Chp 11 - Test 2 Flashcards
Social Cognitive and Encoding/Decoding
What are the assumptions of Social Cognitive Theory?
- Mass Media are tremendously influential in shaping our view of what is normal
- Humans are not only actors but also self-examiners of their behavior
- Learning can occur through observational modeling
Does the theory concentrate only on people’s acquiring knowledge from the mass media?
Or does it look at the messages impact on attitudes and/or behavior?
-Social Cognitive theory concentrates on BOTH ones acquiring knowledge from the mass media and influencing behavior.
What influence motivates a person toward pursuing a behavior?
Self Produced motivation, direct motivation, vicarious motivation
Can seeing someone on television succeed at a task motivate you to perform the same task?
Maybe not alone but yes - with dual paths of influence and socially mediated path of influence
What are the dual paths of influencing someone’s behavior?
- The information provided is a direct path of influence
- There is a second route, the socially mediated path of influence
What does it say about your friend’s influence on a mass media’s message and its ability to motivate you to a behavior?
- I alone may not be able to change my behavior but with both my own influence and my friend’s influence (and observations) will motivate me.
What does the theory indicate about violence in the mass media and how it might influence your violent behavior, for example, a violent movie or video game?
- If people are exposed to media aggression that is easily replicable and socially rewarding viewers, (especially young) are more likely to turn to violence themselves
- Observational Modeling and Media Violence
o Modeling is not inherently good or bad
o Violent depictions grab attention
o Violence is easy to remember and reproduce
o Enticement of a positive reward is a strong link between observation and motivation
What is the Social Cognitive Theory?
Theory to study the media’s influence on behavior and to understand the relationship between media use and violent behavior.
What is Direct Motivation?
When you perceive you will be rewarded as a consequence of modeling an observed behavior.
What is Vicarious Motivation?
Motivated by the successes of others who are similar to you
What is Self-Produced Motivation?
Individuals rely on their own personal standards
What are the assumptions of Encoding/Decoding Theory?
- Media is just one mechanism for the dissemination of cultural ideologies
- The meaning of a message is not fixed or determined entirely by the sender
- All messages are encoded using an ideology
- Active audiences can challenge ideologies
What is the Dominant Ideology?
A view of the world’s that supports the status quo
What is Encoding?
The process of putting an idea into symbolic form
What is Decoding?
The interpretation of the message
What is Negotiated Code?
When the receiver accepts the dominant ideology in general but engages in some selective interpretation in order to better fit his/her view of the world
What is the Oppositional code?
When an Individual recognizes the ideological bias in the message. Individuals who use the oppositional code identify the preferred reading but deconstruct the message and reconstruct it form a different point of view.
What are the three ways to interpret or read a message?
- Engage in preferred reading using Dominate Code
- Using Negotiated Code
- Using Oppositional Code
What is the Dominant Code?
A preferred reading; interpretation a message is using dominant ideology.
Which is the more important, according to the theory, encoding or decoding?
Decoding process
