Watching the Watchers: A Meta-thematic Analysis of Media Effects Studies of Visual Communication
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52152/RCR.V12.6Keywords:
Visual Communication, Meta-thematic Analysis, Media Effects, Theoretical AnalysisAbstract
The world produces and consumes images at an unprecedented rate. Therefore, the need to understand the effects of these media is greater than ever before. Though the effectiveness of visuals in communication is widely assumed, it is also poorly understood. The great bulk of visual studies is in rhetoric. Visual studies of media effects are relatively few. Though there is little theory specific to visual communication, the growing body of literature on the effects of visual messages presents this question: What are the most influential media effects studies of visual communication, and how are they situated within communication theory? A meta-thematic analysis of the communication literature answers these questions using the Web of Science database to identify the most-cited papers on media effects of visual communication. A content analysis studied the types of visual media, communication theory, participant populations, experimental variables, research paradigms, and journals that publish these papers. This analysis describes several themes in this body of literature. Information-processing models dominate theory in this research, with "recall" surfacing as the most used dependent variable. These studies typically use either no guiding theory or a theory that differs from the larger communication field. Further analysis demonstrates the need for additional theory.
References
Adler, N. J., & Harzing, A. W. (2009). When knowledge wins: Transcending the sense and nonsense of academic rankings. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 8(1), 72-95. doi:10.5465/amle.2009.37012181
Barnhurst, K. G., Vari, M., & Rodriguez, I. (2004). Mapping visual studies in communication [Review]. Journal of Communication, 54(4), 616-644. doi:10.1093/joc/54.4.616
Barry, A. M. (2005). Perception theory. In G. B. K. L. Smith, S. Moriarty, & K. Kenney (Eds.), Handbook of Visual Communication: Theory, Methods, and Media (pp. 45-62). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Bryant, J., & Miron, D. (2004). Theory and research in mass communication [Review]. Journal of Communication, 54(4), 662-704. doi:10.1093/joc/54.4.662
Chaffee, S. H., & Berger, C. R. (1987). What communication scientists do. In Handbook of Communication Science (pp. 99-122). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Chung, C. J., Barnett, G. A., Kim, K., & Lackaff, D. (2013). An analysis on communication theory and discipline. Scientometrics, 95(3), 985-1002.
Cupchik, G. C. (2001). Theoretical integration essay: Aesthetics and emotion in entertainment media. Media Psychology, 3(1), 69-89. doi:10.1207/s1532785xmep0301_04
David, P. (1998). News concreteness and visual-verbal association - do news pictures narrow the recall gap between concrete and abstract news?. Human Communication Research, 25(2), 180-201. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.1998.tb00442.x
Davies, J. (2022). Word Cloud Generator [Computer software]. Retrieved from https://www.jasondavies.com/wordcloud/
Ekman, P. (2003). Darwin, deception, and facial expression. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1000(1), 205-221. doi:10.1196/annals.1280.010
Fahmy, S., Bock, M., & Wanta, W. (2014). Visual communication theory and research: A mass communication perspective. Now York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.
Flynn, C. E. (1943). News photography teaching in schools of journalism. Journalism Quarterly, 20(1), 52-55.
Fox, J. R., Lang, A., Chung, Y., Lee, S., Schwartz, N., & Potter, D. (2004). Picture this: Effects of graphics on the processing of television news. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 48(4), 646-674.
Geise, S., Klinger, U., Magin, M., Müller, K. F., Nitsch, C., Riesmeyer, C., . . . Zillich, A. F. (2021). The normativity of communication research: A content analysis of normative claims in peer-reviewed journal articles (1970–2014). Mass Communication and Society, 1-26. doi:10.1080/15205436.2021.1987474
Gibson, R. (2003). Effects of photography on issue perception. In J. Bryant, D. Roskos-Ewoldsen, & J. Cantor (Eds.), Communication and Emotion (pp. 331-354). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.
Gibson, R., & Zillmann, D. (1994). Exaggerated versus representative exemplification in news reports: Perception of issues and personal consequences. Communication Research, 21(5), 603-624.
Goransson, K., & Fagerholm, A. S. (2018). Towards visual strategic communications An innovative interdisciplinary perspective on visual dimensions within the strategic communications field. Journal of Communication Management, 22(1), 46-66. doi:10.1108/jcom-12-2016-0098
Harzing, A. W. (2013). Document categories in the ISI web of knowledge: Misunderstanding the social sciences?. Scientometrics, 94(1), 23-34. doi:10.1007/s11192-012-0738-1
Holsanova, J. (2014). In the eye of the beholder: Visual communication from a recipient perspective. In D. Machin (Ed.), Visual Communication (pp. 331-355). Berlin, Germany: Walter De Gruyter Gmbh.
Humphreys, L. (2018). The qualified self: Social media and the accounting of everyday life. MIT Press.
Kamhawi, R., & Weaver, D. (2003). Mass communication research trends from 1980 to 1999. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 80(1), 7-27.
Katz, E., Adoni, H., & Parness, P. (1977). Remembering the news: What the picture adds to recall. Journalism Quarterly, 54(2), 231-239. doi:10.1177/107769907705400201
Lang, A. (1995). Defining audio/video redundancy from a limited-capacity information processing perspective. Communication Research, 22(1), 86-115.
Lang, A. (2000). The limited capacity model of mediated message processing. Journal of Communication, 50(1), 46-70.
Lang, A., Park, B., Sanders-Jackson, A. N., Wilson, B. D., & Wang, Z. (2007). Cognition and emotion in TV message processing: How valence, arousing content, structural complexity, and information density affect the availability of cognitive resources. Media Psychology, 10(3), 317-338. doi:10.1080/15213260701532880
Lang, A., Potter, R. F., & Bolls, P. D. (1999). Something for nothing: Is visual encoding automatic?. Media Psychology, 1(2), 145-163. doi:10.1207/s1532785xmep0102_4
LeDoux, J. E. (1994). Emotion, memory and the brain. Scientific American, 270(6), 50-57.
Levine, T. R. (2013). Quantitative communication research: Review, trends, and critique. Review of Communication Research, 1, 69-84. doi:10.12840/issn.2255-4165_2013_01.01_003
Martín-Martín, A., Orduna-Malea, E., & López-Cózar, E. D. (2018). Coverage of highly-cited documents in Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus: a multidisciplinary comparison. Scientometrics, 116(3), 2175-2188.
McQuail, D. (2010). McQuail's mass communication theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Mendelson, A. (2001). Effects of novelty in news photographs on attention and memory. Media Psychology, 3(2), 119-157. doi:10.1207/s1532785xmep0302_02
Messaris, P. (2003). Visual communication: Theory and research [Review]. Journal of Communication, 53(3), 551-556. doi:10.1093/joc/53.3.551
Moriarty, S., & Barbatsis, G. (2005). Introduction: From an oak to a stand of aspen: Visual communication theory mapped as rhizome analysis. In K. L. Smith, S. Moriarty, K. Kenney, & G. Barbatsis (Eds.), Handbook of visual communication: Theory, methods, and media (pp. 11-22). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Nabi, R. L. (2010). The case for emphasizing discrete emotions in communication research. Communication Monographs, 77(2), 153-159. doi:10.1080/03637751003790444
Neuendorf, K. A. (2007). Defining content analysis. In The content analysis guidebook (pp. 1-25). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Neuman, W. R., & Guggenheim, L. (2011). The evolution of media effects theory: A six-stage model of cumulative research [Review]. Communication Theory, 21(2), 169-196. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2011.01381.x
Newton, J. H. (2020). Visual ethics: A dynamic of process and meaning. In S. Josephson, J. Kelly, & K. Smith (Eds.), Handbook of visual communication (pp. 397-413). New York, NY: Routledge.
Newzoo. (2020). Top countries by smartphone users. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20220901055415/https://newzoo.com/insights/rankings/top-countries-by-smartphone-penetration-and-users/
O’Keefe, B. J. (1988). The logic of message design: Individual differences in reasoning about communication. Communication Monographs, 55(1), 80-103. doi:10.1080/03637758809376159
Paivio, A. (1986). Mental representations: A dual coding approach. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Perlmutter, D. D. (2014). Foreword. In S. Fahmy, M. Bock, & W. Wanta (Eds.), Visual communication theory and research: A mass communication perspective (pp. 11-12). New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.
Potter, W. J. (2012). Media effects. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Reeves, B., Yeykelis, L., & Cummings, J. J. (2015). The use of media in media psychology. Media Psychology, 19(1), 49-71. doi:10.1080/15213269.2015.1030083
Rosenthal, R., & Rosnow, R. L. (2008). Essentials of behavioral research: Methods and data analysis. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Sanchez-Navarro, J. P., Martinez-Selva, J. M., Roman, F., & Torrente, G. (2006). The effect of content and physical properties of affective pictures on emotional responses. Spanish Journal of Psychology, 9(2), 145-153. doi:10.1017/s1138741600006041
Slater, M. D. (2004). Operationalizing and analyzing exposure: The foundation of media effects research. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 81(1), 168-183.
Tsang, K. (1984). News photos in Time and Newsweek. Journalism Quarterly, 61(3), 578-723. doi:10.1177/107769908406100314
Valkenburg, P. M., & Oliver, M. B. (2019). Media effects theories: An overview. In M. B. Oliver, A. A. Raney, & J. Bryant (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 16-35). New York, NY: Routledge.
van Leeuwen, T. (2005). Introducing social semiotics. Abingdon, UK: Psychology Press.
Walter, N., Cody, M. J., & Ball-Rokeach, S. J. (2018). The ebb and flow of communication research: Seven decades of publication trends and research priorities. Journal of Communication, 68(2), 424-440.
Walther, J. B. (1996). Computer-mediated communication: Impersonal, interpersonal, and hyperpersonal interaction. Communication Research, 23(1), 3-43. doi:10.1177/009365096023001001
Walther, J. B. (2009). Theories, boundaries, and all of the above. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14(3), 748-752. doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01466.x
Walther, J. B. (2011). Theories of computer-mediated communication and interpersonal relations. In M. L. Knapp & J. A. Daly (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Interpersonal Communication (pp. 443-480). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Walther, J. B., & Bazarova, N. N. (2008). Validation and application of electronic propinquity theory to computer-mediated communication in groups. Communication Research, 35, 622-645. doi:10.1177/0093650208321783
Walther, J. B., & Whitty, M. T. (2021). Language, psychology, and new new media: The hyperpersonal model of mediated communication at twenty-five years. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 40(1), 120-135.
Walther, J. B., Slovacek, C. L., & Tidwell, L. C. (2001). Is a picture worth a thousand words? Photographic images in long-term and short-term computer-mediated communication. Communication Research, 28(1), 105-134.
Wang, X. W., Fang, Z. C., & Sun, X. L. (2016). Usage patterns of scholarly articles on Web of Science: A study on Web of Science usage count. Scientometrics, 109(2), 917-926. doi:10.1007/s11192-016-2093-0
White, M. D., & Marsh, E. E. (2006). Content analysis: A flexible methodology. Library Trends, 55(1), 22-45.
Zillmann, D. (1999). Exemplification theory: Judging the whole by some of its parts. Media Psychology, 1(1), 69-94.
Zillmann, D. (2002). Exemplification theory of media influence. In J. Bryant & D. Zillmann (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 19-41). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.
Zillmann, D. (2003). Theory of affective dynamics: Emotions and moods. In J. Bryant, D. Roskos-Ewoldsen, & J. Cantor (Eds.), Communication and emotion: Essays in honor of Dolf Zillmann (pp. 533-567). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.
Zillmann, D. (2006). Exemplification effects in the promotion of safety and health. Journal of Communication, 56(suppl_1), S221-S237. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00291.x
Zillmann, D., Gibson, R., & Sargent, S. L. (1999). Effects of photographs in news-magazine reports on issue perception. Media Psychology, 1(3), 207-228. doi:10.1207/s1532785xmep0103_2
Zillmann, D., Knobloch, S., & Yu, H. S. (2001). Effects of photographs on the selective reading of news reports. Media Psychology, 3(4), 301-324. doi:10.1207/s1532785xmep0304_01
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Review of Communication Research
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The philosophy of the journal is to be open and to make all articles accessible. It is our belief that open access is a must in the future of science.
Authors who publish with RCR accept a slightly modified Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
You, as author, retain the copyrights for your paper, but the Review of Communication Research is granted exclusivity for publication of the article. The agreement allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and publication in this journal. We do not want third parties to make a commercial use of the article, unless we agree it with authors.
The journal will run an open review process as well as a traditional peer review process.
When the manuscript is accepted for publication, it will get a doi number and get available online to facilitate early citation.
The journal will post the published article to many public repositories for further diffusion and permanence.
You, as author, are permitted and encouraged to post your work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on your website), as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
If you have any doubts, please, contact the editor: editor@rcommunication.org
Many thanks for submitting your work to this journal.
