Satire without borders: the age-moderated effect of one-sided versus two-sided satire on hedonic experiences and patriotism.

The differential satire effects across domestic and foreign audiences are largely unknown; yet, this is of growing relevance as political satire increasingly reaches international audiences. A two-country experiment was conducted in which satirical stimuli from the Netherlands with either a one-sided (only targeting the United States) or two-sided humorous message (targeting both the U.S. and the Netherlands) was presented to a domestic (in-group) or foreign (out-group) audience. Specifically, this study examines political satire's differential emotional and attitudinal impact on audiences located in the country-of-production (Netherlands) or abroad (U.S.). Results show that satire sidedness uniformly influenced hedonic enjoyment: compared to two-sided satire, one-sided satire elicited negative emotions and decreased positive emotions for both the in-group (Dutch) and the out-group (U.S.) audience. Yet, satire differentially affected patriotic attitudes. This effect was moderated by country and age: younger U.S. citizens became less patriotic after exposure to the one-sided satire that targeted their country and decreased their positive emotions; older U.S. citizens, in contrast, became more patriotic after exposure to this one-sided satire that particularly increased their negative emotions. The Dutch audience's level of patriotism remained stable irrespective of satire sidedness. Altogether, this study demonstrates how humor type, country-of-reception, and age matter for satire effects.

Importance of plaque volume and composition for the prediction of myocardial ischaemia using sequential coronary computed tomography angiography/positron emission tomography imaging.

AIMS: Coronary atherosclerosis with a large necrotic core has been postulated to reduce the vasodilatory capacity of vascular tissue. In the present analysis, we explored whether total plaque volume and necrotic core volume on coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) are independently associated with myocardial ischaemia on positron emission tomography (PET). METHODS AND RESULTS: From a registry of symptomatic patients with suspected coronary artery disease and clinically indicated CCTA with sequential [15O]H2O PET myocardial perfusion imaging, we quantitatively measured diameter stenosis, total and compositional plaque volumes on CCTA. Primary endpoint was myocardial ischaemia on PET, defined as an absolute stress myocardial blood flow ≤2.4 mL/g/min in ≥1 segment. Multivariable prediction models for myocardial ischaemia were consecutively created using logistic regression analysis (stenosis model: diameter stenosis ≥50%; plaque volume model: +total plaque volume; plaque composition model: +necrotic core volume). A total of 493 patients (mean age 63 ± 8 years, 54% men) underwent sequential CCTA/PET imaging. In 153 (31%) patients, myocardial ischaemia was detected on PET. Diameter stenosis ≥50% (P < 0.001) and necrotic core volume (P = 0.029) were independently associated with myocardial ischaemia, while total plaque volume showed borderline significance (P = 0.052). The plaque composition model (χ2 = 169) provided incremental value for the prediction of ischaemia when compared with the stenosis model (χ2 = 138, P < 0.001) and plaque volume model (χ2 = 164, P = 0.021). CONCLUSION: The volume of necrotic core on CCTA independently and incrementally predicts myocardial ischaemia on PET, beyond diameter stenosis alone.

A Health Crisis in the Age of Misinformation: How Social Media and Mass Media Influenced Misperceptions about COVID-19 and Compliance Behavior.

The media are important information disseminators in society. Particularly in uncertain times, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, citizens are very "media dependent." The way in which people are informed about the coronavirus heavily depends on the type of media they use. Especially on social media, the share of misinformation is considerable, which might impact the way in which people comply with preventive measures. Our study investigates how media use affects misperceptions about the coronavirus and whether this influences important behavioral determinants as well as compliance behavior itself. The results of a unique 5-wave panel survey (N = 1,741) conducted between April 2020 and October 2020 show that the use of mass media reduces misperceptions. The same was found for Twitter users, whereas Facebook and Instagram users have more misperceptions about the coronavirus. Misperceptions negatively influence the perceived severity, susceptibility and efficacy of preventive measures taken by governments, which may ultimately result in decreased compliance. Our findings underline the important role of media consumption and misperceptions in shaping citizens' beliefs and behavior regarding COVID-19. They re-emphasize the importance of mass media, such as newspapers, television broadcasts or reliable news websites, to inform the public about current affairs. They also imply that platform media might be more heterogeneous in their effects than mass media.

Using Cognitive Mapping to Study the Relationship Between News Exposure and Cognitive Complexity.

Cognitive complexity is a concept that allows scholars to distinguish unidimensional thinking from multidimensional thinking, which allows citizens to identify and integrate various perspectives of a topic. Especially in times of fake news, fact-free politics, and affective polarization, the news media would ideally foster such complex political understanding. The current paper introduces the method of cognitive mapping to measure cognitive complexity regarding citizens' understanding of the financial crisis, one of the most pressing political issues of the past decades. Linking content-analytic data to panel-survey data, we examine how exposure to news about the crisis relates to cognitive complexity. A wide variety of news sources (print, television, and online) were analyzed to take the high-choice media environment into account. Results show that news consumption generally is related to a less cognitively complex understanding of the financial crisis. However, actual exposure to news about the crisis (combined measurement of content analysis and survey data) is positively related to cognitive complexity, particularly among less-educated citizens. In addition, the most prominent topics in news coverage were more frequently associated with the financial crisis, as reflected in the cognitive maps of less-educated citizens exposed to more crisis news. These findings demonstrate the potential of news media to increase citizens' complexity of understanding, especially among the less educated.

Boundaries to the articulation of possible selves through social networking sites: the case of Facebook profilers' social connectedness.

This study aims to contribute to an emerging literature that seeks to understand how identity markers on social networking sites (SNSs) shape interpersonal impressions, and particularly the boundaries that SNSs present for articulating unconstrained "hoped-for possible selves." An experiment employing mock-up Facebook profiles was conducted, showing that appearing with friends on a Facebook profile picture as well as increasingly higher number of Facebook friends strengthened perceptions of a profiler's hoped-for level of social connectedness. Excessive numbers of friends, however, weakened perceptions of a profiler's real-level social connectedness, particularly among participants with smaller social networks on Facebook themselves. The discussion focuses on when people come to find that reasonable boundaries of self-generated information on an SNS have been exceeded.