Describes heuristic-systematic information-processing model and risk perception--the two major conceptual areas of the analysis. Discusses the proposed model, describing the context of the data collections (public health communication involving cancer epidemiology) and providing the results of a set of three replications using the proposed model.…

Addresses some of the fundamental assumptions of an information processing approach to mass media effects and the contributions it brings to mass communication. Traces the conceptual and methodological innovations of an information processing perspective as they have been applied to the study of television since the 1980s. (SR)

Discusses the meaning crisis in modern society in terms of information overload. Points out reasons for meaning lag: (1) slowness of meaning formation; (2) sparseness of social networks; (3) substitution of meaning of a lower quality as a compensation for lost meaning; and (4) information becoming noiselike. (PD)

Investigates how 4 different information-processing goals, varying on the dimensions of effortful versus effortless and impression-driven versus non-impression-driven processing, and individual difference in political sophistication affect the depth at which undergraduate students process candidate information and their decision-making strategies.…