ABSTRACT
In many respects, this chapter is central to the study of media psychology. It ties together the loose ends from the earlier chapters and suggests some broad theories about the way that people process media material in a social context. In doing so, it explores the concept of the “active audience” that has proved popular with media scholars on both sides of the Atlantic-from the uses and gratifications tradition in North America to European “reception” studies and the analysis of the text-reader relationship.
