Media effects theories An overview

The authors review the most important media effects theories that have been coined in the past decades and to chart changes in these theories. They start by providing a definition of a media effects theory and explaining the differences between media effects theories and models. Then, based on existing work and their own bibliometric analysis into the use of media effect theories in central communication journals, they identify “evergreen” and upcoming theories, and discuss the communalities among these theories along three characteristics (selectivity, transactionality, and conditionality). They end with some suggestions for future media effects research.