Bridging Media Processing and Selective Exposure: A Dynamic Motivational Model of Media Choices and Choice Response Time

Based on the dynamic motivational activation (DMA) theoretical framework, a dynamic and stochastic semi-Markov choice model of channel changing behavior, called the ChaCha model, is developed and submitted to empirical testing. The ChaCha model integrates the motivated media processing and selective exposure behavior, and formalizes their reciprocal, recursive dynamic influences. It incorporates a logistic type of ratio of strength choice model, a reinforcement learning model, and the diffusion model of choice time to simultaneously predict sequential media channel choices and channel viewing durations. Real-time channel choice data from a selective exposure TV viewing experiment are used to test the model and to illustrate how this model can be used to understand dynamic cognitive mechanisms underlying the observed media choice behavior.