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Valkenburg et al. (2016): Media effects: theory and researchMedia and technology → moving target.
Media use: the intended or unintended selection of media types, content and technologies.
(Mass) media effects: the deliberate and non-deliberate short- and long term within-person
changes is cognitions (including beliefs), emotions and attitudes, and behavior that result
from media use.
Mass-self communication (e.g. social media): increased individualization and
personalization of media use. Media users select media content to serve their own needs,
regardless of whether those needs match the intent of the generator. There is a focus on the
effects of media generation on the generators themselves.
Computer mediated communication theories (CMC): the first generation of CMC theories
tried to compare the “lean” test only application such as email and online discussion boards
with the presumably richer face-to-face communication.
Current theories of media effects and CMC acknowledge that individuals shape and are
shaped by their own selection use of media or communication technologies.
Based on the context-congruence hypothesis it is to be expected that comments from like-
minded coviewers may enhance selective processing of media content, and hence, media
effects.
Five features of media effects theories
Feature 1: selectivity of media use
a. People only attend to a limited number of messages out of the constellation of
messages that can potentially attract their attention.
b. Only those messages they select have the potential to influence them.
Individuals, by shaping their own selective media use, also partly shape their own media
effects.
● Dispositional factors: disposition that may lead to selective media use range from
more distal and stable factors (e.g. temperament, personality, gender) to more
proximal and transient ones (e.g. beliefs, motivations and mood).
● Developmental factors: individuals typically prefer media content that is only
moderately discrepant from their age-related comprehension schemata and
experiences.
● Social context factors: social influence can occur deliberately and overtly, when
institutions, schools, or parents restrict or regulate media use. Social influence can
also occur more covertly, through an individual's perception of the prevailing norms in
the groups to which they belong (e.g. family, peer clique, subcultures).
Feature 2: media properties as predictors
Three types of media properties may influence media effects: modality (e.g. text, auditory,
visual, audiovisual), content properties (e.g. violence, fearfulness, type of character,
argument strength), and structural properties (e.g. special effects, pace, visual surprises).
,Feature 3: media effects are indirect
● Intervening variables provide important explanations for how and why media effects
occur, and therefore they can be helpful when designing prevention and intervention
programs.
● Ignoring indirect effects can lead to a biased estimation of effects sizes in empirical
research and thus of meta-analyses.
Feature 4: media effects are conditional
Models that propose conditional media effects share the notion that media effects can be
enhanced or reduced by individual difference and social context variables.
Feature 5: media effects are transactional
Transactional theories assume reciprocal causal relationships between characteristics of the
media users, their selective media use, factors int their environment, and outcomes of
media.
Important technological trends that may influence the five features of media effects
theories
● Communication technologies have become ever more mobile. This has altered our
media use (increasing time we spend with communication technologies and
increased tendency to multitask).
● The media messages we receive are increasingly more selected for us.
Personalization of media allows media users to select their own media content.
Through personalization, corporations attempt to drive selective exposure (feature 1).
Personalization may increase the cognitive and emotional engagement of media
users (features 2 and 4), and by this route, it can enhance media effects.
● Increasing lifelike visualization in both mass communication and mass self-
communication. Display devices (Instagram/3D movies) provide users with a strong
degree of sensory richness because they make them think and feel that the
environments respond to their action and that users themselves are the source of
changes to their environment.
Reading questions Valkenburg et al. (2016)
What do the authors mean with indirect media effects? Give an example of such
effects in health campaigns.
You see a certain message on Facebook, e.g., smoking is bad for you.This will affect your
attitudes and beliefs. This in turn will influence if you are going to smoke or not. The change
in attitudes and beliefs is the indirect effect.
How can priming theory or framing explain that certain health campaign messages
influence individuals’ behavior?
Priming theory
● Media messages are perceived in relation to our previous preconception and beliefs
● Our beliefs and preconceptions can bias our view/perspective.
● You do not change the context; you trigger the person.
● The answer to the question is influenced by the accessibility in the head, not by the
way of presenting the information.
● Depends on the memory.
, ● Example: priming with smell; you smell something with oranges, then you will think it
is healthy.
Framing theory
● Framing is presenting a message in a particular context/frame to influence the
perception of the user.
● Either increasing or decreasing the likelihood of certain interpretation.
● You change the context of the message.
● The answer to the question is influenced by the context that is given.
● Depends on the way the information is presented.
● Example: burger 75% fat free vs. burger with 25% fat.
Example: pictures on cigarette packets create a shock effect for smokers (this is an example
of framing). As a smoker, you are confronted with the consequences of smoking.
What do the authors mean with conditional media effects and give an example of such
an effect?
A conditional effect means that the outcome is dependent on the situation; individual
differences may change the strength of the association. When your family plays a lot of
violent games and you see an article in the news about violence in your neighborhood you
will see this as not very violent. And also the other way around: when you grew up in a very
safe environment and neighborhood you will see the article as very violent.
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