Literature list
Lecture 1 and 2: Introduction to media and adolescent development: blz 1 - 7
Valkenburg, P. M., Peter, J., & Walther, J. B. (2016). Media effects: Theory and research. Annual review of
psychology, 67, 315-338.
Five features of media effect theories
Selectivity: The two propositions of this paradigm are that (a) people only attend to a limited number of
messages out of the constellation of messages that can potentially attract their attention, and (b) only
those messages they select have the potential to influence them. Three factors influence social media
use:
o Dispositional factors: range from more distal and stable factors (e.g., temperament, personality,
gender) to more proximal and transient ones (e.g., beliefs, motivations, moods).
o Developmental factors: age-related comprehension schemata and experiences
o Social context factors: micro, meso, macro. Social influences can occur deliberately and overtly,
when institutions, schools, or parents restrict or regulate media use
Media properties as predictors: Three types of media properties may influence media effects:
o Modality: text, auditory, visual, audiovisual
o Content properties: violence, fearfulness, type of character, argument strength. Media effects
researchers typically assess the effectiveness of media content/messages from the
psychological reactions they elicit
o Structural properties: special effects, pace, visual surprises this may trigger our orienting
reflex to media; this reflex has been argued to instigate selective exposure
Media effects are indirect: The conceptualization of indirect media effects is important for two reasons.
First, intervening variables provide important explanations for how and why media effects occur, and
therefore they can be helpful when designing prevention and intervention programs. Second, ignoring
indirect effects can lead to a biased estimation of effects sizes in empirical research and thus of meta-
analyses. Three types of indirect effects:
o Media use itself acts as an intervening variable between pre-media-use variables
(development, dispositions, and social context factors) and outcome variables
o The cognitive, emotional, and physiological processes that occur during and shortly after
exposure act as mediators
o The third conceptualizes postexposure variables that may themselves be dependent variables
(e.g., attitudes and beliefs) as mediators of other postexposure variables
Media effects are conditional (afhangend van andere dingen)
o Models that propose conditional media effects share the notion that media effects can be
enhanced or reduced by individual difference and social context variables
o Conditional theories: uses-and-gratification, reinforcing spiral model, the conditional model of
political communication effects, elaboration likelihood model and the differential susceptibility to
media effects model
Media effects are transactional: Transactional theories assume reciprocal causal relationships between
characteristics of the media users, their selective media use, factors in their environment, and outcomes
of media quite complex and bases on three assumptions
o First, producers and receivers of media content/messages are connected through
communication technologies (e.g., radio, television, Internet) and engage in transactions
o Second, both producers and receivers of media content/messages influence each other and,
hence, both can change as a result of the media content/messages they produce or receive
o Third, transactions can be distinguished as interpersonal, that is, the transactions between
producers and receivers, and intrapersonal, that is, the transactions within the cognitive and
affective systems of the producers or receivers them selves
Computer-mediated communication theories
CMC theories often centered on questions such as whether, and how, certain characteristics of CMC,
such as anonymity or the lack of nonverbal (auditory or visual) cues, influence the quality of social
interaction and the impressions CMC partners form of one another
According to the model, CMC message creation encourages communication partners to present
themselves in optimal ways
CMC leads to more normative behavior than that of face-to-face groups
CMC can thereby even become hyperpersonal, that is, more intimate than offline communication
Mass self-communication and expression effects
Mass self-communication can potentially reach a global audience, but “it is self-generated in content,
self-directed in emission,” and it typically focuses on self-related information
In summary, the scarce research into CMC research in general and expression effects in particular
indicates that both intrapersonal (expression effects) and interpersonal (feedback) processes may affect
the self-presentation and self-concepts of senders and recipients of mediated communication. In
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, addition, both senders and recipients have specific dispositions that may prompt their media
consumption, shape their attention to the messages that are exchanged, and affect their interpretation
Conclusion
First, both media effects and CMC research have found their roots in theories that conceptualize effects
as powerful and direct processes, which have been metaphorically called a hypodermic needle or magic
bullet in media effects theories and technological determinism in CMC
Second, in the course of time, both subdisciplines progressed from a unidirectional receiver-oriented
view to transactional paradigms. Current theories in both subdisciplines acknowledge that individuals
shape and are shaped by their own selective use of media or communication technologies.
An important factor that hampers the field is that its object of study, media and technology, is a moving
target, a phenomenon that is continuously subject to change while we try to understand it.
There are more important technological trends that may influence one or more of the five features of
media effects theories identified in this review. First, communication technologies have become ever
more mobile. Not only has the time we spend with communication technologies increased significantly,
but also our tendency to media multitask. Not only may our media use be more selective, another trend
is that the media messages we receive are increasingly more selected for us. A final unmistakable trend
in communication technologies that may enhance the likelihood of media effects is the increasing lifelike
visualization in both mass communication and mass self- communication.
McHale, S. M., Dotterer, A., & Kim, J. Y. (2009). An ecological perspective on the media and youth development.
American Behavioral Scientist, 52(8), 1186-1203.
Abstract
Daily activities are both a cause and a consequence of youth development.
Research on youth activities directs attention to the processes through which daily activities may have
an impact on youth, including: (a) providing chances to learn and practice skills; (b) serving as a forum
for identity development; (c) affording opportunities to build social ties; (d) connecting youth to social
institutions; and (e) keeping youth from engaging in other kinds of activities.
Youth’s daily activities, in turn, both influence and are influenced by the multilayered ecology within
which their lives are embedded
In directing attention to (a) the nature of youth’s daily activities and (b) contextual influences on youth
development, an ecological perspective provides a framework from which to study the role of the media in youth
development.
Daily activities (molar activities) and youth development
Daily activities are a reflection of development in that the everyday lives of youth who differ in age or who
grow up in different places and times vary considerably are important influences on development in a
range of domains are both cause and consequence of development,
Weisner identified key dimensions of activity settings, including: (a) the nature of the “task,” or what
activities youth undertake (e.g., leisure versus instrumental activities; play video games versus do
homework); (b) the “personnel present,” or who else is involved in youth’s activities (i.e., are activities
undertaken alone? with peers? with adult supervision?); (c) the “cultural scripts” that are incorporated
into the activity, or how the activity is carried out (e.g., who initiates the activity; the kinds of social
interactions that characterize the activity); and (d) the “goal requirements” of the activity –particularly
socialization goals--or why the activity is carried out (e.g., to develop skills; to express rebellion; to keep
children occupied when adults are busy).
Daily activities have been described as:
o (a) an opportunity for knowledge and skill acquisition; daily activities are a forum for the
development of abilities ranging from cognitive/ intellectual to perceptual-motor, to social-
emotional competencies
o (b) a forum for self-expression and identity development; what children learn from their daily
activities is a building block in their identity development. In their daily activities youth can
develop and express a sense of self that is prosocial --or one that is anti-social. Youth may
choose free time activities as a means of expressing feelings of rebellion
o (c) a setting for building social ties; Youth’s activities may bring them into contact with peers
and adults who share their enthusiasms, and joint involvement in activities, in turn, may foster
feelings of closeness and affiliation which are central in psychological well-being
o (d) a chance to develop affiliations with social institutions; For instance, by participating on
school sports teams, student government, and the like, youth may develop a stronger sense of
affiliation with their school; these feelings, in turn, may motivate youth to achieve academically
as they come to assume the values and goals conveyed by their teachers and coaches and that
are symbolized by the school as an institution
o (e) given that time is finite, a constraint on involvement in alternative activities: In this way,
media-oriented activities may limit youth’s knowledge and skill development, their social
relationship development, and their direct contact with social institutions
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,Studying development in context
From this ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner), youth are seen as subject to contextual forces
ranging from the proximal influences that operate in their everyday activity settings, to increasingly distal
(and abstract) contextual forces. Importantly, from an ecological perspective, environments are not
entities, but rather reflect processes of influence.
From an ecological perspective, environments influence development largely by affording opportunities
or setting constraints on individuals’ everyday experiences and activities, and such processes should be
directly measured.
Bronfenbrenner and Morris describe such dispositional characteristics (boys like visual-spatial and girls
like social-relational) of individuals as “force characteristics” because they motivate behavior. “Resource
characteristics” refer to qualities such as abilities and expertise which likewise have an impact on
children’s activity involvement.
There is a passive correlation between children’s dispositions and their rearing environments demand
characteristics
Micro = proximal direct influence. The mesosystem refers to points of connection between children’s
everyday contexts = interconnected. Exo = indirect. Macro = refers to larger and more abstract
influences on youth development, including cultural values and attitudes and the nature of the political,
legal, and economic system. The chronosystem, influences change over time for reasons ranging from
individual development to secular change.
Methodological considerations and directions for future research
Bidirectional effects
o Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) analysis of the developmental significance of molar activities
highlighted that youth’s daily activities are both a reflection, or consequence of their prior
development, as well as an influence on later development
o We found a significant positive association between youth’s conduct problems at age 10 and
television time at age 12 meer problemen meer televisie maar effect niet andersom
Moving from social addresses to social processes
o Rather, they reflect social and other kinds of processes, and it is these processes that have
their impact on youth development. Research on youth activities, for example, has highlighted
that factors such as parental education and income or youth ethnicity and gender “explain”
differences in the amounts of time youth spend on particular activities
o Most of adolescents’ time spent watching television included family members
o The important point here is that what media activities youth engage in (e.g., Spanish versus
English language television), with whom they undertake media activities (with family; alone) and
why they engage in particular activities (due to boredom; to connect to their culture of origin)
should be directly measured
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, Limitations of main effect models
o From this perspective, influences on development are complex and multifaceted and unlikely to
be captured by analytic approaches that examine a litany of predictors, one-at-a-time
o Investigating in the moderational role of socio-cultural factors may be an important direction for
study.
Summary and conclusions
An ecological perspective also directs attention to contextual influences—conceptualized as processes
that provide opportunities for and constraints on youth’s activities—and the role youth play in their own
development by virtue of their dispositions, the reactions they evoke from others, their choices, and their
interpretations of their experiences.
Slater, M. D. (2015). Reinforcing spirals model: Conceptualizing the relationship between media content exposure
and the development and maintenance of attitudes. Media Psychology, 18(3), 370-395.
Abstract
The reinforcing spirals model (RSM) has two primary purposes. First, the RSM provides a general
framework for conceptualizing media use as part of a dynamic, endogenous process combining selective
exposure and media effects that may be drawn on by theorists concerned with a variety of social
processes and effects. Second, the RSM utilizes a systems-theory perspective to describe how patterns
of mediated and interpersonal communication contribute to the development and maintenance of social
identities and ideology as well as more transient attitudes and related behaviors, and how those
outcomes may influence subsequent media use.
The reinforcing spirals model seeks to understand media’s role in helping create and sustain both durable and
more transient attitudes, as well as behaviors associated with those attitudes. The model also addresses more
transient attitudes (e.g., about social policies, other social groups, specific behaviors) that may be associated with
identities, lifestyles, and ideologies. The RSM, therefore, provides a general theoretical framework regarding the
role of mediated (and, by logical extension interpersonal) communication experience from which other theorists
concerned with various social processes and effects can draw.
The RSM is similar to cultivation theory in some respects while differing in crucial ways. Cultivation
theory is concerned with the influence of elements of media content, such as a focus on crime and violence,
which are relatively uniform and disseminated broadly through society via major media broadcast outlets or
distribution channels. In contrast, the RSM is concerned with selection of differentiated media content consistent
with and reflecting the values of subgroups within a larger society, be they ideological, religious, or lifestyle-
focused.
The RSM draws from social identity theory, suggesting that media use in contemporary society is a
principal means by which such social and personal identities are maintained. The RSM in some technical
respects is similar to the spiral of silence theory with respect to a focus on dynamic, iterative processes, but
comes to nearly opposite conclusions regarding the role of contemporary media in the development and
sustenance of minority opinions and beliefs. Finally, the RSM combines a systems theory perspective on the role
of media in formation and maintenance of attitudes and related behaviors with theorizing about social cognitive
mechanisms that can explain the model’s proposed dynamics.
Reinforcing spirals model: a brief summary
A fundamental proposition of the RSM is that media use serves as both an outcome variable and a
predictor variable in many social processes. Another premise of RSM is that the process of media
selection and effects of exposure to selected media is dynamic and ongoing.
This process has been illustrated in its simplest form as a process in which one can see predictive paths
from media content exposure to attitudes and behaviors, and from attitudes to media content exposure,
at any time point. A true positive feedback loop would lead to extremes of media use, attitudes, and
behavior that one sees only in highly atypical cases such as fundamentalists and zealots of various
stripes; terrorists of course come to mind.
The RSM therefore is concerned both with identifying those unusual contexts in which such feedback
loops may range out of control, and with understanding the normal process, in which homeostasis is
reached. The reinforcement and maintenance of media content selection and effects may be considered
a homeostatic process or negative feedback loop (i.e., operating much as a thermostat does). The RSM
argues that when social identity is under threat (during political campaigns or other times when rival
ideologies are becoming salient, or at times of economic or social strain), selective use of attitude- and
identity-consistent content should increase until a satisfactory equilibrium is reached. When identity
threats are diminished, such selectivity can be reduced. Exposures to competing worldviews come
through mediated and interpersonal experiences.
The RSM points out that if one is concerned with understanding media’s relevance to identity-relevant
attitudes, such as values and ideology, the reinforcement argument is a sensible one. Moreover, while
these reinforcement arguments are typically described in texts as theories of limited media effects, such
socialization and reinforcement effects are of fundamental social importance. Moreover, media exposure
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