Processing complex information: what are the cognitive units and how are they related?

Abstract

This study deals with the general question of how people process information about public affairs as they encounter it through the mass media. More specifically, the authors sought to examine the nature of the relationship between cognitive variables that play a major role in processing complex information. cognitive complexity, frame repertoires and factual information. It is hypothesized that these "knowledge structures" determine in part what people "get" out of news about public affairs. To test these relationships, the authors used survey research along with open-ended questions. The combination of these two methods was deemed appropriate because it addressed the active nature of information processing while maintaining the advantage of sample representativeness.