Exam 1

Question 1

Know definition and examples of (traditional) mass communication [1950s-1960s] – See Wright (1958)

Answer 1

Definition: Messages directed towards large, heterogenous and anonymous audiences. Messages are transmitted publicly, often timed to reach audience members simultaneously.
The communicator tends to be, or to operate
within, a complex organization that may involve
great expense

Question 2

How does our current new media environment differ from traditional definition of mass communication?

Answer 2

New media has shifted from:
- Media scarcity –> Media abundance.

New media has shifted to:
- content tailored for groups or individuals, rather than large scaled audiences.
- away from one-way interactive media
- Ways people use technologies to communicate have
changed;
- People’s understanding of (and ideas about)
mass/mediated communication has evolved;
- Audience, communicators/Senders; Information flow, the
role of media; communication behavior etc. etc…

Question 3

Understand the goals and methods of social scientific research

Answer 3

d

Question 4

Be able to distinguish the four types of theory discussed in the chapter

Answer 4

1. Social Scientific Theory* [Postpositivist]
2. Hermeneutic Theory
3. Critical Theory
4. Normative Theory

Question 5

Be familiar with the role of theory in the study of mass communication

Answer 5

d

Question 6

Theories differ in “three” types of assumptions. What are those?

Answer 6

1. Ontology: The nature of reality, what is
   knowable (i.e. “what is the sun?”)
2. Epistemology: How knowledge is created
   & expanded (evidence and facts)
3. Axiology: The proper role of values in
   research and theory building (Media’s role in the U.S. -Vs.- it’s role in North Korea)

Question 7

What is theory?

Answer 7

“Any organized set of concepts, explanations, and
principles of some aspect of human experience.”
(Littlejohn & Foss, 2008)
- i.e., It’s a general idea that explains an
communication event and behavior

Question 8

What is the Social Scientific Theory (Postpositivist)

Answer 8

• Explains, predicts and controls social
  behaviors/events
• Strives for objective reality & empirical
  evidence
• Assumes knowledge about the social world can
  be gained through scientific method and
  empirical data

Question 9

What is the Hermeneutic Theory (i.e. cultural)

Answer 9

• Focuses on understanding and interpreting the
  social world
  *When applied to people, focuses on how they
  interpret and create meaning from their social
  experiences
  *Reality (knowledge) is socially constructed e.g., What does the fist bump mean?

Question 10

What is the Critical Theory?

Answer 10

Critical Theory
 Describes but also criticizes the social world
 Concerned with the structure of power and oppression
in society, human agency, and the struggle b/w the two
 e.g., How do social structures & economic systems
serve to oppress certain groups?
 What are underlying values/ideologies in media practices?
 Openly political and focused on changing the social
world for the better

Question 11

What is the Normative Theory?

Answer 11

This type of theory explains how ideal
media ought to operate within a specific
system of social values

Question 12

Be familiar with the four trends of mass communication theory

Answer 12

d

Question 13

Understand how changes in society and technology have affected how theorists conceptualize media influence

Answer 13

d

Question 14

What is a grand theory?

Answer 14

A theory designed to describe and explain all aspects of a given phenomena

Question 15

Mass communication?

Answer 15

When a source, typically an organization, employs a technology as a medium to communicate with a
large audience.

Question 16

mediated communication:

Answer 16

Communication between a few or many people that employs a technology as a medium.

Question 17

Interpersonal Communication:

Answer 17

Communication between two or a few people, typically face-to-face.

Question 18

Social scientists:

Answer 18

scientists who examine relationships among phenomena in the human and social world

Question 19

Causality

Answer 19

When a given factor influences another, even by way of intervening variable.

Question 20

Causal Relationship:

Answer 20

When the altercations in a particular variable under specific conditions always produce the same effect in another variable.

Question 21

Empirical:

Answer 21

Capable of being verified or disproved by observation

Question 22

Theory:

Answer 22

Any organized set of concepts, explanations, and principles of some aspect of human experience.

Question 23

Inter-subjective agreement

Answer 23

When members of a research community independently
arrive at similar conclusions about a given social
phenomenon

Question 24

Social Hermeneutics

Answer 24

Theory seeking to understand how those in an observed social situation interpret their own lot in that situation .

Question 25

Text

Answer 25

Any product of social interaction that serves as a source of understanding.