Involved or detached? Emotional responses on humanitarian catastrophes

Involved or detached? Emotional responses on humanitarian catastrophes

Final paper

Student: Annika van Berkel Student number: 5738814 Course title: Citizens and Public Opinion Date: 22 December 2010

Emotional responses on humanitarian catastrophes

Abstract In this study, it is investigated which emotional responses were expressed after perceiving visual television news content about a human catastrophe. More than the emotional impact, this study focused on the effect of explicit depictions of human suffering on feelings and expressions of involvement and detachment. The theoretical framework contains concepts from emotion theory in psychology as well as studies on media effects in the field of communication science. The empirical part of this research consists of an experiment, were participants in two conditions had to view a television news item, followed by a survey. The results showed that „compassion‟ is the most prominent and intense felt emotional response, followed by anger, fear and shock. Besides, the findings revealed a tendency to involvement rather than detachment.

Keywords: emotional responses, visual news content, involvement, detachment, compassion fatigue, television news, human catastrophes, earthquake Haiti

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Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 4 Theoretical framework ............................................................................................................... 5 Method & Analysis .................................................................................................................... 8 Results ...................................................................................................................................... 10 Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 13 References ................................................................................................................................ 16 Appendix A: Questionnaire...................................................................................................... 18 Appendix B: Measurements ..................................................................................................... 23

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Introduction A great part of the daily news that the Western public has to consume has to do with wars, conflicts and humanitarian catastrophes (Philo, 2002). Due to the commercialization of the media landscape, the emphasis of news media lays less on the facts about these events and more on the feelings and suffering of the directly involved (Höijer, 2004; Philo, 2002). Informative news coverage becomes more and more sensational and visuals on television and in newspapers seem a great instrument to arouse and emotionally involve the public. But the impact of visuals can become more than affective if they lead to motivation to take action or actual behavioral responses (Pfau et al., 2006; Zelizer, 2005). This paper is about the emotional impact of visuals which contain suffering people due to a human catastrophe. More than just the emotional impact, this research tries to reveal if seeing this kind of depictions will lead to involvement or detachment with respect to the suffering people on the screen. The results in this study can reveal if the shift in news making to more sensational news coverage has negative consequences for public involvement on bad news situations, like wars or natural disasters. This is interesting in a broad perspective, but especially for e.g. humanitarian organizations, which are largely dependent of the gifts of the citizens. If these citizens are no more aroused, but fatigued or immune for depictions of suffering people, citizens are maybe not inclined to donate money for these human aid organizations. The main goal of this study is to investigate whether images in news coverage humanitarian disasters lead to involvement or detachment of the public. To reach this goal, the following research question is answered:

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Which emotional responses are expressed by the public when seeing images of a humanitarian catastrophe and is there a tendency to involvement or detachment after seeing these images? First, relevant theories on emotional responses on distant suffering are given in a theoretical framework. After a method and analysis section where the experiment is outlined, the main question of this paper is answered. In the discussion part, the results of the experiment are evaluated critically and interesting questions for the future are given.

Theoretical framework Theories regarding to emotional reactions on media stimuli do not only fit in the field of communication science. Also psychological research shows relevant approaches to explain how people can react on media stimuli and which consequences this reactions may have. A relevant concept for this research is the idea of „approach-avoidance‟ (Elliot, 2006). This theory implies that the motivation to approach or avoid a specific subject stems from certain emotional feelings (Frijda, 1988). Applied to media stimuli, this means that when an individual perceives a media message, he or she will unconsiously make a choice to get involved with the message or avoid this message (Newhagen, 1998). Research on approach-avoidance showed that anger is an emotion that is strongly related to the process of approach (Frijda, 1988; Newhagen, 1998). On the other hand, emotions like fear and disgust more often lead to avoiding behavior (Newhagen, 1998). Next to these specific emotions, studies in the field of media psychology reveal other affective responses related to either involvement or detachment (e.g. Boltanski, 1999; Höijer, 2004; Sontag, 2003; Scharrer, 2008; Taylor, 1998).

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Emotions and involvement Literature on the process of involvement with respect to individuals at a distance shows different emotions underlying this process. An extensive studied emotion related to involvement is empathy. The feeling of empathy is defined by Zillmann (1991) as “an emotional response to other people's emotions with a certain degree of similarity between the observed emotion and personal emotional reaction to the other" (p. 136). This emotion is often confused with the feeling of sympathy. However, sympathy is defined by Van der Bolt (2000) as having feelings towards other people‟s emotions with a certain distance from the others. So, empathy and sympathy are both expressions of compassion, but empathy has more to do with feeling the same emotions of others, whereas sympathy is a more distant feeling with respect to other people (Van der Bolt, 2000). When studying the impact of visuals, compassion is a relevant affective reaction, because previous research by Höijer (2004) showed that feelings of compassion are often directly related to the presence of images in a news item. Another emotion that underlies the process of involvement is the feeling of anger (Boltanski, 1999; Höijer, 2004). Following the concept of approach-avoidance, anger is proved to be a response which seems to lead to more involving behavior (Newhagen, 1998). When seeing other people suffering, anger is a reaction towards the cause of the pain of these people. This reaction can lead to the urge to approach or attack this cause (Höijer, 2004; Newhagen, 1998). In a war or conflict situation, angry feelings can exist towards the enemies or the soldiers who attacked these innocent people. In the case of a natural disaster or human catastrophe like hunger, feelings of indignation and anger can exist towards the natural circumstances or the government which fails in helping these people.

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Emotions and detachment According to the theory of „approach-avoidance‟, feelings of fear and disgust are strongly related with avoiding behavior. Especially in the case of confronting images of victims, these emotions seem relevant for the process of detachment. This kind of aversion from media stimuli is also studied in the field of persuasive communication. So called „fear-arousing communications‟ are used in campaigns to prevent extensive smoking, drugs use and unsafe sex. Research on the impact of fear-arousing messages showed that campaign messages containing both verbal and visual explanations are the most effective (Leventhal, Watts & Pagano, 1967). However, just visual messages that evoke too strong feelings of fear do not seem effective. When people experience intense anxiety, they will have the tendency to deny or avoid the message (Newhagen, 1998). In the case of depictions of wounded or dead bodies, the public will turn the page or zap further to another television channel. Too shocking images can also evoke a response of disgust. Disgust means that something is distasteful and elicits reactions of avoiding and aversion (Newhagen, 1998; Sontag, 2003). However, increasing sensational and emotional news coverage can also result in decreasing of emotional feelings. Especially when there is a lack of verbal explanation of the context of an event, the public can become fatigued of emotional images in the news (Moeller, 1999). In the field of communication science, the concept of this so-called „compassion fatigue‟ can be illustrated as follow:

the feeling that world events are so distressing and thanks to the media we are so heavily exposed to them that as earthquake follows earthquake, and famine succeeds famine, each will blend into the other and the battered viewer will lose his or her ability to extend compassion to the myriad victims. (Green, 1991, p. 56 in: Tester, 2001, p. 137)

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Compassion fatigue is a relevant concept when studying the impact of visuals in news coverage. As Taylor (1998) discussed in his book about visual news coverage on wars and disasters, the public can become saturated of emotional pictures. The consequence of this saturation is that the public will be more and more numbed and this can lead to a lower ability to feel concerned with the victims (Sontag, 2003; Taylor, 1998). Strongly related with the compassion fatigue thesis is the theory of desensitization and the concept of habituation (Höijer, 2004; Scharrer, 2008). In the case of this study, this means that when people regularly observed confronting depictions of human catastrophes, the public will become increasingly tolerant for these kind of pictures. The more the public perceived these emotional depictions, the more they will regarded these catastrophal events as normal (Scharrer, 2008). According to Moeller (1999), this process of becoming immune, insensitive and fatigued is enhanced by the increasing focus on sensational, emotional and visual news provision. The consequence of this decrease in feelings of involvement and a growing indifference is detachment from the observed event (Sontag, 2003).

Method & Analysis To investigate the impact of visual news on emotional responses, an experiment (n=47) has been done. An experiment seems a good method to investigate responses on visual news content, because it is quite sure that the responses are the effect of the showed media content („t Hart, Boeije & Hox, 2005). Besides, other researchers who investigated the emotional impact of visual news content on the public also used the experiment as method (e.g. Newhagen, 1998; Pfau et al., 2006; 2008; Unz, Schwab & Winterhoff-Spurk, 2008).

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Design and measurements Before the online questionnaire (see Appendix A) started, the respondents had to view a television news item about the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010. The respondents were randomly selected for either the experimental or the control condition. The experimental group (n=23) watched a RTL news report from a correspondent in the capital Portau-Prince, just a few days after the earthquake. This news item contained explicit depictions of wounded victims, dead bodies, devastated buildings and crying people who lost their beloved. The control group (n=24) also watched a RTL news report, but this report was broadcasted three months after the earthquake. This news item contained less explicit images of the victims and more verbal explanations of the current situation. After watching the news report, the respondents had to fill in a questionnaire with several quantitative questions about their emotional feelings. The dependent variables measured in the questionnaire are: fear, anger, compassion, intensity of each of these emotions, shock, mobilization and compassion fatigue. The amount of explicit visuals, as determined by experimental condition, formed the independent variable (see Appendix B for the concrete measurements). Analyses First, some descriptive analyses were done to obtain information about the sample of the experiment. To give an answer on the research question, several independent sample T-tests were used. By doing this, I could compare the mean scores on emotions, mobilization and compassion fatigue between the experimental and the control group. Besides, it is tested by a regression analysis if emotions, mobilization and compassion fatigue were affected by the different conditions in the experiment. 9


Results A total of 47 respondents participated in the experiment; 23 respondents in the experimental condition and 24 respondents in the control condition. Of all the respondents, 76,6% were female and 23,4% male. The average age was 25,3 with respondents ranging from 21 to 58 years old. The education level was very high with a mean score of 6.83 on a scale from 1 to 7, but this was primarily the cause of the recruitment of respondents via several courses on the university.

Table 1: Emotional responses: Independent sample T-test Experimental condition (N = 23)

Control condition (N = 24)

t-value

Fear

2.73 (0.61)

2.35 (0.62)

-2.11***

Intensity

2.17 (0.78)

1.61 (0.94)

-2.22***

Anger

2.43 (0.84)

2.93 (0.91)

1.91**

Intensity

1.96 (1.15)

2.00 (1.14)

0.13

Compassion

3.51 (0.62)

3.35 (0.56)

-0.91

Intensity

2.83 (1.05)

2.73 (0.82)

-0.35

Shock*

1.73 (0.70)

1.33 (0.64)

-1.99**

Mean scores and (standard deviations). Scores based on 5-point Likert-type scale (1-5), with 1 for ‘not feeling this emotion’ and 5 for ‘heavily feeling this emotion’ *no intensity score available, **p<.1, ***p<.05

The first part of the research question is: which emotional responses are expressed by the public when seeing images of a humanitarian catastrophe? Table 1 shows the results of the independent sample T-test with a comparison in emotional responses between the explicit visual (experimental) condition and the more verbal explanation (control) condition. The results show that compassion was the most prominent feeling in both conditions, with M = 3,51 (SD = 0,62) for the experimental and M = 3,35 (SD = 0,56) for the control group. Participants in the more 10


visual condition felt slightly more compassion than the control condition, but this difference is not significant. Compassion was also the most intense experienced emotional response, with M = 2,83 (SD = 1,05) for the experimental and M = 2,73 (0,82). As with the score for presence, this tiny difference between the groups was not significant. However, a significant difference is found when looking at fear. Participants in the experimental group showed more fear than respondents in the control condition (t = -2,11; df = 44; p<.05). Participants in the experimental condition also felt this emotion more intense than in the control condition (t = -2,22; df = 44; p<.05). Table 1 also shows that people in the experimental group were a bit more shocked than the control group (t = -1,99; df = 44; p<.1). When looking at anger, the results show that participants in the control group are angrier than the experimental group (t = 1,91; df = 43; p<.1).

Table 2: Mobilization and compassion fatigue: Independent sample T-test Experimental condition (N = 23)

Control condition (N = 24)

t-value

Mobilization

3.16 (0.83)

3.06 (0.89)

-0.39

Compas. Fat.

2.86 (0.58)

2.73 (0.59)

0.77

Mean scores and (standard deviations). Scores based on 5-point Likert-type scale (1-5), with 1 for ‘no response’ and 5 for ‘strong response’

The second part of the research question is: is there a tendency to involvement or detachment after seeing these images? The answer of this part is related to the emotional responses above as well as the scores on the variables „mobilization‟ and „compassion fatigue‟. The results in table 2 show that for either the experimental as the control group, scores for mobilization are higher than compassion fatigue. The experimental group seems to have a stronger tendency to 11


mobilization (M = 3,16; SD = 0,83) than the control group (M = 3,06; SD = 0,89), but this difference is not significant. There were also no significant differences found when looking at compassion fatigue, however, the experimental group seems to score a bit higher (M = 2,86; SD = 0,58) than the control group (M = 2,73; SD = 0,59). Table 3: Regression analysis predicting emotions (β-scores) Fear Condition (0=con.1=exp.)

.302**

Anger -.280*

Compassion .137

Mobilization .059

Compassion fatigue .118

*p<.1, **p<.05

Finally, it is tested with a regression analysis if there is a relationship between the degree of explicit visuals in the news item and the tendency to get mobilized or fatigued. The regression analysis as showed in table 3 reveals that there is a very weak relation between condition and mobilization (β = 0,059). The relation between condition and compassion fatigue is a bit stronger, but still very weak (β = 0,118). However, when looking at the effect of the degree of visuals on the measured emotions, stronger correlations could be found. First, a regression analysis showed that there is a weak, but significant positive relation between condition and emotion (β = .302). This means that, as expected, the more explicit visuals in a news item, the more fear it will arouse. Surprisingly, there is a negative relation between condition and anger (β = -.280), which means that the more visual condition elicits less anger. Compassion is slightly positive related with condition (β = .137), but this correlation was not significant. These results are in accordance with the findings in Table 1, which indicates that compassion and fear are positive related and that anger is negatively related to visual news content.

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Discussion Main conclusions The main goal of this study was to find an answer on the question which emotional responses are expressed by the public when seeing images of a humanitarian catastrophe and is there a tendency to involvement or detachment after seeing these images? The findings showed that feelings of compassion are most prominent and intense felt under the participants, followed by anger, fear and shock. According to the literature, compassion and anger are feelings related with emotional involvement, whereas fear and shock are more expressions of emotional detachment. So, one could conclude that based on the emotional feelings, there is a stronger tendency to involvement than detachment concerning the news items in this study. Also when looking at more visible and active expressions of involvement and detachment (i.e. mobilization and compassion fatigue), the findings show a tendency to involvement rather than detachment. The amount of explicit visuals is not directly related to either involvement or detachment, but according to the results, some interesting differences between the two conditions were found. As expected, participants who perceived more explicit depictions expressed more feelings of compassion, fear and shock. Surprisingly, participants in the control condition showed more feelings of anger. This result could be explained by the content of the news items. In the strong visual news item, the focus was on the wounded and dead bodies and the living victims who lost their family and property. The item in the control condition was more focused on the difficulties in aid assistance and the invisibility of the money that people from all over the world had donated to relief organizations. This image of the lack of help for the victims could have led to more frustration and angry feelings.

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Limits and boundaries One of the practical limits of this study was the relative small sample of participants who took part in the experiment. Besides, due to the short duration of the research project, it was not possible to keep the survey online for a longer period. However, the goal to reach at least fifty people was almost reached. Unfortunately the sample was not really diverse with a majority of young, female and university graded participants. A more issue related boundary has to do with the actual event in the news item (i.e. the earthquake in Haiti, January 2010). This earthquake happened almost a year ago. A lot of people may already have donated during the big relief campaign of Giro 555, so they have not the intention anymore to get mobilized or feel involved. If they see such news items for the first time when the disaster had just took place, people will probably be more intended to donate money or to feel very upset or feared at all. However, an advantage of this study was that the media stimuli in both conditions were about the same catastrophe, from the same television news outlet (i.e. RTL News), with reports from the same correspondent. This is not very common in previous research where there are made more comparisons between different media outlets (Philo, 2002; Scharrer, 2008) and different events (Kinnick, Krugman & Cameron, 1996; Newhagen, 1998; Unz et al., 2008). Suggestions for future research Due to the small scale of this study, it was not possible to investigate the effect of for example the content, frame or duration of the news item on the emotional response of the public. It is plausible that content may have an impact on emotional feelings, because findings in this study showed that the news item about the tough unfold of human aid in Haiti elicits more anger than the item with the focus on helpless victims. Besides the impact of the amount of visual content, it is interesting for future research to investigate the impact of other characteristics of television news content on emotional responses of the public. This small study was also not suitable to 14


found effects on the long term. More longitudinal research is therefore needed to provide insights in the duration, trends and dynamics in emotional responses over time. Despite the limitations of this study, it reveals some interesting insights in emotional reactions on visual news coverage about human suffering. Human aid organizations do not have to be afraid that citizens become immune or insensitive for bad news, because large relief campaigns still gained a lot of attention and donations. Visuals seem an effective instrument to get the public more emotional involved and mobilized. The shift in news making to more sensational news does not form a restriction for this mobilizing impact of visual news content.

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References Boltanski, L. (1999). Distant suffering: morality, media and politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bradley, M.M. & Lang, P.J. (1994). Measuring emotion: the self-assessment manikin and the semantic differential. Journal of Behavior, Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 25(1), 49-59. Elliot, A.J. (2006). The hierarchical model of approach-avoidance motivation. Motivation and Emotion, 30, 111-116. Frijda, N. (1988). The laws of emotion. American Psychologist, 43(5), 349-358. „t Hart, H., Boeije, H. & Hox, J. (Eds.) (2005). Onderzoeksmethoden (7th ed.). Amsterdam: Boom Onderwijs. Höijer, B. (2004). The discourse of global compassion: the audience and the media reporting of human suffering. Media, Culture & Society, 26(4), 513-531. Kinnick, K.N., Krugman, D.M. & Cameron, G.T. (1996). Compassion fatigue: communication and burnout toward social problems. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 73(3), 687-707. Leventhal, H., Watts, J.C. & Pagano, F. (1967). Effects of fear and instructions on how to cope with danger. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 6(3), 313-321. Moeller, S.D. (1999). Compassion fatigue: how the media sell disease, famine, war and death. New York: Routledge. Newhagen, J.E. (1998). TV news images that induce anger, fear and disgust: effects on approach-avoidance and memory. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 42, 265-276.

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Pfau, M., Haigh, M., Fifrick, A., Holl, D., Tedesco, A., Cope, J., Nunnally, D., Schiess, A., Preston, D., Roszkowski, P. & Martin, M. (2006). The effects of print news photographs of the casualties of war. Journal & Mass Communication Quarterly, 83(1), 150-168. Pfau, M., Haigh, M.M., Shannon, T.T., Mercurio, D., Williams, R., Binstock, B., Diaz, C., Dillard, C., Browne, M., Elder, C., Reed, S., Eggers, A. & Melendez, J. (2008). The influence of television news depictions of the images of war on viewers. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 52(2), 303-322. Philo, G. (2002). Television news and audience understanding of war, conflict and disaster. Journalism Studies, 3(2), 173-186. Scharrer, E. (2008). Media exposure and sensitivity to violence in news reports: evidence of desensitization? Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 85(2), 231-310. Sontag, S. (2003). Regarding the pain of others. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Taylor, J. (1998). Body horror; photojournalism, catastrophe and war. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Tester, K. (2001). Compassion, morality and the media. Buckingham: Open University Press. Unz, D., Schwab, F. & Winterhoff-Spurk, P. (2008). TV news – the daily horror? Emotional effects of violent television news. Journal of Media Psychology, 20(4), 141-155. Van der Bolt, E.J.M. (2000). Ontroerend goed: een onderzoek naar affectieve leeservaringen van leerlingen in het basis- en voortgezet onderwijs [Elektronische versie]. Academisch proefschrift, opgehaald 31 oktober, 2009, van http://dare.uva.nl/document/44534. Zelizer, B. (2005). Death at war time: photographs and the “other war” in Afghanistan. International Journal of Press/Politics, 10(3), 26-55. 17


Appendix A: Questionnaire Links to the surveys of the experimental and the control condition: www.thesistools.com/web/?id=161297 Experimental group: RTL Nieuws: item about the aftermath of the earthquake in Haïti, just a few days after the earthquake. Explicit images of victims. http://www.thesistools.com/web/?id=166396 Control group: RTL Nieuws: item about the aftermath of the earthquake in Haïti, 3 months after the earthquake. Less explicit images of the victims, more explanation of the situation in words. Combined link (respondents will at random be direct to one of the two surveys): www.thesistools.com/uva-onderzoek-polcom

Questionnaire Als je op 'volgende' klikt, krijg je een nieuwsbericht te zien dat eerder dit jaar is uitgezonden. Het fragment duurt 2 minuten en er zit ook geluid bij. Bekijk de hele reportage zoals je het normaal voor de televisie ook zou doen. Je krijgt geen herinneringsvragen over de inhoud van het bericht.

Used news items: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET3uSrQHuLs Few days after the earthquake, explicit images of victims http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzkvYq_obOQ 3 months after the earthquake, less explicit images, more explanation of the situation in words

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Je zag een nieuwsbericht over de nasleep van de aardbeving in Haïti in januari 2010. Geef bij onderstaande stellingen aan in hoeverre je het eens bent met de betreffende stelling. Na het zien van dit nieuwsbericht… 1. …ben ik geschrokken. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 2. …heb ik medelijden met de slachtoffers. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 3. …ben ik boos. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 4. …ben ik droevig. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 5. …ben ik geïnteresseerd in de gebeurtenis. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 6. …voel ik mee met de slachtoffers. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 7. …voel ik me hetzelfde als eerst. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens Geef bij onderstaande stellingen aan in hoeverre je het eens bent met de betreffende stelling. Na het zien van het nieuwsbericht over de aardbeving in Haïti… 8. …heb ik een brok in mijn keel. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 9. …ben ik kwaad. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 10. …wil ik de slachtoffers helpen. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 19


11. …voel ik dezelfde emoties als de slachtoffers. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 12. …voel ik me geërgerd. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 13. …zou ik de slachtoffers wel willen troosten. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 14. …ben ik niet van plan om geld te doneren aan een organisatie die zich inzet voor de gevolgen van deze ramp. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens

Geef bij onderstaande stellingen aan in hoeverre je het eens bent met de betreffende stelling.

Deze beelden van de slachtoffers van de aardbeving in Haïti… 15. …vond ik eng. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 16. …maakten me verdrietig. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 17. …maakten me bang. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 18. …waren zo afschuwelijk dat ik niet alles heb bekeken. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 19. …deden me niet zoveel. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens

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Klik bij de volgende vragen het bolletje bij het plaatje aan wat voor jou het meest van toepassing is. 20. Hoe sterk ervaar je de emotie 'angst' na het zien van deze beelden?

21. Hoe sterk ervaar je de emotie 'verdriet' na het zien van deze beelden?

22. Hoe sterk ervaar je de emotie 'boosheid' na het zien van deze beelden?

23. Hoe sterk ervaar je het gevoel van medelijden na het zien van deze beelden?

Geef bij onderstaande stellingen aan in hoeverre je het eens bent met de betreffende stelling. 24. Wanneer ik een gebeurtenis als deze op het nieuws zie, vind ik het moeilijk om de gebeurtenis in mijn dagelijkse bezigheden uit mijn hoofd te zetten. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 25. Beelden van een ramp zoals in Haïti vind ik te schokkend om naar te kijken. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 26. Gebeurtenissen als deze gebeuren erg vaak, ik ga me er niet telkens emotioneel over opwinden wanneer er zich een zo’n ramp voltrekt. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 21


Na het zien van dit nieuwsbericht... 27. ...heb ik de behoefte om meer informatie over deze gebeurtenis op te zoeken. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 28. ...overweeg ik geld te doneren aan een hulporganisatie die zich inzet voor de slachtoffers van de aardbeving in Haïti. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens 29. ...zou ik zo mogelijk een petitie tekenen voor meer hulp voor Haïti vanuit de Nederlandse politiek. zeer mee oneens – zeer mee eens

30. Wat is je leeftijd? 31. Ben je man of vrouw? o

Man

o

Vrouw

32. Wat is je hoogste opleiding, al dan niet voltooid? o

Basisonderwijs

o

Lager beroepsonderwijs (lbo, lts, leao, lhno, huishoud-/ambachtsschool, vmbo technische leerweg)

o

Middelbaar algemeen voortgezet onderwijs (ulo, mulo, 3 jaar hbs/gymnasium/vwo, vmbo theoretische leerweg)

o

Hoger algemeen voorbereidend wetenschappelijk onderwijs (havo, hbs, mms, gymnasium, lyceum, vwo)

o

Middelbaar beroepsonderwijs (mbo, mts, meao)

o

Hoger beroepsonderwijs (hbo, heao, hts, sociale academie)

o

Wetenschappelijk onderwijs (universiteit, master aan hogeschool)

o

Weet niet‟

o

Anders, namelijk…

33. Heb je nog vragen/suggesties over dit onderzoek of deze vragenlijst?

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Appendix B: Measurements The measurements of the following emotions were based on earlier research by Unz et al. (2008) and Van der Bolt (2000). Reliability scores (Cronbach’s α) are given for each variable. Fear (α = .689) -

fear1: …ben ik geschrokken. (item 1)

-

fear2: …vond ik eng. (item 15)

-

fear3: …maakten me bang. (item 17)

Anger (α = .819) -

anger1: …ben ik boos. (item 3)

-

anger2: …ben ik kwaad. (item 9)

-

anger3:… voel ik me geërgerd. (item 12)

Shock (α = .158) -

shock1: …waren zo afschuwelijk dat ik niet alles heb bekeken. (item 18)

-

shock2: Beelden van een ramp zoals in Haïti vind ik te schokkend om naar te kijken. (item 25)

Because the reliability score was very low, I used shock1 as the only item for ‘shock’. Compassion (α = .773) Empathy -

emp1: …voel ik mee met de slachtoffers. (item 6)

Sympathy -

symp1: …heb ik medelijden met de slachtoffers. (item 2)

-

symp2: …wil ik de slachtoffers helpen. (item 10)

-

symp3: …zou ik de slachtoffers wel willen troosten. (item 13)

Sadness was added as an expression of ‘feeling with the suffering other’. Sadness -

sad1: …ben ik droevig. (item 4)

-

sad2: …heb ik een brok in mijn keel. (item 8)

-

sad3: …maakten me verdrietig. (item 16)

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Also the intensity of these emotions was measured, using the self-assessment Manikins by Bradley and Lang (1994).

Intensity of emotions (α = .704) -

fear4: intensity of fear (item 20)

-

sad4: intensity of sadness (item 21)

-

anger4: intensity of anger) (item 22)

-

emp3: intensity of empathy (item 23)

Intensity of compassion (α = .730) -

emp3: intensity of empathy (item 23)

-

sad4: intensity of sadness (item 21)

Besides, it is measured if respondents have the tendency to be involved or detached from the catastrophe they had seen. These variables are: mobilization and compassion fatigue, with mobilization as an expression of active involvement (e.g. the intention to donate money, increasing interest in the event) and compassion fatigue as an expression of detachment.

The items for mobilization and compassion fatigue are based on previous research by Kinnick et al. (1996), Scharrer (2008) and the intuitions of my supervisor.

Mobilization (α = .796) -

mobil1*: …ben ik niet van plan om geld te doneren aan een organisatie die zich inzet voor de gevolgen van deze ramp. (item14)

-

mobil2: ...overweeg ik geld te doneren aan een hulporganisatie die zich inzet voor de slachtoffers van de aardbeving in Haïti. (item 28)

-

mobil3: ...zou ik zo mogelijk een petitie tekenen voor meer hulp voor Haïti vanuit de Nederlandse politiek. (item 29)

-

interest1: …ben ik geïnteresseerd in de gebeurtenis. (item 5)

-

interest2: ...heb ik de behoefte om meer informatie over deze gebeurtenis op te zoeken. (item 27)

* = reversed formulated question (reversed recoded in the analysis)

24


Compassion fatigue (α = .772) -

fatigue1: …voel ik me hetzelfde als eerst. (item 7)

-

fatigue2: …deden me niet zoveel. (item 19)

-

fatigue3*: Wanneer ik een gebeurtenis als deze op het nieuws zie, vind ik het moeilijk om de gebeurtenis in mijn dagelijkse bezigheden uit mijn hoofd te zetten. (item 24)

-

fatigue4: Gebeurtenissen als deze gebeuren erg vaak, ik ga me er niet telkens emotioneel over opwinden wanneer er zich een zo‟n ramp voltrekt. (item 26)

-

fatigue5: reversed recoded variable „herinterest1‟

-

fatigue6: reversed recoded variable „herinterest2‟

25

Involved or detached? Emotional responses on humanitarian catastrophes

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