The Correlation Function of Communication in an Emotional Domain Observed in the Effect of Media on Embitterment

ABSTRACT

The media correlation function has mainly been evaluated in cognitive domains from theoretical perspectives, such as agenda-setting, framing, or priming. Here we examined the correlation function in an emotional domain by investigating the association between media use and the degree of embitterment, which is a psychological symptom that originates from the accumulation of negative life experiences. A survey of 1,720 South Koreans revealed that those who had higher frequencies of media use felt a greater degree of embitterment. When different media types were examined, frequent use of print newspapers was associated with a level of embitterment from personal experiences, whereas heavy consumption of the internet and TV news was associated with embitterment from mediated reality. The implications of these findings are addressed in the context of both communication function and social epidemiology.

Notes

1. The 19 items are available on request from the corresponding author.

2. All 16 items are available on request from the corresponding author.

3. A score between 1.6 and 2.5 indicates a chronic PTED state, whereas a score above 2.5 signifies a critical condition for PTED (Linden et al., 2009).

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF‐2018S1A3A2074932).