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1. “The Rippled Perceptions”: The Effects of LGBT-Inclusive TV on Own Attitudes and Perceived Attitudes of Peers Toward Lesbians and Gays

   https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699018821327  

   Yan, Harry Yaojun ( May 2019 , Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly)

   This study explores the effects and influence of presumed influence of consuming recent lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)-inclusive TV on attitudes toward lesbians and gays (ATLG) and perceived attitudes toward lesbians and gays (PATLG) among peers. Adding to previous research, this study testifies to the modest yet positive effects of current entertainment narratives on viewers’ ATLG. The results demonstrate dynamics of “the rippled perceptions”: people’s own attitudes are the “origin of peer perceptions”; media consumption and interpersonal contact predict participants’ own attitudes; the influence of presumed influence attenuates as the analysis moves from self, to close friends, and those of the same age. 

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2. The power of parent attitudes: Examination of parent attitudes toward traditional and emerging technology

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   Pila, Sarah ; Lauricella, Alexis R. ; Piper, Anne Marie ; Wartella, Ellen ( August 2021 , Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies)
3. Understanding Changes in Attitudes Toward Suicide Between 1980s and 2010s in the United States*: Changing Attitudes Toward Suicide

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   Tong, Yi ; Phillips, Julie A. ( September 2018 , Social Science Quarterly)
4. Bridging the divide: The effect of individuating information on attitudes toward political outgroup members

   https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.8217  

   Koetke, Jonah ; Conrique, Beverly G. ; Schumann, Karina ( November 2023 , Journal of Social and Political Psychology)

   Mari, Silvia (Ed.)

   Liberals and conservatives in the United States exhibit intergroup bias toward those on the other side. In three preregistered experiments (N = 1,389), we examined the bias-reducing benefits of individuating members of the political outgroup by providing people with individuating information—information that provides knowledge about them beyond their group membership, such as their social roles, emotions, and personality. Studies 1 and 2 extended work on individuating information into this domain by testing its impact on a novel political outgroup member. Study 3 broke new ground by testing whether the benefits of learning individuating information can extend to additional members of the outgroup. Each methodology revealed that, compared to those who read non-individuating controls, participants who learned individuating information about a political outgroup member were less hostile and more empathic toward that outgroup member. The current studies thus identify a promising avenue for reducing interparty hostility.

    

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5. Attitudes Toward Signing Avatars Vary Depending on Hearing Status, Age of Signed Language Acquisition, and Avatar Type

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.730917  

   Quandt, Lorna C. ; Willis, Athena ; Schwenk, Melody ; Weeks, Kaitlyn ; Ferster, Ruthie ( February 2022 , Frontiers in Psychology)

   The use of virtual humans (i.e., avatars) holds the potential for interactive, automated interaction in domains such as remote communication, customer service, or public announcements. For signed language users, signing avatars could potentially provide accessible content by sharing information in the signer's preferred or native language. As the development of signing avatars has gained traction in recent years, researchers have come up with many different methods of creating signing avatars. The resulting avatars vary widely in their appearance, the naturalness of their movements, and facial expressions—all of which may potentially impact users' acceptance of the avatars. We designed a study to test the effects of these intrinsic properties of different signing avatars while also examining the extent to which people's own language experiences change their responses to signing avatars. We created video stimuli showing individual signs produced by (1) a live human signer (Human), (2) an avatar made using computer-synthesized animation (CS Avatar), and (3) an avatar made using high-fidelity motion capture (Mocap avatar). We surveyed 191 American Sign Language users, including Deaf ( N = 83), Hard-of-Hearing ( N = 34), and Hearing ( N = 67) groups. Participants rated the three signers on multiple dimensions, which were then combined to form ratings of Attitudes, Impressions, Comprehension, and Naturalness. Analyses demonstrated that the Mocap avatar was rated significantly more positively than the CS avatar on all primary variables. Correlations revealed that signers who acquire sign language later in life are more accepting of and likely to have positive impressions of signing avatars. Finally, those who learned ASL earlier were more likely to give lower, more negative ratings to the CS avatar, but we did not see this association for the Mocap avatar or the Human signer. Together, these findings suggest that movement quality and appearance significantly impact users' ratings of signing avatars and show that signed language users with earlier age of ASL acquisition are the most sensitive to movement quality issues seen in computer-generated avatars. We suggest that future efforts to develop signing avatars consider retaining the fluid movement qualities integral to signed languages. 

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