Media Effects Flashcards
Media effects example: Andrew Tate
-does Andrew Tate’s discussion of women change people views or is it that people already had those views and now just feel more comfortable expressing them?
What is the significance of the Gonzalez family suing Google over child’s death
-context: algortihm fed user ISIS releated content that let to their kid’s death
-Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act means that google isn’t responsible for the content on their sites, although there is discussion of repealing this
Breifly explain the role that storytelling has played in modern society (with different genres)
-horror: influenced horror movies and video games
-science fiction: inspired actual inventions
-romance: influenced our expectaations of romance and what is sexy
-hero’s journey
-true-crime podcasts: coping mechanism for women are are evolutiionary involved to be aware of their surroundings
-representaion: (e.g. Top Gun): influences our perception of certain groups
Media Effects Theory Definition
a theory that attempts to explain the uses and effects of media on individuals, groups, or societies as a whole
emphasizes looking at CONTEXT
Media effects theory components
- must conceptualize media use
- specify the potential changes that this media can bring about in individuals, groups, or societies
media use
the intended or incidental use of media channels (e.g. telephone, email), devices, (e.g. smartphones, game consoles), content/messages (e.g. games, narratives, advertising news), or all types of platforms tools, or apps (e.g. Facebook, Uber, Instagram)
Example of media use experiment
How might intimacy be impacted by the medium through which relationships are built?
-Have a group of people in a relationship that can only communicate with instagram
-Have a group of people in a relationship that can only communicate with email
-Have a group of people in a relationship that can only communicate with letters
Media effects definition
the deliberate and non-deliberate short and long-term individual or collective changes in cognitions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior that result from media use
Minimal versus significant effects meaning
Do media affect people directly or indirectly?
-minimal effects doesn’t believe that media can have a direct effect
media use: directly versus indirectly
directly- seeing this media makes you act or think this way
indirectly- might be a third variable that only makes certain people react in a specific way (it is conditional)
Hypodermic needle theory
exposure to media signals will make you feel a specific way
considered a direct media effect
believes that media effects would be immediate, evident, and consistent from person to person
Example of hypodermic needle
-History discussing Roosevelt’s firside chats injects that idea that there was a feeling of union and support, when in reality a lot of people disliked Roosevelt
-1930s propaganda - Joseph Goebbels promoted anti-semitic ideology - often argued that this caused anti-semticism in Germany, however it was one among many factors
Explain the Nixon v Kennedy debate through the lens of the hypodermic needle
-was exposure to the visual aspects of te debate a significant cause for different opinions on how the debate went?
-audience was split between radio and tv listeners
-for those watching tv, Kennedy looked young while Nixon looked intense and old
-people on tv thought Kennedy won debate (likely influenced by his appearneces)
-those who listened on the radio thought Nixon won (they focused more on his words)
-these findings were influenced by the hypodemric needle
-in reality, tv was new and expensive, so it was wa product purchases by the young and affluent (people who were more progessive). in contrast, radio listeners were older and more conservative (therefor siding with Nixon more)
Paul Lazersfeld view of the hypodermic needle
-minimal effects school
-The People’s Choice (1944) - media has limited effects on voting behavior because other factors like social institutions, interpersonal relations, and personal experiences were more influential
-Media messages are not always received by people the same way
e.g. being a part of a labor union infleunced your views more than media
Joseph Klapper view on the hypodermic needle
-minimal effects school
-wrote The Effects of Mass Communication
-focused on the effects of mass comm
-selective exposure: people seek out and pay attention to media content that reinforce their existing attitudes and beliefs
-people are more likely to be influenced be messages that are consistent with their pre-existing attitudes
- argued that there is an interplay between media content, individual factors, and social context in shaping people’s attitudes and behaviors
e.g. people seeking out Andrew Tate because they already agreed with is beliefs - makes them feel more comfortable expressing those beliefs
Selective Exposure
people seek out and pay attention to media content that reinforces their existing attitudes and beliefs
Two-step flow model
-an opinion leader is influenced by the mass media and then they influence the audience
-we tend to gravitate towards opinion leaders and influencers (e.g. writer for the NYT) to determine our position on issues
Two step flow model example
e.g. fashion blogger who wrote about the important resurgence of wide leg pants
-looking to fashion blogger and gradually making wide leg jeans popular
-our collective sense of style changed - why? - is it because of that fashion blogger
e.g. looking to NYT writer to form a view on the Russia-Ukraine war
Core features of contemporary effects theory
Recognizes the interaction between media factors (media use, media processing) and non-media factors (e.g. dispositional, situational, social context factors)
Study of direct media effects looked at physiological responses
When the body is under duress - it escalates production of some blood coagulant factors. This is an evolved response to prevent bleeding out when wounded. Now, when we watch an intense media, we tend to have more coagulants in our blood.
-Blood samples can be taken before and after a movie viewing to see if the balance of procoagulants and anticoagulants shifted
-E.g. Insidious saw an increase in level of coagulants (57% of people -so might be another factor)
-If this was a direct effect, we would see this response in everyone - however, this is not the case – is only direct with some people
