Psychophysiological Methods in Media Research

Abstract

Already in the seventies, the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) report on media research in the United States documented dominance of psychological work. Regarding the design of investigations in this psychological field, laboratory experiments (mainly focusing on short-time effects) have been standing beside field studies (investigating associations between variables over longer periods of time). Interpretation of results is interfered by the influence of intervening variables in the social context (this is one reason why correlative contingencies generally do not permit causal interpretation). In most cases, these studies lack a principal theoretical concept. TV reception behavior is studied in an isolated fashion and taken out of the social context; the respective social environment of the individual is ignored. So one gets stuck in interpretation of isolated, artificial, and short-term effects; a reproach that hits empirically oriented social science in many fields. This critique should lead to expanding and enhancing of the empirical methodology, aiming at a plurality of methods. Overlaps, conformities and similarities with other scientific disciplines should contribute to developing new approaches and techniques and to sustaining the relevance of existing methods.