The emotional effects of positive and negative news through the default mode network

Abstract

News media can have a powerful effect on people’s physiology, thinking, and emotions. This study aims was to examine the effects of positive and negative news on optimism, pessimism, self.esteem, and depression. The survey covered students from the Department of Journalism of the University of Istanbul and involved 61 participants — 35 women and 26 men. While people from the first group were asked to read positive news, the second group read negative news. In order to measure the level of optimism and pessimism of our participants, they were asked then to choose at least four optimistic and pessimistic adjectives. Rosenberg Self. Esteem scale was used to determine changes in self.esteem and depression. Results suggested that people who read positive news were more optimistic about their future (M optimism = 5.92, SD = 1.75), and less pessimistic (M pessimism = .88, SD= 1.5). When people read negative news, they chose more pessimistic adjectives (M pessimism= 4.36, SD= 2.44), and fewer pessimistic ones (M optimism = 1.88, SD = 1.94). Moreovere, when people read positive news, they showed less signs of depression (M depression = 1.6, SD = .70) than when people read negative news (M depression = 3.06, SD = 1.37). Finally, we found no significant differences in the level of self.esteem when participants were exposed to positive and negative news.