Blackwell Reference Online

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The limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing (LC4MP) is the most recent version of a data-driven model (→  Models of Communication ) that tries to explain how human beings process all types of mediated messages (A. Lang 2000 , 2006a, 2006b ; →  Information Processing ). This model differs from the vast majority of communication theories in a number of ways. First, it is not an effects theory . That is to say that it makes no effort to examine the relationship between some specific type of content in a media message and a later behavioral action. Second, it is not a theory about a specific type of media content (violence, politics, sex, advertising, health). Instead, its goal is to generalize to all types of content and to completely describe the realm of possible contents through psychologically relevant independent variables such as emotion, difficulty, relevance, redundancy, narrative strength, etc. Third, this theory is not limited to a specific medium but is meant to be relevant to all currently existing media and those not yet invented. Again, this means that media are described not by their names (radio, TV, computer, video game) but instead by a set of psychologically relevant variables (channel of information presentation, range of structural features, luminance, content forms, movement, etc.). Finally, the theory is data-driven . This means ... log in or subscribe to read full text