cantor (1991)
and Sparks (1989) have both noted that some of the symptoms
associated with such fright reactions include sleep
disturbances (e.g., bad dreams, nightmares, difficulty going
to sleep, etc.), or the experience of flash-backs of film
images that cause one to avoid particular situations that
are reminiscent of the film's content (e.g., not wanting to
baby-sit after seeing a film about a baby-sitter who is
terrorized). Johnson (1980) reported that in response to
certain films, almost 20% of a random sample of adults, "had
experienced for at least two days, a 'significant stress
reaction' of the type identified by Horowitz (1976) and
Lazarus (1966) as constituting a stress response syndrome"
(p. 786). In another recent study (Sparks, Spirek, &
Hodgson, 1993), 44% of adult respondents indicated that they
had, "often felt nervous for quite a while after watching a
scary show or movie." Moreover, 43% of the sample said that
they, "sometimes experience trouble getting to sleep after
watching a scary show or movie," and 51% of the sample
reported that they have sometimes been so scared by a show
or movie that they "have actually been afraid to go into
certain rooms in their house." The authors of this study
argued that such intense emotional reactions need to be
understood more fully.
Media Effects- 7
Imagery and Lingering Fright Reactions to Mass Media
One idea that guides the present investigation is that
individual differences in mental imagery may play a role in
the experience of lingering fright reactions to mass media.
That is, it may be that individuals who are high on measures
of imagery vividness may be more likely to suffer from the
lingering negative emotions that many report after watching
frightening media presentations. There are several reasons
for advancing this line of analysis. First, some data
collected from informal interviews (Sparks, unpublished
research) suggests that a person's desire to either view or
avoid frightening films may be related to a tendency to
experience images vividly. For example, in describing her
relative invulnerability, and her husband's extreme
sensitivity to frightening movies, one woman noted that
immediately after such a movie, she tended to forget all of
the images. Her husband, in contrast, who tended to
remember visual details of any type for long periods of
time, remained troubled by film images for days and weeks
after exposure. The woman noted that these contrasting
tendencies produced incompatible entertainment desires with
her husband. Of particular interest in this anecdotal
report is the explicit connection made by the respondent
between the vividness of the after-film-images and the
experience of post-viewing emotional distress.
A second reason for expecting a relationship between
vivid imagery and experiences of lingering fright reactions
Media Effects- 8
is the evidence from a number of studies that document a
relationship between vivid imagery and memory. Findings
from studies by Delaney (1978), Finke (1980), Finke &
Kosslyn (1980), Gur & Hilgaard (1975), and Marks (1973), all
converge around the fact that individuals who are high vivid
imagers consistently out-perform low vivid imagers on recall
tasks for information about the physical appearance of
objects. Moreover, Swann & Miller (1982) demonstrated that
this effect emerged for relatively complex social stimuli (a
videotaped interview), and even when participants were not
instructed ahead of time to remember details from the
stimulus. The potential application of this body of
research to studies on media fright reactions should be
clear. If individuals who are high on vivid imagery are
more likely to remember the various scenes and characters
from a frightening movie, then it might be expected that in
the days and weeks following movie exposure, these same
individuals may also be more likely to experience the
emotional upset associated with thinking about the movie. A
preliminary test of this expectation was incorporated into
the study reported below. The following hypothesis was
tested:
H1: Individuals with high vivid imagery will be more
likely to experience lingering fright reactions to
mass media than will those with low vivid imagery.
Media Effects- 9
IMAGERY AND MEDIA IMPACT ON PARANORMAL BELIEFS
Differences in mental imagery may also be relevant to
the potential impact of the media on paranormal beliefs.
Unlike the research on frightening media, studies of media
impact on paranormal beliefs are scarce. In one study
(Sparks, Hansen, & Shah, 1993), an experiment revealed that
the presentation of a disclaimer before an episode of Beyond
Reality (a 30-minute drama on the USA network),
significantly reduced the tendency for viewers to endorse
beliefs in the paranormal events that were depicted in the
program. Since beliefs in unsubstantiated paranormal claims
are so widespread (Gallup & Newport, 1991), and because the
media are often blamed for this state of affairs (Feder,
1984; Kurtz, 1985; Randi, 1992), it seems important to
understand precisely what role, if any, the media may play
in encouraging viewers to accept paranormal claims.
One type of paranormal claim that receives regular
attention in the media involves the existence of
unidentified flying objects (UFOs) that are usually assumed
to be from outer space. Often, when the media cover
accounts of UFOs, visual simulations of the various flying-
saucers are presented. This practice raises two interesting
questions that the present study sought to investigate.
First, do visual simulations of flying-saucers that are
created to add realism to UFO accounts make it more likely
that viewers will find the accounts believable? And second,
will individual differences in vivid mental imagery have any
Media Effects- 10
impact on the believability that viewers ascribe to these
accounts?
In order to answer these questions, we edited a 20-
minute segment on UFOs that appeared on the program,
Unsolved Mysteries, so that all of the special visuals that
depicted flying saucers or space creatures were removed.
The original soundtrack of the video, which focused mainly
on a series of UFO reports that took place in Virginia, was
not altered. The scenes containing UFOs were replaced with
other footage from the segment in such a way that it was not
discernible that any editing had taken place. Participants
in the study scored either high or low on vividness of
mental imagery and were randomly assigned to watch either
the edited version of the program (no UFOs) or the original,
unedited version (with UFOs).
Existing theory that might address this particular
viewing situation, suggests at least two plausible
hypotheses for this study. First, an interaction between
the program type and the viewers' level of vivid mental
imagery might be expected. That is, in the condition where
UFO simulations are presented, viewers high in vivid
imagery might find it easier than viewers who are low in
vivid imagery to retain the visual images of UFOs. The
percept-like quality of these images for the high imagers
may make the UFO accounts seem more credible than they would
be for the low imagers. Consequently, in the original,
unedited version, where the UFOs were left intact, the high
Media Effects- 11
vivid mental imagers should tend to endorse beliefs in UFOs
more than the low vivid mental imagers. This hypothesis is
consistent with the one outlined earlier for the effects of
frightening media in emphasizing the role of memory for
actual presented material. If this "image retention"
hypothesis is correct, there would no reason to predict
differences in UFO beliefs between the high and low vivid
imagers when UFO simulations are not actually presented.
An alternative "image construction" hypothesis also
seemed plausible. Drawing upon the research by Ernest
(1977), Morris and Hampson (1983) noted that, "...high
imagers surpass low in the identification of fragmented
words and pictures" (p. 101). Apparently, high imagers are
better able to visualize the missing information and fill it
in so that the entire image or word can be more easily
identified. In the study reported below, the visual
information on UFOs would be missing in the edited tape
version and high imagers might have a superior ability to
fill it in.
More specifically, in contrast to the image retention
hypothesis, the difference between high vivid imagers and
low vivid imagers might be in the condition where
simulations of UFOs are not presented. That is, it may be
that high vivid imagers who view the edited tape version (no
UFOs), would rely upon their heightened imagery abilities
and retain images of UFOs that are more vivid and percept-
like than those retained by the low vivid imagers who viewed
Media Effects- 12
this tape version. For the unedited version of the tape
(with UFOs), it may be that high and low vivid imagers,
having access to the same media stimulus, would tend to be
more similar in the UFO images retained after exposure. The
more vivid and percept-like images of UFOs retained by the
high vivid imagers who view the edited tape version (No
UFOs), may tend to make the claims associated with this
version of the UFO program to be more believable. The two
alternative theoretical positions presented above lead to a
research question that was examined in the study reported
below:
RQ1: Will the presence or absence of UFOs in a
video about UFO reports have a differential
effect on UFO beliefs among high and low vivid
mental imagers?
METHOD
Participants
Students enrolled in an introductory communication
class at a large midwestern university were recruited for
the study. All were female volunteers (N = 102) who
participated in order to fulfill a course research
requirement.1 Participation in the study was one of several
ways in which this requirement could be met.
Equipment
The television program was played on a Panasonic
Omnivision, VHS-format VCR (model #PV-4114). The program
Media Effects- 13
was viewed on a Sharp, 25" color monitor (model #25MT17) at
a distance of 5-feet.
Procedure
The initial phase of the study called for participants
to complete a preliminary questionnaire during class. This
questionnaire was designed to collect data pertinent to H1,
as well as to disguise the purpose of the laboratory phase
of the investigation. In addition to a number of irrelevant
items that asked about how frequently the respondents
engaged in a variety of activities during a typical month,
each respondent was encouraged to indicate the title of a
movie or television program that, "scared or frightened you
more than any other that you have seen." Following their
identification of this title, respondents indicated the
extent to which they agreed or disagreed with a number of
statements about their emotional reaction to the movie or
show. These items served as a measure of lingering
emotional reactions and were used to test H1.
Over the two-week period following completion of the
initial questionnaire, participants signed up for the
laboratory phase of the investigation. Following the two-
week sign-up period, participants reported to the laboratory
at their assigned time and signed an informed consent
statement. Participants were run through the laboratory
phase of the study in groups that ranged from two to five.
Upon arriving at the laboratory, participants were
instructed to sit in one of five desks that were separated
Media Effects- 14
by visual barriers, in order to prevent any interaction
during the session. Each participant read and signed an
informed consent statement, which explained that the
investigators were interested in their reactions to
different types of media content. Participants were
instructed to relax and enjoy the television program and the
commercials that they were about to see, but to be sure not
to interact with each other during the program. Commercials
were mentioned in an attempt to disguise the true purpose of
the experiment. Observations through a one-way window
indicated that no interaction took place between any of the
participants.
During each viewing session, participants watched one
of two different video-tapes that had been randomly assigned
to the various viewing sessions prior to the arrival of the
participants. In one of the conditions, participants viewed
a 20-minute segment from the program, Unsolved Mysteries,
including the commercial messages as they were originally
broadcast. This segment featured a summary of various UFO
reports that had received wide publicity over the years,
including one report of a saucer crash in the desert of New
Mexico. The main portion of the segment focussed on a
series of UFO sightings in Virginia. As these accounts were
narrated, dramatic reenactments of the events were depicted.
These reenactments contained dramatic special effects that
included shots of flying saucers and, in the case of the
Media Effects- 15
saucer crash in New Mexico, shots of space aliens being
loaded into an ambulance.
In the second video condition, the participants viewed
the identical video, except the scenes of space aliens and
flying saucers were removed. The narration remained
unchanged. This editing was accomplished by replacing the
scenes of flying saucers with other footage from the same
video that seemed natural, given the events that were being
reported. In some cases, certain scenes from the original
video were simply extended while the narrator told of the
UFO report. In other cases, landscape scenes were used to
replace scenes that had featured UFOs. The edited video was
shown to a sample of adults and no one suspected that the
tape had been edited in any way. Moreover, in the
debriefing that occurred after the experiment, no
participant who viewed the edited video suspected that it
had been edited.
Following the video, participants were requested to
respond to some questions contained in a booklet. The first
portion of the questionnaire asked about the various
commercials that had appeared in the program. These
questions were designed to disguise the true purpose of the
investigation. Following these questions, participants
responded to sixteen different items by indicating the
extent to which they agreed or disagreed with various
statements about the events that were depicted in the video.
They also indicated if they had ever seen this particular
Media Effects- 16
episode of Unsolved Mysteries prior to the experiment.
Participants also completed the 16-item measure of vivid
mental imagery (VVIQ, Marks, 1972) and then were requested
to provide their best guess as to the purpose of the study.
No one was able to correctly identify the hypotheses under
investigation. Finally, participants were fully debriefed
and dismissed.
Measures
Vividness of Mental Imagery. The Vividness of Visual
Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) (Marks, 1973) was used to
assess vivid mental imagery. This instrument is a 16-item
questionnaire that has been shown to be reliable in past
studies (test-retest: .74; split-half: .85). Cronbach's
alpha for this measure in the present study was .88. For
each of the 16 items, an image is summoned to mind by the
respondent and rated on a five-point scale of vividness.
Each of the items and the rating scale appear in Appendix 1.
----------------------------
Insert Appendix 1 About Here
----------------------------
Lingering Fright Response. A measure of lingering
fright response was constructed from the answers to seven
different statements about the movie that respondents
identified as the one that had frightened them more than any
other they had seen. For each statement, respondents
indicated the extent of their agreement on a 7-point scale,
with "7" indicating "strong agreement," and "1" indicating
Media Effects- 17
"strong disagreement." Cronbach's alpha on these 6-items
was .88. The statements are listed in Appendix 2.
----------------------
Insert Appendix 2 Here
----------------------
Believability of Program Events. Three items that
participants responded to after viewing the program formed a
measure of the overall believability of the UFO stories that
were depicted. Once again, for each statement, respondents
indicated the extent of their agreement on a 7-point scale,
with "7" indicating "strong agreement," and "1" indicating
"strong disagreement." Cronbach's alpha for these three
items was .79.
Belief in Flying-Saucers and Space Aliens. Seven items
that participants responded to after viewing the program
formed a measure of beliefs in the existence of flying
saucers and space aliens. Responses to these items were
also made on 7-point scales as described above. Cronbach's
alpha for these items was .85. These items, as well as the
ones for overall believability are listed in Appendix 3.
Means and standard deviations for each of the four major
measures used in this study appear in Table 1.
-------------------------
Insert Table 1 About Here
--------------------------
Media Effects- 18
RESULTS
The first hypothesis predicted that high vivid imagery
would be related to reports of lingering fright reactions to
mass media. In order to test this, a Pearson correlation
was computed between the 6-item measure of lingering fright
response and the VVIQ. The result of this analysis was a
significant positive correlation between the measures (r =
.29, p < .05). Table 2 displays the correlations between
the VVIQ and each of six lingering fright items.
-------------------------
Insert Table 2 About Here
-------------------------
In order to answer the research question about the
potential impact of viewers' imagery on UFO beliefs after
watching one of the two versions of the UFO video, a 2 X 2
ANOVA for unequal cell sizes was performed on the measure of
overall program believability and the measure of belief in
UFOs and space aliens. The first factor in these analyses
was level of vivid imagery (high vs. low). Participants
were assigned to one of these levels based on their score on
the VVIQ. Scores above the median (MD = 66) were considered
to be high; scores below the median were considered to be
low. The second factor was the version of the video (UFOs
vs. No UFOs).
For overall program believability, no main effects
emerged. However, a significant interaction effect did
emerge between level of vivid imagery and the tape version
Media Effects- 19
[F(1,59) = 11.92, p < .001; omega2 = .16]. This effect was
due to the fact that among the participants who saw the
edited version of the tape (no UFOs), high vivid imagers (M
= 15.47, n = 19) found the program more believable than did
low vivid imagers (M = 10.62, n = 16). In contrast, among
the participants who viewed the unedited version of the tape
(with UFOs), high vivid imagers (M = 11.11, n = 9) and low
vivid imagers (M = 13.68, n = 19) did not differ in the
extent to which they believed the program. All means were
compared using the Scheffe procedure. Table 3 displays the
results of this analysis.
-------------------------
Insert Table 3 About Here
-------------------------
For the measure of belief in flying saucers and space
aliens, similar results emerged. Once again, there were no
significant main effects, but there was a significant
interaction between level of vivid imagery and version of
the tape [F(1,59) = 4.04, p < .05; omega2 = .06]. This
effect was due to the fact that among the participants who
saw the edited version of the tape (no UFOs), high vivid
imagers (M = 31.84) expressed more belief in flying saucers
than did low vivid imagers (M = 23.88). In contrast, among
the participants who viewed the unedited version of the tape
(with UFOs), high vivid imagers (M = 28.22) and low vivid
imagers (M = 28.68) did not differ in the extent to which
they believed in flying saucers. Again, all means were
Media Effects- 20
compared using the Scheffe procedure. Table 3 displays the
results of this analysis.
DISCUSSION
The first hypothesis was supported by the fact that
scores on the VVIQ were positively correlated with the
measure of lingering fright responses to a scary show or
movie. Of some interest in the pattern of correlations
reported in Table 2 is the fact that the correlation between
the VVIQ and lingering fright is higher when participants
report fright that remained for weeks, months or years,
rather than days after viewing. This pattern seems
intuitively plausible if high vivid imagery does contribute
to lingering fright responses. That is, one might expect
that shortly after viewing, the stimulus would be powerful
enough to affect one's emotional response regardless of the
level of vivid imagery. Over time, however, those with high
levels of vivid imagery might be expected to retain the
frightening images from the film and continue to be
disturbed by them. Of course, these data are only
correlational and should be regarded as merely suggestive of
the potential impact of vivid imagery on fright responses.
Future research needs to explore this possibility with more
rigor and studies need to be designed that permit stronger
statements about the causal role that vivid imagery might
play in lingering fright responses.
Media Effects- 21
The test of the research question yielded support for
the image construction hypothesis rather than the image
retention hypothesis. High vivid imagers were more
influenced by the program's claims about UFOs when no UFOs
were depicted. In contrast, low vivid imagers were not
influenced differentially by the two versions of the video.
This finding is important because it highlights the
potential role that individual differences in mental imagery
may have for the study of media effects. More specifically,
it shows that the way the media depict paranormal claims may
not be trivial in terms of affecting some people's beliefs.
The addition of special effects (adding UFOs) to claims
about the existence of UFOs did not appear to enhance the
overall believability of the story. However, when such
visual details were discussed, but not shown, the story was
more believable among the individuals with high vivid
imagery.
Of course, this finding, like the one pertaining to
fright responses, must still be regarded as tentative and in
need of additional support. Future studies should seek to
replicate this effect. Most importantly, future research
needs to document direct evidence in favor of the fact that
high vivid imagers really did construct more vivid images of
UFOs and that these images were important in bringing about
higher levels of persuasion. On the basis of the present
data, the construction of more vivid images by the high
imagers is only an inference based on a theoretical
Media Effects- 22
analysis. The research reported here should also be
extended to other subject populations in order to strengthen
ecological validity. The present study was limited to
female college students.
The literature in mental imagery might be characterized
as anything but neat and tidy at the present time. In one
sense, the choice to focus upon "vividness" of mental
imagery and to employ the VVIQ in this study was one that
ignored many complex issues in the imagery research. There
are ongoing debates about the usefulness of the many self-
report measures of mental imagery. However, the practical
benefit of this choice was to be able to show the possible
relationship between mental imagery and the study of media
effects. It is the task of future research to develop this
area in a way that brings conceptual precision and clarity
to our understanding of mental imagery processes and media
effects.
Conclusion
This study was designed to investigate a new area of
media effects. Evidence in favor of the role of individual
differences in vivid mental imagery emerged in two different
domains of media impact: lingering fright responses and
paranormal beliefs. Hopefully, future studies will be able
to build upon this one and increase our understanding of how
the impact of the mass media may be, in part, a function of
individuals' mental imagery.
Media Effects- 23
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Footnotes
1Because of the disproportionate number of females
enrolled in the class from which participants were
recruited, males were not included in the study. Although
102 females participated, the final n-size for the
experimental portion of the study was reduced to 71. This
was due to the fact that 31 of the participants viewed a
video unrelated to UFOs for another purpose. The questions
asked about the UFO video were, consequently, irrelevant for
this group. Of the 71 participants in the experiment, 8
people were dropped from the analysis because they reported
that they had seen the video on a prior occasion. The final
N-size for the experiment was 63.
Media Effects- 30
Table 1
Means, Standard Deviations, and Cronbach's Alpha for Major
Measures
------------------------------------------------------------
Measure Mean SD Alpha
------------------------------------------------------------
Vividness of Visual Imagery
Questionnaire (VVIQ)............... 64.6 9.3 .88
Lingering Fright Responses......... 22.7 9.6 .88
Believability of Program Events.... 13.0 4.4 .79
Belief in Flying Saucers and
Space Aliens....................... 28.3 8.1 .85
------------------------------------------------------------
Note: N = 63 for all statistics displayed above.
Media Effects- 31
Table 2
Correlations Between the VVIQ and Lingering Fright Items
------------------------------------------------------------
Lingering Fright Items VVIQ
Unpleasant Thoughts for Days......... .06
Unpleasant Thoughts for Weeks........ .20
Unpleasant Thoughts for Months....... .24*
Unpleasant Thoughts for Years........ .21
Still Remember Scary Parts Vividly... .29*
Specific Scenes Pop into My Mind..... .27*
All Items Combined........ .29*
------------------------------------------------------------
Note: * = p < .05. N = 102 for all correlations.
Media Effects- 32
Table 3
Cell Means for ANOVAs on Program Credibility and UFO Beliefs
------------------------------------------------------------
Overall Program Believability
Video Version
With UFOs No UFOs
Low Vivid Imagers 13.7ab 10.6a
High Vivid Imagers 11.1ab 15.5b
Belief in Flying Saucers and Space Aliens
Video Version
With UFOs No UFOs
Low Vivid Imagers 28.7ab 23.8a
High Vivid Imagers 28.22ab 31.8b
------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Means with no common subscript differ at p < .05 by
the Scheffe procedure. Cell sizes are provided in
text.
Media Effects- 33
Appendix 1
Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ)
(Marks, 1973)
Rating Scale
5 - Perfectly clear and as vivid as normal vision
4 - Clear and reasonably vivid
3 - Moderately clear and vivid
2 - Vague and dim
1 - No image at all, you only 'know' that you are
thinking of the object
For the first four items, think of some relative or friend
whom you frequently see (but who is not with you at
present). Rate the following aspects of the picture that
comes before your mind's eye:
1. The exact contour of face, head, shoulders and body.
2. Characteristic poses of head, attitudes, of body, etc.
3. The precise carriage, length of step, etc. in walking.
4. The different colors worn in some familiar clothes.
Visualize a rising sun. Consider carefully the picture that
comes before your mind's eye:
5. The sun is rising above the horizon into a hazy sky.
6. The sky clears and surrounds the sun with blueness.
7. Clouds. A storm blows up, with flashes of lightning.
8. A rainbow appears.
(appendix continues)
Media Effects- 34
(Appendix 1 continued)
Think of the front of a shop which you often go to.
Consider the picture that comes before your mind's eye.
9. The overall appearance of the shop from the opposite
side of the road.
10. A window display including colors, shapes and details
of individual items for sale.
11. You are near the entrance. The color, shape and
details of the door.
12. You enter the shop and go to the counter. The counter
assistant serves you Money changes hands.
Finally, think of a country scene which involves trees,
mountains and a lake. Consider the picture that comes
before your mind's eye.
13. The contours of the landscape.
14. The color and shape of the trees.
15. The color and shape of the lake.
16. A strong wind blows on the trees and on the lake
causing waves.
Media Effects- 35
Appendix 2
Items Used to Assess Lingering Fright Response
1. The movie or program caused me to have unpleasant
thoughts several DAYS after I viewed the movie.
2. The movie or program caused me to have unpleasant
thoughts several WEEKS after I viewed the movie.
3. The movie or program caused me to have unpleasant
thoughts several MONTHS after I viewed the movie.
4. The movie or program caused me to have unpleasant
thoughts several YEARS after I viewed the movie.
5. I can still remember the scary parts of the movie
very vividly.
6. Sometimes, specific scenes from the movie will "pop into
my mind" from out of nowhere.
------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Respondents indicated the extent to which they agreed
or disagreed with each item on a 7-point scale. "7"
indicated "strong agreement," and "1" indicated
"strong disagreement."
Media Effects- 36
Appendix 3
Items Used to Assess Overall Program Believability
1. I think that most of the events depicted in this program
probably NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPENED.
2. In general, I found little in this program to convince
me that flying saucers from outer space have actually
visited earth.
3. I found this program to be a pretty convincing argument
for the fact that flying saucers from outer space have
actually visited our planet.
Items Used to Assess Belief in Flying-Saucers & Space Aliens
1. I believe that the bodies of space aliens were actually
recovered from a flying-saucer crash in the desert of
New Mexico.
2. I do not believe that the photos taken by the radio DJ
in the parking lot of a shopping mall in Virginia are
pictures of flying saucers from outer space.
3. I think that many flying saucer reports are made because
people have actually seen flying space ships that are
not from earth.
(Appendix Continues)
Media Effects- 37
(Appendix 2 Continued)
4. I think the reason that the radio DJ and his friend
failed to get pictures of the flying saucer when they
were out in their car was because the experience of
seeing a UFO was so overwhelming that they simply forgot
to photograph it.
5. I believe the children who were in the school bus that
was shown on the shopping mall parking lot actually saw
flying saucers from outer space.
6. The incident reported in this program about a flying
saucer crashing in New Mexico was probably nothing more
than a weather balloon or something else from our own
planet.
7. My personal belief about the existence of flying saucers
from outer space is that they probably DO EXIST.
------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Respondents indicated the extent to which they agreed
or disagreed with each item on a 7-point scale. "7"
indicated "strong agreement," and "1" indicated
"strong disagreement." Items #1 and #2 on the first
measure and items #2 and #6 on the second measure
were reversed-scored so that belief in flying saucers
was associated with high scores.
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