bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Elaboration Likelihood Model
Authors: Carpenter Christopher J.
Published: September 2020

The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) is a dual‐process model of persuasion. The ELM distinguishes between cognitive responses to persuasive messages that show high levels of cognitive elaboration (central processing) of the message arguments and those that show minimal cognitive elaboration (peripheral processing). Those using the latter type rely on simple cues that are not relevant to the quality of message arguments such as the number of the arguments or the credibility of the speaker. The model offers predictions concerning when each process will occur and outcomes of each process. The most recent addition to the model concerns the audience's meta‐cognitions regarding their confidence in their attitudes. Applications to other media psychology theories are discussed as well as criticisms of the ELM.
Expectancy Value Model
Authors: Babrow Austin S. , Kwitonda Jean Claude
Published: September 2020

Expectancy value models (EVM) explain attitudes (evaluation), decision, and volitional behavior as outcomes of dispassionate processing of beliefs associating attitude objects (including decisions and potential actions, and more) with perceived attributes. More specifically, the strength and evaluation of each association are combined across all beliefs to determine overall response. EVM are predicated on the assumption that people will form attitudes, make decisions, and act in ways that maximize subjective expected values. Numerous specific models have woven these ideas into a variety of competing causal structures, as scholars elaborated on the processes linking EV, decision, and action. For example, normative considerations, perceived behavioral control, and intention formation have been added to some models. Although EVM were among the most productive frames for research from the 1970s into the 1990s, with applications to a wide range of volitional behavior (e.g., political, health, consumer), use has declined in recent years, with most applications focusing on use of new media. Several limitations and corresponding developments of alternative psychological models, such as dual‐process theory, among others, account for these trends.
Fundamental Attribution Error
Authors: Hall Elizabeth Dorrance
Published: September 2020

This entry provides an introduction to the fundamental attribution error (FAE), the actor–observer hypothesis, and the process of making attributions about others' behavior. Introduced by Jones and Nisbett in 1971, the FAE captures the propensity of humans to attribute the behavior of others to their personality or internal characteristics rather than external circumstances. Situational and personality attributions are defined along with attributional biases such as the self‐serving bias. Next, three bases for attributions are explored: causal locus, stability, and control. Four causes of FAE are discussed, followed by the findings of a recent meta‐analysis that calls into question the claim that FAE and the actor–observer hypothesis are as robust as once believed.
Media Use, Sexual Identity, and Gender Identity
Authors: Bond Bradley J.
Published: September 2020

Media are particularly influential socialization agents for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals. LGBTQ individuals may garner information about sex and sexuality from the media that they cannot otherwise find, especially information about identity development, coping strategies, and community belongingness. LGBTQ individuals also develop role model and parasocial relationships with LGBTQ media celebrities and characters possibly because they lack other LGBTQ relational partners in their everyday, lived experiences. This entry further examines media use in the lives of LGBTQ individuals, first considering those who identify with nonheterosexual sexual identities (LGBQ) and then by considering those with gender variant identities referred to as transgender (T) throughout the entry. The entry focuses on identity‐related outcomes, the Internet as a medium, and transgender individuals as a unique audience. Recommendations for future research on new media technologies, news media, intersectionality, and longitudinal designs complete the entry.
Problematic Media Use: Games, Phones, and Internet
Authors: Marino Claudia
Published: September 2020

In the last ten years, Internet‐based media like social media and online video games have been proliferating in everyday lives along with the development of technologies like smartphones and tablets. The use of new media seems to be beneficial for the vast majority of users. However, research has indicated that problematic media use can constitute a potential mental health issue for a minority of users that emerges as new media proliferate and become important in people's lives. People may be defined as “problematic media users” to the extent to which media use pervades their everyday life, and they suffer any distress related to their use of media, including everyday cognitive failures, and lower subjective well‐being. The claim of clinicians who have started to treat Internet‐related problems during therapeutic sessions also has led researchers to investigate this new sociopsychological phenomenon. Because the Internet is a
medium
rather than an activity, a distinction could be drawn between Internet use as a problem in itself and specific activities that the Internet makes available and which may become problematic (i.e., online gaming and social media use) and that often happen through smartphone use. Smartphones constitute an easy tool for fulfilling the need to belong, to spend time, and to be connected. At the same time, smartphones represent a potential risk in that they allow users to engage in excessive and problematic use of several applications, like online video games and social networking sites which are, in turn, potentially addictive.
Social Media and Relationships
Authors: McEwan Bree
Published: September 2020

Social media, including platforms such as social network sites and online communities facilitated through social media platforms, enables communication within a variety of relationships. These relational types can include acquaintances, friendships, family, and romantic partners. As a masspersonal channel, social media helps people engage in relational development and relational maintenance to create networks of relational partnerships with varying degrees of tie strength. The relationships help social media users to develop social capital and potentially access social resources. Additional relational functions facilitated through social media include social support and social information seeking, or interpersonal electronic surveillance.
Social Media and Rumor
Authors: Lachlan Kenneth A.
Published: September 2020

As social media platforms continue to grow in popularity, they have gained status as legitimate sources for news and information. Unfortunately, their ubiquity and instantaneous access to information make them fertile ground for the dissemination of rumor and falsehoods. Evidence suggests that rumor and misinformation may be especially likely to emerge in social networks under conditions of high duress. Affective needs are especially powerful motivators for engaging in online rumor mongering.
MODE Model
Authors: Ellithorpe Morgan E.
Published: September 2020

The motivation and opportunity as determinants (MODE) model provides a framework for predicting and explaining when and how attitudes will predict behavior. The model is a dual‐process model, in that it offers two paths: one that relies primarily on spontaneous processes and one that relies primarily on deliberative processes. When motivation and opportunity to deliberate are both present, the model predicts that behavior will be determined by relatively deliberative attitude processes. When either or both motivation and opportunity are missing, the model predicts that behavior will be determined by relatively spontaneous attitude processes. This may lead to similar outcomes to the extent that spontaneous and deliberative processes are in agreement, but, when they diverge, the path will matter for predicting behavioral outcomes. The MODE model has been applied in a variety of contexts, including health decision‐making, prejudice and stereotyping, education, and political persuasion.
Norms
Authors: Rhodes Nancy
Published: September 2020

Social norms are agreed‐upon standards of behavior that may be implicitly or explicitly communicated to individuals in a given social group. Commonly studied norms include descriptive norms, which describe the prevalence of a behavior in a given context or social group, and injunctive norms, which describe the perceived social costs and benefits of engaging in a particular behavior in a given context. Perceived norms predict behavior, and injunctive norms appear to be a stronger predictor of behavior than descriptive norms. Theories that help to organize thinking and research about norms include the reasoned action approach, focus theory, and the theory of normative social behavior. Norms appear to develop from social interactions and from observing other people in real‐life situations or through the media. Exaggerated perceptions of the prevalence of risky behaviors such as drinking and smoking are related to the uptake of these behaviors in young people. Efforts to curb such risky behaviors by providing accurate prevalence information have met with mixed success. Research in this area has been challenged by a wide range of operational definitions of the concept of social norms, and this diversity of measurement tools makes comparing results across studies more complicated. Meta‐analyses of work in this area have generally found small to moderate effect sizes for the relationship of norms and behaviors.
Civic Engagement
Authors: Gotlieb Melissa R. , Edgerly Stephanie
Published: September 2020

This entry provides an overview of Robert Putnam's claims pertaining to trends in civic engagement, as well as theoretical and empirical responses to these claims. Using data from multiple large‐scale national surveys, Putnam provides compelling evidence of sharp declines in civic engagement and the erosion of social capital among younger generations of Americans. He identifies generational change and electronic media, in particular television, as the primary culprits driving this trend. Putnam's provocative claims have prompted more than two decades of scholarly research and debate and continue to hold relevance as the media landscape changes and evolves.
Eating Habits
Authors: Taylor Laramie D. , Acic Irena
Published: September 2020

Meta‐analyses have established a link between screen media use and obesity for children and adults, and strongly suggested that the link is explained by caloric intake. Media use has been found to alter eating behaviors in a number of ways. These include distraction, learning and priming, disinhibition, and social comparison. Television distracts user attention from both external and internal cues that normally signal them to stop eating. Commercials for food products and media personae provide information (expository and social) about foods and eating which, once learned, influences food choices. Watching mediated others eat and seeing mediated thin‐ideal bodies both produce disinhibitory effects on eating behaviors among restrained eaters. However, exposure to mediated thin‐ideal bodies has also been shown to lead to restrained eating for some viewers.
Physical Activity
Authors: Lu Amy Shirong , Hwang Jungyun
Published: September 2020

Physical activity refers to any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that results in energy expenditure above resting levels. There are multiple types of physical activities as differentiated by predominant physiologic effect. Physical activities can be measured by subjective and/or objective instruments. Physical activities have multiple health benefits and should be performed throughout the life span. The lack of such activity harms well‐being and growth. The U.S. population in general lacks adequate physical activities, and should try to reduce sedentary behaviors and improve physical activity. Although researchers have identified multiple related biological, psychosocial, and environmental factors, innovative approaches to enhance physical activity are still needed. Among the innovative intervention strategies, active video games serve as a helpful option. Coupled with narratives, there is growing evidence that they help to improve physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviors. In this context, three relevant behavior theories are discussed, theory of planned behavior, social cognitive theory, and self‐determination theory, as potential theoretical mechanisms for promoting physical activity using active video games and narratives. Additional empirical investigations are needed to maximize the health and well‐being potential of media technologies.
Disinhibition
Authors: Groves Christopher L. , Losser Michael Tylor R.
Published: September 2020

There are a number of reasons why individuals engage in socially undesirable behavior. These behaviors produce personally desirable outcomes, but most individuals restrain themselves from action in favor of longer‐term goals. Inhibiting behavior serves as a key psychological process that governs numerous transgressive acts such as risk taking, aggression, and other impulsive behaviors. A prominent social learning theory model of disinhibition details three phases during which self‐sanctioning processes fail to limit or prevent transgressive behavior. These include justifying the nature of the conduct, rationalizing the effects of the conduct, and focusing on characteristics of the victim. The model emphasizes the role that observing others plays in disinhibition and thereby speaks well to media influences. The effects of media on consumers' likelihood of disinhibiting behavior operate on each of these three stages. Passive media such as television shows and movies, as well as interactive media, such as video games, social media, and web browsing, operate in both broad and specific ways to affect processes that occur within each stage.
Media Use, Body Image, and Disordered Eating Patterns
Authors: Veldhuis Jolanda
Published: September 2020

Our contemporary Western society abundantly surrounds us with beauty ideals and perfect bodies. Both traditional media, like magazines and television, and newer, digital media technologies, like social media sites play a prominent role in conveying body ideals and setting aesthetic standards. Although standards of what is considered an ideal body seem to vary over time and cross‐culturally, ideal body characteristics of being thin and slender for women and muscular for men generally prevail in a Western context. Various theories like
sociocultural theory
clarify media's role in impacting media users' body image and eating patterns. Moreover,
internalization of body ideals
and
appearance‐based social comparison
with media figures function as important underlying processes in guiding this impact. Ample empirical evidence has confirmed the detrimental impact of media‐induced ideal body imagery on receivers' body image, such as experiencing body dissatisfaction, distorted body perceptions, and disordered eating. However, some inconsistencies in findings in the realm of media‐induced body perceptions research also exist: some empirical studies and theoretical perspectives point at more positive body image related effects of media use. For example, the technical affordances and possibilities of social media can be used to enhance and reinforce one's own appearance. Lastly, scholars call to investigate the interplay of ideal body portrayals
and
their direct verbal context in impacting media users' body image perceptions. That is, the impact of ideal body portrayals may be dependent on how the imagery is contextualized by, for example, verbal references and peer feedback, serving as a strategy to negotiate the effects from idealized body exposure.
Exergames, Energy Expenditure, and Obesity
Authors: Staiano Amanda E.
Published: September 2020

Exergames are digital games that require the player to engage in physical activity including upper or lower body movement. Traditionally played on a video game console via peripherals and/or infrared cameras, exergames are now being played on smartphones and attached to exercise equipment like stationary cycling. Numerous studies have demonstrated that playing exergames expends more energy than when players are at rest or when they are playing a traditional sedentary video game, though exergaming is less likely to reach intensity levels of authentic sports or other activities outside of game play like running. Exergaming typically involves light‐to‐moderate intensity physical activity though can reach levels of vigorous intensity physical activity. Randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that exergaming can help to attenuate weight gain or reduce body mass index among children and adolescents when used as a tool within a larger physical activity or weight management program. Additional support appears to be necessary to supplement exergame play to achieve longer‐term outcomes like weight management; these approaches may include adult coaching and peer or familial support/co‐play. In summary, exergaming is demonstrated as a tool to promote energy expenditure and to modestly reduce obesity, but the game itself does not appear to be sufficient to reduce obesity without complementary approaches.
Stages of Change
Authors: Kim Hye Kyung
Published: September 2020

This entry provides an introduction to the stages of change (SOC) model, developed by Prochaska and DiClemente in 1983, addressing its key assumptions, predictions, practical applications, as well as critiques and future directions for research on the model. The SOC model assumes that behavior changes occur in a cyclical manner, progressing and relapsing through five stages of change: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. It suggests specific intervention strategies tailored to the audience's stages of change and predicts that stage‐matched interventions are more effective than stage‐mismatched interventions. The SOC model serves as a useful segmentation tool for tailored health interventions based on the audience's readiness to change.
Effects of Media on Sexual Behaviors
Authors: Laporte Helene , Rousseau Ann , Eggermont Steven
Published: September 2020

Mainstream media, including traditional media and pornography, heavily portray visual and verbal references to sexual activities and relationships. Such sexual media content varies from subtle and suggestive (e.g., sexist comments, general sexual behavior) to explicit (e.g., pornographic scenes). In addition, individuals can create sexual content themselves. User‐generated content (i.e., sexting) therefore significantly includes sexual references as well. These various types of sexual content may influence sexual behavior in different ways. Sexual content in traditional media generally follows sexually objectifying gender scripts and emphasizes sex as risk‐ and responsibility‐free, and non‐committed. Overall, sexual media consumption is positively related to sexual experiences, and general and sexual risk behavior. Mainstream pornography strongly represents sexual activities as violent and aggressive, objectifying, and degrading, and resolutely skews away from intimacy and safe sex practices. In general, a positive link emerges between mainstream pornography consumption and sexual aggression, while evidence regarding risky sexual behavior and sexual experiences is mixed. With respect to user‐generated content, sexting has predominantly been associated with sexual risk behavior and engagement in various sexual activities. It is important to note that a multi‐component perspective on sexual media behavioral outcomes should be adopted when examining the relation between sexual media content and sexual behaviors. First, the observed associations are oftentimes indirect and mediated by individual cognitions, attitudes, and beliefs. Second, the behavioral effects of sexual media are typically conditional: individual differences, contextual characteristics, and media‐related factors heavily influence the relationship. Third, sexual media exposure is one of many socializing agents shaping sexual behavior.
Cyberbullying in Childhood and Adolescence
Authors: Vandebosch Heidi
Published: September 2020

Cyberbullying is a relatively common phenomenon, especially among children and adolescents. Scholars have paid attention to the definition, measurement, and causes of cyberbullying; the profiles of bullies, victims and bystanders; and the potential impact of this specific form of online aggression. They have also pleaded for a multi‐stakeholder approach to address the problem.
Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model
Authors: Valkenburg Patti M.
Published: September 2020

The differential susceptibility to media effects model (DSMM) is an integrative model to better understand media uses and media effects. The DSMM identifies three types of susceptibility to media effects: dispositional, developmental, and social susceptibility. In addition, it explains which individuals are more susceptible to media effects than others, and how and why media effects can be minimal for most individuals but not so minimal for others.
Identification
Authors: Brown William J.
Published: September 2020

Identification is one of the most powerful forms of involvement that an individual can develop with a real or fictional character. In today's highly mediated world, most identification takes place in mediated communication contexts as opposed to face‐to‐face interactions. Identification is both a process and an outcome relating to mediated personalities. As media consumers, we identify with personae that we come to know through repeated exposure and real or imaginary interaction, especially those with whom we develop parasocial relationships. We also adopt the values, beliefs, and behavior of those we strongly identify with as they become role models for our own lives. Strong identification can be life changing and can lead to an even greater level of involvement called worship. This entry explores both the process and effects of identification, focusing on how media consumers form and develop relationships with mediated personae.
Third‐Person Effect
Authors: Tsay‐Vogel Mina
Published: September 2020

This entry provides an overview of third‐person effect (TPE), its research applications, its underlying theoretical mechanisms, conditions influencing the likelihood and magnitude of the effect, as well as its criticisms and implications. Third‐person effect is the tendency for individuals to estimate stronger effects of mass communication messages on others as compared to themselves. This perceptual bias in media influence has been argued to have behavioral consequences. Third‐person effect has been applied to a variety of media channels, message types, media genres, and media sources. The discrepancy in perceived media effect between self and others has largely been attributed to people's self‐serving bias, biased optimism, and schemas associated with media effects and perceived media exposure. Factors such as message desirability, source bias, social distance between self and referent others, ego‐involvement, knowledge, and age have been found to influence the strength of third‐person perception. Although there is robust empirical support for TPE, criticisms have been raised regarding TPE as a measurement artifact of question order and format, as well as the nature of this psychological distortion stemming from either an overestimation or underestimation of media's impact. Receiving less attention in the literature, the outcomes of TPE have been investigated in relation to the censorship of media content, corrective actions, willingness to publicly express opinions, and perceptions of public opinion.
Media System Dependency Theory
Authors: Kim Yong‐Chan
Published: September 2020

This entry reviews the historical background, assumptions, and theoretical propositions of micro‐level media system dependency theory (MSD) as adapted to empirically test associations between individual‐level variables. Micro‐level MSD theory was developed to explain the contingent, dynamic, and multilevel effects of mass media on individuals. Micro‐level MSD theory has developed theoretical propositions that address either the predictors or consequences of individuals' media dependency relationships. MSD has potential to evolve to explain the changing media environment.
Diffusion of Innovation
Authors: García‐Avilés José A.
Published: September 2020

This entry introduces Everette M. Rogers's theory of the diffusion of innovations, some of its research applications as well as its main criticisms. Rogers analyses the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system, which is presented as a sequence of stages, labeled as awareness, interest, persuasion, decision, adoption, and confirmation. The continuum of innovativeness is divided into five adopter categories (innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards) based on observations of reality, and designed to make comparisons possible. Rogers's theory provides a useful framework for understanding how innovations are implemented in organizations and his model has been widely used in communication, management, health, and education studies.
Acculturation and the Role of Media in Socialization
Authors: Park Namkee
Published: September 2020

This entry describes the study of acculturation emphasizing the role of media in socialization. It highlights that interpersonal communication and mass media use have been two key parts in the process of acculturation when immigrants or international students move from one culture to another culture. In terms of explaining the role of media, previous studies have employed two different approaches: the unidimensional approach and the bidimensional approach. Early studies in general supported the unidimensional approach indicating that the use of host media, and reducing the use of ethnic media, facilitated fast and smooth transition to a new culture, while sticking to ethnic media retarded cultural adaptation. As the Internet and social media have become more prominent in recent years, the bidimensional approach is demonstrating more explanatory power in that immigrants or international students can maintain the balance between adopting a new culture and sustaining their cultural origin and identity. Some studies, however, have suggested that either approach cannot be universally applied to the acculturation contexts. Although the Internet and social media have played an integral role in the process of acculturation, it should be noted that the role of mass media, especially television viewing, can still be essential for immigrants or international students to understand the host society's values, norms, and behaviors, particularly in the initial stages of acculturation. Finally, suggestions for future research are discussed.
Drench and Drip Hypothesis
Authors: Bahk C. Mo
Published: September 2020

The drench hypothesis postulates impressive (i.e., drench) effects rather than cumulative (drip‐drip‐drip) effects of media messages on the audience, especially focusing on fictional media. Bradley Greenberg's drench hypothesis posits that some fictional characters or presentations can have intense effects on some viewers. The drench effects model of fictional media (DEMFM), as its recent theoretical refinement stresses the role of four constructs: media involvement, perceived realism, role affinity, and subject novelty. In this entry, the theoretical rationales for drench hypothesis are expounded by presenting boxing and painting analogies as well as reviewing relevant literature. The model maintains that fictional media can generate drench (impressive) impacts on viewers who exhibit high levels of media involvement, perceived realism, role affinity, and subject novelty.
Objectification
Authors: Karsay Kathrin
Published: September 2020

Research on objectification and dehumanization deals with the question: Under what conditions is a person perceived as human? Following on from this, researchers have examined to what extent one's perception of a person differs from one's perception of an object. Additionally, researchers studied the denial of human nature and human uniqueness. This entry provides an overview of the key concepts in this area of research, namely objectification, sexual objectification, self‐objectification, and dehumanization. Within the field of media psychology, researchers have investigated the types and extent of objectification in mass media as well as its consequences for media users. Empirical evidence from content analyses suggests that objectification is a widespread media phenomenon that has been identified in a large number of media types and genres. Findings also indicate that the use of objectifying media can negatively affect individuals' self‐perception (i.e., lead to self‐objectification) as well as their perceptions of and attitudes towards others.
Contagion via Media Use
Authors: Levens Sara M. , Brunswick Michael , McCue Matthew , Gallicano Tiffany D. , Shaikh Samira
Published: September 2020

This entry identifies the research area of information diffusion, provides historical context and reviews current directions. It identifies the factors that affect diffusion and virality of messages, tying into existing influential frameworks. It also reviews how message content, specific social media behaviors, and the status of the sender (in terms of their friends and followers counts) may have the potential to affect information contagion. The entry concludes with a discussion of recommended next steps in research.
Entertainment‐Education
Authors: McClaran Nikki
Published: September 2020

Entertainment‐education is the communication strategy of disseminating persuasive messages through entertainment media in order to positively influence audience beliefs and behaviors. To date, entertainment‐education has been observed in a variety of cultural contexts concerning health, environmental, and sociocultural issues. Entertainment‐education is thought to be effective practically, by spreading prosocial content through a widely consumed media, and theoretically, by allowing the advocated behavior and its effects to be modeled while also counteracting potential audience resistance via narrative and character absorption. This entry provides a historical overview of entertainment‐education, its application and theoretical underpinnings, in addition to reviewing some current criticisms and proposed research agendas.
Hostile Media Effect
Authors: Perloff Richard M.
Published: September 2020

The hostile media effect (HME), with its emphasis on the power of contemporary perceptions, provides a novel way to view media effects. In a critical examination of the HME more than three decades after its conceptualization, this entry reviews evidence in support of the effect, as well as key moderators, mediators, and consequences. It examines the HME's relevance to a social media era that differs dramatically from the mass media era in which the HME was conceived, but, in its capacity to evoke biased perceptions, bears striking, uncanny similarities to the mass media age of yore.
Construal Level Theory
Authors: Ellithorpe Morgan E.
Published: September 2020

Construal level theory predicts that information processing outcomes depend at least in part on the psychological distance involved—that is, how near or far an object is in terms of time (temporal distance), location (spatial distance), socially (social distance), and/or probabilistically (hypothetical distance). Psychologically distant objects tend to involve processing at high levels of construal, meaning that they are considered in more abstract ways, whereas psychologically close objects tend to involve processing at low levels of construal, meaning that they are considered more concretely. Level of processing has implications for cognitive outcomes in a variety of contexts related to media psychology, including but not limited to self‐control and resource depletion, risk assessment, health decision‐making, consumer behavior, decisions relating to morality, politics, and science, and perceptions of social groups.
Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Effects and Media Use
Authors: Perfumi Serena Coppolino
Published: September 2020

The social identity model of deindividuation effects (SIDE model) provides an important lens through which Internet researchers can study computer‐mediated interactions. The theoretical model aims at bringing further the discussion around the construct of deindividuation, by proving under which conditions it can actually lead to group conformity, and it does so by testing and contextualizing it in online environments, where different degrees of anonymity, one of the conditions that can induce deindividuation, are present. The SIDE model contrasts with previously developed models on deindividuation by declaring that this state can actually enhance the tendency to categorize oneself in terms of the group, rather than at the individual level, and, therefore, by making the social norms more salient, it can trigger conformity responses. This model is particularly important in explaining the dynamics that can take place when individuals communicate via computer or, for example, utilize social media platforms.
Gender Identity
Authors: Gillig Traci
Published: September 2020

This entry provides an overview of the evolution of gender identity representations in mass media and the measurement of gender identity in media psychology, providing critiques and future directions for representation, measurement, and research. Historically, gender identities beyond a male–female binary were largely invisible in popular media. The “transgender tipping point” of 2014 represented the emergence of transgender identities and subsequent introduction of nonbinary and other gender identities. As more nuanced terms describing individuals' experiences with gender have increased, means for measuring the presence of such identities, as well as audiences' attitudes toward them, have advanced. However, opportunities for continued improvement in representation and measurement exist.
Prototype Willingness Model
Authors: Gibbons Frederick X. , Gerrard Meg
Published: September 2020

The prototype willingness model (PWM) was created in an attempt to improve the predictive validity and translational utility of existing expectancy value theories that have often been applied to health behavior (e.g., the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior). It is a dual‐process model that maintains that decision‐making regarding health risk behavior is often more reactive—a response to situations that offer risk opportunity—than reasoned, and that this is especially true among adolescents. Research and theory discussed in this entry suggests that the PWM and, more generally, dual‐processing theories, can facilitate understanding of the impact of media on decision‐making; again, especially among adolescents. More specifically, the two central elements of the PWM, prototypes or social images and behavioral willingness, can be seen in all types of media—entertainment, advertising, social—and so the model offers a useful framework for examining and understanding how media affects behavior. The entry concludes with a discussion of ways in which the PWM can be used to alter some of the potentially harmful aspects of these different types of media, while promoting more salutary effects.
Social Comparison Theory
Authors: Kretz Valerie Ellen
Published: September 2020

Social comparison theory suggests that individuals routinely compare themselves to others. As suggested by Buunk and Gibbons, the theory has been developed numerous times since Festinger proposed it in 1954. Those developments inform the current understanding of social comparison, including upward and downward comparisons with assimilation or contrast effects. The process of making comparisons is regarded as social cognition. Different types of comparisons are employed to fulfill three distinct motivations—self‐evaluation, self‐enhancement, or self‐improvement—and there are individual differences in the extent to which people make social comparisons. Social comparison theory has been applied within the study of media psychology, addressing topics such as selective exposure and media effects. Examples within media effects research include media exposure and body image, media use and materialism, and social media use and well‐being.
Media Practice Model
Authors: McAuslan Pam
Published: September 2020

The media practice model (MPM) considers how early lived experience (including gender, ethnicity and race, as well as family and peer influences) and individual characteristics associated with a young person's developing identity relate to media practice—how a person selects, interacts with, and applies media in their life. The MPM considers media effects but goes beyond a simplistic media effects perspective to suggest that the relationships between elements are complex. The five primary elements of the model are early lived experience, identity, selection, interaction, and application. Early lived experience is thought to have an overarching influence on identity and media practice. Identity refers to motivations and aspects of self‐image that influence how young people seek out, attend to, and interact with media. Interaction is focused on cognitive, affective, and behavioral engagement with media. This includes how a person comprehends, interprets, and evaluates media content. Application refers to how young people incorporate (or resist incorporating) popular media culture into their developing identities, attitudes, and behaviors. The original model was developed and refined using in‐depth multimethod qualitative strategies. Subsequently, the MPM has been used as foundation for a growing body of qualitative and quantitative research to examine adolescent and emerging adult media practice as it relates to sexuality, religiosity, substance use, and violence in relationships. Future research should consider media production and use longitudinal methods to more fully explore the direction of relationships between the elements.
Social Cognitive Theory
Authors: Nabi Robin L. , Prestin Abby
Published: September 2020

As a foundational theory in the field of social psychology, social cognitive theory has garnered substantial attention from media psychologists for decades. However, despite the enthusiasm with which media scholars have embraced social cognitive theory, careful testing of the theory's tenets within the context of media effects processes has been limited. This entry provides some brief historical context of social cognitive theory; overviews the theory's primary assumptions, concepts, and predictions; and reviews the extant media effects research in which the theory has been applied. Discussion of its application in new media contexts and possible fruitful directions for future research are also addressed.
Piagetian Accounts of Child Development in Media Research
Authors: WartellA Ellen , Pila Sarah
Published: September 2020

This entry describes Piagetian accounts of child development in media research both in the past and in more recent years. It first outlines the fundamental principles of Piaget's cognitive development theory then reviews the research literature on children's understanding of media content using Piagetian theory. The entry covers research on both older technologies (e.g., television) and newer technologies (e.g., computers and touchscreens). It ends with the critiques of Piaget's theory and concludes with implications for future research on children's understanding of media using Piaget as a framework.
Social Development Theory in Media Research
Authors: Beaudoin‐Ryan Leanne
Published: September 2020

We live in media‐saturated environments. As such, parents, caregivers, and teachers often struggle with finding a healthy balance when it comes to exposure to media and interactive technology, both at home and in the classroom. Using Vygotsky's sociocultural theory as a lens, this entry proposes that reasonable exposure to media and interactive technology can be beneficial to early learners, by both directly and indirectly enhancing cognitive development and traditional learning experiences. Specifically, research has reliably shown that media and interactive technology can positively influence learning within a child's zone of proximal development directly, by serving as a more knowledgeable other with the ability to scaffold conceptual information.
Traditional and “New Media” Forms and Political Socialization
Authors: Ohme Jakob , de Vreese Claes
Published: September 2020

Media are an important pillar of political socialization, that is, the way a person learns about the function of democratic principles and institutions in their formative years and beyond. Changes in the social and media environment affect the way new citizens become politically socialized. With the emergence of social media, communication changed toward a socially networked, algorithmic, and highly personalized environment. This new,networked communication logic, in which information is shared, ubiquitously accessible, and aligned to personal interests, reshapes the mechanisms through which media use can impact political socialization outcomes. While cultivation of universal perceptions in the population through mass media becomes less likely, political role models, previously found mostly in mass media, can now be met in citizens' own online communities. In the background of this new logic, research has started to model socialization outcomes as a process, rather than treating them as simultaneous and equivalent results of media use, for example, by investigating how media effects on political participation are mediated through the development of citizenship norms. This entry sheds light on the interplay of networked media use and socialization outcomes and explains how a networked communication logic attenuates traditional patterns of political socialization.
Integrated Model of Media Enjoyment
Authors: Halfmann Annabell , Vorderer Peter
Published: September 2020

This entry offers an introduction to the model of complex entertainment experiences and some of its research applications, as well as later developments and future directions for research on entertainment. The model describes enjoyment as the main experience of exposure to entertainment media and provides an integrated view of entertainment. Enjoyment is conceptualized as a complex and multifaceted experience that includes physiological, affective, and cognitive dimensions. With this theoretical contribution, Vorderer and colleagues aimed to improve the understanding of entertainment premises. Their main assumption is that an interplay between user characteristics, motives, and the particular media determines enjoyment. The model also lists specific effects of entertainment (e.g., learning) that are assumed to influence the prerequisites of and motives for future entertainment experiences.
Media Enjoyment as Attitude
Authors: Zhao Danyang , Janicke‐Bowles Sophie H.
Published: September 2020

Media enjoyment was conceptualized as an attitude composed of affective, cognitive, and behavioral dimensions that influence one another. Based on the original account of the conceptualization, this entry introduces the tripartite enjoyment‐as‐attitude perspective and explains how past research and existing literature support each of the three components of enjoyment as attitude. It also discusses how enjoyment predicts behaviors such as media exposure and content‐related actions from theoretical perspectives in media effects and the attitude literature. Empirical testing of this perspective on enjoyment and recommendations for future research and theoretical development are discussed.
Affective Disposition Theory and Disposition Theory
Authors: Raney Arthur A.
Published: September 2020

Affective disposition theory (ADT) explains how and why audience members enjoy entertainment narratives. More specifically, ADT describes (i) how viewers form affective dispositions toward media characters, (ii) how doing so triggers anticipatory emotional reactions to the unfolding events involving those characters, and (iii) how those emotional responses and the outcomes portrayed result in enjoyment. ADT contends that enjoyment increases the more characters experiencing positive outcomes are liked and the more characters experiencing negative ones are disliked. Conversely, enjoyment suffers the more characters experiencing negative outcomes are liked and the more characters experiencing positive outcomes are disliked. Morality and empathy play key roles in these processes.
Catharsis
Authors: Khoo Guan‐Soon , Adkins Brent
Published: September 2020

Although Western philosophers and psychologists have long been fascinated by the idea of catharsis, empirical evidence for its healing effects are inconsistent at best. Common definitions tend to describe the relief of strong or pent‐up emotions as central to catharsis. However, previous work in anger studies have shown that emotional arousal alone does not “vent” feelings of anger; instead, provoking angry feelings led to greater anger rather than relief. In media psychology, similar findings have been reported regarding the ineffective “purging” of sadness after such feelings were induced. In fact, since the latter half of the twentieth century, psychologists have largely rejected the idea that catharsis is a “medicinal” form of emotional venting because of the scant and often contradictory evidence. Looking back, the venting perspective appears to lack a key component: the cognitive processing of aroused emotions. The present entry reviews theories of catharsis and extant research and proposes an alternative conception of catharsis as a set of processes involving affective upheavals and emotion processing, which, in turn, could promote a sense of personal understanding and growth.
Extended Elaboration Likelihood Model
Authors: Ott Jared M. , Tan Naomi Q. P. , Slater Michael D.
Published: September 2020

The extended elaboration likelihood model (E‐ELM) builds upon the elaboration likelihood model by defining involvement with messages differentially across genres. Such a view is able to account for a wider variety of message processing motivations and subsequent persuasive outcomes. Specifically, it provides insights into audience processing of messages that are not overtly persuasive, such as entertainment narratives. The E‐ELM predicts that the processing of narrative content is generally driven by engagement with the storyline and characters, and persuasive effects of embedded messages are dependent upon absorption into such content. Meanwhile, didactic and information scanning goals characterize the instrumental processing of other informational messages, and lead to unique predictions for persuasive outcomes. The E‐ELM has been studied most widely in the context of entertainment narratives. While the E‐ELM has been studied most thoroughly in hedonic entertainment contexts, there are opportunities for further application into areas such as eudaimonic narratives and the processing of messages that may involve a combination of processing goals.