ABSTRACT
The study of psychological processes implies limiting interpretation to the cultural settings in which the data are gathered. This is nowhere more true than in the area of cultural phenomena themselves, be it high culture or popular culture as manifested in the offerings and uses of mass media. This especially holds for TV This chapter is based on research on German TV Certainly there is a tendency toward the globalization of TV programming and an especially profound influence of American television on what can be seen on German TV screens. When we began our investigation of content, viewing motivation, and effects of so-called affect TV in the mid-1990s, we were actually wondering whether the study of overseas offerings could be regarded as peeking into our own TV future.
