The false dichotomy of message desirability in third-person effect scholarship

Abstract

Meta-reviews of the third-person effect literature explain that scholars have assumed that certain messages are desirable or undesirable. In response, this study examines messages that vary in their social desirability so that we can better understand the specific characteristics of socially (un)desirable messages, how people account for changes in their perceptions of a message’s desirability, and the resulting behaviors from those perceptions.

Keywords:

• Pro-Social Media Content
• Social Desirability
• Third-Person Effect

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.