Can Exposure to Media Change your Opinion about the War?

Previous research has shown that exposure to media can change perception or behavior of participants exposed to it (Tal-Or, 2010). The present study sought to expand on these effects by assessing the attitudes of war and/or torture after the presentation of war/anti-war media. Participants were undergraduate students recruited from a small private university in Northern California. They were randomly assigned to one of two conditions and asked to complete 20 true and false questions assessing their preexisting attitudes of war. Condition one consisted of showing a short pro-war video, whereas condition two participants watched a short anti-war video. Following the video participants were asked to complete the same true and false questionnaire to assess whether attitudes toward war have changed post- media. Upon completion of the survey the participants were asked if they would like to sign up for either a pro or anti-war website. Preliminary analyses conducted on a subset of two individuals indicated that participants in the anti-war condition had a significantly lower attitude towards war then any of the other condition . Additionally participants who watched the anti-war video were more likely to sign up for a protest website. Results will be discussed in the context of the impact media has on people’s belief