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The study of media processes and effects is one of the most central to the discipline of communication and encompasses a vast array of theoretical perspectives, methodological tools, and applications to important social contexts. In light of this importance-as well as the rapid changes in the media environment that have occurred during the past 20 years-this Handbook explores where media effects research has been over the past several decades, and, equally important, contemplates where it should go in the years ahead.

COVERAGE

• Part I offers an overview of the field and conceptualizations of media effects, along with a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies used in the study of media effects.
• Part II focuses on prominent theoretical approaches to the study of media effects from a more societal perspective, tracing their historical contexts, theoretical developments, criticisms and controversies, and the impact of the new media environment on current and future research.
• Part III emphasizes the various factors that influence the critical functions of message selection and processing central to a host of mass media application contexts.
• Part IV reflects a dominant trend in the media effects literature-that of persuasion and learning-and traces related theoretical perspectives through the various contexts in which media may have such effects.
• Part V explores the contexts and audiences that have been traditional foci of media effects research, such as children, violence, body image, and race, addressing the theories most applicable to those contexts.
• Part VI highlights a concern central and unique to the communication discipline-message medium-and how it influences effects ranging from what messages are attended to, how we spend our time, and even how we think.