Chapter 13 Flashcards
Argument #1 Media content has limited impact on audiences because people know it isnt real
- New is not make believe
- Most films are made to seem real
- Some are expressively real (reality TV)
- Advertising is supposed to tell the truth
- Early window (media gives a window to the world to children before they can judge it
- We enjoy shows by willingly suspending disbelief
Argument #2 Media content has limited impact on audiences because it is only play or entertainment
- New is not play or entertainment
- Play is important to the way we develop our knowledge
Argument #3 Media holds a mirror to society and reflects our world as it is
- Media is a very selective mirror. Some are over or under represented or not even visible.
Argument #4 Media reinforces preexisting values and beliefs
- Traditional socializing agents have lost most influence
- Reinforcement is not the same as having no effects
Argument #5 Media may affect unimportant things in our lives (fashion or fads)
- Fads and fashion are not unimportant
- Billions of money is spent on media efforts to sway social issue opinions
Micro-Level Effects vs
Macro-Level Effects
Micro: Asking you to do something very specific, effects of media on individuals
vs
Macro: media’s widescale social and cultural impact
Transmissional Perspective vs Ritual Perspective
Transmissional: Sees media as the sender of information for the purpose of control
vs
Ritual: Sees mass communication as the representation of shared beliefs
Cultivation analysis
Peoples ideas of themselves and their world are shaped through media
Attitude change theory
how people shape and change attitudes which influence behavior
Mass Society theory
media are corrupting social order and “average” people are defenseless against their influence
Hypodermic needle/magic bullet theory
people need to be told what to think
Limited effects theory
effects of media are filtered through other influences (Example War of the Worlds)
Two step flow theory
Peoples voting behavior was influenced by opinion leaders (people who interpret media and pass it on to opinion followers)
Dissonance Theory
people, when confronted by new information, experience a kind of mental discomfort. Selective exposure, selective retention, and selective perception
Reinforcement theory
media reinforces previous beliefs; many people seek information that reinforces their position
Uses and gratification theory
Looks at how people use the media (entertainment and information)
Agenda setting
media dont tell you WHAT to think but what to think ABOUT
Social cognitive theory
The idea that people learn through observation. Modeling, imitation, and identification
Critical-cultural theory
Media operates primarily to justify and support the status quo at the expense of ordinary people
Neo-Marxist theory
people are oppressed by those who control the culture
Frankfurt School
that valued serious art, viewing its consumption as a means to elevate all people toward a better life
British Cultural Theory
elites’ domination over culture and its influence on bounded cultures
News production research
the study of how economic and other influences on the way news is produced distort and bias news coverage toward those in power
Mediatization Theory
societal structures and their routine social practices are continually altered to accommodate media
Social Construction of reality theory
cultures construct and maintain their realities using signs and symbols
Meaning-making perspective
active audience members use media content to create meaning, and meaningful experiences
Mass communication theory is particularly open to evolving for what three reasons?
- Advances in technology
- Calls for control or regulation
- Democracy and cultural pluralism
Observational learning
Observers can learn new behaviors simply by seeing those behaviors performed
Inhibitory effects
Seeing a model, a movie character, for example, punished for a behavior reduces the likelihood that the observer will perform that behavior
Disinhibitory effects
Seeing a model rewarded for prohibited or threatening behavior increases the likelihood that the observer will perform that behavior
What are the four common news production conventions used by US media that bolster the position of those in power?
Personalized, dramatized, fragmented, and normalized news.
Imitation
the direct replication of an observed behavior
Identification
a special form of imitation by which observers do not exactly copy what they have seen but make a more generalized but related response
Modeling
learning through imitation and identification
The Stimulation Model
a direct causal relationship between violent content and aggressive behavior
The Aggressive Model
the idea that media portrayals can suggest that certain classes of people are acceptable targets for real-world aggression
Catharsis
the theory that watching mediated violence reduces people’s inclination to behave aggressively
What are two characteristics of critical cultural studies?
- They tend to be macroscopic in scope.
- They are openly political.
What are two assumptions of cultivation analysis?
- Television is the “central cultural arm” of US society.
- Television is essentially and fundamentally different from other mass media.
Symbolic interaction
people give meaning to symbols, and then those symbols control people’s behavior in their presence
What are the four eras of mass communication theory?
- Mass society theory era
- Cultural theory era
- Limited effects perspective era
- Meaning-making perspective era
