| We are entering an era of increasing globalization. Countries are connected, cultures are colliding, and rules are changing faster than people can adapt. China has emerged, looming large on the horizon, as a visible challenge to the dominant political and economic position that the United States had held for a half-century. Media technologies play a large role in people's understanding of this process through the selective distribution of information; media sources vary in the way they emphasize, package and transmit content and this influences the meaning to the receiver.;We rely on the information in the environment to construct the core beliefs that define our view of the world and of ourselves. Although information is supplied by multiple sources, if we rely on one source of information more than others, that source should influence our core beliefs more than others should. Core beliefs are central to the development of individual and group behaviors. Scholars have identified several core beliefs---vulnerability, superiority, distrust, injustice, and helplessness---that function at both the individual and group level as predictors of conflict.;The purpose of this dissertation to address a gap in the literature on belief formation and conflict by looking at the impact of an individual's preferred sources of information on the individual's set of core beliefs that predict conflict.;Online surveys were completed by 418 participants before and 478 participants after the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Demographics approximated the U.S. Census for a population between 18 and 44 years of age with a high school education. The results revealed that individual explanatory style and media choices based on political views and content tended to predict beliefs about the U.S. and Americans in the domains of vulnerability, distrust, injustice, and superiority. Measures of group affiliation, viewing China as an adversary, and endorsement of aggressive conflict styles were stronger for those who endorsed higher levels of group level vulnerability, injustice, and conservative political views. There was no significant change in core beliefs or media use preferences from before to after the Olympics, however perceptions of China as an enemy and China's media as inaccurate increased significantly.;Keywords: media impact on core beliefs, media impact on conflict, American perceptions of China, 2008 Olympics, country image, international conflict... |
