Figure 1
The five dimensions of the Big Five inventory
Comment: The five dimensions of the Big Five inventory, ranging from one extreme to another. Each dimension score gives an indication of an individual’s tendency to act according to his or her standing on the particular trait.
Table 1
Experimental design with a counterbalanced task order
| Experiment A | Experiment B | |
|---|---|---|
| Section 1 | Information and consent | Information and consent |
| Section 2 | Demographics and news interest questionnaire | Demographics and news interest questionnaire |
| Section 3 | Engagement task, verbal presentation mode | Engagement task, verbal+visual presentation mode |
| Section 4 | BFI-20 | BFI-20 |
| Section 5 | Engagement experiment, verbal+visual presentation mode | Engagement experiment, verbal presentation mode |
| Section 6 | REI-40 | REI-40 |
| Section 7 | Categorization task (same stimuli as section 3) | Categorization task (same stimuli as section 5) |
Table 2
Participants’ primary news source
| News source | Frequency | |
|---|---|---|
| Online news: 81% | Digital media | 99 |
| Social media | 44 | |
| Offline news: 19% | TV | 5 |
| Radio | 6 | |
| Printed news | 20 | |
| Other (friends/family) | 4 | |
| Total | 178 |
Figure 2
Average reading engagement scores for individuals who tend towards either neuroticism or emotional stability
Comment: The error bars correspond to 95 per cent confidence intervals
Table 3
Summary of interaction effects from four repeated-measures ANOVAs, run separately to investigate interactions between the personality inventories and presentation mode and news angle, respectively
| Presentation mode | News angle | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Read | Like | Share | Read | Like | Share | ||
| Big Five Inventory | Extraversion | F(1,163)=1.81 ns | F(1,163)=2.37 ns | F(1,163)=1.16 ns | F(1,163)=0.48 ns | F(1,163)=0.43 ns | F(1,163)=0.19 ns |
| Agreeableness | F(1,163)=6.76 p=.01 ηp2=.04 | F(1,163)=0.85 ns | F(1,163)=0.21 ns | F(1,163)=0.16 ns | F(1,163)=0.78 ns | F(1,163)=0.08 ns | |
| Conscientiousness | F(1,163)=.03 ns | F(1,163)=0.20 ns | F(1,163)=0.001 ns | F(1,163)=0.54 ns | F(1,163)=0.04 ns | F(1,163)=0.01 ns | |
| Emotional stability | F(1,163)=.083 ns | F(1,163)=0.31 ns | F(1,163)=0.21 ns | F(1,163)=3.08 ns | F(1,163)=0.81 ns | F(1,163)=0.12 ns | |
| Openness to experience | F(1,163)=0.07 ns | F(1,163)=1.12 ns | F(1,163)=0.55 ns | F(1,163)=0.24 ns | F(1,163)=0.01 ns | F(1,163)=0.13 ns | |
| Rational–Experiential Inventory | Rational ability | F(1,163)=0.01 ns | F(1,163)=1.91 ns | F(1,163)=0.38 ns | F(1,163)=3.37 ns | F(1,163)=0.84 ns ns | F(1,163)=4.75 p=.03 ηp2=.03 |
| Rational engagement | F(1,163)=1.16 ns | F(1,163)=0.37 ns | F(1,163)=0.21 ns | F(1,163)=0.52 ns | F(1,163)=2.35 ns | F(1,163)=1.12 ns | |
| Experiential ability | F(1,163)=0.02ns | F(1,163)=0.59ns | F(1,163)=0.79ns | F(1,163)=4.77 p=.03 | F(1,163)=0.06ns | F F (1,163)=4.38 p=.04 | |
| Experiential engagement | F(1,163)=0.35 ns | F(1,163)=1.05 ns | F(1,163)=0.35 ns | F(1,163)=0.13 ns | F(1,163)=0.28 ns | F(1,163)=3.41 ns | |
Figure 3
Average likelihood of reading a news story presented with or without a photo for those scoring at the lower and higher ends of the agreeableness scale
Comment: The error bars correspond to 95 per cent confidence intervals
Table 4
Summary of the results from two multivariate ANOVAs, run separately for age and gender groups (note that one participant did not report gender and three did not report age)
| Read | Like | Share | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | F-statistic | F(2,168)=1.96, ns | F(2,168)=0.22, ns | F(2,168)=0.45, ns |
| Mean 18–24 (n=104) | M=2.64 (SD=0.64) | M=1.15 (SD=0.33) | M=1.15 (SD=0.38) | |
| Mean 25–34 (n=49) | M=2.57 (SD=0.62) | M=1.17 (SD=0.45) | M=1.14 (SD=0.28) | |
| Mean 35–71 (n=21) | M=2.86 (SD=0.76) | M=1.14 (SD=0.26) | M=1.22 (SD=0.36) | |
| Gender | F-statistic | F(1,168)=0.79, ns | F(1,168)=0.88, p=.047 | F(1,168)=0.75, p=.040 |
| Mean females (n=114) | M=2.60 (SD=0.62) | M=1.11 (SD=0.31) | M=1.12 (SD=0.26) | |
| Mean males (n=60) | M=2.70 (SD=0.71) | M=1.22 (SD=0.43) | M=1.23 (SD=0.46) |
Table 5
Five news stories selected for an exploratory analysis of the correlation between individual stories and personality characteristics, all with high agreement on the news category
| Experimental condition | Most frequent category selection | Participant agreement | Norwegian version | English translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime, tabloid | Vulgar | 68.54% | 1. Avkledd og avslørt | 1. Undressed and exposed |
| Personal story, informative | Alluring | 68.54% | 2. Fant mynter for 5,5 millioner, får ingenting | 2. Found coins worth 5.5 million, gets nothing |
| Lifestyle, informative | Informative | 77.53% | 3. Vask baderomsvifta for bedre luftkvalitet | 3. Clean the bathroom fan to improve air quality |
| Finance, tabloid | Alluring | 66.67% | 4. Koster nesten en million kroner, men ingen får overnatte | 4. It costs nearly one million kroner, but nobody can stay overnight |
| Local politics, informative | Informative | 71.11% | 5. Nøkkelproblemer og IT-systemer som feilet var noen av grunnene til kaos da Veireno tok over | 5. Key troubles and failing IT systems were some of the reasons for the chaos that came with Veireno taking over |
Table 6
Correlations between REI-40 and BFI-20 factors and news categorized by participants, along with engagement modes and likelihoods for high and low scorers
| Story | Category | Engagement mode | Correlate | Statistics | Mean engagement scores | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low scorers | High scorers | |||||
| 2 | Informative | Read | Extraversion | r(88)=.27, p=.010 | 2.59 | 3.37 |
| 5 | Informative | Read | Rational engagement | r(87)=.37, p<.001 | 1.58 | 2.54 |
| 5 | Informative | Read | Experiential ability | r(87)=−.43, p<.001 | 2.42 | 1.57 |
| 5 | Informative | Read | Experiential engagement | r(87)= −.23, p=.036 | 2.21 | 1.72 |
| Experiment A | Experiment B | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Section | Presentation mode | Rhetorical angle | Genre and story number | Presentation mode | Rhetorical angle | Genre and story number |
| 3 | Verbal | Tabloid | Crime 1 | Verbal+visual | Informative | Lifestyle 2 |
| 3 | Verbal | Informative | Sports 2 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | Celebrity 1 |
| 3 | Verbal | Tabloid | US affairs 1 | Verbal+visual | Informative | Crime 2 |
| 3 | Verbal | Informative | Lifestyle 2 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | Personal story 1 |
| 3 | Verbal | Tabloid | Accident 1 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | Lifestyle 1 |
| 3 | Verbal | Informative | Celebrity 2 | Verbal+visual | Informative | Celebrity 2 |
| 3 | Verbal | Informative | Crime 2 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | Local politics 1 |
| 3 | Verbal | Informative | International 2 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | US affairs 1 |
| 3 | Verbal | Informative | Accident 2 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | Accident 1 |
| 3 | Verbal | Tabloid | Local politics 1 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | International 1 |
| 3 | Verbal | Informative | US affairs 2 | Verbal+visual | Informative | US affairs 2 |
| 3 | Verbal | Informative | Local politics 2 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | Finance 1 |
| 3 | Verbal | Tabloid | International 1 | Verbal+visual | Informative | Personal story 2 |
| 3 | Verbal | Informative | Finance 2 | Verbal+visual | Informative | Sports 2 |
| 3 | Verbal | Tabloid | Sports 1 | Verbal+visual | Informative | Finance 2 |
| 3 | Verbal | Tabloid | Celebrity 1 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | Crime 1 |
| 3 | Verbal | Tabloid | Personal story 1 | Verbal+visual | Informative | International 2 |
| 3 | Verbal | Tabloid | Lifestyle 1 | Verbal+visual | Informative | Local politics 2 |
| 3 | Verbal | Informative | Personal story 2 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | Sports 1 |
| 3 | Verbal | Tabloid | Finance 1 | Verbal+visual | Informative | Accident 2 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | Local politics 2 | Verbal | Tabloid | Crime 2 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Informative | Finance 1 | Verbal | Informative | Crime 1 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | US affairs 2 | Verbal | Informative | Local politics 1 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Informative | Accident 1 | Verbal | Informative | Personal story 1 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | Crime 2 | Verbal | Tabloid | International 2 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Informative | Sports 1 | Verbal | Tabloid | Finance 2 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Informative | Personal story 1 | Verbal | Tabloid | Accident 2 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Informative | International 1 | Verbal | Informative | Sports 1 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | Celebrity 2 | Verbal | Tabloid | Local politics 2 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Informative | Crime 1 | Verbal | Tabloid | Personal story 2 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Informative | Lifestyle 1 | Verbal | Informative | Accident 1 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | Finance 2 | Verbal | Tabloid | Lifestyle 2 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | Accident 2 | Verbal | Informative | Lifestyle 1 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Informative | Celebrity 1 | Verbal | Tabloid | US affairs 2 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | Personal story 2 | Verbal | Tabloid | Celebrity 2 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | Sports 2 | Verbal | Tabloid | Sports 2 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Informative | Local politics 1 | Verbal | Informative | US affairs 1 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | Lifestyle 2 | Verbal | Informative | Finance 1 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Tabloid | International 2 | Verbal | Informative | Celebrity 1 |
| 5 | Verbal+visual | Informative | US affairs 1 | Verbal | Informative | International 1 |