Date of Award
Spring 5-13-2022
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Political Science
First Advisor
Andrew Wedeman
Second Advisor
Toby Bolsen
Third Advisor
Charles Hankla
Abstract
This dissertation attempts to study how exposure to foreign cultures affects one’s opinion of foreign countries. According to the parasocial contact theory, indirect mediated contact with an outgroup member on screen, similar to direct face-to-face contact, can reduce ingroup bias and outgroup prejudice. However, the parasocial contact effect is conditioned by the media content and producer. I argue that the consumption of foreign-made cultural products, such as TV programs and movies, is a better alternative and categorize it into two types. First, group-specific exposure to a foreign culture is associated with decategorization that strengthens knowledge, affinity, empathy, and identification with the contacted outgroup media character and deemphasizes group-based categorical differences. Second, generalized exposure to diverse foreign cultures contributes to recategorization through which a more inclusive, shared superordinate identity is constructed beyond subgroup boundaries and ingroup members become more cosmopolitan. Both approaches are hypothesized to lead to more favorable attitudes toward foreign countries. Drawing upon the AsiaBarometer Survey and East Asian Social Survey, the overall statistical analyses lend empirical support to the positive effects of group-specific and generalized cultural exposure. Using cable TV ownership as an instrument, the instrumental variable and corresponding sensitivity analyses further add to the robustness of the above findings.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/28337638
Recommended Citation
Chen, Gong, "Parasocial While Meaningful: How Does Exposure to Foreign Cultures Affect One's Opinion of Foreign Countries?." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2022.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/28337638
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