What We Think Others Think

The third-person effect hypothesis suggests that people systematically overestimate the extent to which others are affected by mass media messages. It also proposes that people act in accordance with their estimates of effects on others. This study set out to test both estimations and actions and to explain the phenomenon in terms of attribution theory. An experimental design manipulating the trustworthiness of the source of a defamatory newspaper article produced a third-person effect. Subjects' estimates of the damaging effects of the article, however, did not correspond to their assessment of a penalty against the newspaper. They took more account of source motivation than of impact on the audience when taking action.