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Matthew L Irwin Dissertation.pdf (1.89 MB)

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The Dynamics of Media Use, Attention, and Behavioral Control

Irwin, Matthew L
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9127-4028
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492700316011036

Abstract Details

2017, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Communication.
This study examined how screen media use, attention, and behavioral control processes are related at a variety of timescales. A model framework was proposed suggesting dynamic and reciprocal influences between media uses and attention over repeated uses, inspired primarily by the three-network model of attention, the strength model of self-control, and research on media habits. Findings from a cross-sectional survey (N = 313) suggest that habitual media use, indicative of greater behavioral automaticity, may change executive attention processes over time. These changes are not fixed, though the specific mechanisms to effectively alter attention still require greater elucidation. Participants who engaged in a 28-day period of behavior tracking (N = 38) reduced their habitual media use and showed attention improvements, despite evidence that limiting media use was more difficult than participants recognized. Participants’ daily behavior and internal states were recorded throughout the 28-day study period and the dynamic relationships between attention states and media use throughout daily life were modeled as dynamic linear equations. Attention states were less sensitive to participants engaging in controlled behavior than previous theorizing suggested, though participants with greater attentional control experienced attention depletion from habitual media use, whereas those with less control experienced attention restoration. Variation in attention states was, in turn, predictive of the likelihood in engaging with media use in a more or less controlled fashion.
Zheng Wang (Advisor)
Brad Bushman (Committee Member)
Michael Slater (Committee Member)
221 p.
Communication
attention; media use; self-control; automaticity; dynamic model

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Irwin, M. L. (2017). The Dynamics of Media Use, Attention, and Behavioral Control [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492700316011036

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Irwin, Matthew. The Dynamics of Media Use, Attention, and Behavioral Control. 2017. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492700316011036.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Irwin, Matthew. "The Dynamics of Media Use, Attention, and Behavioral Control." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492700316011036

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1492700316011036
1,112
© 2017, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.