The Experiential Mode of Media Reception: A Holistic Framework Concept

摘要

This article explicates the "experiential mode" of media reception as a framework concept providing a holistic characterization of a distinct way of processing and experiencing media messages. Taking the relatedness of narrative and experience as a starting point, a phenomenological and psychological concept of primary experience of the everyday world is adapted to media reception. It combines components on the levels of processing, experience, and procedural knowledge. The article discusses factors potentially furthering the adoption of the experiential mode, hypotheses on its effects, limitations of the conceptualization, and its relationship to similar existing concepts. The experiential mode can be fruitfully applied to characterize media reception in general and to the reception of narrative messages and virtual reality media in particular.