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 [...]

englischDo pictures on television affect our perception of reality? Cultivation research has been dealing with this question since the 1970s. Through a systematic comparison of heavy and light television viewers, cultivation researchers explore how television shapes long-term perceptions of social [...]

englischOne of journalists’ key tasks is to decide which events are worth being covered in news reports. How do journalists deal with the vast flood of information which their editorial offices receive every day? What criteria do they employ to make such decisions and what determines the value of an [...]

englischWhy do we assume that others are heavily influenced by the media, indeed even more so than we are ourselves? What effects does this assumption have on our own thinking and behaviour? Research into the third-person effect, which by now is regarded as one of the key concepts in research [...]

englischWhy do humans deal with certain problems and ignore others? Why does politics address certain issues and neglect others? Why do certain subjects suddenly become irrelevant after having been the focus of public discussion? The concept of ‘agenda setting’ provides answers to these questions. [...]

englischHow do we interact with newsreaders, stars and other media figures who appear on television and in other forms of the media? How do our relationships to them develop? Research on parasocial interaction and relationships strives to answer these questions. The second edition of this textbook [...]

englischWhat are opinion leaders? How do they exert social influence? What effects do they have on the formation of opinions? How is opinion leadership in online contexts different from opinion leadership in direct social interaction?

This book presents an overview of opinion leadership as a social [...]

englischGatekeeping is one of the most prominent approaches of news selection. Originally, the approach focuses on the question what information is selected by journalists for public distribution via mass media and which factors are affecting this information selection. New and diverse forms of [...]

englischMany people spend a considerable amount of their time using media. Presence denotes the experience of being in this mediated environment – either alone or with some other (human) being, even when one is physically situated in another. In a similar vein, involvement denotes the intense [...]

Besteht die sogenannte Mediengesellschaft aus gut informierten Bürgern? Geht mit der Verfügbarkeit des Internets ein Abbau von Wissensdifferenzen einher? Der Band gibt eine fundierte, knappe und anschauliche Einführung in die theoretischen Grundlagen, methodischen Zugänge, empirischen Befunde und [...]

Wie nutzen Menschen die Medien im Alltag? Und wie werden Medien alltäglich? D.h. welche Prozesse der Einordnung dieser ursprünglichen „Fremdkörper“ in die vorhandenen Wertewelten, die existierenden Routinen, etc. finden statt? Diese Fragen beschäftigen den Domestication- bzw. Domestizierungsansatz. [...]

Der Band gibt einen aktuellen Überblick über alle relevanten Aspekte der Beziehung zwischen PR und Journalismus. Theorien und empirische Studienergebnisse werden durch Praxisbeispiele und Kurzinterviews mit wissenschaftlichen Autoren und Praktikern aus PR und Journalismus ergänzt. Ziel ist es, [...]