Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Louise Benjamin / This experimental research builds upon the health communications study completed by Rustam Haydarov in 2010, with a similar approach to ascertain how an individual’s age might influence their reaction to political messages. Using a typology of frames by Levin, Schneider and Gaeth (1998), the study utilizes an older demographic (ages 55-70) and a younger comparison group (ages 18-33) to determine a) if both groups find positive advertising messages more favorable than negative advertising messages and b) if the older demographic is more wary than younger counterparts when discussing current events and the future of America. The study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to determine reactions to goal-oriented and loss-oriented message framing in four mock print political campaign advertisements focusing on the topics of healthcare and college education financing. There was greater prevalence of strongly negative and strongly positive reactions among the younger demographic, except in the case of the loss-framed healthcare ad. The older group reacted more strongly to that particular ad, concerning an issue which had great relevance to them. Of the two age groups, the older demographic registered a more even-keeled reaction across the four ads. Overall, this study has focused on how message frame, topic and age of the message receiver combine to affect message resonance in the context of political communications.

This study is a response to the growing demand for more critical examinations of the video game as a communicative as well as interactive medium of mass culture. It reflects the game in regard to its potentials and abilities conveying a message to its audience and sets it into a broader discourse of mass communication. The analysis focuses on opinion forming games and their agendas whilst scrutinizing the methods through which certain messages are delivered to the player. The study is primarily based on qualitative research and analyzes the mechanisms of manipulation through examples with an emphasis on the mechanics and rules of the game, its visual aesthetics, its narrative structure and the emotional dimensions of the gameplay. The analysis illustrates that games are effectively used to render the image of war and to frame the enemy in a stereotypical manner in order to match certain political interests. They also function as a recruitment tool for the military as well as for political and ethnic fractions. In addition the study demonstrates the positive potentials of the medium by referring to serious games which offer complex perspectives and profound knowledge about certain topics and encourage the player to aim for creative and constructive solutions in order to finish the game successfully. The results of the study demonstrate that video games can no longer be categorized as a subculture of entertainment for young men. With the growing acceptance of the medium as a part of mass culture its influence especially on young people had been taken into account by certain groups which made use of the video game to convey their messages to an audience. The analysis shows the inner complexity of the medium and gives examples for attempts to use its potentials by concluding that these efforts are far from being utilized fully. In this regard the study offers impulses for further research which should fill the void and explore the possibilities games provide and how we can make good use of them.

Message framing and intergroup contact theories provide the framework for this study to examine how episodic and thematic political message frames affect young adults' attitudes toward older adults and Social Security. Three specific moderators were examined: direct contact, trait empathy, and critical consumption skills. Effects were explored experimentally using manipulated messages about abolishing Social Security. Results indicated that political message framing related to public policies does affect attitudes toward those policies. Respondents in the episodic condition reported significantly more negative attitudes toward Social Security than respondents in the thematic and control conditions. A significant effect on individual attribution of responsibility was also found such that respondents in the thematic condition rated individual responsibility significantly lower than respondents in the atypical condition. The study extends previous work by examining both intended and unintended attitudinal consequences of message frames.

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