Final Exam MUE Flashcards
1
Q
Pornography vs. Obscenity
A
Pornography is protected under the first Amendment, but obscenity is not.
2
Q
Individual films or items MUST meet all 3 standards of 1973 Miller vs. California obscenity test to be considered obscene.
A
- Violates contemporary community standards.
- Patently offensive–will most of people agree that they are offended by it?
- Lacking serious artistic, literary, political or scientific value.
3
Q
Does pornography cause sexual violence?
A
There is anecdotal evidence that it does…But we need scientific evidence.
▪There is a correlation between rape and pornography consumption.
▪There is a logical association.
▪However, there is no constant time order or ruling out third variables to indicate cause and effect.
▪Experiments are the only method that determines causality
4
Q
What is anecdotal evidence?
A
Anecdotal evidence means that one person or a few people report the effects, but there is not scientific evidence to generalize these effects to society
5
Q
Confirmation Bias
A
People tend to seek, interpret, and remember information in a way that confirms their prior beliefs.
- Investigating sexual content in the media using social science theories and methods minimizes the effects of our biases and expectations.
6
Q
Two Theories on the Effects of Pornography:
A
- Trigger Hypothesis
2. Safety Valve Theory
7
Q
Trigger hypothesis
A
Exposure to pornography will cause a response in some individuals that will provoke them to commit a sex crime.
8
Q
Safety Valve Theory
A
Exposure to pornography will satisfy whatever urges might cause a person to commit a sex crime
9
Q
What past theories are the Trigger Hypothesis and the Safety Valve Theory similar to?
A
Trigger Hypothesis - ?
Safety Valve Theory - catharsis
10
Q
Priming
A
Associations between concepts get stronger every time they are reinforced.
- Pornography associates youth with sex
- 21.8% of adult film covers featured “youth-sexualized imagery”
- Imagery has increased over time - Pornography associates sex with violence
- Amount of violence depends on how “violence” is defined
11
Q
Effects of Pornography on Behavior
A
In experiments, viewing pornography lowers the inhibition to commit violent acts and increases hostility toward women.
•For example, administering electric shocks to women
12
Q
Effects of pornography on Beliefs and Attitudes
A
In experiments, viewing pornography associated with:
- Increased belief that the crime of rape is not as serious
- Less satisfaction with sexual relationships
- Less trust in sexual partners
- Less belief in the testimony of a sexual assault victim
- Increased belief in rape myths, such as “no” means “yes”
13
Q
Meta-Analysis: Definition
A
type of research study that analyzes findings from studies that have already been completed; averages results across many studies to understand research trends
14
Q
How to measure responses (i.e., how to measure the effects of pornography)?
A
Psychophysiological measures.
15
Q
Psychophysiological measures: Definition/examples
A
Measurements of physical response that assess emotional states
Facial muscles = positive emotion, smiling
Heart rate, sweating = physiological arousal
Penile tumescence = sexual arousal
16
Q
Limitations of Experiments (for porn)
A
Usually conducted on college-age men; Ecological Validity; Social desirability bias
17
Q
Sexual Content in Mainstream Media/Desensitizing Effect: Definition
A
Viewing violence in media makes us numb to violence in real life.
The Desensitizing Effect is also the explanation for the increasing amount of explicit sexual content or sexualized violence in media over time.
18
Q
Disinhibitory Effects
A
Seeing “bad” behavior rewarded in media makes us more likely to model it.
19
Q
Sexual Uncertainty Hypothesis
A
Adolescents are taught by family and schools that consensual sexual activity is part of love and long-term commitment
But, sex in media is not depicted this way; inconsistent messages lead to confusion.
20
Q
Erotic Media
A
Materials that features explicit sexual content in the absence of violence and without the overt power dynamics that appear in pornography.
21
Q
National Commission on Obscenity and Pornography
A
Formed under Lyndon B. Johnson, the commission was put in place because of growing concern about the role of pornography in crime and juvenile delinquency
22
Q
Rape Myth
A
The idea that women enjoy being raped.
23
Q
Electric Shock Paradigm
A
goes back to the electric shock experiment to test the obedience theory - learned about this last unit and in psychology. (144)
24
Q
Meese Commission
A
Did not become involved in the conduct of new scientific research on the topic [of pornography]. Instead, it relied on existing studies and anecdotal data gathered from interviews and examinations of the commercial market for pornography.
25
Pornography
Often used to refer to almost any explicit sexual depiction
26
Implicit Memories
It is acquired and used unconsciously, and can affect thoughts and behaviors.
27
Explicit Memories
It is the conscious, intentional recollection of factual information, previous experiences and concepts
28
Cognitive Stategies
Encourage children to think about the things they already know and relate those things to the aspects of the movie that are scary.
29
Non-cognitive Stategies
Refrain from trying to encourage the child to think about the source of their fear. They work instead to distract the child or avoid the object of fear altogether.
30
Gender Role Socialization
The process of socialization that differs according to the appropriate roles that are presented as normative or expected for males or females.
31
How is non-heterosexual orientation rewarded or punished in movie narratives?
Social Learning Theory
32
What perception of reality is presented, with regard to movie depictions of non-heterosexual characters?
Cultivation Theory
33
What characteristics are associated with non-heterosexual orientation?
Stereotype Schema
34
Emotion (Definition)
A relatively brief state of arousal that is valenced positively or negatively
35
Arousal
refers to the intensity of the emotion.
36
Valence
refers to whether the emotion is positive or negative.
37
Our _____ of that arousal and its valence is responsible for the labeling of the feeling.
cognitive processing
38
5 Primary Emotions
Our initial, instinctive, emotional responses to situations.
▪Joy, fear, anger, sadness, and disgust.
39
Secondary Emotions
Appear after primary emotions
▪For example ,shame, guilt, nervousness, embarrassment, and etc.
May be caused directly by primary emotions.
May come from blending emotions.
40
Why are emotions important?
Survival
communication
decision making
41
Why are emotions important?
| - survival
Because they are instinctual, they help us evaluate situations quickly.
42
Why are emotions important?
| - communication
They help us navigate social situations.
43
Why are emotions important?
| - decision making
Help us understand what is right and wrong.
44
Learning emotional cues
We primarily learn emotional cues through non-verbal communication with our social groups.
ex. Still-Face experiment between a mother and a baby.
- To a lesser extent we rely on tone of voice, and the actual words said to us.
45
Media and Emotions
Mass media provide a continual flow of stories and characters we can use to observe emotions.
Media are a valuable source of information about how different emotions can be expressed and processed.
46
Developmental Theory: stages
perceptual stage
| conceptual stage
47
Developmental Theory: Perceptual stage
▪Years 2-7
▪Concrete, visual appearance of things dominates a child’s reaction to the world.
▪Frightened of cartoons, fantasy characters and situations.
48
Developmental Theory: Conceptual stage
▪Years 7+
▪Developing logic & processing skills; shift toward abstract thought.
▪Frightened of things that are really possible.
▪But poor sense of the probability of “real” events they see in the media.
49
Law of Apparent Reality
“Emotions are elicited by events appraised as real, and their intensity corresponds to the degree which this is the case”
As we consume media, we evaluate the level of threat vs. how realistic the situation seems –is it likely to happen or not?The level of threat and the level of reality determine our fear responses –high threat and high reality = more fear
50
Law of Apparent Reality: example
Paranormal Activity or The Blair Witch Project is scary not only because it is highly threatening but also it is highly realistic.
51
Theory of Mood Management
Zillmann predicts: Our entertainment choices are often a function of our emotional state in the present moment and how we anticipate that exposure to certain media content is likely to make us feel during and following that exposure.▪In other words, we choose media based on how we are feeling and how we think the media will make us feel
52
4 Dimensions of media that are relevant to mood
Semantic affinity
Hedonic valence
Excitatory potential
Absorption potential
53
Semantic Affinity
Media can have more or less similarity to our current mood.
54
Hedonic valence
Media can be pleasant or unpleasant.
55
Excitatory potential
Media can be arousing or calming.
56
Absorption potential
Media can really absorb us, or not draw us in very much.
57
Theory of Excitation Transfer: Prediction
General arousal from any source can intensify an emotional experience and make it much more prominent than it would ordinarily be without the arousal.
▪Whichever emotion –positive or negative --you experience after arousing media, it will be much more intense.
58
Emotion for persuasion
fear appeals
| empathy appeals
59
Fear appeals
▪Messages that evoke fear to change attitudes or behavior.
▪A common method in both political persuasion and social marketing.
▪Example: Stop-smoking campaigns evoking fear of smoking.
60
Empathy appeals
▪Messages that attempt to change attitudes or behavior by connecting you to another person’s emotions.
▪Empathy is likely to occur if you have a positive view of the person.
▪Example: “Help Haiti” campaign centering on an injured baby.
61
3 Effects of Social Media on Emotions
1. Emotional atrophy
2. Harder to learn emotional cues
3. Facebook = “the happiest place on earth”
62
Emotional Atrophy
Online we don’t react as quickly to emotional cues; we get lazier at reacting to emotional displays
63
Harder to learn emotional cues
Online, we don’t see small changes in facial expressions and vocal patterns that indicate emotions
Heavy internet users may not get enough practice observing and experiencing emotions.
64
Facebook = “the happiest place on earth”
Majority of content on FB (and likely other social media sites) is positive; positive content is also “liked” more
But if you perceive the world is supposed to be mostly happy, you may not learn how to manage negative emotions.
65
Our concerns about negative effects of new media
Perpetual linkage
66
Perpetual linkage
Tendency for youth to be constantly connected through technology.
▪How does this affect social life?
67
3 hypotheses about the effects of the Internet on our social lives
1. Social displacement
2. Social augmentation
3. Social compensation
68
Social Dispalcement
People who use the internet will have less time to spend with the people around them, and will get fewer benefits from their social networks.
69
social augmentation
People who use the Internet to communicate will expand their social networks and get increased benefits.
70
social compensation
For people with smaller social networks offline, the internet will increase their sense of connection; no effects for people who already have bigger networks offline.
71
Individual Differences
The psychological differences and similarities between people on a range of attributes –how people differ in their personalities, experiences, thinking, feeling, and behavior.
72
Individual Differences example
An example of Individual Differences = The Social Compensation hypothesis For people with smaller social networks offline, the internet will increase their sense of connection; no effects for people who already have bigger networks offline.
73
Mix of Attributes Approach
Media have a common set of features or attributes.
- For each attribute, a medium fits someone along a continuum, from high to low
- Differences in media can be discussed in terms of differences in attributes.
The “mix of attributes” approach allows us to compare media based on whether attributes of those media are the same or different.
74
6 Media Attributes
1. Interactivity
2. Structure
3. Channel
4. Textuality
5. Content
6. Portability
75
Interactivity
The extent to which a person can interact with the medium –how active are users?
▪Lower interactivity: Newspaper& TV
▪Higher interactivity: Internet & Telephone.
76
Structure
How content within the medium is organized.
▪Linear: Newspaper & TV
▪Non-linear: Internet & Online News
77
Channel
Whether information is presented visually, acoustically, or both.
Audio: Radio
Visual: Newspaper
Audiovisual: Internet & TV
78
Textuality
The amount of information that is presented in text form.
Low Text: TV
High Text: Newspaper
Mixed: Internet
79
Content
The actual topics covered by the medium
Current events: Newspaper
Entertainment/News mix: TV & Internet
80
Portability
Whether a medium can be easily moved from place to place
81
Multitasking
Simultaneously engaging in more than one task at once
•This doesn’t actually happen! Instead we engage in task switching
82
Task switching
Your brain switches between the two activities very rapidly
* Each time we switch tasks we lose focus
* Research results: A longitudinal survey showed that adolescents who are heavy media multitaskers are also more likely to have attention problems
83
3 Characteristics of Social media sites
Profiles
List of connections
Hyperlinks (friends, groups, and images)
84
Social Network Analysis: Definition
Definition: Quantitative method for studying properties of a social network
A sociogram is a visual depiction of a social network.
All sociograms start from an individual, called “Ego.” In your social network, you are the Ego.
85
People connected to you in your sociogram are called?
“Node(s).”
86
The lines that show the connections between ego and nodes as well as between nodes are called?
“Arc(s).”
87
Nodes close to the ego, like close family or friends
“strong ties.”
88
Networks far from ego, like acquaintances or friends of friends
“weak ties.”
89
Strong Ties
* Between family, close friends
* Tend to be similar to each other
* In the same social circles
* Tend to have shared experiences and attitudes
* High level of intimacy and self-disclosure in communication
* Shared resources and support
* Strong ties are typically connected online and offline
90
Weak ties
* Between acquaintances
* Tend to be more different from each other
* Don’t share social circles
* Tend to have different experiences and attitudes
* Social media sites can create more disclosure and communication among weak ties
91
Media Multiplexity Theory: Prediction
Strong ties are likely to communicate in more ways, while weak ties are likely to communicate in fewer ways.
92
Social Capital: Definition and Example
The benefits we gain from having social connections; access to resources and information
▪Example: Access to resources and information; Help on an assignment; Information about a party; Job reference; Any resource advantage that comes from “who you know”
93
2 Types of Social Capital
1. Bridging Social Capital
| 2. Bonding Social Capital
94
Bridging Social Capital
related to weak ties among people who are less homogenous (less similar).
•Benefits from bridging social capital include expansion of worldview, access to new information or new perspectives.
95
Bonding Social Capital
related to strong ties among people who are more homogenous (more similar), like family and friends.
•Benefits from bonding social capital include emotional support, help when it’s needed.
96
2 Types of displacement
1. Activity displacement
| 2. Displaces strong social ties
97
Activity displacement
Time spent on social media displaces our time for interactivity (e.g., time for hobbies or time with friends and family).
98
Displaces strong social ties
Type or formation of relationship is changed (e.g., weaker ways of social relations displaces stronger ways of social relations which we could have from face-to-face communication).
99
Context collapse: Definition
The flattening out of multiple distinct audiences in one’s social network, such that people from different contexts become part of a singular group of message recipients.
•On social media, messages travel beyond the expected or intended audience.
100
Effects of Context Collapse
* We feel more stressed by social media
| * We are more likely to self-censor
101
Online sense of unidentifiability
When people enter the online environment, they are aware that they may be unidentifiable to others.
They may feel more free to engage in hostile or insulting behavior since these behaviors will not be associated directly with them
102
causal claim
A causal claim is any assertion that invokes causal relationships between variables, for example that a drug has a certain effect on preventing a disease.
103
The media equation
People treat media in the same ways that they treat other people
we carry interactions with media that are fundamentally natural and social
104
light at night hypothesis
The exposure of the light of a screen at night time may affect melatonin levels
105
Social information processing theory
Even though communication using computers lacks the rich set of nonverbal cues available in face-to-face interaction, people can still use the available verbal cues to establish intimate relationships that rival those formed in the face-to-face context
106
Marshall McLuhan’s “key ideas” about the media
Technologies are the extensions of human organs.
▪Because of this, how we experience and perceive the world has been changed.
▪Because of this, the way we communicate with others has been changed.
▪Thus, the medium and its changes shape and reshape our world views.
107
3 Eras of Communication History: McLuhan distinguishes the communication history based on primary medium that we used or we use to communicate with others.
1. Tribal Age
2. Print Age
3. Electronic Age
108
Tribal Age
▪Absence of a written alphabet or system of writing.
▪Acoustic, oral, and sound communication.
Therefore, “ears” were the primary organ of this age.
There was a sensory balance –sight, smell, touch, taste were also important.
Sound information is processed all-at-once, non-linearly.
▪Communication was limited by time, location, and memory.
109
Print Age
▪Written and visual communication (was available after the invention of the printing press in 1455).
By translating sound (tribal age) into words (print age), the “eyes” become the primary organ of this age.
Written information is processed linearly and privately (e.g., we MUST read words from left to right in order to correctly process the information, and we can read words at our room privately)
Dominance of print is related to our start of and emphasis on “logical” thinking in the modern age and to the distinctions of “private” and “public.”
▪Time/Space limitations get lessened but still present.
110
Electronic Age
Audio and visual electronic communication.
The electronic age encourages an all-at-once information processing.
Therefore, “ears” become the primary organ again.
Thinking is less linear, less “logical,” more spontaneous –more like the tribal age.
▪Time and space limitations nearly vanish.
111
The Global Village
Time and space limitations nearly vanished, which means that the instant (time) communication across the globe (space) become available.
Media connects the world into a massive, modern-day tribal community, or a global village.
People across the world become more similar psychologically and emotionally.
112
“The Medium is the Message”
1. At the early of this semester, we talked about definitions of the medium and the messages.
▪A Medium is a channel through which communication travels: print, television, radio, internet.
▪Messages are the text, images, sounds, and videos that are communicated through media.
2. However, McLuhan says, “Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate than by the contents of the communication.”
3. He also claims“media are extensions of our [physical] bodies” so that we experience the world differently and interpret the contents differently based on the medium (i.e., the extensions of our bodies). Thus, he says, “the medium is what has an effect on us, not the content.”
4. A book is an extension of our eye; TV is an extension of our ear; Electricity is an extension of central nervous system.
113
Technological Determinism: Definition
Belief that technology determines how individuals think, fill, and act as well as how our society operates.
Marshall McLuhan’s key ideas can be understood under this idea of technological determinism.
114
Hot / Cold Media
McLuhandistinguishes the media based on how much we can or we should fill the gaps when we consume it.
115
Hot Media
A hot medium extends one single sense in ‘high definition.’
Examples: Film and photographs are visually high definition; Newspapers and radio are also high definition. They feed us enough information even in absence of visuals.
116
Cold media
A cool medium is low in definition, and requires high participation and completion by the audience to fill in the gaps.
- involve the audience more
- high levels of participation and involvement.
Examples: Comic books and television are cool media.
Images of television are consisted of small pixels, we connect those pixels (although it is processed unconsciously) in order to see these pixels as an image.
117
High definition
The state of being filled with data. Or, the amount of information conveyed.
118
Types of Literacy Explored this Semester
Scientific Literacy
Media literacy
Cultural Literacy
119
Scientific Literacy
Knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and methods needed to make decisions and be an informed citizen.
120
Media Literacy
Becoming critical consumers and creators of media
121
Cultural Literacy
The ability to understand, respect, and participate in a culture.
122
Prober
explorer
123
Eras of communication
How McLuhan saw the history of the human race. (tribal, print and electronic age)
124
Sensory Balance
The tribal people relied heavily on their five senses - McLuhan described them as living in a tribal state.
125
linear information processing
McLuhans belief that the shift to linear information processing altered peoples basic though patterns
126
global village
A consequence to moving into the electronic age - as information flows at the speed of light, people who live in different locations geographically will become connected in ways that make them feel like they are living in close proximity. The entire world begins to feel like a small village.
127
Media Ecology
McLuhans approach to understanding media effects
- ecology = the study of the environment
- media ecology is the study of how media change the human environment
