Dynamic transactional approach

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The dynamic-transactional approach (DTA) by Werner Früh and Klaus Schönbach (1982) is an important model in media impact research in empirical communication science . It integrates effects (stimulus-response, SOR) and benefits ( uses and gratification ) in that both the communicator and the recipient are understood as active and passive communication participants. While media impact research was mostly viewed either from a communicator- or media-centered or from a recipient- or audience-centered point of view up until the 1980s, the dynamic-transactional approach attempts to combine the two perspectives.

Definition of terms

Several assumptions are added to the impact approach and the benefit approach in the dynamic transactional approach.

The interaction between communicator and recipient is time-independent. Para-feedback processes are accepted on both sides, i.e. ideas, expectations and prejudices about the intentions, skills and motivations of the communication partner. Para-feedback does not take place like feedback in face-to-face communication in direct reaction to the actions and statements of the other person, but rather independently of the chronological sequence of the communication process. So it can happen before communication has even taken place. In mass communication research , this type of interaction is called a transaction .

The media effect that is assumed on the part of the recipient does not proceed in the same way for every recipient, it does not follow any pattern (as initially assumed in the stimulus-response model). The process of media impact is rather dynamic - both in terms of time and intensity. The recipient deals with information received more intensively / negligently, longer / shorter than with another, actively arranges the inputs himself and links them with existing knowledge - or not. So: Qualitative and quantitative changes occur in the effect process. The effect process is therefore dynamic .

What is important

Important on the recipient's side are the cognitive components as well as the sensitivities, needs and interests that together constitute the selection and interpretation of media offers. On the part of the communicator, on the one hand the selection of the media offer according to the values ​​to be conveyed (manipulative component) is taken into account, on the other hand also the dependency of the provider on the interests and needs of the media consumers. An important starting point in this model of media action is the consideration not only of intentional, target-oriented media actions, but also habitualized actions, which, however, are triggered by so-called "initial stimuli", i.e. H. Subjectively particularly important information can be broken through and can subsequently trigger an intentional search for information - always depending on the cognitive and emotional situation of the subject. "The recipient does not remain the same in the course of such an impact process: the idea that an individual encounters a media offer , is an inadmissible simplification " (Früh & Schönbach, 1982).

In concrete terms, this means: The recipient changes through the consumption of media content, which in turn has a direct effect on this content. The dynamic-transactional approach is based on two basic assumptions: First, the feedback processes in mass communication are indirect, i. H. Instead of direct interpersonal communication, there is feedback resulting from audience ratings, opinion polls, listeners' responses and research results. Secondly, there are ideas and assumptions of the media actors and the recipients about the intentions, motivations and abilities of the respective other. Both sides refer in their communication to these assumptions that they make of the other.

The reciprocal influencing of recipients and media was largely ignored in both traditional impact research and in the gratuity approach . H. the temporal aspect, which includes changes in the media biography, was not included in the research. This dynamic, which results from media usage , was integrated into the dynamic-transactional model. In particular, the possible changes in attitudes and behavior of the recipient in the course of the process of action - be they cognitive, social or emotional - must be taken into account by research. This is all the more true because effects in turn influence and change effects. In addition, there are changes in attitudes on the part of the recipient, which result from his everyday life, from communication in his social groups.

Conclusion

In the combination of impact and gratification approaches, the dynamic-transactional model tries to represent the most important variables of the impact process in their interactions and to relate them to one another. The respective perspectives of the impact and gratification approach are not viewed as alternatives, but as equally important and mutually influencing parts.

literature

  • Früh, Werner (1991): The dynamic transactional model. Theory and Empirical Research, Opladen.
  • Früh, Werner & Schönbach, Klaus (1982). The dynamic transactional approach. A new paradigm of media effects. Publizistik, 27 (1/2), pp. 74–88.
  • Schönbach, Klaus & Früh, Werner (1984). The dynamic-transactional approach II. Consequences. In: Rundfunk und Fernsehen, 32 (3), pp. 314–329.
  • Früh, Werner & Schönbach, Klaus (2005): The dynamic transactional approach III: An interim balance. In: Publizistik, 50 (1) pp. 4–20.
  • Wirth, Werner / Stiehler, Hans-Jörg / Wünsch, Carsten (eds.) (2007): Think dynamically and transactionally. Theory and Empirical Communication Studies , Cologne.