The Role of Interpersonal Political Communication in the Process of Media Effects

这项突破性的人民选择研究(Lazarsfeld，Berelson，and Gaudet，1944)得出的结论是：(1)人际传播比大众传播更多地用于政治信息，(2)它对投票决策的影响更大。与此同时，大众媒体已经取代政治谈话，成为公民最重要的政治信息来源。然而，更强的说服力仍然归因于人际沟通。然而，如果人际传播和大众传播通常是不同的，那么人际传播只会阻碍媒体报道的说服效果。反之亦然，可以假设，如果人际传播和大众传播通常是一致的，那么人际传播就会加强大众媒体的说服效果。以下研究项目解决了这一问题。该项目旨在(1)发展一种解释人际政治传播对媒体效果的影响的理论方法；(2)实证地回答人际传播是否会加强或阻碍媒体报道对政治观点、态度和行为的影响。实施效果归因于使用和引用的媒体内容高度一致，以及对话伙伴对媒体引用的肯定反应。阻碍效果是由于使用和引用的媒体内容高度不协调，或者是由于对其他媒体引用的不屑一顾的反应。媒体内容在政治对话中被修改的程度取决于它们的功能。例如，如果某人的目的是向对话伙伴简要介绍事实，他或她可能会修改所提到的媒体内容，而不是试图说服对话伙伴对某个问题的特定观点，从而只利用媒体报道的特定论点。反过来，媒体内容的功能取决于媒体报道的特征、对话伙伴的特征以及整个群体的特征。该研究项目将通过对政治话语的非参与者和隐蔽场观察、对被观察到的会话伙伴的后续调查以及对他们在会话前使用的媒体内容的内容分析相结合的方式来实证实现。

The groundbreaking People's Choice Study (Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet, 1944) led to the conclusions that (1) interpersonal communication is used more intensively for political information than mass communication and (2) that its effects on voting decisions are stronger. In the meantime mass media have replaced political conversation as citizens' most important political information source. However, the stronger persuasive power is still attributed to interpersonal communication. Though, interpersonal communication would only hinder persuasion effects of media coverage if interpersonal and mass communication usually diverged. Vice versa, it can be assumed, that interpersonal communication enforces persuasion effects of mass media, if interpersonal and mass communication were usually consonant. The following research project addresses this issue. The project aims for (1) developing a theoretical approach that explains effects of interpersonal political communication on media effects and (2) for empirically answering the question if interpersonal communication enforces or hinders effects of media coverage on political opinions, attitudes and behavior. Enforcing effects are due to a high accordance of used and referred media contents as well as to affirmative responses to media references by conversational partners. Hindering effects are due to a high dissonance of used and referred media contents or to dismissive responses to media references by others. To what extent media contents are modified within political conversations depends on their functions. If someone aims to brief a conversational partner on facts, for example, he or she will presumably modify the referred media contents less than someone who aims to convince a conversational partner of a certain view on an issue and therefore exploits only particular arguments of the media coverage. In turn, the functions of media contents depend on characteristics of media coverage, characteristics of the conversational partners, and of the group as a whole. The research project will be empirically realized by the combination of a non-participant and hidden field observation of political talk, a following survey of the observed conversational partners and a content analysis of the media contents they used in the run-up to the conversation.