Examines the feelings, learning, and diffusion effects resulting from the Challenger explosion using a two-pronged approach both in a cross section and an over-time panel design. Indicates that television reliant individuals were the most knowledgeable about the disaster and also significantly more likely to recall accurately the "visual…

A cross-sectional sample of 704 adults was interviewed in a study examining the processes that relate demographic predictors to media use and effects. It was hypothesized that primary groups influence what an individual should attend to and know about public affairs, and that the individual perceives the primary group to "prescribe" the…

A study investigated whether political interest was a factor in differences in political knowledge between television and newspaper reliant individuals. Data were collected through 353 hour-long interviews with adults in a midwestern city. Subjects supplied information about their media use and preferences, political preferences, education level,…

To determine people's use of media during the 1984 presidential campaign, telephone interviews were conducted with 630 heads of households in Dane County, Wisconsin. It was hypothesized that persons with different political orientations would have significantly different media use and attention patterns. The data analysis proceeded in two stages.…

Examines the interplay between an individual's social environment and the individual's own motivations for political knowledge, such as political interest and attention to public affairs media. Finds that the perception of one's social environment made a significant contribution to the respondent's level of political knowledge. (MS)

Examining the relationships among social motivations, media use, and levels of political knowledge, a study (1) measured the unique contribution of social motivations beyond simple exposure and individual motivations, (2) tested for interactions between social and individual motivations and public affairs exposure, and (3) examined the interactive…

A two-part study investigated the speed with which information about the explosion of the space shuttle "Challenger" was disseminated and the information holding and affect differences associated with different media channels. In the first part of the study, cross-sectional data were collected from 119 college undergraduates within 54…

Approximately 823 people were interviewed in a study that sought to determine (1) whether newspaper reliant and television reliant people think about political information in the same manner, and (2) what inferences can be drawn from the viewing of cognitive structures if one assumes a causal ordering from cognitive structure--level of…