Audience Effects

Question 1

What are direct effect theories based on?

Answer 1

The idea that the media has an immediate and powerful influence on audiences. Messages flow directly from the media through to its audiences.

Question 2

Which social group might be the most susceptible to media effects?

Answer 2

-lower class because the higher class have more control over the media
-young children because they are easily manipulated and influenced by what they see in the media
-ethnic groups due to stereotypes surrounding crime

Question 3

Hypodermic Syringe Model

Answer 3

Suggests that the audience passively accepts the messages ‘injected’ into them by the mass media. The direct effects do not acknowledge differences between members of the audiences and therefore they are seen as homogenous (the same)

Question 4

Packard

Answer 4

-linked to the Hypodermic Syringe Model
-also known as ‘magic bullet theory’
-the media is like a syringe that ‘injects’ its messages into the audience.
-also looks at the impact of advertising e.g some newspapers aim to sway voting habits of its audiences.
-audiences do not engage with media material but just accept it

Question 5

Newson

Answer 5

Direct effects

-children’s exposure to media violence has a desensitising effect, therefore, they are more likely to commit acts of Jolene in reality.
-the effects are more subtle to children
-television and film violence encouraged people to identify with the violent perpetrators rather than victims
-Newson’s research led to increased censorship in the film industry = The British Board of Film was given the power to apply age certificates and to companies agreed on 9 p.m watershed before which shows would not feature significant sexual or violent scenes
E.g murder of James Bulger (exposure to Child’s Play 3)

Question 6

Bandura

Answer 6

Direct effects

-also explored media effects on violence and found that children can act more aggressively when given the opportunity to do so

-Bobo doll experiment :
-Bandura showed 3 groups of children film examples of a bobo doll being beaten with a mallet. There was a control group of children shown no violence
-the children were then taken to a room with lots of toys but were ‘frustrated’ when being told that the toys were not for them.
-they were then taken to another room with the bobo doll and a mallet and the children who had seen violent examples imitated the violence by beating the dolls themselves while the children who had not seen violence did not beat the doll

Example of imitation and observation

Question 7

Anderson et al

Answer 7

Direct effects

-conducted research on direct effect of music on an audience
-studied effect of song lyrics on the attitudes and emotions of 500 college students.
-there was a pattern of increased aggressive thoughts and feelings of hostility following on from listening to violent song lyrics. E.g “Shoot ‘Em Up” by Cypress Hill
-results indicated a relationship between violent song lyrics and increased aggressive thoughts and feelings of hostility. They also found humorous violent songs did increase aggression levels

Question 8

Fesbach and Sanger

Answer 8

Direct effect

-catharsis
-watching an exciting film releases aggressive energy as viewers immerse themselves in the action.
-therefore they will not act aggressively in real life

Question 9

Catharsis

Answer 9

Screen violence can provide a safe outlet for people’s aggressive tendencies

Question 10

Young

Answer 10

Direct effect

-critique of Newson
-seeing the effect of violence on its victims makes us more aware of its consequences so less inclined to commit violent acts = has a sensitising effect
-therefore they make people more aware and responsible so they avoid getting involved in violence

Question 11

What are indirect effect theories

Answer 11

Acknowledge that the media has an effect on its audience but see this effect as the product of an interaction between different influences alongside media

Question 12

Katz and Lazarsfeld

Answer 12

Indirect effect

-relationships, conversations etc result in people modifying or rejecting media messages rather than just passively accepting it
-social networks dominated by ‘opinion leaders’ who are generally made up of people who expose themselves to different types of media
-opinion leaders are seen as ‘experts’ in specific matters and their interpretations are then passed on to other members of their social circle

Question 13

What are the 2 steps that Katz and Lazarsfeld suggest that media messages go through before reaching its audiences and what is it known as?

Answer 13

The two step flow model

1. The opinion leader is exposed to content
2. Those who respect the opinion leader internalise their interpretation of that content and transmit these messages forward

Question 14

What are opinion leaders?

Answer 14

People of influence whom others in the network look up and listen to. They usually have strong ideas about a range of social issues and situations.

Question 15

What does the Two step flow model suggest?

Answer 15

Media audiences are not directly influenced by media but choose to adopt a particular opinion from an opinion leader. Therefore, this suggests that the audience is not passive when interpreting media messages, but active

Question 16

Gramsci’s Cultural effects model

Answer 16

Sees the media as a very powerful ideological influence that is mainly concerned with transmitting capitalist cultural values and norms

Question 17

Gramsci

Answer 17

Indirect effect

-media content contains strong ideological messages that reflect the values of those who own, control and produce the media.
-values of the rich and powerful come to be unconsciously shared by most people
-refers to hegemony

Question 18

What do Marxists say about the media?

Answer 18

It acts as a ideological state apparatus

Question 19

What does hegemony mean in reference to what Gramsci says?

Answer 19

The notion that ruling class, capitalist ideologies as presented as common sense to the media

Question 20

What do Marxists believe about the media?

Answer 20

-television content has been deliberately dumbed down = decline in serious programmes such as the news, documentaries
-results in an indirect impact on the audiences in which we come to accept capitalism and led into false consciousness

Question 21

The Drip Drip Effect Model

Answer 21

Indirect effect

-the more an ideology is ‘dripped’ into society by the media, the more people believe it and accept it as true
-mass media gradually influences the audience over a period of time
-it gradually shapes people’s common sense ideas and assumptions into their everyday view of the world
-we become desensitised
-prolonged exposure to poverty = might create ‘compassion fatigue’

Question 22

Use and Gratifications model

Answer 22

Active audience

Suggests that the audience is an active agent when using the media as they are using it for their own purposes and to satisfy their needs. Refers to ‘what people do with the media.’ They do not directly discuss media effects

Question 23

Zillman

Answer 23

Active audience

suggests a person’s mood may influence media choice. E.g boredom = exciting media content. The same TV programme may satisfy the needs of individuals differently due to differing personalities, backgrounds, social roles.

Question 24

McQuail

Answer 24

Active audience
studies the common reasons for media use and states that it is down to information, personal identity, integration and social integration and entertainment.

Question 25

Hall

Answer 25

Active audience

-Suggests that the audiences were active not passive.
-examines coding and decoding media messages
-three different ways of reading media messages are dominant/hegemonic reading, negotiated reading, oppositional reading

Question 26

What does an active audience do?

Answer 26

Interpret and respond to a media text

Question 27

What does a passive audience do?

Answer 27

More likely to accept media messages

Question 28

Klapper

Answer 28

Developed the selective model and said that audiences are not passive receptors of media propaganda but the media reinforces already held beliefs and attitudes

Filters of selective filer model = selective exposure, selective perception, selective retention

Question 29

Selective exposure

Answer 29

Audience choose what to view and interact with in the media based upon their interests, education etc

Question 30

Selective perception

Answer 30

Audience may not accept a media message, they may take note of it but decide to reject or ignore it. (E.g a smoker may reject anti-smoking messages)

Question 31

Selective retention

Answer 31

Messages have to ‘stick’ in the mind of those who have accessed the media content. Research indicates people only remember the things they agree with and what fits with their lifestyle and beliefs

Question 32

Wilkins

Answer 32

Interactionist approach
Deviancy amplification spiral

Question 33

How does the deviancy amplification spiral work?

Answer 33

-deviant act is committed
-fold devil identified which creates public concern
-public desire to be kept informed emerges so higher audiences
-publicity glamorises deviant behaviour = more
-moral panic develops
-public feel fear is justified and moral panic is reinforced
-media profits from the whole spiral and continues to report deviance

Question 34

Cohen

Answer 34

-interactionist approach
-studies folk devils and moral panics
-said a moral panic was labelled by the media and defined as a threat to society’s values
-presented in a stereotypical fashion

Question 35

Fawbert

Answer 35

-interactionist approach
-examined newspaper reports about ‘hoodies’ 2004-2008 (describing young thugs)
-year later Bluewater shopping centre banned shoppers wearing hoodies and baseball caps
-followed by Tony Blair vowing to clamp down on anti-social behaviour perpetrated by hoodies
-hoodies were a symbol of mischief : no reference to whether a young criminal was wearing one
-sale of clothing began to soar as young people realised by wearing them, they upset authority

Question 36

Goode and Ben Yehuda

Answer 36

-interactionist approach
-disagreed with cohen and said that there were 5 elements present in a moral panic

Question 37

What were the 5 main features of a moral panic identified by Goode and Ben Yehuda?

Answer 37

1. Concern : belief that behaviour has a negative effect on society
2. Hostility : a clear division between ‘them’ and ‘us’
3. Consensus : wide spread acceptance that the group is a threat to society
4. Disproportionately : action taken is disproportionate to the actual threat by accused group
5. Volatility : moral panics are highly volatile and tend to disappear as quick as they appear

Question 38

Furedi

Answer 38

-functionalist approach
-moral panics arise when society fails to adapt to dramatic social changes
-moral panics reflect wider concerns
-older generation believe that the media is responsible for the loss of traditional norms and values

Question 39

Hall et al

Answer 39

-Marxist/neo Marxist approach
-moral panics benefit capitalism as they argue that the using class defines what us ‘deviance’ and therefore decide who ‘folk devils’ are
-Policing the Crisis 1970s : moral panic over ‘black muggers’ was examined : moral panic was created by those in power in order to revert the interests of capitalism
-economic crisis in Britain at the time = capitalism faced strikes and protests
-image of ‘black mugger’ was a distraction from the real problems
-caused a divide in the working class

Question 40

Waiton

Answer 40

-postmodern approach
-contemporary societies generate a range of fears and associated panics that are of a different order to classic “Mods and Rockers”
-moral panics are less likely to occur because societies no longer have a strong central moral code shared by the population meaning we have no morals to threaten so moral panics can’t occur