Informed citizens play a critical role in deliberative democracy. However, contemporary challenges in the political information environment, including digitalization, fragmentation, and misinformation, can contribute to political information avoidance. This study investigates the predictors of the decision-making process leading to disengagement from information about populism. The Theory of Motivated Information Management (TMIM) was applied to examine the manner in which uncertainty discrepancies give rise to political information avoidance through emotions such as anxiety and hope, as well as citizens' efficacy and outcome assessments. The results of an online survey of 456 German residents indicated that anxiety and hope were indirectly associated with information avoidance through efficacy assessments. In contrast, outcome expectancies were not associated with political information avoidance. This research sheds light on the decision-making processes underlying political information avoidance, providing a promising starting point for theory specification.
The replication crisis has revealed shortcomings in theorizing, yet its implications for communication science remain underexplored. Focusing on media psychology and effects, we diagnose two core problems in the field’s theory development—imprecision and inconsistency. These arise from both general challenges of theorizing about human behavior and psychology and seven field-specific obstacles, including high media stimulus variability, rapid technological change, and dependence on public discourse. We argue that, together, these challenges thwart our ability to achieve robust and replicable theories. To overcome them, we integrate advances in theory construction methodology and introduce communication researchers to the derivation chain, a framework to construct stronger theories. We discuss how each field-specific challenge can be addressed by re-focusing efforts onto key steps of the derivation chain. We believe that by building on this approach, the field can reach higher conceptual precision, theoretical coherence, and cumulative knowledge gains about media psychology and effects.
This study explores citizens' anticipations of wind turbines that may be installed in their vicinity and the experiences of those living near existing turbines - reflecting different stages of the installation process. Findings from a German online survey (N = 2664) reveal that citizens experience considerable uncertainty regarding the impacts of wind farms, both prior to and after construction. Across several dimensions, including ecological and economic effects, experiences with existing wind farms are less negative than expectations of those anticipating future installations. An exception concerns the perceived fairness of the installation process. These results are integrated into a preliminary model of environmental change communication, which draws on insights from organizational transformation research to better understand the dynamics and outcomes of installation-related discourses.
This commentary acknowledges the value of Thiesen’s (2025) study on diversity in German Schlager while raising questions about corpus selection, audience expectations, and the interpretive scope of diversity. It suggests that the focus on Partyschlager and the neglect of performance context may shape the findings and calls for a more nuanced understanding of how Schlager reflects and negotiates cultural norms.
