Anita Atwell Seate
Biographic Data
| ID | 234576 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Anita Atwell Seate |
| GIVEN NAMES | Anita Atwell |
| FAMILY NAME | Seate |
| SIGNATURE | SEATE A A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Maryland, College Park |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2785-6645 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 75 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Thrills, tears, and deep state fears: Links between entertainment media preferences and conspiracy belief
This exploratory, cross-sectional study examines associations between individual differences in entertainment media motivations (hedonic and eudaimonic), narrative engageability, entertainment genre preferences, and conspiracy belief. Drawing on research suggesting that conspiracy theories may serve epistemic and existential functions similar to those gratified by certain forms of entertainment, we tested a parallel mediation model in which genre…
Preparing for the Next Storm: The Intersection of Consistent Weather Messages and Relational Risk Communication in Predicting Publics’ Protective Actions
We conducted a between-subjects experiment with Southeast U.S. adults recruited by Qualtrics ( N = 944), comparing a high and low message consistency environment in the tornado context. Messages aimed to build threat awareness in advance of high-impact weather from the National Weather Service (NWS), a broadcast meteorologist, and an amateur weather communicator (i.e., a social mediaorologist) were manipulated. Results show that the message consi…
All joking aside? Comparing the effects of a humorous vs. a non-humorous message strategy in building organization–public relationships and community resilience
Communication scholars have studied the persuasive power of humor messages, but research provides mixed results. Also, the literature has been slow in demonstrating the practical effects of humorous messages on desired outcomes (e.g., organization–public relationships). Through an online experiment in the context of weather messages with samples of U.S. adults residing in the Southeastern U.S. (N = 209), we compared a humorous social media messag…
Effects of Parasocial Experiences on Intergroup Relationships
This chapter reviews existing research on how mediated contact with media figures (e.g., celebrities, fictional characters, public figures, and others) can affect intergroup relations. The review is organized around two parasocial experiences through which mediated intergroup encounters with media figures are theorized to affect audience prejudice: parasocial contact and vicarious contact. The chapter concludes with several recommendations for ad…
When my group is under attack: The development of a Social Identity Threat Scale
Drawing on Branscombe et al.’s conceptualization of social identity threat, we developed and validated a multidimensional measure of this concept: the Social Identity Threat Scale (SITS). We conducted three studies that examined social identity threat to U.S. Americans (Study 1, N = 468; Study 2, N = 457) and e-cigarette users (Study 3, N = 395) when they read negative messages directed at their social groups. Results provided evidence for the re…
Relationships Are Built on Sunny Days: Uncovering Quiet Weather Communication Strategies
This study proposes the concept of quiet weather communication and offers the first framework of quiet weather communication strategies tied to specific public outcomes (e.g., build and maintain organization–public relationships). Most of the risk communication literature focuses on severe weather communication. We posit that through defining and examining quiet weather strategic communication we can better understand how the weather enterprise c…
To Warn or Not to Warn: Factors Influencing National Weather Service Warning Meteorologists’ Tornado Warning Decisions
Weather warnings are critical risk communication messages because they have the potential to save lives and property during emergencies. However, making warning decisions is challenging. While there have been significant advances in technological weather forecasting, recent research suggests that social factors, including communication, influence warning meteorologists’ decisions to warn. We examine the roles of both scientific and social factors…
How the U.S. National Weather Service communicates to protect communities: An extension of microboundary spanning theory
Effective internal risk and crisis communication can improve organizational functioning, which ultimately can improve community resilience to crises. However, little is known about communicative behaviors associated with effective internal risk and crisis communication. Microboundary spanning theory provides a fruitful framework for examining organizations’ internal risk and crisis communication. While most microboundary spanning work examines co…
The Evolving Weather Service: Forecasters’ Perceptions of Their Relationships with Core Partners
Since the tragic tornado outbreaks in central Alabama and Joplin, Missouri, in 2011, the National Weather Service (NWS) has increasingly emphasized the importance of supporting community partners who help to protect public safety. Through impact-based decision support services (IDSS), NWS forecasters develop relationships with their core partners to meet their partners’ decision-making needs. IDSS presents a fundamental shift in NWS forecasting t…
Eyes of the Storm: How Citizen Scientists Contribute to Government Forecasting and Risk Communication
Since the 1970s, the National Weather Service has trained citizens to collect, confirm, verify, or supplement radar and other data to contribute to a weather-ready nation. This study examines citizens who volunteer as weather spotters through a case study of an award-winning network. We uncover what motivates citizens to become involved in government science projects. Through the lens of relationship management theory and the related network appr…
Help a fan out? Effects of fandom type and task type on people’s behavioral intentions toward different types of fans in a collaborative effort
There is mounting evidence that fans of science fiction/fantasy media texts are more likely to be socially stigmatized than sports fans, but the implications of this stigma for social interaction have not been established. To examine the roles of fandom community membership and social context in causing social perceptions of, and behavioral intentions toward, popular media culture fandom community members, we conducted a 2 (partner fandom type: s…
To correct or not to correct? Social identity threats increase willingness to denounce fake news through presumed media influence and hostile media perceptions
Social network site users report being concerned about Fake news, but little is understood about what motivates them to denounce it when they knowingly encounter it. An online experiment showed that the presence of a political ingroup social identity threat in fake news content indirectly affected participants’ willingness to publicly denounce a fake news article by decreasing presumed media influence but increasing hostile media perceptions
Radicalization to Violence: A Pathway Approach to Studying Extremism
Prior research on extremism has identified a host of psychological, emotional, material, and group-based mechanisms that are potentially important drivers of individual radicalization. However, taken on their own, none of these factors have been shown to lead to extremist behaviors. Instead, radicalization is best understood as a set of complex causal processes in which multiple factors work together to produce extremist outcomes. This paper buil…
The effects of prototypicality and gender salience on liking and friendship potential of a female interlocutor
Drawing on self-categorization theory, this article examines the indirect effects of gender salience and prototypicality on friendship potential through increasing liking of a female interlocutor. We manipulated biographies of the fictitious interlocutor to change perceptions of prototypicality. For women, gender salience interacted with prototypicality to directly predict liking and the desire to become friends with the interlocutor indirectly t…
Cultivating Intergroup Emotions: An Intergroup Threat Theory Approach
The current study tests whether media consumption is associated with negative intergroup emotions toward Blacks, Latinos, and Asians and whether media use indirectly influences intergroup emotions via threat perceptions. We do so using a two-study survey design. Results from Study 1 indicated that media consumption is associated with anger toward Latinos and Asians but not anger toward Blacks. We also found that media use was associated with anxi…
Reexamining the Use of Tentative Language in Emails: The Effects of Gender Salience and Gender Typicality
Drawing on self-categorization theory, the current study examines the effects of gender salience and interlocutor gender typicality on men and women’s use of tentative language in emails. We conducted an experiment manipulating identity salience using gender-stereotypic conversation topics, and typicality using biographies of the fictitious female interlocutor. The results were consistent with self-categorization theory and previous research on g…
Stigmatizing the other: An exploratory study of unintended consequences of eating disorder public service announcements
This research explores the intended and unintended consequences of eating disorder public service announcements. We assessed participants' attitudes toward eating disorders and people with eating disorders, willingness to interact with people with eating disorders, and experience with eating disorders (covariate) at Time 1. At Time 2, participants were randomly assigned to watch a stigmatizing or a non-stigmatizing eating disorder public service …
The Impact of Spirituality and Religiosity on Unprotected Sex for Adult Women
The results suggest that religiosity and spirituality are both associated with unprotected sex through sexual self-efficacy among African-American women. Faith-based strategies warrant further examination as components of sexual risk reduction efforts for this population
This Is Who We Are!” National Identity Construction and the 2014 Fifa World Cup
Drawing on the literature on American nationalism and the social identity perspective, this study examines the effects of mediasport on nationalized attitudes, using both rhetorical and experimental approaches. First, a rhetorical analysis examined the nationalistic themes featured in the game promotional ad of the United States versus Ghana soccer match in World Cup 2014, linking these themes to the republicanism/liberalism paradox in American p…
Sport fans and Sci-Fi fanatics: The social stigma of popular media fandom
Perceived media influence, mental illness, and responses to news coverage of a mass shooting
Media's influence on immigration attitudes: An intergroup threat theory approach
The current study tests the influence of threatening-mediated intergroup contact on intergroup relations. A 2 (Immigration: Threat, No-threat) × 2 (Ingroup Group Exemplar: Present, Absent) + 1 (Control Condition) experimental design was used to examine both the direct and indirect influence of news exposure on attitudes toward immigration. The moderating role of previous local news consumption was also investigated. Results indicate that exposure…
Media's influence on immigration attitudes: An intergroup threat theory approach
The current study tests the influence of threatening-mediated intergroup contact on intergroup relations. A 2 (Immigration: Threat, No-threat) × 2 (Ingroup Group Exemplar: Present, Absent) + 1 (Control Condition) experimental design was used to examine both the direct and indirect influence of news exposure on attitudes toward immigration. The moderating role of previous local news consumption was also investigated. Results indicate that exposure…
Radicalization to Violence: A Pathway Approach to Studying Extremism
Prior research on extremism has identified a host of psychological, emotional, material, and group-based mechanisms that are potentially important drivers of individual radicalization. However, taken on their own, none of these factors have been shown to lead to extremist behaviors. Instead, radicalization is best understood as a set of complex causal processes in which multiple factors work together to produce extremist outcomes. This paper buil…
Cultivating Intergroup Emotions: An Intergroup Threat Theory Approach
The current study tests whether media consumption is associated with negative intergroup emotions toward Blacks, Latinos, and Asians and whether media use indirectly influences intergroup emotions via threat perceptions. We do so using a two-study survey design. Results from Study 1 indicated that media consumption is associated with anger toward Latinos and Asians but not anger toward Blacks. We also found that media use was associated with anxi…
This Is Who We Are!” National Identity Construction and the 2014 Fifa World Cup
Drawing on the literature on American nationalism and the social identity perspective, this study examines the effects of mediasport on nationalized attitudes, using both rhetorical and experimental approaches. First, a rhetorical analysis examined the nationalistic themes featured in the game promotional ad of the United States versus Ghana soccer match in World Cup 2014, linking these themes to the republicanism/liberalism paradox in American p…
Perceived media influence, mental illness, and responses to news coverage of a mass shooting
The effects of prototypicality and gender salience on liking and friendship potential of a female interlocutor
Drawing on self-categorization theory, this article examines the indirect effects of gender salience and prototypicality on friendship potential through increasing liking of a female interlocutor. We manipulated biographies of the fictitious interlocutor to change perceptions of prototypicality. For women, gender salience interacted with prototypicality to directly predict liking and the desire to become friends with the interlocutor indirectly t…
When my group is under attack: The development of a Social Identity Threat Scale
Drawing on Branscombe et al.’s conceptualization of social identity threat, we developed and validated a multidimensional measure of this concept: the Social Identity Threat Scale (SITS). We conducted three studies that examined social identity threat to U.S. Americans (Study 1, N = 468; Study 2, N = 457) and e-cigarette users (Study 3, N = 395) when they read negative messages directed at their social groups. Results provided evidence for the re…
Sport fans and Sci-Fi fanatics: The social stigma of popular media fandom
Sport fans and Sci-Fi fanatics: The social stigma of popular media fandom
Perceived media influence, mental illness, and responses to news coverage of a mass shooting
Media's influence on immigration attitudes: An intergroup threat theory approach
The current study tests the influence of threatening-mediated intergroup contact on intergroup relations. A 2 (Immigration: Threat, No-threat) × 2 (Ingroup Group Exemplar: Present, Absent) + 1 (Control Condition) experimental design was used to examine both the direct and indirect influence of news exposure on attitudes toward immigration. The moderating role of previous local news consumption was also investigated. Results indicate that exposure…
The Impact of Spirituality and Religiosity on Unprotected Sex for Adult Women
The results suggest that religiosity and spirituality are both associated with unprotected sex through sexual self-efficacy among African-American women. Faith-based strategies warrant further examination as components of sexual risk reduction efforts for this population
This Is Who We Are!” National Identity Construction and the 2014 Fifa World Cup
Drawing on the literature on American nationalism and the social identity perspective, this study examines the effects of mediasport on nationalized attitudes, using both rhetorical and experimental approaches. First, a rhetorical analysis examined the nationalistic themes featured in the game promotional ad of the United States versus Ghana soccer match in World Cup 2014, linking these themes to the republicanism/liberalism paradox in American p…
Cultivating Intergroup Emotions: An Intergroup Threat Theory Approach
The current study tests whether media consumption is associated with negative intergroup emotions toward Blacks, Latinos, and Asians and whether media use indirectly influences intergroup emotions via threat perceptions. We do so using a two-study survey design. Results from Study 1 indicated that media consumption is associated with anger toward Latinos and Asians but not anger toward Blacks. We also found that media use was associated with anxi…
Reexamining the Use of Tentative Language in Emails: The Effects of Gender Salience and Gender Typicality
Drawing on self-categorization theory, the current study examines the effects of gender salience and interlocutor gender typicality on men and women’s use of tentative language in emails. We conducted an experiment manipulating identity salience using gender-stereotypic conversation topics, and typicality using biographies of the fictitious female interlocutor. The results were consistent with self-categorization theory and previous research on g…
Stigmatizing the other: An exploratory study of unintended consequences of eating disorder public service announcements
This research explores the intended and unintended consequences of eating disorder public service announcements. We assessed participants' attitudes toward eating disorders and people with eating disorders, willingness to interact with people with eating disorders, and experience with eating disorders (covariate) at Time 1. At Time 2, participants were randomly assigned to watch a stigmatizing or a non-stigmatizing eating disorder public service …
The effects of prototypicality and gender salience on liking and friendship potential of a female interlocutor
Drawing on self-categorization theory, this article examines the indirect effects of gender salience and prototypicality on friendship potential through increasing liking of a female interlocutor. We manipulated biographies of the fictitious interlocutor to change perceptions of prototypicality. For women, gender salience interacted with prototypicality to directly predict liking and the desire to become friends with the interlocutor indirectly t…
Eyes of the Storm: How Citizen Scientists Contribute to Government Forecasting and Risk Communication
Since the 1970s, the National Weather Service has trained citizens to collect, confirm, verify, or supplement radar and other data to contribute to a weather-ready nation. This study examines citizens who volunteer as weather spotters through a case study of an award-winning network. We uncover what motivates citizens to become involved in government science projects. Through the lens of relationship management theory and the related network appr…
Help a fan out? Effects of fandom type and task type on people’s behavioral intentions toward different types of fans in a collaborative effort
There is mounting evidence that fans of science fiction/fantasy media texts are more likely to be socially stigmatized than sports fans, but the implications of this stigma for social interaction have not been established. To examine the roles of fandom community membership and social context in causing social perceptions of, and behavioral intentions toward, popular media culture fandom community members, we conducted a 2 (partner fandom type: s…
To correct or not to correct? Social identity threats increase willingness to denounce fake news through presumed media influence and hostile media perceptions
Social network site users report being concerned about Fake news, but little is understood about what motivates them to denounce it when they knowingly encounter it. An online experiment showed that the presence of a political ingroup social identity threat in fake news content indirectly affected participants’ willingness to publicly denounce a fake news article by decreasing presumed media influence but increasing hostile media perceptions
Radicalization to Violence: A Pathway Approach to Studying Extremism
Prior research on extremism has identified a host of psychological, emotional, material, and group-based mechanisms that are potentially important drivers of individual radicalization. However, taken on their own, none of these factors have been shown to lead to extremist behaviors. Instead, radicalization is best understood as a set of complex causal processes in which multiple factors work together to produce extremist outcomes. This paper buil…
The Evolving Weather Service: Forecasters’ Perceptions of Their Relationships with Core Partners
Since the tragic tornado outbreaks in central Alabama and Joplin, Missouri, in 2011, the National Weather Service (NWS) has increasingly emphasized the importance of supporting community partners who help to protect public safety. Through impact-based decision support services (IDSS), NWS forecasters develop relationships with their core partners to meet their partners’ decision-making needs. IDSS presents a fundamental shift in NWS forecasting t…
Relationships Are Built on Sunny Days: Uncovering Quiet Weather Communication Strategies
This study proposes the concept of quiet weather communication and offers the first framework of quiet weather communication strategies tied to specific public outcomes (e.g., build and maintain organization–public relationships). Most of the risk communication literature focuses on severe weather communication. We posit that through defining and examining quiet weather strategic communication we can better understand how the weather enterprise c…
To Warn or Not to Warn: Factors Influencing National Weather Service Warning Meteorologists’ Tornado Warning Decisions
Weather warnings are critical risk communication messages because they have the potential to save lives and property during emergencies. However, making warning decisions is challenging. While there have been significant advances in technological weather forecasting, recent research suggests that social factors, including communication, influence warning meteorologists’ decisions to warn. We examine the roles of both scientific and social factors…
How the U.S. National Weather Service communicates to protect communities: An extension of microboundary spanning theory
Effective internal risk and crisis communication can improve organizational functioning, which ultimately can improve community resilience to crises. However, little is known about communicative behaviors associated with effective internal risk and crisis communication. Microboundary spanning theory provides a fruitful framework for examining organizations’ internal risk and crisis communication. While most microboundary spanning work examines co…
Effects of Parasocial Experiences on Intergroup Relationships
This chapter reviews existing research on how mediated contact with media figures (e.g., celebrities, fictional characters, public figures, and others) can affect intergroup relations. The review is organized around two parasocial experiences through which mediated intergroup encounters with media figures are theorized to affect audience prejudice: parasocial contact and vicarious contact. The chapter concludes with several recommendations for ad…
When my group is under attack: The development of a Social Identity Threat Scale
Drawing on Branscombe et al.’s conceptualization of social identity threat, we developed and validated a multidimensional measure of this concept: the Social Identity Threat Scale (SITS). We conducted three studies that examined social identity threat to U.S. Americans (Study 1, N = 468; Study 2, N = 457) and e-cigarette users (Study 3, N = 395) when they read negative messages directed at their social groups. Results provided evidence for the re…
All joking aside? Comparing the effects of a humorous vs. a non-humorous message strategy in building organization–public relationships and community resilience
Communication scholars have studied the persuasive power of humor messages, but research provides mixed results. Also, the literature has been slow in demonstrating the practical effects of humorous messages on desired outcomes (e.g., organization–public relationships). Through an online experiment in the context of weather messages with samples of U.S. adults residing in the Southeastern U.S. (N = 209), we compared a humorous social media messag…
Preparing for the Next Storm: The Intersection of Consistent Weather Messages and Relational Risk Communication in Predicting Publics’ Protective Actions
We conducted a between-subjects experiment with Southeast U.S. adults recruited by Qualtrics ( N = 944), comparing a high and low message consistency environment in the tornado context. Messages aimed to build threat awareness in advance of high-impact weather from the National Weather Service (NWS), a broadcast meteorologist, and an amateur weather communicator (i.e., a social mediaorologist) were manipulated. Results show that the message consi…
Thrills, tears, and deep state fears: Links between entertainment media preferences and conspiracy belief
This exploratory, cross-sectional study examines associations between individual differences in entertainment media motivations (hedonic and eudaimonic), narrative engageability, entertainment genre preferences, and conspiracy belief. Drawing on research suggesting that conspiracy theories may serve epistemic and existential functions similar to those gratified by certain forms of entertainment, we tested a parallel mediation model in which genre…
Psychology (18 works) · Social Psychology (13 works) · Political science (10 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Business (7 works) · Disaster Management and Resilience (6 works) · Geography (6 works) · Media Influence and Health (6 works) · Public Relations and Crisis Communication (6 works)