Creating shared reality about ambiguous sexual harassment: The role of stimulus ambiguity in audience-tuning effects on memory

The Audience-Tuning Effect of Negative Stereotypes in Communication

Shared reality theory states that people allow others to influence their own judgments and behaviors when a shared reality is achieved (Hardin and Higgins, 1996; Echterhoff et al., 2009a). Based on this theory, this research has explored how audience attitude affects the communicator’s memory of negative stereotype-related information in interpersonal communication. Two experiments have been conducted, using the negative stereotypes of Chinese “rich second-generation” as the research materials. The results show that the audience-tuning effect of negative stereotypes does in fact occur in interpersonal communication. The participants have tuned their descriptions of both stereotype-related and neutral information to suit their audience’s attitude toward the target. The audience-tuning affects the participants’ recall valence of stereotype-related information while not affecting the recall valence of neutral information. The relational motivation moderates the effect of audience-tuning on the communicator’s memory of stereotype-related information. Only participants who communicated with a desired audience displayed an audience-congruent memory bias of stereotype-related information. The results of this research reveal the bidirectional nature of stereotype-sharedness in interpersonal communication. In actual interpersonal communication, the audience could express a positive attitude toward the target who suffers from negative stereotypes, and the communicator would then convey and recall the stereotype-related information in a more positive manner based on the audience-tunning effect, which could ultimately help to decrease negative stereotypes in communication.

High-profile sexual misconduct media triggers sex harassment recall and reinterpretation

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore a possible effect of #MeToo media on individuals’ personal recall and reinterpretation of sex harassment (SH) experiences. The authors experimentally examine how exposure to high-profile stories of sexual misconduct triggers memories and reinterpretation of one’s own past SH experiences.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a sample of 393 US adults, participants were randomly assigned to read one of four media passages, two of which were news stories or transcripts of high-profile cases of sexual harassment or misconduct (e.g., the Trump Access Hollywood transcript), then completed the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ) and follow-up questions about how the media impacted their memory of their prior SH experiences.

Findings

Sexual misconduct media stories, compared to control conditions, indirectly predicted self-report of past SH (SEQ) through both remembering and reinterpreting one’s past experiences. Gender and political ideology moderated the indirect effects such that the effects of the media stories were stronger for women and for those higher on progressive political ideology.

Practical implications

This study experimentally demonstrated what has publicly been assumed to be a driving force behind the upswing of SH reports and the seriousness by which they have been regarded during the #MeToo era: publicized stories of high-profile sexual misconduct triggers personal recall of having been sexually harassed in the past and reinterpretation of SH experiences. The #MeToo movement may be acting as a driver of social change, facilitating changes in social norms. As these social norms change, organizations should be prepared to effectively respond to a possible increase in reporting SH experiences due changes in norms around reporting SH.

Originality/value

This study uses an experimental design to investigate the role of high-profile media stories about SH as a driving force behind the #MeToo movement.

Shared reality: Construct and mechanisms

To provide background for the Special Issue on shared reality, we outline the construct of shared reality and underlying mechanisms. Shared reality is the experience of having in common with others inner states about the world. Inner states include the perceived relevance of something, as well as feelings, beliefs, or evaluations of something. The experience of having such inner states in common with others fosters the perceived truth of those inner states. Humans are profoundly motivated to create shared realities with others, and in so doing they fulfill their needs to have valid beliefs about the world and to connect with others.

Audience tuning effects in the context of situated and embodied processes

This review provides an overview of the research on communication and the 'Saying is Believing' paradigm in the context of different perspectives on communication. The process of 'audience tuning' is shaped by a variety of situated factors in contexts that affect the communicators' confidence in their message. The overwhelming common denominator is that the combination of features that create ambiguity yields the optimal condition for the formation of shared realities. I conclude with an argument that the implied invariance of memory processes in shared reality work needs to be more attentive to the regulatory function of memories driving the expression of shared realities.

Existential isolation and I-sharing: Interpersonal and intergroup implications

I-sharing, or believing one has the same in-the-moment experience as another person, constitutes a specific way in which people may share reality. I-sharing research underscores its significance for interpersonal and intergroup outcomes. I-sharing fosters liking for people who differ from us in objective and sometimes important ways, and counteracts robust tendencies to favor ingroup members and dehumanize outgroup members. Research and theory indicate that existential isolation-feeling alone in one's experience-explains the potency of I-sharing, insofar as people with high levels of existential isolation are especially drawn to those with whom they have reason to believe they I-share. Recent findings are reviewed, followed by a discussion of the clinical implications of the work.

How shared reality is created in interpersonal communication

Communication is a key arena and means for shared-reality creation. Most studies explicitly devoted to shared reality have focused on the opening part of a conversation, that is, a speaker's initial message to an audience. The aspect of communication examined by this research is the evaluative adaptation (tuning) of the messages to the audience's attitude or judgment. The speaker's shared-reality creation is typically assessed by the extent to which the speaker's evaluative representation of the topic matches the audience-tuned view expressed in the message. We first review research on such audience-tuning effects, with a focus on shared-reality goals and conditions facilitating the generalization of shared reality. We then review studies using other paradigms that illustrate factors of shared-reality creation in communication, including mere message production, grounding, validation responses, and communication about commonly known information (including stereotypes) in intragroup communication. The different lines of research reveal the potency, but also boundary conditions, of communication effects on shared reality.

Effects of dyadic communication on race-based impressions and memory

In an experimental study, we examined the effects of dyadic communication and implicit racial attitudes on impressions formed of Black versus White individuals. Participants viewed a graduate application of a student depicted as a Black or White male and then had a conversation about the applicant with another student (or not) before individually rendering judgments of him. Subjective impressions were more favorable for the Black than White applicant among participants in the communication condition, conversations about Whites included more negations, and participants wrote longer narratives in which they were less likely to mention race when they had previously communicated than when they had not. Communication also disrupted the association between implicit racial attitudes and memory for the applicant’s Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores: Those with negative racial attitudes remembered the Black applicant as having lower GRE scores than the White applicant, but this effect was eliminated following communication. Findings are discussed with reference to audience tuning, shifting standards, and attitude–behavior consistency models.