englischHow do innovations spread across society? What role do communication channels play in this process? Which factors influence the successful diffusion of an innovation? What are the specifics of the diffusion of media innovations? How does news spread across society?

Diffusion theory deals [...]

englischMediatization is of the most successful yet most often discussed approaches used in media and communication studies. The issues of media change and societal change are central in this respect, with two traditions having developed, which examine the role of the media in our modern society in [...]

englischIn communication science, the priming approach sheds light on how media primes shape our ideas, opinions, or decisions. The textbook discusses the psychological roots of the approach, introduces the readings according to Iyengar/Kinder as well as Price/Tewksbury, distinguishes priming from [...]

englischHow can behavior be explained and predicted? How can it be changed? The theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior provide answers to these questions. This textbook, which is now available in a second, updated edition, provides a concise and understandable introduction to [...]

englischCase examples are a common stylistic device in journalistic writing. This volume, now available in its second edition, provides an overview of research into the effects of such examples on the general public’s attitudes and their conceptions of reality. In particular, this line of research [...]

englischHow do advertising and other attempts to influence affect opinions, attitudes, and behavior? The question “how persuasion works” is of still increasing importance for corporations and social science alike. The Elaboration Likelihood Model is one of the most prominent and most frequently [...]

englischThe ‘uses and gratifications’ approach is quintessential in media research and, at the same time, highly topical. Our need for communication is universal and unique, but expectations of what the media offers change as the media itself changes. If one wants to understand this more precisely, [...]

englischThe second edition of this textbook provides a profound yet easy to read introduction to the complex theory of the spiral of silence. Having been developed by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann since the 1960s, this theory endeavours to explain how the predominant opinions in a society change and how [...]

englischDo people prefer information that is consistent with their own attitude and avoid contradicting information? Which individual and societal effects arise of selective exposure to confirming information? These questions are examined in research on theories of consistency and selective [...]

englischDo depictions of violence in modern media trigger aggression? Are violent video games (partly) responsible for school shootings? There are often heated public discussions on these questions, but what insights have decades of research into this issue revealed? This book clearly and critically [...]