The Socio-Emotional Dimension of Using Screen Media. Current Perspectives in German Media Psychology

Abstract

As we know from many studies of face-to-face interaction and person perception the predominant portion of emotionally relevant information in interpersonal encounters is conveyed by the visual channels of communication, i.e., through physical appearance, body postures and movements or gestural and facial activity (Ekman & Friesen, 1969; Ellsworth & Ludwig, 1972; Davis,1972; Argyle, 1975; Schneider, Hastorf, & Ellsworth, 1979; Scherer & Wallbott, 1979; Clark, 1992). With respect to mediated communication one would therefore expect the socio-emotional dimension to play an important role in the investigation of those media which draw heavily upon visual resources, i.e., the screen media and especially TV. Indeed this perspective has a long tradition in Anglo-Saxon media research. However, it is still in its infancy in German media psychology, as is for example indicated by the fact, that chapters in Groebel and Winterhoff-Spurk’s reader on “Empirical Media Psychology” (1989) dealing with socio-emotional aspects of TV watching have been written by two American authors, Norma D. Feshbach, on “TV and empathetic behavior in children”, and Seymour Feshbach, on “TV and antisocial behavior”, and by one Austrian author, Peter Vitouch, on “Specific recipient variables as a basis for stereotypical media use” 2 .

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