Evidence of balance theory as a predictive framework for character interdependence.
Across three studies, we examined how balance theory can be used to predict interdependent character evaluations. Leveraging the propositions of balance theory as suggested by Grizzard, Francemone et al. (2020), our findings demonstrate that moral information about a single character biases percepti...
| Published in: | Journal of Communication Vol. 76; no. 3; pp. 248 - 260 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press / USA
Jun2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=194431761&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 194431761 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00219916 JCO jtl: Journal of Communication issn: 00219916 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jun2026 vid: 76 iid: 3 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 194431761 10.1093/joc/jqaf025 ppf: 248 ppct: 12 formats: tig: atl: Evidence of balance theory as a predictive framework for character interdependence. aug: au: Francemone, C Joseph Grizzard, Matthew affil: School of Communication, The Ohio State University, Columbus, United States su: Balance theory (Social theory) Social theory Character Attitude change (Psychology) Affective disposition theory Cognitive balance sug: subj: Balance theory (Social theory) Social theory Character Attitude change (Psychology) Affective disposition theory Cognitive balance keyword: affective disposition theory balance theory character interdependence character networks copyrightHolder:International Communication Association copyrightYear:2026 inLanguage:en narrative publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqaf025 affective disposition theory balance theory character interdependence character networks copyrightHolder:International Communication Association copyrightYear:2026 inLanguage:en narrative publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqaf025 ab: Across three studies, we examined how balance theory can be used to predict interdependent character evaluations. Leveraging the propositions of balance theory as suggested by Grizzard, Francemone et al. (2020), our findings demonstrate that moral information about a single character biases perceptions and judgments of other characters within the same narrative. Beyond replicating binary comparative judgments between characters, similar to past work on character interdependence, we show that the relational information conveyed by a character network can reveal how interdependent effects between several characters will manifest. Specifically, our results demonstrate that characters are either contrasted or assimilated to one another based on the relationship valences communicated by the narrative's character network. Extrapolating from these findings, we discuss several aspects of character networks that should be considered to further develop the concept of character interdependence. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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