Media Priming: A Synthesis

Abstract

The focus of research on media priming has shifted. Twenty years ago, research addressed the straightforward study of the influence of media content on people’s thoughts, beliefs, judgments, and behavior. During the last 20 years, the emphasis among media scholars has moved toward the development of theories that specify the psychological mechanisms by which the media exert their influence. In other words, research has shifted from whether media priming exists to how media priming works. In this chapter we discuss the few empirical tests of media priming. We also consider explanations of media priming from the standpoints of mass communication and psychology. We conclude by arguing that using traditional psychological explanations of priming (i.e., priming within network models of memory) has limited our progress toward understanding media priming. Instead, we argue that a mental models approach provides a better explanation for media priming.