media dependency
The term media dependency refers to the setting of engagement responses among individuals and a particular medium or set of media. The process behind media dependency implies a sequence where individuals approach a media source because they are attracted by its content. In a later stage, when individuals seek out content influenced by individual differences, the individual evaluation of the appeal of the content takes place, and other social structures play a regulatory role. Audiences, media, and society establish relations of different degrees of dependence that are derived from different factors.
Individual needs play a major role in media dependency in the form of reward-related behaviors, personal goals, and personality traits. The existence of audience active search and ritualistic forms of consumption is also determined by contextual factors that include social stability, structural dependencies between media and other social systems, and interpersonal discourse networks.
This entry introduces the concept of media dependency through one of the most influential theories, the media dependency system model, and its relation to other theoretical frameworks such as uses and gratifications theory and the power dependency model. Effects and consequences of media dependency are examined, and examples of its application for the study of mass communications regarding the differences among media are highlighted.
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Media Dependency Models
Almost any functionalist media theory, whether it is depicting a mediated interpersonal communication process or a mass communication model, may incorporate media dependency as a variable. However, the term media dependency seems to be associated more often with theories such as the media system dependency (MSD) theory and uses and gratifications theory. In these theories, the influence of mass media and social systems is not a constant value, as they are articulated by the conventional or alternative way in which the audiences interact with them.
While the uses and gratifications model is basically an individual (or user)-centered model, MSD theory, first developed by Sandra Ball-Rokeach and Melvin DeFleur in 1976, goes further in differentiating the microlevels of interaction in relation to audiences and social groups. Uses and gratifications is a functionalist approach that explains audience behavior through individual reward. As a main component of MSD, individual media dependency shapes the relevance of the medium and is constructed through the satisfaction of an individualâs needs after its use. These needs can involve escapism, the search for information, or social utility.
The primary innovation of MSD theory is depicting a holistic system that includes the society as a determining element of the media effects on the audience. Society is not just a product of the interaction between different systems (such as political, economic, and recreational systems) but also an agent that may influence the audienceâs attitudes and beliefs. In that sense, Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur have defined MSD as a âtheory of media powerâ in opposition to theories focused on audience uses of media. MSD theory is influenced by power dependency theories and by the cultural studies approach most closely associated with Stuart Hall. These models share a focus on the ability of media to control information, create social realities, and negotiate social conflicts. Therefore, MSD explains two-way interactions between the media and individuals or interpersonal networks (the microlevel) and between the media and organizations or social systems (the macrolevel).
Effects and Consequences of Media Dependency Models
Despite acting in both directions, the consequences of the relations described by MSD theory can be mainly considered as intentional and directed. These include social and individual forms of understanding information, change in the audienceâs behavior or orientation, and play. Likewise, the consequences of media influence can be classified through the level of action.
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The MSD microlevel or individual effects can be defined as cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes. This definition seems to follow the classical tricomponent distinction of attitudes from social psychology proposed by Milton Rosenberg in the 1960s. Cognitive effects come from the formation of mental categories, beliefs, and values that can lead to ambiguity, or reduce it, while affective outcomes are a consequence of emotional responses. These effects are presented together with behavioral effects either in motor activity or in arousal response.
Moreover, there are reasons to believe that self-perceived media dependency is related to other individual cognitive variables such as media involvement, political participation, and/or trust in mass media. These variables could be related through multistep and hierarchical processes that are described in MSD theory. Thus, for example, people with greater political participation perceive themselves as less media dependent and tend to be more active in the way they seek out information from a variety of sources.
Applications and Media Specificity
The incorporation of the three-component attitudinal approaches in MSD theory makes it a useful tool for any study involving attitudinal changes. However, their application may vary depending on which social or cognitive variables are being considered. Under MSD theory, the degree of influence of a medium, or media dependency, tends to be high in periods of special social instability or social crisis. This is due to the hierarchical structure and the asymmetry of the dynamics described by the model. In a period of social crisis, the legitimacy of sources and access to a variety of contrasting opinions can be compromised. Therefore, the ability of opinion leaders to select information in a critical way will bias the rest of the process. That is one of the main reasons why MSD theory is often used in reflections on political communication and public opinion.
Marketing studies are another area relevant to MSD theory. These studies have used MSD theory as a way to quantify the influence of social and media environments on attitudes related to shopping behavior. Here, along with cognitive and affective variables, the choice of mass medium would play the most important role, with television and press the major focus of these studies. However, in recent years, Internet studies have grown considerably in relation to this area. Compared to other media, the Internet presents some unique features including its multichannel nature, its social function, and its use both for entertainment and to search for information. The interactive character of the Internet medium makes it the best example of active audiences, a common feature of all the communication models mentioned in this entry.
The original version of this article was published by SAGE Publications in The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society.