Advancing the cognitive mediation model : a study on Singaporeans’ knowledge of climate change.

Abstract

The cognitive mediation model (CMM) posits that self-imposed learning motivations drive individuals to pay attention to news media and to elaborate on information they gather from the media, which in turn, enables them to acquire knowledge about a certain issue. This study advances the CMM by examining the factors influencing Singaporeans’ knowledge about the issue of climate change. First, the original CMM was applied to the field of environmental communication. Next, this thesis expands the model by examining how the different news mediums of television, newspapers, and the Internet drive the information processing variables of elaboration and selective scanning. The influence of interpersonal discussion on the learning process was also examined and clarified in the model.

Fieldwork was carried out by means of a nationwide random-digit-dial telephone survey, with a total of 1,083 respondents. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The results showed that attention to television news influenced neither form of information processing, while newspapers influenced elaboration but not selective scanning. Attention to Internet news was associated with both elaboration and selective scanning. Elaboration predicted knowledge, but there was no relationship between selective scanning and knowledge. Discussion had a direct negative relationship with knowledge but an indirect positive relationship with knowledge via elaboration. Overall, this paper provides support for the CMM and offers a more nuanced understanding of the learning process. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.