MEDIA - Audience Effects Models

Question 1

What are the 7 Audience Effects Models?

Answer 1

• Hypodermic Syringe Model
• Uses and Gratifications Model
• Two-Step Flow Model
• The Selective Filter Model
• Cultural Effects Model
• The Reception Analysis Model
• The Postmodernist Model

Question 2

Is Hypodermic Syringe Model (HSM) have an ACTIVE or a PASSIVE audience?

Answer 2

The HSM has a PASSIVE and UNCRITICAL audience!

Question 3

(HSM) What did Bandura investigate and what did they find? HINT: Bobo Dolls!

Answer 3

Bandura looked for a direct cause and effect relationship between media content and violence; they used ‘bobo dolls’ and demonstrated how children interacted differently with the ‘bobo dolls’ if they had been subjected to watching violent shows.

The study concluded that violent media content could lead to imitation or ‘copycat’ crime!

Question 4

(HSM) Give an Example of Media Content causing Desensitisation to Violence and ‘Copycat’ crimes.

Answer 4

The Jamie Bulger Case, which was linked to Child’s Play 3, which was the film that the 2 boys (Robert Thompson and John Venables) were said to have watched and began to imitate before they decided to kill Jamie Bulger.

This links to Newson’s Study; they argued that violent images in films are too easily available and that exposure to screen violence encourages viewers to identify with the violent perpetrators and not the victims = Desensitisation to Violence!

Question 5

(HSM) What 2 Sociologists looked at the ‘Disinhibition Effect’ and what does this mean?

Answer 5

McCabe and Martin!

Question 6

(HSM) What does Norris argue? HINT: Voting Behaviour!

Answer 6

They claim that media coverage of political issues can influence voting behaviour!

A lot of politics today is presented as ‘person vs person’ not ‘policies vs policies’ = Identity Politics!

This can be seen with Trump vs Biden and the Cambridge Analytica Scandal (They claimed to be able to use Facebook data for its clients to better target political messages to people; aka, micro-targeting)!

Can also been seen with deep faked and AI images of candidates, such as the Trump deepfake with him being surrounded by Black voters.

Question 7

(HSM - McCabe and Martin) What did they identify when looking into the ‘Disinhibition Effect’? HINT: That violence is allowed in some scenarios!

Answer 7

They argue that that screen violence has a ‘Disinhibition Effect’ = It convinces children that, in some social situations, the ‘normal’ rules that govern conflict and difference can be suspended: that discussion and negotiation can be replaced with violence.

A good example of this is road rage.

Question 8

(HSM) What are the Positive and Negative Evaluations of the HSM? HINT: There are 2 Positives and 3 Negatives here!

Answer 8

POSITIVES:

CATHARSIS = Media violence can prevent real-life violence = Fesbach and Sanger - Screen violence provides a safe outlet for people’s aggression (Links to Kingsley Davis and ‘Safety Valves’)!

EMPATHY = People become more empathetic to victims of crime, which coincides with the reduction of violent crimes.

NEGATIVES:

METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS = Gauntlett - Identifies problems with Bandura’s Lab Experiment, due to the controlling of factors!

Assumes the Audience is Passive and does not reject online messages –> Postmodernist Evaluation?

Influence of crimes like the Jamie Bulger Case and the Columbine High School massacre due to social media (violent video games and violent films)!

Question 9

For the Uses and Gratifications Model (UGM), is the Audience ACTIVE or PASSIVE?

Answer 9

ACTIVE!

REMEMBER: For every Effects Model, apart from HSM, the Audience is Active!

Question 10

(UGM) What 2 Sociologists identified the 4 Basic Needs that people use TV to satisfy?

Answer 10

Blumer and McQuail!

Question 11

(UGM - Bulmer and McQuail) What are the 4 Basic Needs that people use TV to satisfy?

Answer 11

DIVERSION = Watson argues that people use the media to escape ‘routines’ and ‘to ease worries or tension’ - People immerse themselves in the media as a distraction from everyday life. EG: People may read books like ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ in order to compensate for the lack of romance, intimacy and excitement in their own lives.

PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS = Watson suggests that we often know more about characters in soap operas, like Coronation Street, than we do about our own neighbours - Links to the ‘Free the Weatherfield One’ Campaign!

PERSONAL IDENTITY = People may use TV shows, like Skins, Hollyoaks, or Heartstopper, in order to help them make decisions regarding their own sexuality!

SURVEILLANCE = People use the media, in order to gather information and make their mind up about different issues. They do this with apps, such as: Twitter, Reddit, Facebook etc

Question 12

(UGM) What are the Evaluations of the UGM? HINT: There is 1 Positive and 3 Negatives here!

Answer 12

POSITIVES:

POSTMODERNIST EVALUATION - Links to the growth of participatory culture and how people consume the media in unique ways = We have agency!

NEGATIVES:

MARXIST EVALUATION - The Media acts as an ISA and this Model exaggerates how much freedom people actually have! - This approach does not evaluate how the media can act as an ISA and implement messages that they audience either accept or reject

Simplistic and individualistic approach!

The world has become more diverse (perhaps less focused on just CAGE…there are other factors too, like sexuality?)

Question 13

TRUE OR FALSE: The Two-Step Flow Model (TSF) HAS Opinion Leaders!

Answer 13

TRUE - This Model suggests that personal relationships and social networks are dominated by ‘Opinion Leaders’!

Question 14

(TSF) What 2 Sociologists studied the TSF Model?

Answer 14

Katz and Lazarsfeld!

Question 15

(TSF - Katz and Lazarsfeld) What are the 2 Steps / Stages they identified that Media Content takes before it has an effect on the audience?

Answer 15

1 = The Opinion Leader is exposed to the media content

2 = The Opinion Leader disseminates their interpretation of that content and those who respect the opinion leader are influenced by that interpretation

Question 16

(TSF) Give an Example of an Opinion Leader!

Answer 16

Andrew Tate - Toxic Masculinity and ‘Alpha Masculinity’!

Question 17

(TSF) TRUE OR FALSE: The audience, in the form of the Opinion Leader, are NOT Active!

Answer 17

FALSE - The audience, in the form of the Opinion Leader, ARE ACTIVE!

Question 18

(TSF) What are the Evaluations of the TSF Model? HINT: There are 2 Positives and 2 Negatives here!

Answer 18

POSITIVES:

• It recognises that most people watch media as part of a Social Network / Community
• This Model might be useful for understanding the role of Parents as Opinion Leaders

NEGATIVES:

• There is no guarantee that the opinion leader has not been subjected to an imitative or desensitising effect (the influence of the HSM) –> EG: A leader of a peer group, such as a street gang, might convince other members that violence is acceptable because they have been exposed to screen violence that strongly transmits the message that violence is an appropriate problem-solving strategy.
• People who are most at risk of being influenced by the media may be socially isolated individuals who are not members of any social network. Such individuals do not have access to an opinion leader who might help interpret media content in a healthy way!

Question 19

Is the Cultural Effects Model (CEM) a MARXIST or POSTMODERNIST Model?

Answer 19

It is a MARXIST Model - It sees the Media as an ideological way of transmitting Capitalist values (Like an ISA = Links to Althusser)!

Question 20

(CEM) Why is the CEM similar to RAM? HINT: Diverse Audiences!

Answer 20

They both recognise that the Media Audiences is made up of very different types of people from a variety of social backgrounds who have had very different life experiences.

This means that people interpret what they see, read and hear (consume) in many different and unique ways.

Question 21

(CEM) What do Marxists believe, in regards the ‘Drip-drip Effect’? HINT: Preferred Reading and Hegemony!

Answer 21

Marxists believe that audiences have been exposed over a long period of time to a ‘drip-drip’ effect, through which the media content has become intertwined with ideological values and ideas.

This Model believes that TV content had been deliberately ‘dumbed down’, which has led audiences to no longer think critically about the state of the world - Links to ‘Circular Reporting’ and Moral Panics (EG: MMR Vaccine)!

It has also been argued that the long-term effect of this ‘preferred reading of media content’ is that the values of the rich and powerful come to be unconsciously shared by most people (hegemony) - People come to believe in values such as ‘happiness is about possessions and wealth’ = The trickle-down approach regarding values from the upper-class to the working-class; ‘the Royal Family deserve their wealth and social position’; ‘Black people are potential criminals’!

Question 22

(CEM) As people have adopted the ‘Preferred Reading’ of Media, what do Media Audiences fail to do? HINT: They fail to challenge the Hegemony!

Answer 22

The ‘consensus perspective’ of the media generally fails to challenge the ruling-class ideology (hegemony) and actually may reinforce it!

EG: Media coverage of unemployment and single-parent families gives the federal impression that these situations are often the result of a choice, not for any other reasons, so the claiming of benefits by these groups is seen as unjustified and wrong and they are presented as an ‘underclass’ of people. This leads to many people seeing those who claim benefits as ‘benefit scroungers’ (Charles Murray and the New Right)!

People believe and follow upper-class ideas, such as people with wealth have earned their place (ideas about meritocracy) etc!

Question 23

(CEM) What did Reese and Lewis find, in regards to news reports after 9/11? HINT: Justifications of the ‘War on Terror’ etc!

Answer 23

Reese and Lewis = They found that news reports after 9/11 in the USA shared and uncritically transmitted the political administration’s response to the attack as a ‘war on terror’, which helped to justify the US invasions of Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003) –> Uncritically supporting the power of those in Office and supporting their actions, in order to get the mass of the public to also support what the ‘higher ups’ are doing!

Question 24

(CEM) What does Curran argue, in regards to reading of certain newspapers? HINT: The shaping of their ideology!

Answer 24

Curran = He argues that the frequent reading of particular newspapers means that the reader will begin to immerse themselves into a particular ideological way of seeing and interpreting the way (the creation of an ideological echo-chamber)!

For Example = Readers of right-wing papers, such as the Daily Mail, often see the world through this perspective and start to adopt more of these values. It is argued that this view of the world may affect some readers, in the sense that they may interpret such an ideology as common sense or as a product of their own choices (the illusion of choice). The CEM argues that most types of media probably have these ideological effects in the long term!

Question 25

(CEM) What are the Evaluations of the CEM Model? HINT: There are 2 Positives and 5 Negatives here!

Answer 25

POSITIVES:

• Depicts the Marxist perspective of the media and reinforces Althusser’s study into the media being an ISA
• Suggests that main media perspectives all aim to preach the hegemonic view in society and suppress the masses / the working-class

NEGATIVES:

• It is methodologically difficult to measure any theory’s long-term effects and impact

PLURALIST EVALUATION 1 - They question the Marxist view, because they believe that the professionalism and objectivity of modern journalists ensure that media output is constructed for the audience’s benefit. They say that, if the media do project a particular point of view at the expense of another, it is because the audience already believes in it and they demand it - Democratic Mirror

PLURALIST EVALUATION 2 - Pluralists also argue that the diversity of media content means that the Marxist concern that the media is creating a homogenised worldview is untrue - Representative and a ‘Window into the World’

• The range of media sources in contemporary media has led to more critical views of the dominant reading / consensus approach that is offered by mainstream media sources
• Covid-19 = Journalists reported uncritically on certain policies and decisions, in order to get access to major politicians! (This goes against the Pluralist Evaluation that Journalists have integrity and are not affected by bias)

Question 26

What Sociologist looks into the Selective Filter (SF) Model?

Answer 26

Klapper!

Question 27

(SF - Klapper) What did Klapper identify?

Answer 27

They identified 3 filters that involve a degree of active, consumer choice!

They challenge the HSM and the idea that the Audience is homogeneous and that everyone engages with media and interacts with it in the same way = Klapper is aware that the audience is diverse!

Question 28

(SF - Klapper) What are the 3 Filters they identified that a media message must pass through, in order for it to have an effect?

What Example can be used for this Model?

Answer 28

SELECTIVE EXPOSURE = The Audience must choose to read, view or listen to Media! What they choose to consume depends on their social characteristics, such as their Age!

SELECTIVE PERCEPTION = The Audience view Media Content, but they may decide to reject it because it does not fit their world view / social world!

SELECTIVE RETENTION = Media Content has to ‘stick’ in the mind of the Audience if it is to have an effect. However, research shows that people remember the things that they broadly agree with!

EXAMPLE - Covid-19 ads + Daily mass media briefings = People either agree, challenge or are somewhere in between the messages that are presented –> Links to Anti-vaxxers, those who were sceptical, and those who fully supported what the government were doing!

Also links to Yorkie Ads and Climate Change (Climate Change deniers, like Donald Trump, vs Climate Change Activists, like Greta Thunberg)!

Question 29

(SF) What does Festinger argue, in regards to Selective Perception? HINT: People like to reaffirm their own views!

Answer 29

Festinger argues that people seek out Media Content that reaffirms their existing attitudes and world view = This reinforces the creation of echo-chambers!

Question 30

(SF) What does Postman argue, in regards to Selective Retention? HINT: ‘3 Minute Culture’!

Answer 30

Postman argues that we now live in a ‘3 Minute Culture’; the attention span of the average member of society is only 3 minutes or less!

However = Is this study outdated? Will it be even lower now, due to the emergence of New Media?

Question 31

(SF) What are the Evaluations of the SF Model? HINT: There is 1 Positive and 2 Negatives here!

Answer 31

POSITIVES:

• This Model depicts how audience members have agency and how audiences will, most likely, consume media that reinforces their own echo-chamber (Links to algorithms on apps like TikTok)!

NEGATIVES:

• With the growth of new media, the selective exposure filter is removed and can be called into question, as people have less choice with the media they can access (the ‘illusion of choice’)!

MARXIST EVALUATION - Marxists suggest that the dominant ideology of society is spread via other institutions, like education, which removes and lessens the impact of selective exposure - ‘Illusion of choice’ - Links to Althusser and the Media being an ISA

Question 32

What Model is the Reception Analysis Model (RAM) similar to?

Answer 32

The CEM - This is because they both suggest that people interpret the media in a variety of ways, due to their different social backgrounds!

Question 33

(RAM) Who is the key Sociologist for this Model?

Answer 33

Morley!

Question 34

(RAM - Morley) What did Morley investigate and what did they discover? HINT: Different social groups; different readings!

Answer 34

Morley researched about how around 30 different groups (made up of a range of people from different educational backgrounds) interpreted the content of a news programme.

They concluded that people actively choose to make one of 3 readings or interpretations regarding Media Content!

Question 35

(RAM - Morley) What are the 3 Different Readings / Interpretations that Morley identified?

Answer 35

PREFERRED / DOMINANT READING = This reflects the consensus and the norms and values of society; people go along with this Reading, because it is accepted as ‘legitimate’ and it is rarely criticised. EG: The Royal Family (However = Is this still true today, due to the recent criticisms of the Royal Family - Links to Kate and Prince Andrew)!

OPPOSITION READING = A minority of people may oppose the views expressed in media content. EG: People who are anti-Monarchy or Republicans may be critical of stories about Royal celebrities.

NEGOTIATED READING = The Media Audience may re-interpret media content, in order to fit it within their own opinions and values (echo-chambers)! EG: People may not have any strong views about the Royal Family, but they may enjoy reading about celebrities and gossip!

Question 36

(RAM - Morley) TRUE OR FALSE: People CANNOT belong to several different sub-cultural groups!

Answer 36

FALSE - People CAN belong to several different sub-cultural groups!

Morley argues that the average person belongs to several different sub-cultural groups and this may complicate a person’s reading of media content (in the sense that may not be consistent in their interpretation of it) = Characteristics and subcultures are not predictable in the way in which they influence responses to media content.

Question 37

(RAM) TRUE OR FALSE: The Audience act in a diverse number of ways because media content IS Polysemic!

Answer 37

TRUE!

POLYSEMIC = There is numerous meanings for just 1 Media Message!

Question 38

(RAM) What are the Evaluations for RAM? HINT: There are 2 Positives and 1 Negative here!

Answer 38

POSITIVES:

POSTMODERNIST EVALUATION - Promotes a polysemic view of the media - Multiple interpretations of media sources reflects our postmodern society and how people today have begun to reject metanarratives

• Explains how the media can typify their audiences, such as readers of ‘The Sun’ often being from more working-class backgrounds and readers of the Daily Mail often having more conservative values (did they pick this media source to preach their own values and reinforce their echo-chamber or has their ideology been shaped by the media?) –> (Links to Cicourel and Typification, in regards to Crime and Deviance)

NEGATIVES:

• Morley did suggest that his research might have been compromised by the fact that his sample group did not see the news values used in the research in their own, natural environment (Links to Lab Experiments having controlled variables)! Therefore, the responses of the sample to the news content may have been influenced by the research context - EG: Demand characteristics may have undermined the quality of the interviews that were conducted by the researchers (links to the Hawthorne Effect)

Question 39

What Model is the Postmodernist Model (PM) similar to? What are their differences?

Answer 39

This Model is often seen as an extension of the RAM!

Postmodern perspectives on the effects of media are similar to the RAM!

However = Whereas RAM focuses on explaining the influence of sub-cultural differences in the ways that audiences might respond to media messages, the PM focuses on how individual members of audiences create their own meanings from a media text and how they choose to interpret it.

Sub-cultures vs Individuals!

Question 40

(PM) Why do Postmodernists believe that the Media is central to the creation of a Postmodern World? HINT: Choice!

Answer 40

This is because the CHOICES that the media can offer mean that members of society can create their own unique set of values and understanding from the global information around them (they are in control of what they actively choose to consume).

Postmodernists believe that individuals in postmodern societies are involved in a search for their ‘true’ or authentic self and that this often gives way / opens up to a ‘playfulness’ in which personal identity is experimental and is expressed and invented by choosing from the diversity of lifestyles on offer through the media –> This links to Pluralism and Democratic Mirror!

Question 41

(PM) Who is the Key Sociologist for this Model?

Answer 41

Philo!

Question 42

(PM - Philo) What does Philo argue? HINT: Links to Polysemic Media!

Answer 42

Philo = They argue that postmodernists see media content as producing multiple definitions of reality, each with the same degree of importance as the other; polysemic media!

Interpretations of media reality are constantly changing and being modified every single day; they are not fixed or stationary.

They argue that, in regards to the Media: “It is all relative to who is looking; ‘truth’ and ‘reality’ are in the eye of the beholder”. → Rather than seeing the audience as an undifferentiated mass (as seen with the HSM), postmodernists argue that generalisations about media effects and audiences are impossible, since readers and viewers may react and engage to the same media message in a variety of ways.

Because postmodernists believe that there is ‘no such thing as the absolute truth’ all of these reactions and interpretations have a relative value. It is impossible to judge whether media content is having a positive or negative effect, as it is based on the person themselves!

Question 43

(PM) What are the Evaluations for the PM? HINT: There are 3 Positives and 3 Negatives here!

Answer 43

POSITIVES:

• The media today is full of choice, hybridity and individualism; people can ‘pick and mix’ what media content they want to consume
• Supports the decline in metanarratives which is evident in a postmodern society
• People can consume the media in different ways and can also ‘mix and match’ what type of content they consume

NEGATIVES:

MARXIST EVALUATION - Marxists would argue against this theory; especially Traditional Marxists who believe that the media, which acts as an ISA, reinforces the hegemonic and dominant ideology

• Do we really have this much control and choice over the media? - Algorithms create an ‘illusion of choice’ that can perhaps lead to the creation of echo-chambers!
• We cannot determine if the media is having a Positive or a Negative Effect = Links to ‘Deep Fakes’ and the emergence of TikTok (decreasing attention spans) and the use of AI etc!