Campaigns, Reflection, and Deliberation: Advancing an O-S-R-O-R Model of Communication Effects

Abstract

Recent communication research concerning participatory politics has found that the effects of media, especially campaign ads, conventional news, and online political resources, are largely mediated through interpersonal discussion about politics. This article extends this line of theorizing about the role of political conversation in citizen competence by testing an O-S-R-O-R model of campaign communication mediation, a modification and extension of the longstanding O-S-O-R model of communication effects. This model combines insights from iterations of the communication mediation model (McLeod et al., 2001; Shah et al., 2007) and cognitive mediation model (Eveland, 2001; Eveland, Shah, & Kwak, 2003) to theorize a set of the interrelated reasoning (R) processes that channel the influences of campaign exposure and news consumption on political engagement. Three key mediators of campaign and news influence are postulated: face-to-face political conversation, online political messaging, and cognitive reflection. We provide empirical evidence to test this model by merging two datasets: (1) tracking of the content and placement of campaign messages in the 2000 and 2004 election cycles, and (2) surveys of traditional and digital media consumption and levels of campaign participation during these same elections. Findings reveal that political conversation, political messaging, and cognitive reflection mediate the effects of campaign advertising exposure and news consumption on political participation and knowledge, providing considerable support for our theory. This O-S-R-O-R model helps organize a large body of theorizing and research on campaigns and conversation in the communication sciences.