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Colbert Study: Conservatives don't know he's joking

Skeptic Ginger

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Skeptic Ginger
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The Irony of Satire - Political Ideology and the Motivation to See What You Want to See in The Colbert Report
Heather L. LaMarre; The Ohio State University, HLaMarre@gmail.com, et al

This study investigated biased message processing of political satire in The Colbert Report and the influence of political ideology on perceptions of Stephen Colbert. Results indicate that political ideology influences biased processing of ambiguous political messages and source in late-night comedy. Using data from an experiment (N = 332), we found that individual-level political ideology significantly predicted perceptions of Colbert's political ideology. Additionally, there was no significant difference between the groups in thinking Colbert was funny, but conservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said while liberals were more likely to report that Colbert used satire and was not serious when offering political statements. Conservatism also significantly predicted perceptions that Colbert disliked liberalism. Finally, a post hoc analysis revealed that perceptions of Colbert's political opinions fully mediated the relationship between political ideology and individual-level opinion.
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One of the authors was interviewed on Olbermann tonight. It was fascinating. How could people not know Colbert was making fun of conservatives? The brain does funny things

This could have gone in entertainment or politics or brain science. So I sort of compromised putting it here. I want to talk about how a person's political views affect perception but I don't want this to be about which side is better or smarter or that kind of drivel. I know there are plenty of ignorant liberals and that's not what I'm trying to say. And there are obviously some intelligent conservatives. But why did the researchers get these particular results with Colbert viewers?

I am fascinated by how people completely distort the world around them to fit their world view. I'm tempted to say, well the liberals get the Colbert joke and the conservatives don't. So it isn't that we all are distorting the world to fit our views, just these conservatives are.

I wish there was an equivalent study to settle the question. Are both groups equally likely to get satire wrong or just the conservatives when it comes Colbert viewers? Wasn't there a YouTube or other Internet access song a while back that wasn't clear which political side the song was on? Does anyone remember which video I'm talking about?
 
I remember reading that at the Huffington Post. But isn't that a matter of politics?
 
Oliver said:
I remember reading that at the Huffington Post. But isn't that a matter of politics?
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Yes but I want to talk about the psychology, not the politics. If I put this in the politics forum the discussion will not be very productive.

"Biased message processing" is the term the author refers to. If there are examples that go against liberals, post it. It might save the thread from deteriorating into a useless politics bicker. I want to talk about brain distortions, not political brain distortion. But this is the study that was done.
 
skeptigirl said:
Yes but I want to talk about the psychology, not the politics. If I put this in the politics forum the discussion will not be very productive.

"Biased message processing" is the term the author refers to. If there are examples that go against liberals, post it. It might save the thread from deteriorating into a useless politics bicker. I want to talk about brain distortions, not political brain distortion. But this is the study that was done.
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I can't argue about the psychology of people that aren't able to grasp Colbert's critizism. So I guess it's a matter of whish-thinking&ignorance by those who think that he's pro-Conservative.

Maybe it's partly a matter of :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-serving_bias
 
Here's what the comment on Olbermann about Archie Bunker was referring to:
One parallel study the authors note is a 1974 article on perceptions of the television show All in the Family. In the piece, professors Neil Vidmar and Milton Rokeach found that although the show's creator, Norman Lear, had intended to use the Archie Bunker character as a gentle way to poke fun of and discredit racist attitudes, audience members who held racist attitudes never quite got the joke — instead they sympathized with Archie Bunker and may have even found his folksy prejudices to justify their own.

Most studies have focused on the The Daily Show. One ongoing debate, for example, is between those who think that Jon Stewart promotes a level of cynicism that is ultimately harmful to democracy, and those who think that Stewart actually gets citizens engaged in politics and helps them to feel more politically efficacious.
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Why Do Conservatives Like Stephen Colbert?
"Liberals will see him as an over-the-top satire of Bill O'Reilly-type pundit and think that he is making fun of a conservative pundit," LaMarre explained. "But conservatives will say, yes, he is an over-the-top satire of Bill O'Reilly, but by being funny he gets to make really good points and make fun of liberals. So they think the joke is on liberals."

How can this be? Are they really both watching the same Stephen Colbert? Actually, the reason is pretty simple. It is a phenomenon that has been familiar to social psychologists for a long time: confirmation bias. "When you look at social psychology and you see how people process information, people see what they want to see," said study co-author Landreville. "They take whatever they want out of that message. So if I'm a liberal, I'll have my liberal goggles on when I'm watching The Colbert Report and I'll think he's a liberal."
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From the lead author's credentials, is an idea of the aspect of this that interests me beyond the politics.
Heather L. LaMarre is a PhD candidate in Communication at The Ohio State University where her research involves a social-psychological perspective to the study of persuasion and attitudes applied in a variety of mass communication contexts including strategic and political communication. Heather’s most recent work examined biased message processing of political messages in The Colbert Report (LaMarre, Beam, & Landreville, in press). In addition to her first authored piece in the International Journal of Press/Politics, LaMarre has three manuscripts in revision at Communication Research. Communication Monographs, and Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media. LaMarre has a total of nine manuscripts under review at strong journals including Media Psychology, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Mass Communication and Society, and Communication Quarterly; six of which are first authored. Additionally, Heather has been awarded a research grant from the OSU Criminal Justice Research Center, presented a dozen conference papers, and co-authored an invited book chapter.
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The first time I saw Rush Limbaugh (back when he had a TV show, and I had never heard of his radio show) I assumed it was a comedy bit. I kept waiting for the punch line. It probably had nothing to do with the nature of his politics though. I had never seen anyone on TV, outside of Pat Robertson, present one opinion after another as though they were facts and with total blowhard confidence. It didn't fit with my experience that such a thing could be serious. I did get it after a few minutes though.
 
It doesn't surprise me. Colbert's wikipedia website reminds me of every conservatard I've argued with on the internet.
 
skeptigirl said:
Wasn't there a YouTube or other Internet access song a while back that wasn't clear which political side the song was on? Does anyone remember which video I'm talking about?
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Barrack the Magic Negro?

Steve S.
 
I made this point about Colbert to Ms. Tricky more than a year ago. I like Colbert, but I'm not what you'd call a "fan". Ms. Tricky records his show every night (and watches most of them). She asked me why I didn't like Colbert more. I replied, "His act is too good."
 
I'm a conservative, obviously, and I recognized his shtick from the get go. I have never thought him to be seriously espousing whatever views. It was clear he was mocking O'Reilly and others.
 
The 2006 White House Correspondence Dinner should have been enough to convince the conservatives. Not based on what Colbert said, but based on the reaction of the audience, specifically the look on Bush's face.

I remember asking myself why on earth would they invite him to speak. Didn't they watch the show? Which goes directly to skeptgirl's point.
 
steve s said:
Barrack the Magic Negro?

Steve S.
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NO, this was definitely before Obama. Dang I wish I could remember. It's like you can see the page in your brain but you can't get close enough to read it. I'm pretty sure it was something one couldn't tell if it was for or against Bush.
 
Erigena said:
The 2006 White House Correspondence Dinner should have been enough to convince the conservatives. Not based on what Colbert said, but based on the reaction of the audience, specifically the look on Bush's face.

I remember asking myself why on earth would they invite him to speak. Didn't they watch the show? Which goes directly to skeptgirl's point.
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It would be interesting if the people who scheduled Colbert for the dinner thought the Colbert Report was making fun of liberals.



It's possible the people that were studied were unaware of the Correspondence Dinner.
 
Colbert has admitted many times that "Sir Dr. Stephen Colbert" is just a character. The fact that some conservatives actually tried to align themselves with some of his comedy is either satire itself, or plain obliviousness.
Maybe it was just name-dropping for attention.
 
skeptigirl said:
It would be interesting if the people who scheduled Colbert for the dinner thought the Colbert Report was making fun of liberals.
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It doesn't just work one way, skeptigirl. I find Prison Planet/Infowars' Alex Jones to be one of the best entertainers in the media today. I don't think he's necessarily making fun of gun nuts and conspiracists but he sure gives them an opportunity to make idiots out of themselves. Glen Beck calls himself a rodeo clown but people still take him seriously.

And don't ignore the regular appearance of celebrities hired to hawk politics on all sides of the political spectrum.

Isn't it a version of the Epimenides Paradox when a comedian says: "I am being serious."
 
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