Using Contextual Analysis to Bridge the Study of Mediated and Unmediated Behavior

This chapter describes the notion of social context to examine both mediated and face-to-face interaction as part of one larger system of behavior and response. It demonstrates how contextual principles offer insight into the impact of media on two levels: the micro, single-situation level, where choices among various communication options affect individual psychological experience. Second the macro, societal level, where shifts in the matrix of widely used media have an impact on social structure and on the situational geography of numerous social roles. The chapter suggests that the relationship between contexts and behavior provides a means of bridging the study of mediated and unmediated behavior, but only after the definition of context is broadened to extend beyond location-indexed settings to include the types of social situations that are fostered by the use of various media of communication. One way to bridge the study of mediated and nonmediated behavior is to rethink the place-bound definitions of "context.".