The Power of Valence: How News Media Shape Attitudes Toward Transgender and Gender Diverse People

ABSTRACT Media representations of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people have become more frequent and have the potential to influence how readers feel and think about them. Across two experimental studies, we tested how news articles featuring positive, negative, and neutral representations of TGD people and issues influence the attitudes of cisgender people toward TGD people. Study 1 ( N = 730; between‐participants) revealed an indirect effect of the articles' valence on cognitive attitudes through the mediation of feelings: an article with positive valence increased positive feelings, which in turn increased positive cognitive attitudes toward TGD people. Study 2 ( N = 387; mixed between‐ and within‐participants) showed that an article with negative valence directly worsened cognitive and affective attitudes toward TGD people compared to baseline attitudes (measured 1 week before). Stronger positive feelings were linked to more positive cognitive, behavioural, and affective attitudes, while stronger negative feelings were linked to more negative affective attitudes. However, emotional responses varied according to participants' pre‐existing attitudes. These results highlight the importance of valence in news media representations of TGD people by documenting how feelings elicited upon reading articles can influence attitudes toward them.