Abstract
A construct of mental process during television viewing involvement is proposed, based on a cognitive-affective theory of fantasy activity. Modeling the mental process by which television communication operates is important for a more substantial understanding of self-defined viewing behavior as well as the medium's possible effects. Normal fantasy represents a psychological baseline of low arousal to which ideation returns when not engaged in goal-striving, directed thought, or environmental scanning. Fantasy reprocesses material from long-term memory related to “current concerns”—that is, action plans that have been interrupted, but not abandoned. Normative television usage facilitates responses analagous to self-generated fantasy. Because viewer perceptions of content cues conform to anticipated scripts, sampling styles of viewing allow for efficiency of processing. Three procedures for researching people's interpretive processes and expectations during viewing offer an initial glimpse at some new forms of data.
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