Conceptualizing the Role of Social Context in Media Selectivity: The Social Embeddedness of Media Reliance and Internalization (SEMRI) Model

ABSTRACT

Examining antecedents of selective media use is important to understand how media can impact individual behavior and attitudes. The present article extends the selective exposure paradigm by outlining the Social Embeddedness of Media reliance and Internalization (SEMRI) model. This model postulates that individuals’ reliance on and internalization of media content for problem-focused coping depends on a) the perceived availability of alternative information sources in their social network, and b) the extent to which observed media content is socially validated by others. The first section of the article provides an overview of the selective exposure paradigm and notes that existing theories are limited in their ability to address the socially situated context of media message selection and internalization. In the second section we introduce the SEMRI model and discuss its main assumptions. The last section illustrates the main principles of the SEMRI model with data related to ideal-appearance media messages.

Compliance with ethical standards

Uniqueness of Publication: The manuscript has not been submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration. The manuscript was submitted to the International Communication Association conference (Mass Communication division) and accepted for oral presentation. The findings were presented at the ICA conference, but the manuscript was not published in the conference’s proceedings.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, A. R.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No financial interest or benefit has arisen from the direct applications of this research.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors. This study involved human participants, and procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Active informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Notes

¹ We treat interpersonal communication as the exchange of messages, verbal and nonverbal, between people, regardless of the relationship they share (Guerrero et al., 2007, p. 11), embodying the interactional perspective.

² A secondary data analysis was conducted with data from Rousseau, Trekels, et al. (2017)

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the FWO under Grant 12U6419N.

Notes on contributors

Ann Rousseau

Ann Rousseau (PhD, KU Leuven) is a postdoctoral researcher (FWO) at the Leuven School for Mass Communication Research, Faculty of Social Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Her research aims to examine the role of interpersonal communication in media effects. More specifically, it focuses on the role of peer communication in adolescents’ reliance on, processing, interpretation, and use of media content.