Buchanan, Kathryn and Sandstrom, Gillian M (2023) Buffering the effects of bad news: Exposure to others' kindness alleviates the aversive effects of viewing others' acts of immorality. PLoS One, 18 (5). e0284438-e0284438. DOI https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284438
Buchanan, Kathryn and Sandstrom, Gillian M (2023) Buffering the effects of bad news: Exposure to others' kindness alleviates the aversive effects of viewing others' acts of immorality. PLoS One, 18 (5). e0284438-e0284438. DOI https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284438
Buchanan, Kathryn and Sandstrom, Gillian M (2023) Buffering the effects of bad news: Exposure to others' kindness alleviates the aversive effects of viewing others' acts of immorality. PLoS One, 18 (5). e0284438-e0284438. DOI https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284438
Abstract
Negatively valenced news dominates the press, with stories of death and destruction gaining significant traction while also negatively impacting people's mental health and perceptions of humanity. Given that horrific acts happen and need to be reported, we examined if news stories featuring others' kindness could undo the aversive effects of news stories featuring others' immorality. In Studies 1a-d we tested whether media exposure to the acts of kindness that occurred in response to a terrorist attack could alleviate the aversive effects of media exposure to the terrorist attack. In Study 2, we examined whether, more generally, the aversive effects of news stories featuring immorality (e.g., homicide, paedophilia, bullying) could be alleviated through news stories featuring acts of kindness (e.g., volunteering, philanthropy, caring for the homeless). In Studies 1 and 2, we found that participants exposed to others' immorality and then others' kindness suffered from less aversive changes to their mood, experienced greater levels of elevation and were more inclined to believe in the goodness of others, than participants exposed only to others' immorality. Given this, we suggest there is merit in journalists shining a light on others' kindness if people's affective well-being and belief in the goodness of humanity is to remain intact.
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Uncontrolled Keywords: | Affect; Bullying; Humans |
Divisions: | Faculty of Science and Health Faculty of Science and Health > Psychology, Department of |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 26 Sep 2023 15:38 |
Last Modified: | 07 Aug 2024 20:17 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/36488 |
Available files
Filename: journal.pone.0284438.pdf
Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0